I
haven’t updated this blog for a couple of weeks as my computer was broken. In
that time I have ran in two races.
On
23rd November I did a 10K in Nagai Park, Osaka. It was two and a
half laps of a pedestrianized road inside the park. The 10K start line was 400
metres behind the half-marathon field, with both races starting at the same
time. So it was bit tricky getting past the half-marathon runners, with a lot
of weaving about being necessary. The day was unseasonably warm and there were
huge crowds milling about relaxing in the park as well. I ran at the front of
the 10K field from the start, though was quickly joined by one other runner. We
stayed together throughout the race. I made a bid for glory at the end of the
second lap, but the other runner caught me and put in a nice sprint finish to
take the race in 35 minutes 6 seconds. I finished second in 35 minutes 19
seconds, which is also the second fastest time I’ve ever ran a 10K, though its
well outside my PB.
On 14th December I ran my last race of 2014, and my first Japan Masters Athletics race. There were two races, a 5K and 10k, with both fields starting together, in Kyoto City along a hard packed sand path beside the Kamogawa River. Soon after the race started there were three runners in the lead pack, including myself, though I didn’t know whether the other two runners were in the 10K or 5K. I tried to hang on to them but after we turned around a cone at 2.5K to head back to the start line, they opened up a gap on me. As I approached the 5K mark and start/finish line, I could see the other two runners cross the line and stop: so they were racing the 5K! I turned around and headed back the way I had just came, knowing now that I had a clear lead in the 10K. It was a narrow path at points and plenty of dog walkers, cyclists and joggers about, and with three turns in the race, it wasn’t a particularly fast race. I crossed the finish line in 36 minutes 5 seconds. A journalist from the Kyoto Shimbun newspaper interviewed me after the race and it was published in the paper the following weekend.
