Nov. 17, 2019
On Nov. 17, 2019 the Yotsukaido Gas Light 10 K Road Race took place in Yotsukaido, Chiba. I ran it in bare feet, and finished at 44:18. The time is average, but the context of the race was unique in that two weeks later I was expecting a full marathon. I had never had a full marathon so close from the race. It caused me a lot of inner conflicts that I wasn't aware of. Here is what happened and how I coped with it.
First, I was going to go for a new PR this year. Last year I ran a 41:02. I was confident I could do better if I trained well. I did some intensive hill intervals to prepare for the race. A week before the race, I test-ran the course just for a mental rehearsal. While running, with a couple of kilometers remaining, I felt a nasty pain in my left calf. I walked awhile, and then ran again, but the pain wouldn't go away. I managed to run the remaining distance, but while riding my scooter back home, I was worried that the pain might not go away until the race day.
From the following day on, I stopped running, while doing some body weight core training to keep my cardio active and stay fit.
The morning of the race, the pain was still there. I was ready to cancel it, but went to the venue anyway, because two friends from my high school days were running, and I wanted to cheer them on even if I didn't run.
Once I got to the venue, saw my friends, and soaked up the festive atmosphere, though, I just couldn't control my urge to hit the road. So I decided to run. But since the pain was still lingering, my purpose of running was no longer time, but just to check my form and to run without causing much strain to the pained part in the calf.
Last year I started from the front corral for fast runners. This year I settled for a much slower corral to just to keep talking to with my friends from high school until the moment of the start. Running a fast race was no longer on my mind.
The gun went off, and runners flew through the first downhill. I ran with Akira, who ran a sub-3 marathon in his late twenties. I was surprised that once the race began, the pain in the left calf that had previously worried me so much seemed to fade away. I cruised along the street like a rolling stone.
The pain in the left calf continued to be no problem for the rest of the first half, and I continued to increase pace to overtake one runner after another who was now paying the price of the fast pace in the first few kilometers.
Between 5.5 and 6 K or so, there is a long downhill that received a lot of sun. I hammered down it for time gain. I was surprised at what I was doing. I was trying to run fast!
Once I got to the bottom of the downhill, I turned left, and there was a long stretch that lasted almost two kilometers. I slowed down slight at first because the road was going up a little. I tried to let my heart rates come down to recover from the latest surge.
I ran carefully not to injure my left calf, and it worked. When I made the last left turn into the final stretch to the finish, I was almost pain-free, though slight tension was building in both of my calves, which seemed inevitable.
The last stretch was one long downhill, one steep uphill, another long down hill, and another long uphill, and then a flat road to the finish. Considering the energy that I would need to attach the forthcoming two uphills, I didn't bang down the first downhill as aggressively as I had done the previous one near the 6 K mark. Then came the first of the two uphills. I swerved to the right to run on the yellow paint in the center of the road. The surface was smoother there. I took shorter strides for running economy, but by then building fatigue was making my breathing difficult, so I had to significantly compromise on speed when going down the second downhill not only because of the increasingly difficult breathing but also poorly-maintained road surface.
The poor road condition remained while going up the last uphill and also on the last stretch leading to the finish line as well. I was hoping to surge there, but with the difficult breathing I had to settle for a rather average pace. I crossed the finish line with both my arms thrown into the air with joy!
My time wouldn't be so good, considering the slow pace in the first few kilometers. Plus, it wasn't the main purpose today after all.
In no time Akira returned. And several minutes later Sakata, the other friend from my high school days came back. We exchanged high fives, and walked back to the gym to get changed.
On our way there we went through a tent where finishers' certificates were given. I received mine. It said 44:18. I smiled, remembering the days when I first started running. Back then no matter how hard I ran, running under 45 minutes always seemed rather difficult to achieve. I pat myself on the shoulder for my personal growth over the years. Through commitment and hard work even an aging man can train to run faster.
After crossing the finish line some runners came to me to say hi and ask how my feet were. There was just one other barefoot runner in the race. I talked to him when I overtook him. He came to me because he wanted to get a photo taken with me. I was honored.
Another person who wanted to chat with me was a young boy who looked like a high school student. He excited told me that he was following me all throughout the race. I shook hands with him, saying, "You are a young man. Young men can do anything. You should run barefoot someday." He didn't say yes, but excitedly smiled as he left.
After the race Akira invited me and Sakata to his home near the venue. We wined and dined for three hours, updating each other and discussing some exciting things around our lives. I am glad I have such good friends to run and talk with.
To be continued...
