Sept. 9, 2018
1st 15.6 K: 1:37.11 (including a 2-minute sports drink break and rest, and couple of pee stops, and a few water stops)
2nd 15.6 K: 1:32.28 (including a couple of pee stops and water breaks)
Total 31.2 K: 3:09.40
Today marks the last weekend before Kohoh no Oka 20 K Road Race 2018 taking place on Sept. 16 in Yamanashi Prefecture, Japan. In order to build confidence to complete the race distance, I always run beyond the race distance. Last weekend I ran 25 K. This weekend I aimed at 30 K. If you can run 30 K like a breeze, you can run a shorter distance more easily. At least that's how I look at it.
I ran in MUTEKIs (below). They are split-toe minimalist shoes which protect your soles only with a 5-mm thick rubber sole. I wore them to simulate a race condition--running barefoot. At the same time injury must be definitely avoided. So they provide my soles with minimum protection.
I ran a shuttle course that's roughly 15 K. It starts from home, and ends with the Inage Beach facing the Tokyo Bay. There is a river flowing into the bay. I ran along it. There is a cycling road. But it's poorly lit. Much of the road is in complete darkness. From the 2 K to 5 K mark the road is unpaved. I thought I wouldn't have much trouble because I had biked through it many times before. But it wasn't that easy. I stumbled twice, once on a small step and the other a slight change in undulation. I couldn't see neither in the dark. I worried about the road ahead...
But from the 5 K mark on the road was paved, and it was smooth running. At 10:07 p.m. I was running near the 13 K mark, across the river from a condominium where my friend and his family lived. His daughter had just come back from a visit to Australia. I thought about their re-union and smiled.
The closer I got to the sea, the cooler the breeze became. I saw a number of runners and cyclists, as I went on, who were going on the opposite direction. A little more than an hour and a half I finally reached the bay, the 14.9 K from home. I turned left and ran on a cycling road that ran along the coast for extra 700 M. I knew there were vending machines somewhere down the road, and public toilets. I ran extra four minutes to finally find them. I bought a sports drink from one of the vending machines, and emptied it in less than a minute. I looked across the dark sea and small lights flickering on the far end of it. Nothing seemed more comforting than a quiet sea...
I didn't waste time, though, once I finished the sports drink. I went back the same route. On and on I went. Even after running more than 15 K, I was still full of running. If it had been an regular course that I always ran, I would not have felt so motivated. Variety is the spice of life. Also, the sea, the river, the forest, and even the grasshoppers and crickets chirping in the bush offered a beautiful environment in which running became not just a mundane activity to stay healthy, but almost a spiritual experience to be one with nature.
While I was running comfortably down the cycling road, though, I was asking myself whether I should go through the same unpaved part, where pain and discomfort was expected, or I should take a paved route to get around it. I decided to take the same route.
But when I finally reached the end of the paved part, and the unpaved one started, I immediately regretted my choice. The discomfort was indescribable to the legs that had already run 25 K. Each step was like a needle stubbed into the sole. I wanted to cry with pain. I was no longer enjoying the chirping of the insects. I was so focused on finishing the run. From the first half of the run, I knew that between the last 2 K and 3 K mark there was a part where the road surface was particularly rough, and the pain was significant even to the soles that were still fresh and intact. How painful could it be to the soles that were significantly sore from all the pounding? When I finally reached that point, the pain was so excruciating that I almost fainted. I had to walk instead of run from time to time. I tried to look for a smoother area as I went on, but the quality didn't change much wherever I took a step on. My heart sank with dismay. But giving up was a choice I was never able to make. I moved on. When the rough part was finally over, and I was back on a paved road, I wanted to cry with joy. Dragging lingering pain in the sole I picked up speed for a final surge. I ran over an overpass. I ran up an upward slope. I was thirsty. I thought of a park off the street where tap water was available. But I didn't want to slow down there. I pressed on. I was on a familiar street, leading straight back to my neighborhood. It was deserted. I was alone. I was breathing harder with each step. I kicked, took several sharp turns around corners, and then suddenly my house was in sight. I relaxed all of a sudden. Five seconds lager, I pressed the stop button on my Iron Man. It was over. The watch said 1:32:28. I achieved negative split. I was happy.
Once inside home, I emptied half of a 500ml bottle of water in a few seconds. But it didn't quench my thirst enough. I ate two whole peaches and a pear. I had the remaining half the bottle of water. I finally felt satisfied.
As I took a cool shower, I massaged both of my calves. There weren't as tense as I thought they would be. There was no joint pain. It was a pain-free run in terms of joints and muscles. Only the soles were pained from time to time. But there was no lingering pain once I finished running. I was relieved.
The hardest training session is over. I feel satisfied with the result. The only job left is to give myself a good rest. After climbing into my futon, I bent my knee to stretch my thigh. I did it for both legs. It felt a bit painful at first, but then was soon replaced with a refreshing feeling. Sporadic views of scenes from the practice run came back to my mind, and disappeared. And before I knew, I was deep asleep.
The next morning when I woke up, my alarm clock said almost 11:00 a.m., and I found out that I slept like a baby for ten hours non-stop.
After having some cold water from the fridge, I knew what I had to do first. I quickly got changed, and swung my leg over the saddle of my Kawasaki Vulcan S 650, and turned the throttle to head for Ikinari Steak near JR Sakura Station.
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