Marathon

The big day

I woke up early Saturday morning and went to the computer to call my family. Of course, no one was online but shortly thereafter I got a message from K asking if we could leave soon for Miyazaki. I threw my bag in the car and as soon as she arrived we left to pick up E in Beppu. K went for a massage while we grabbed lunch then it was a hurried rush to the train. Got on just in time!

Pre-race pump

The train ride proved to be more interesting than planned because while we were examining our marathon paperwork and memorizing when the water breaks would occur in the race the person across the aisle popped over and asked in perfect English if we would be participating in the race. We had seen him examining his own set of paperwork earlier so we knew he was participating but we didn’t realize he could speak English. Turns out he is a surgeon in Oita and spent some time in America doing his PhD research so he spoke fluent English. K and E were pretty pooped so they spent most of the ride sleeping/zoning out so I spoke to him for most of the train ride. It was so nice to talk so science for once! He does micro-metastasis research on primarily lung and breast cancer but since he owns a family clinic in Oita doesn’t have much time to do his research. I learned so much because I got the chance to ask about medical practice and the way the system works in Japan and ask about medical school and the like from someone who knows about the system. I wish we could skip university and combine bachelor’s with doctoral exams into a single six year program! We got to talking about health and I mentioned my ulcer and he even offered to let me come see him for a second consult. I might take him up on it!

Got off the train, checked into the hostel and then went about finding dinner. The doctor (who is a marathon veteran!) recommended a carb fest so just like when I was in high school before a big meet, we went to an Italian restaurant and ate all the pasta and bread we could handle. All the while watching “Meet Joe Black” and chatting about how all the waiters were acting like they hadn’t ever seen a white person before (que Eminem). It was an overall great dinner and we left feeling full and happy - good way to go to sleep before your first marathon!

Those frowns aren't faked. We felt like crap waddling to the bus.

On the way back to the hostel we were taking pictures and the first foreigner we had seen stopped us and showed us his bar. He seemed nice enough and the bar was cool but it was EMPTY. The restaurant had been too - we are talking more wait staff than customers. We asked him how he kept the business going considering it was a Saturday night and there were hardly any people in the restaurant. He responded saying he doesn’t and plans on closing before the end of the year... kind of sad. Miyazaki is clearly not the thriving metropolis. That was until we walked down a shady street and found the youth culture consisting of a bunch of sketchy bars, rap music and wannabe gangsters. Interesting little subculture we stumbled upon.

Woke up race day morning feeling grouchy but not miserable. We hadn’t slept much because the men next door were up late and their light shined into our beds. They also woke up at 3 in the morning whereas we weren’t planning on waking up until 5:50. Took a taxi to the race because fighting off the other 12,000+ participants to get on a bus or train would have just been too stressful. Dr.’s orders were to book a taxi the night before so we did and it worked out great!

Got to the stadium and registered and by this time we were feeling a little self-conscious about all the staring we were receiving and we still hadn’t seen another foreigner so we began to draw some interesting conclusions. When I checked in though it was a huge group of middle school boys who gave me the information and they immediately asked in perfect English where I was from. I told them America and they flipped out literally jumping up and down screaming “WE LOVE AMERICA!” This forced me to reconsider my opinions about the lack of foreigners in the city though I still hadn’t actually seen one. I got my T-shirt from the other end of the booths and the girls there said “Here you are, have a nice race” also in perfect English. K and E had had much the same experiences and when we met up with all our materials we decided that everyone in Miyazaki must actually secretly speak English and that the few foreigners who must live there either don’t ever leave their homes or we just weren’t lucky enough to catch sight of them. Either way, they must be excellent teachers or they just lucked out with awesome kids.

I didn't know the power rangers were coming!

Lined up for the race about two hours after arriving and while shoved into a thick crowd of people heard the whistle blow and... couldn’t move anywhere for another three minutes. It took up almost four minutes to actually pass the starting line and it was one of the most amazing things I have ever seen. Around 2K we started up a bridge because the route took up down the by-pass (Japanese version of a highway) where they had re-routed traffic to give us the entire road. From the bottom of the hill you could look up and see this giant mass of people moving in a throng up the ramp. I remembered going to Next Big Thing back in Tampa while I was high school student and seeing 10,000 people all gathered in a big park to listen to rock music and seeing the Gator stadium filled to the brim with 90,000+ people dressed in orange and blue but this was something entirely different. It took my breath away for a moment - at least until my legs reminded my lungs that they needed air to keep moving. First of all, there were 8,001 participants in the full marathon - including four Olympic runners. All ages, sizes and shapes but all except about 10 were Japanese. I couldn’t believe it! A mass of black heads and multi colored shirts swarming up a hill together, running. There were numerous occasions in that first 10K where you could see the swarm in its entirety both ahead and (I assume) behind and I will never forget how inspiring it was.

Some of the characters who ran - they didn't do the marathon

Around 15K the course changed, we were running down the downtown boulevard, which was closed on both sides to traffic and we turned right into this labyrinth of runners. The path wound in a way I can only show with a picture. It was really cool because while I was running in the first line, there were runners in all three of the other lines around me. When I entered the turnabout (?) the farthest right lane was thinly distributed with the fastest of the runners. I actually saw the fastest few only once when they passed us in the beginning of the route. I was on about 10K when they were at around 21K. They didn’t even look winded! I found out later four of those runners had been invited and two had Olympic medals! Wow.

The rest of the race passed in a mix of pain and euphoria as I passed by mile marker after mile marker knowing how much closer I was to finishing. You never know what you are capable of until you pass by the finish line at 31K and know you still have 6 miles left! I want to say I hit a runner’s high and just soared through the race but it wouldn’t be entirely true. The first 25K were great, the next 10 were hell then biting back a lot of pain I just ran my heart out until it was over.

I was a lot more tired than I look

I don’t know if I will ever run another one but I finished. 4 hours, 48 minutes and 12 seconds later. I still can’t believe I did it but it is certainly true that our bodies are capable of amazing things. I think if you are masochistic enough, everyone should try to run one of these things once in their life. Now, back to my soreness and classes!