Ekidens Are Fun

Week of Nov. 28 ~ Dec. 4

Ran: 0/15/7.6/0/0/5/6.5 - 34.1km / 21 mi. 2:52

Easy week...sore butt...ekiden on Sunday.

Monday
Rest

Tuesday
11:30 - Machines and core at the gym.
3:00 - 15k in 1:15:21 @5:01/k
27:16/24:41/23:24 @5:27/4:56/4:41
Pace according to plan. Felt good.
Weather: 16C/61F
Weight: 61.7kg

Wednesday
7:30pm - 5,000m time trial at the track.
20:24 3:53/4:04/01/11/13
Planned about 19:30, but both buttocks were sore, so took it easier. From yesterday's run and last week's soreness not completely healed.

Thursday
Rest - sore when walking.

Friday
Rest (also cold rain)

Saturday
5k very easy in 29:54 - tomorrow is a race.

Sunday
Okutama Ekiden. The 73rd running of this race, the second oldest ekiden in Japan (oldest is Hakone - the university New year's ekiden). It's out in the countryside west of Tokyo - mountains, river, old houses...nice scenery. Namban has been running it since 1988 and this year we upped our presence with 3 men's teams (6 members each) and 3 women's teams (3 members each). The men's course is 44.4km and the women's is 11.1 (an old-school ekiden). I ran the third leg, which is 6.5k of rolling hills, more up than down. I felt good and ran pretty well. 26:00 or 4:00 per km, not bad for a net uphill course. I passed three guys and got passed by two..and almost caught another. i also passed one university kid! (different division but running together). The Namban teams were pretty equal so we had some competition, which was fun. My team was second of the three.
After the race we went to our traditional sushi place and watched the last part of the Fukuoka marathon on TV.

Next week a bit of rest and then start training for the Tokyo Marathon (Feb. 26th)