Wednesday, January 29, 2014

Shibuya Ekiden 2014

I capture much of the glory at the annual Shibuya Ekiden.  My team is tied for lead when Brett W hands off to me for the 3rd 2.9-kilometer leg of the 4-man relay. 

I immediately am passed by our arch-rival master's team competition and a high school girl's team.  

I have such a hard time trying to run at a fast pace so early in the morning – the exception being the Chiang Mai Half Marathon (described below) when I overslept and all the adrenaline racing to the starting line got me pumped up.  At Shibuya I was still feeling sluggish and sleepy as of the 8:30am start and I thought about the 5 hour wake-up rule - which suggests waking up at least 5 hours prior to the expected END of your event - so for a mile you would need to wake up at least 4 hours and 55 before the event starts, and for an ultra-marathon you can just wake up and go.  

So 500 meters into my 2.9-kilometer leg of the relay I am well behind the arch-rival and the high school girl.  But at this point I start to wake up, while my competition starts to suffer from their faster start -- soon I pass the high-school girl who is making absolutely horrible noises, and by the halfway mark I pass the archrival who doesn’t look so good either.  When I hand over the sash to our anchor runner, Kuri, our team has a 30 second lead, and Kuri extends it to 52 seconds.  Our team is honored in the elaborate award ceremony and I am hailed as the hero – though my time of 10:07 is the slowest of our team - all 4 of us completing the course within 10 seconds of each other. 



Friday, January 24, 2014

Phnom Penh 50k Ultramarathon






Is this the coolest race number ever?  









 I don't wish to run the entire Phnom Penh 50k Ultra-marathon.  So the organizers provide a rider who gives me his bicycle at the 30k mark and then he proceeds to run the final 20k while I ride this bike to the finish line.


It is a spectacular run at dawn - across rice fields, past magnificent Khmer temples, and through villages. 






 Children keep running out to yell 'hello' at us.  







I run at 6 minute per kilometer pace with Denise from Canada who had mastered the Khmer language enough to banter with all our supporters lining the course… 





Saturday, January 18, 2014

Phnom Penh New Year's 15k

Another triumphant podium finish (admittedly with a rather small field).  I win the Phom Penh New Year's 15k.

Racing through the fields and villages of Cambodia is magical. We start in the late afternoon on a broad, quiet boulevard on outskirts of Phnom Penh. I am escorted by a fleet of Cambodians on bikes and motorcycles until the course leaves the road and heads on to a hard pack trail through wide open fields.

I am seeking to maintain 4 minute per kilometer pace (like at Chiang Mai and Watarase Half), but and am faster than planned at 10k in about 39:40.  I feel pretty good and perhaps I could maintain this pace, but the scenic trails get more uneven and as we wind through a small villages and flocks of chickens I lose a bit of intensity and focus.  I finish in just over an hour.  


- and where does one go after the New Year's Day 15k race for an authentic Cambodian culinary experience?   Of course, where else? - Mike's Burgers.  My food snob foreigner
teammates refuse to join us, but I take "the when in Rome do as the Roman
do" approach and join the local Cambodians.  When we arrive Mike is happy to
learn that I have been to California's In'N'Out Burgers and tell me about
his business story over bacon burgers and Khmer Curry.

Friday, January 10, 2014

Chiang Mai Half Marathon 2013

I am relaxed about the Chiang Mai Half Marathon.

So relaxed I almost sleep through the 5am start. My $8 per night guest-house does not offer wake-up calls, or alarms, or even an illuminated clock. Given the paper thin walls of a $8 guest-house I am wearing ear plugs, and I sleep through the feeble chirp of my watch alarm and Arnaud's quiet knock on my door.  Somehow I emerge from a deep, deep sleep and decide to check the time on my iPad at precisely 4:34. It takes a few seconds to register that I am supposed to be racing in only 26 minutes. Fortunately the guest-house is very close to the starting line and I am able to throw on my shoes, pin on my number, eat my Espresso Love Power Gel, use the restroom, sprint to Thapae Gate, and push my way through the 700 other runners to the front of the starting line.  


When I do get to the starting line the adrenaline of rushing to make it has totally kicked in – normally I would be too groggy to run hardly at all only 20 minutes after waking up, let alone race. But I feel completely wired when the gun goes off, and tuck in behind Arnaud and Brooke to keep from going out too fast.

For the first 4 kilometers rather than go out too fast, we cruise along in total comfort. I glance at my Garmin which indicates we are running at 4:10 pace, not the sub-4 minute pace I hoped for.  So when I do pass Brooke at around 5k I surge dramatically and for the next 10k average about 3:40 per kilometer moving from 10th place into 3rd

I hang on for 3rd place overall (the top two guys are light years ahead of me), and I finish in a time of 1:30 for the 23+ kilometer course (I figure it was about 1:22 half marathon equivalent – which I am pleased with given my uneven pacing.