This is a true story of a Japanese man who was attracted by Taiwan and marathon, and made a great effort on one marathon race in Pingtung.

2022年10月16日　屏東マラソン
総合10位入賞までの軌跡
練習は嘘をつかないことを証明するために
October 16th 2022 Pingtung marathon
The story of running the 10th place of all.
To prove that “ No human is limited “.

昔からマラソンを見るのが好きだった。一瞬一瞬にストーリーやドラマを感じた。高橋尚子さんのシドニーオリンピックのレースは100回以上見た。彼女の言う、「すごく楽しい42.195キロでした」という言葉がどういうものなのか、自分でも感じてみたいと思うようになった。
それがマラソンを始めた理由だろう。
2020年7月24日に本格的にマラソン練習を始めた。台湾に来てからランニングマシーンを使い10キロ走るということはしていたが、大会に向けてというわけではなかった。だから、2020年の7月24日、41歳になる3日前に、マラソンランナーとしての第一歩を踏み出した。
I’ve been attracted by the marathon race since I was an elementary school student.
I felt the effort of each runner when I saw the every moment of the marathon race.
The Sydney Olympics women’s marathon in which a Japanese runner named Naoko Takahashi got a gold medal had a great impact on me. Her words, “ I really enjoyed this 42.195 kilometers race” impressed me and I began to think I want to feel myself what she meant by it .
This is maybe the reason why I started the marathon.
I started the serious marathon training on July 24th in 2020, which was just three days before my 41st birthday.

前日、夫ともし明日10位までに入れたら屏東の蔵寿司を食べに行こうと話す。13:50に予約する。もし10位以内に入れなければキャンセルもできるからと。
入れなければケンタッキーに行くことにする。断然蔵寿司がいい。果たしてどうなるか。
On the previous day of this year’s Pingtung marathon, I talked with my husband that if I finished the race within the 10th place, let’s go to eat sushi at Kurazushi near our house, if not , let’s just go to Kentucky fried chicken. Of course we both wanted to eat sushi so much.
What will the result be?

屏東マラソンは家から最も近い大会。そして2020年11月22日に初マラソン4:19:42で総合141位になった思い出深い大会。その時は33キロから歩いてしまい、マラソンの厳しさを味わった。
Pingtung marathon is the nearest race from our house. Two years ago I tried my first marathon race at Pingtung marathon and resulted in 4:19:42 the 141 place of all. I remember clearly I started walking at 33 kilometers and felt that marathon is like a hell.

そして、今年の大会、7月30日の台南マラソンで痛感したスピード不足を補うため、8,9月とスピード練習のみを実施。10月2日の緑島マラソンでは逆にスタミナ不足を痛感し、その後スタミナ練習7、スピード練習3の割合で実施。その成果を出したいところ。
そして42キロの中で入りの1キロと22〜31キロ、特に28キロが今まで落ち込みが一番激しいため、ここを意識して臨む。
At the Tainan marathon on July 30th, I felt my speed was not good enough because some fast women runners passed me and I couldn’t even keep up with them.So, I did only the speed training in August and September. At the Green Island marathon on 10/2, on the contrary, I felt my stamina was not good enough because after the half point my speed became slower and slower.So after that I did my training at the rate of 70% stamina and 30% speed.
At this Pingtung marathon I made the strategy that the first kilometer and 22-31 kilometers would be the key.

天候は曇り、時々小雨も降る自分にとって絶好の気候。さらにコースは2年前に経験し、起伏がそれほどなく走りやすい。
It was cloudy and a little rainy on the day which was the best condition for me.Besides, I knew the course because I ran the same race two years ago.

スタートの号砲とともに、少しスピードを上げる。自分が今何位なのかを確認するため。フル、ハーフ同時スタートのため、30番目くらいがフル10位前後だと予測、入りのスピードアップで、自分が15番目くらいであることを確認してから、30番目前後になるまで、意図的にペースを少しダウン。この作戦が実り、課題だった入りの1キロを4:15、次が4:17と最高の滑り出し。しかし、3キロ目から4:27、4:34とペースが落ちてしまう。
As soon as the race started, I speeded up a little for the purpose of knowing my place at the moment. Because the Pingtung marathon , full and half marathon started at the same time , so I guessed that about the 30th place of all would be the 10th place of the full marathon runners.I started the race at about the 15th place, then changed the speed a little bit to make myself at about the 30th place of all. The first kilometer was 4:15, and the next 4:17 which was the ideal start, but the following 4:27,4:34.

何人かに抜かされる中で、4キロ過ぎに3、4人の集団に追いつかれる。確認すると中山公園で一緒に走ったことがある選手たち。これは絶好の機会だと思い、後ろに付かせてもらう。これが功を奏し、ここから10キロ過ぎまで4分20秒台の絶好のペースで進む。集団走の効果もあり、かなり楽に感じる。このままずっと行きたいと思っていたところ、まさかの事態が。
Some runners passed me and at about 4 kilometers point, a few runners’ group caught me. I noticed that they were the guys I’ve run together at Pingtung park track field.I found it a good chance and started running with them. The pace was 4:20-4:30 until 10 kilometers and thanks to the group running, I felt comfortable and wanted to keep running with them.
However, something I didn’t guess happened.

11キロ前後のハーフ折り返しで、一緒に走っていた選手たちが全員折り返してしまう。フルは自分一人で、まさかの単独走になってしまう。前の選手は全く見えないし、後ろも来てる気配なし。予期せぬ展開にペースも15キロ時点4:57まで落ちてしまう。
At the 11 kilometers point , the half marathon runners would turn back the course and the full marathon runners would keep running straight. At this point all of the runners who I was running with all turned back. Only I was a full marathon runner, so I had to run by myself from this point.I couldn’t see any runners before me and didn’t feel any runners coming after me . My pace became slower and slower, 4:57 at the 15 kilometers point.

この時、前に選手が見えてきた。姿がどんどん大きくなり、追いつけるところまで迫る。勢い的には先に行けそうだったが、まだ先が長いことと、単独走を避けたい理由で、後ろに付かせてもらう。彼のペースは絶妙で4:45前後で進む。単独走の後ということもあり、かなり楽に感じる。22キロ前後で彼が「我沒力氣了，你先跑」と言う。心の中でここまで引っ張ってくれた感謝とエールを送り、先に行かせてもらう。
Soon after that, I saw a runner in front of me .I caught up, but because I wanted to save my stamina, I started running just behind him. His pace was superbly good, 4:45 around.I felt comfortable after running by myself. At the 22 kilometers point, he suddenly said to me “ I don’t have energy anymore, you’d better run before me” I said in my heart that “thank you for running before me for about 6 kilometers and cheer up for the rest of the race “

ハーフを過ぎてからの単独走は辛いが、ここがポイントとなる22〜31キロだと思い、必死にペースを刻む。結果33キロまで4:46〜5:03の今までの大会にはない良いペースで進む。
Running by myself after the half point was very hard , but this 22-31 kilometers was the key , so tried my best to keep the speed. As a result during 22-33 kilometers , my speed was 4:46-5:03, which I’d never did at the other races.

しかし34キロから4分台が出せなくなる。それでもゴールまで5:05-5:21で我慢出来たのは、ここ2週間の練習の成果だろう。
However, after 34 kilometers, I couldn’t keep with 5:00 pace. Even so I still kept 5:05-5:21 pace until the finishing point .
Maybe this is a good result of my these two weeks’ training.

35キロ過ぎに総合9位の王さんに追いつかれ、付いて行くことが出来なかった。しかし給水でほぼ立ち止まらないことを利用して、3人ほど抜く。しばらく走り、先程の王さんと総合8位の選手に抜かれ、これ以上は抜かれたくないと必死に走る。
After the 35 kilometers point, the 9th place finisher, Mr. Wang passed me, I didn’t have any energy left to keep up with him . However, at the drink station, because I didn’t stop there so long, I passed a few runners. After that , Mr.Wang who just passed me before and a guy who finished the race at the 8th place passed me. I didn’t want another runner to pass me , and ran my best .

この時、自分が何番目を走ってるか分からず、ただペースから行って10位以内に入れる可能性があると思い、ペースを刻む。
At the moment, I didn’t know at the which place I was running. From the pace I was running, I felt I would have an opportunity to finish within the 10th place.

38キロから足が何回か攣りそうになる。後少しだから、耐えてくれと祈りながら歩を進める。
ゴールが見え、あと100メートルのところで足がついに攣ってしまう。足を引きずるようにして何とかゴール。3:23:52という結果に大きな喜びを感じる。そしてすぐにスタッフの女の子が総合10位だという札を渡してくれた。この時初めてついに、ついに、長年の夢だった総合入賞できたことを知る。
蔵寿司も無事に食べられ、夫と最高の祝賀会になった。
From the 38 kilometers point I was almost getting a leg cramp.I prayed that the race was only 4 kilometers more, my legs, please keep running some more.
I saw the finishing point, at the 100 meters to the goal , I got a leg cramp. I dragged my leg and reached the finishing point finally. My record was 3:23:52 which was of course my race record. Female staff passed me the card which showed I was the 10th place finisher.So happy about it, my dream for a long time finally came true. Sushi my husband and I ate was so delicious, it was a great celebration for us .

靴はアディダスのアディオスプロ3を使用。後半も足が残る感じを体感できとても最高のシューズだと思った。
The shoes I wore at the race was Adidas’s Adios Pro3 which I felt great as I could keep my pace after 30 kilometers.

最後にいつも支えてくれる夫、レース中、共に切磋琢磨した選手たち、こんなに素晴らしい大会を開催してくれた多くのスタッフの方たちに本当に感謝している。どうもありがとう。
我愛你，我愛台灣。

At the end of this long story, I’d like to say thank you to my husband for always supporting me, the runners who did their best with me , staffs who held such a great competition for the runners.
Thank you very much.
Love you and love Taiwan.