10. Being one of 11 Americans running with 29,996 Asians.
9. Japanese Game Show/Marathon Expo
8. The multiple runners who stopped to smoke during the race
7. Seeing Mount Fuji from 35k ft.
6. The downtown scene (there are 3 top tens in this alone)
5. 6 story Mizuno super store
4. Eating octopus and liver for dinner.
3. Costumes for runners and or Friday night “going out clothes”
2. Eating sushi and Japanese cucumbers at mile 23 of the marathon.
1. Playing guitar and singing Sympathy for the Devil on the 31st floor of Mizuno HQ for the whole international contingent-HUGE IN JAPAN!
If you told me to write down the top 10 things you think you will see and or experience in Osaka, Japan I can unequivocally say that nothing I saw would have been on the list. In a word Japan was otherworldly. Culturally, architecturally, everything was as a little surreal. Awesome nonetheless but surreal.
This whole adventure began with a call from my boss Chris. He called me on a Friday exactly 8 weeks 2 days before the run and said, “Do you have a current passport? You won that sales contest trip to Osaka.” To be fair I completely backdoored my way into this. The contest was set up to reward the top 3 reps. I was 4th. BUT my friend Erik, who got 3rd had conflicts and had already been to Osaka and he wanted another rep to get the experience. So I “goldenboyed” my way in! Oh, and one other thing Chris asked. “Are you going to run the marathon?”
This was a stupid question actually. My answer was, “I am not having my company fly me to Japan for the Osaka marathon, which finishes at the the steps of our worldwide headquarters, and which we are one of the presenting sponsors, and not run it.” Unfortunately for me, I was in pretty poor running shape. Luckily I had the Blue Ridge Relays to springboard (read faceplant) me into shape. I had one week of easy running until I went to North Carolina.
Over this past summer, the heat and the humidity got to me pretty badly. I would do a 6-8 mile run at an easy pace and then the next day try and run 5 miles and I would blow up. And I mean really blow up. One such run had me turn around at the 1.8 mile mark and walk/jog home for a total of 3 miles at my max heartrate. I finally went to the doctor, and apparently I am allergic to heat an humidity. Needless to say I was kicking off my 8 week marathon cram session with some of the most inconsistent running of the last 3 or 4 years.
Every year Mizuno does the Blue Ridge Relays, a 208 mile 12 person team relay. It is an awesome event that I have grown to love, but it is brutal. In Baton Rouge, there are no hills to speak of. This event is in the Blue Ridge Mountains. So…you do the math. My legs this year amounted to about 16 miles. A 6, a 5.9 and a 4.3. The final leg started out with a 1250 ft 2.2 mile climb. Brutal and awesome. The good news is that I ran pretty well considering I had no run longer than 10 miles for the previous 6 months and I was filled with temporary confidence on my ability to cram marathon training into the next 6 weeks.
The week after BRR was a rude awakening. I rode my bike the first few days and went out for an easy 4 miler mid week. It was ugly. I decided I need to recover from the hills one more week. I fit in one more run and 2 more rides for a total of 8 miles running for the week. Ruhroh.
5 weeks out. It was getting to be do or die time and after running around 14 miles during this week, I had to get a long run in. I commited to running 90 mins no matter what, and ran from my house about 5 miles away from my house. I was either going to get in 10 or 11 miles or I was going to have to hitchhike home. 1:41 minutes later I arrived home unscathed, and I was back.
I am always amazed at my bodies ability to get back into shape. I don’t mean to say, I was all of a sudden ready to run my fastest paces, but the following week I ran to the LSU lakes and met Suzie for her 10 miler. We proceeded to descend every mile with a 6:45 at the end. Two weeks prior I was thinking that I wasn’t going to be able to run the marathon, and on this Sunday I was thinking, well maybe I can run 3:40…Stupidity comes in all shapes and sizes.
The following 3 weeks, I ran 21, 14, 8 and kept my weekly mileage at 2 bike rides and 15 miles of runs. Also to be noted in all of this is that I never ran hard on any of the weekly runs. I completely saved my efforts for my long runs. I had done this a year earlier while preparing for the Mountain Mist 50k and I ran it without incident on a 6 week plan. I was as ready as I was going to be.
Let me begin this by stating what may be obvious to many. 12 hours of flying + 3 days of whacked out jet lagged sleep + miles of walking in Osaka + octopus + multiple Asahi’s DOES NOT EQUAL GOOD MARATHON WEEK PREPARATION!! My 3:45 goal went out the window as our plan went wheels up and our Pacific crossing began. We had about 12 hours in the air, of which I slept zero minutes. The flight wasn’t as awful as I anticipated and we landed in Osaka one day and 4 hours later than when we left. I spent the better part of my trip there trying to calculate how far ahead we were, what time it was, what time my body felt it was and finally if I had actually time travelled or what. I averaged about 4 hours of sleep every night we were there, including the night before the race. It was not optimal.
Got to Osaka Thursday afternoon. We needed up staying up to around 10 pm at which time I fell into a deep coma. Woke up today feeling pretty good. We are walking over to Mizuno world headquarters for a tour of the t and d dept.
Highlights so far include the hotel bathrooms which have more tech than any I’ve ever seen.
Pretty awesome so far.
Sorry for the lack of action on this bloggy thing lately. Here are some updates on my training for the Osaka Marathon.
Following the Blue Ridge Relays, I was burnt. My long run leading up to them was about 7 miles and I was running about 20 miles a week. I went in to BRR with a “wing it” attitude, and that’s exactly what I did. I ran about 7:30 pace for my legs up until the last one which was 4.3 miles and had a 1250 ft 2.2 mile climb to start out. It was ugly. Suffice to say that all that mountain climbing took it’s toll on my lack of fitness and the next two weeks, I couldn’t muster up a run longer than about 5 miles. The 2 weeks after BRR had mileage totals of 14 and 11 miles respectively. Included in that was a 2.86 mile jewel that had me walk running home. I was 5 weeks out and confidence was low. I tried to tell myself I’d be fine, but I needed a good run.
Two weeks ago today I walked out the door and said, “I am running 90 minutes.” I took the attitude that I would run far enough away from home that I would have to cover 10 miles or so. When it was all said and done, I ran 11 and things looked up. I also ran in the heat, which had been a very big issue with me of late. Run mileage for this week was like 25.
I have been doing endurance stuff long enough to know that I benefit from riding in between runs and took the attitude that I would concentrate on my long runs and ride more. This keeps the legs from getting too beat up and I think is especially key when I am “cramming” for a race. I keep mileage roughly the same and just increase my long run.
The week after the 11 I rode 3 times, ran 10 miles and then went out for what turned out to be my best run of the year. 16 miles descending the last 10. Mileage was still around 26.
This past week I added one run, rode once and went into yesterday with a 3 hour run planned. I was hoping to get in 20. Turned out that I ran 21 and 35 for the week.
I am now backing it down all the way into the marathon and feel like I can finish it comfortably at 4 hour pace. Maybe a touch better.
That is if I am not doing sake bombs at 4 a.m. the night before…
hugs
pf
Bue Ridge Relay. Day 1
I arrived in Charlotte unscathed from my two flights and headed to the ” ho ridden” Courtyard Marriott, though I didn’t see any ho’s. I ws immediately greeted by many of the Mizuno team, Reilly, Pluchos, Turd Ferguson and Jaqueezee. We all packed into a van and were about to leave when Pluchos reaches in his pocket and says ” I wonder what these keys are for?”. They were for the other van e almost left in Charlotte. Rick Patterson,Deter Pepperman and I jump in the other van and we all start the trek up to Boone.
Dave Patterson and I tag teamed a Wal Mart trip and and got all the provisions needed for 6 vans. $230 for all ! This is a great achievement as two years ago one van spent $300 on their own.
All 36 of us went to dinner and then outfitted the vans hitting the bed around midnight.
208 miles starts for vans 1 at 9 am. I’m in van 2 so I have until 12:00 or so.
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