Yo! So I just completed my 3rd half-marathon (20K) road race this year. This one was up in a town called Fujiyoshida, also near Mt. Fuji. This one was by far the most challenging yet. The hills were brutal! Part of the race goes along a path through the forest, with the first leg of the race going up a continuous uphill route. I thought it would never end. But then it lead to a downhill run on a highway, which sounds good, but it was actually too much of a good thing. I used a lot of leg muscles that I haven't been training very well. Nothing short of running up and down Mt. Fuji herself could really prepare you adequately for all the hills on this course. But I finished it, and in good time too. I haven't received my official time, but I saw 1 hour, 48 min on the clock as I passed the finish line. That's about 2 minutes better than my last run. Here's a few pre-run photos:
And here's a few finish line photos:
Yeah - it's always good to bring a set of dry clothes to change into at the end. The weather was ok, a few degrees cooler than Tokyo/Yokohama, especially in the shaded forest areas, but there were a couple parts where it was wide open dirt roads which were dry, dusty, and hot. "Hi-Matsuri", by the way, means "fire festival", an annual event in that town. Unfortunately, we left by 1pm, so no chance to see any of the revelry. We did however get to partake of some famous summer foods such as udon noodles and fresh cucumbers with miso paste from some of the vendors. Now I have the Kyoho-no-Oka Run (through the grape fields of Yamanashi) on 16 Sep and the Turtle Run (along the Arakawa riverbed in Tokyo) on 21 Oct to look forward to. Wish me luck!
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