Entering Races

Beyond some of the big marathons, such as Tokyo and Kobe, few races in Japan have application forms and entry systems in English. I’m not yet ready for another marathon, so finding some local races over distances shorter than the marathon is my immediate priority. Nothing sharpens up training better than having some races and goal times to aim for. I also like racing.

I’m used to being able to enter most races on the day in the UK. Typically, I would just turn up at a race venue HQ an hour before the start of a race, fill in a short form and hand over a couple of pounds and secure an entry. For a small number of more popular races, like The Leeds Abbey Dash, on-line applications and a debit card payment is the norm. By contrast, race entries in Japan close at least one month before race day, and often earlier. Race organisers almost never accept race day entries. Races are usually advertised on Japanese only language websites, of which there are three main sites (see bottom of this post for links). Japan is still a largely cash based society, so most race organisers allow applicants to pay the race entry fee at a local convenience store like a 7-11, using a paper application form filled out in Japanese.

I realised that I would need to ask for help if I wanted to get back into racing any time soon. Therefore, I’ve enlisted the aid of some work colleagues to research and enter some races. So far, I’ve managed to enter or get entry forms for:-

• The Kyoto Tamba 5K race on 3^rd November.
• The Kameoka Road Race 10K on 1^st January 2014
• Uji River Marathon 10K on 23^rd February 2014
• Kyoto City Half Marathon Road Race on 16^th March 2014

The Kyoto Tamba 5KM will be my first race for four months, and more importantly, my first experience of racing in Japan. Having had a disappointing year of running, with only two races under my belt, the next few months are starting to look promising.

 

http://runnet.jp/runtes/

http://www.sportsentry.ne.jp/search/top/all

http://www.tecnoplan.co.jp/tecnet/

 

Uji

I was invited by the Vice-Principal of one of the schools that I work at to watch the school baseball team play a crunch weekend qualifying match in Uji, a famous city and tourist hotspot that I hadn’t had the good fortune to visit previously. Baseball is also the main national sport in Japan. I’d never seen a game before. So I eagerly took up the invitation.

Seeing the dedication, focus and teamwork of the students as the game unfolded at Uji Sports Park was impressive. During an interval in the game, I tried to seek a brief respite from the sun, there being no shade in the sports stands. As I sat in the shade eating an ice-cream, I spotted a teenage boy strolling towards me wearing a vest, to which was pinned a four digit number, held on by safety pins and wearing a pair of shorts. Realizing that there must be a running meet nearby, I headed off, hoping to find a running track. I quickly found one. It’s the first time I’ve seen a tartan track in Japan.

There were a huge number of junior athletes, much more than I’d usually see at a weekend track meet in the UK. I watched a junior boys 3000M race. This is a track distance that I’ve raced many times and is one of my favourite events. The boys looked about 13-14 years of age. There was a big field of around 20 runners. The first lap was at a blistering pace. The pace of the front pack of 3 boys quickly settled down to 82-84 secs per lap for laps 2-6. By the start of final lap, one of the leading pack had been dropped and the two remaining runners were shoulder to shoulder as they went through the bell. They hurtled around the last bend, still side by side. At 80 metres to go, one boy found an extra gear and motored to the finish line with a 2 second advantage. The last lap was run in an impressive 68 seconds. As I walked back to the baseball game I found a renewed sense of determination to get back to racing ways in the near future.

Byodoin Temple, which features on the back of the 10 Yen coin, is in Uji. It was to this landmark that I headed to after the baseball game. Uji is also famous for its green tea. There is a row of green tea themed shops just behind the Byodoin Temple where you can eat green tea noodles, green tea ice cream and green tea sweets. I spotted green tea flavoured Kit Kats. And of course, you can drink it. Me and missus tried green tea ice-cream and had a drink of the stuff.

Feeling well refreshed and with the air cooling as the evening approached, I went for a run along the banks of the river that cuts through the town, dividing it into two halves. It is a popular place to run. I spotted several lone runners along the temple and tree lined route. There are several pedestrian bridges across the river, the first being built in 646, making it easy to turn this into a looping run along both river banks. The Tales of Genji, which is said to be the world’s first ever novel, written in 1021, has ten chapters that are set along the banks of the River Uji. I passed numerous statues and plaques that mark locations mentioned in the novel.

 

It was dark by the time I returned to the car at the end of the run. I set my mind to returning at some point to Uji, as I’d love to see more of this historical and culturally rich city. Also, having now done a couple of weeks of base training, slowly building up the mileage, I realized that it’s time to start preparing to return to competitive racing.

Yagi

A tropical storm hit Kyoto Prefecture this weekend. The rain was heavy. So much so that there were severe weather warnings and reports of landslides and rivers bursting banks. Being a Bank Holiday Monday, I’d made plans to travel to the coast, which were swiftly cancelled. Looking for somewhere new to run, that was local, I headed to Yagi.

Yagi is a small town best known for its annual fireworks display, which takes place during the Obon festival in August of each year. Being two train stops away from where I live, I went to see the festivities on the banks of the River Oi last month.  I thought it would all be over in 15 minutes (UK style). It lasted for an hour, and it was truly spectacular.

 

Taking a steady run along the banks of the river and around the town this afternoon, the silt and debris strewn across the paths was evidence of overnight flooding. The river was a raging torrent. I came across several car loads of local people that had driven down to the river out of curiosity.

The weather forecast looks promising for next weekend, so I may be able to venture up to the coast.
 

 

Running Clubs

One of the things that I enjoy most about running is running with other people. Ten years ago, I moved to the North East of England to start my first graduate job. I didn’t know anybody in Morpeth, the town that I’d moved to. I joined Morpeth Harriers AC a few weeks after starting the new job. It was one of the best things I have ever done. I met a lot of very interesting people, spent many hours running in a beautiful part of the world, and made life-long friends. So it was that, when the decision was taken to move to Japan a few months ago, I hoped that I could find another group of runners to train with.

Sonobe, the small town in Japan that I now live, doesn’t have a running club. However, twice a week, I work at Shuchi Senior High School, which is about 10 miles from Sonobe. One of the teachers is a former professional runner. Let’s call her Mrs N. As far as I can understand it, promising young runners in Japan get hired by big companies like Toyota and Mitsubishi and put on the company payroll. They train together as a team and are entered into individual and team competitions, representing their company. So she did that for several years before retiring from professional running and turning her hand to PE teaching. Mrs N has a track and field club at Shuchi SHS. She has established a national reputation in Japan for producing superb junior runners. When she asked me to join in with her club sessions twice a week after work, I jumped at the chance.

I tentatively tried my first session this week. Due to a major school event held that day, only one student, Mr Y, was going to be running. Before we set off, Mrs N mentioned that he has represented Kyoto Prefecture at national running meets, and at 15 years old, has a 3000M track PB of 9:20. So I knew it was going to be a tough session, and it didn’t disappoint! Shuchi SHS is the oldest agricultural school in Japan. It also has the largest school site in Kyoto Prefecture. The session consisted of doing 11 intervals around a 1.1KM course around the school. Now, my Japanese language skills are still at a very basic level, and Mr Y’s English is at a similar basic level. I did understand Mr Y perfectly though when at the start of the last lap he turned to me, raised one finger and said “ichi-lap”, meaning 1 lap was remaining. I had to dig deep to hang on to him right from the start of the session. After it was over, I was elated with that feeling that you only get after a hard session during which you’d had to dig deep within yourself to keep going.

Mr Y enjoyed it too. It was the first time he’d ever run with a Gaijin (non-Japanese person). With his level of talent, he has every prospect of getting more opportunities to do so with an international call-up at some point in the future.  

Running in Japan

 

 

As you might expect in a country known as the land of the rising sun, training during the peak of summer in Japan is a challenge when you parachute in from the more tepid climes of Northumberland, UK. For the first two weeks that I spent in Kyoto Prefecture, my new home, the daily high was 38C.

I have been fortunate enough to find a fairly well maintained cinder track, which is only 10 minutes slow jogging time away from my apartment. This bodes well for future plans of training and PB breaking ways. However, the heat and humidity has so far made it impossible to stick to the training schedule and split times that my UK based coach has been emailing out to me.  Talking to the locals, they’ve said that this has been an exceptionally hot summer in Japan. Temperatures are expected to cool to more manageable levels, in October.