Sunday, February 3rd 2019
Morimoto Hospital Team
Hiroshima Prefecture
ONDO City
A week ago was one of the first races have been in since injuring ankle 5 years ago. Somehow 5 years has already gone by since tearing my ankle ligament. I ran this race 5 years ago (2014) with Doi-chan's team and here is the Strava data from that.
https://www.strava.com/activities/110998842
2014 Blog
This year we made a team for Dr. Morimoto's Hospital and here was our roster:
1. Yuuta Fujimoto (Carp staff friend)
2. Ryou Numata (Fujimoto's friend)
3. Jordan Langen
4. Daniel Matson
5. Yoshiaki Mesaki (Miho's husband)
6. Norifumi Nagata
7. Daisuke Satou (Sayaka's husband)
This was my second time running this race and kind of new what to expect. Was bummed that haven't been able to much training and speedwork leading into it but was happy just to be able to participate in the event with everyone who was running their first ekiden race.
Decided to cut out alcohol and sweets for the week leading up to the race and it actually seemed to trim off some of the extra fat have been carrying around.
It was fun talking with Yuma's friend Ryou before we started and we went out and did a quick warm-up together. Did a separate little w/u after that to get the legs moving and waited for the number 2 runner to pass of the sash to me. Had been feeling nervous/excited about finally running. The nostalgia that was induced from this race...
Our runner came in 12th and passed of the sash.
Felt very good at the start and had no idea what the pace was. Wasn't thinking about anything else other than trying to run as quick as possible and stay relaxed. Don't have a GPS watch anymore and borrowed watch to another runner on our team hah. Was just running by feel and trying to hang on to whatever pace I could until saw the bridge, then hang onto dear life for just a little longer. Morimoto-sensei was about half-way through the race cheering and taking pictures on the right-hand side. Was very happy he came to cheer me on and found out later that he has ran the 3rd segment of the relay race many times when he was younger. Passed 5 runners including a guy from IHI. Remember it was misting out and was so hot that wish that it would have started raining harder. Finally saw the Hayase Bridge and time seemed to go by quicker than expected. Danny was waiting for the 4th section and it was fun to pass of the sash to him and see him off.
After finishing, went back to the start in ONDO and waited for the rest of our team to come back . Saw Daisuke finish and he seemed be light/quick on his feet. Our team ended up finishing 10th place out of 20 teams in the open division. None of our runners received any awards so we left without attended the awards ceremony.
Here are the 2019 results:
Daisuke, Yoshiaki, Danny and I went to the Clayton Bay Hotel and ate a bento real quick in the lobby before getting in the super luxary baths. Happy Danny could make it to the hotspring sesh after. After finishing bathing, we went to the Kure Kaigun Beer place with the Morimoto Family and enjoyed delicious craft beers and Kure foods. It was the first beer in a week and boy did it taste good!
Overall, was surprised with the pace was able to keep for this short race.
3.8km
2014: 12:00
2019: 12:35
Was running quite a bit before running the 2014 ekiden so am happy to see haven't lost much fitness in 5 years. Just need to get some more intervals in and would be back to the same pace. Will be getting 1st place in the 3rd section of the relay next year!!! Will also try to recruit some fast runners!
Am very grateful for being able to do events like this again. Have realized that the ankle will never return to it's original condition before the injury but am happy to be able to do what I can now.
Have been getting stronger from working with the construction company in Kurahashi. Some days am shoveling almost 8 hours. Haven't been going to yoga that much but need to go more often!
Looking forward to participating in next race! To be decided..
