Mitake Mountain

I certainly recommend the Mitake Marathon. I particularly recommend it to visitors to Japan seeking a quintessential Japan athletic experience. Mitake contains a number of wonderfully Japan running elements:

1. A brutal climb - Other countries have hill climbs, but a 1,000 people at an obscure, local race on a December morning? All bursting up an amazing steep incline when the starting gun goes off? All maintaining a hard pace for several agonizing kilometers?

2. Scenic - Where else in the world does a race take you through a "Rock Garden" where participants leap from rock to rock past waterfalls and moss-covered stones? The course also extends along ridges with sweeping views of the 30 million residents of the Kanto Plain, and over forested hills with colorful autumn leaves.

3. Crowd support - People of all ages in the most remote areas yelling out the ritual words of polite encouragement: "nice fighto desu" and "gambatte kudasai"

4. Shinto Shrines - The marathon finishes at the 2,000 year old Musashi-Mitake Shrine

5. Onsen - This is the real cool part of the Mitake experience. All participant's race numbers correspond to one of the numerous onsens near the finish line. After a hard trail run on brisk December morning, everyone is welcomed at an atmospheric inn, and within minutes of finishing is soaking in a steaming hot springs bath.

I ran OK. The first couple kilometers are absurdly steep, but since they are the first few kilometers of a race everyone runs hard. I decided it would be almost as fast to walk. My thinking was I would pick it up when I got to the top. Unfortunately we ran into the tail end of the first wave, so I could only pick up the pace so much. But this allowed me enjoy the scenery more.

I had been warned about the steep downhill plunge at 13k, but it did not seem so bad. I held onto the support ropes as much as possible on the way down to avoid plummeting to my death (or at least avoid the embarrassment and bruises Eric Fitzpatrick suffered coming down this cliff last year).

Bizarre as this might sound, I was disappointed to realize the race was ending. I actually wanted to run farther. Partly because I felt I had energy and could pass more people. Partly because I was enjoying the course. Somehow the varied terrain of a trail run allows me to run much farther than a flat paved course.

I hope to do the Ome-Takamizu 30k trail run on April 1st.