Running

Regular readers may recall I ran the Tokyo marathon two years ago and I swore afterwards I would never run one again. It has taken a while but the I have the running bug again. I entered two races in the past few months and got some decent times.
In the Golden week holidays in May I entered the Shinshuu Nakagawa half marathon. Nakagawa is a tiny village literally meaning "in the river" and it is mainly rice fields sitting in the middle of a river surrounded by the Japanese alps. The views were amazing. I was the only non-Japanese competitor. I ran the 21.0975km in 1 hr 48 mins 21 seconds and came about 100th out of 800 runners. The villagers were very friendly and I got some free farm produce as a prize for finishing.
Last weekend (21st June 2009) I ran the Norikura Sky marathon with my friend Gary. Again we were the only non-Japanese competitors. It is a marathon up Mount Norikura on the Ecoline road which is the highest public road in Japan and closed for most of the year due to snow. The day of the race it was pouring with rain so they reduced the course length from 30km to 23km. The course started at the Norikura visitors centre by the ski resort at 1500 metres altitude and went up for 15km to an altitude of 2700km. Towards the top there is still snow left over from the winter and it was amazing view. The last 8km you turn round and go downhill back the same way. The views of the snow corridor, the mountain scenary and waterfulls full to bursting in the rain were breathtaking and the race was tough but intense. I exceded my expecations and ran in 2 hrs 29 mins 59 seconds to finish 392nd out of 1150 runners and ahead of Gary. I think I might enter a full marathon again.....