Made It...Barely

Ran the Sendai Half Marathon on Sunday - short story, 1:49, managed not to re-injure the hamstring.

Sendai is 90 minutes from Tokyo by almost-non-stop bullet train, up near where the earthquake/tsunami was. It's a very nice city, with wide streets and lots of greenery.

The race is a fairly big one, about 8,000 in the Half, with some elite Japanese runners, including the popular Yuki Kawauchi who seems to have had an off day, running 1:08.

The weather was good, chilly early in the morning, then getting pretty warm by the 10:00 start and quite warm by noontime. Windy, but not too bad.

I went out at about the top pace I could handle for 21k, given that I'm out of shape, which was 4:45 per km (1:40 half). Held that for 9k, when I felt a twinge in the hamstring. Slowed to 5:00, felt another twinge at 10k, slowed to 5:15, then held that pretty much the rest of the way, although I walked at the water stops. Felt a few more twinges, the kind that tell you you had better not go any faster, but manged to get to the finish line with no damage done.

So it was an enjoyable trot through the city, but of course frustrating in that I was A) out of shape and B) forced to hold back.

Now I'll rest up for a while, then get into some good summer training to get in shape to run some good races in the fall. I will be back!