Fuji Susono 2010

Every May I run the Fuji Susono Half-marathon.  For some reason, that is not entirely clear to me, I am the organizer of this event and in charge of coordinating the overnight adventures for 25 or so teammates.  I am generally pretty good at planning travel, but in Japan everything is inscrutable to me, and I have been out of the country for weeks, so the activities are a bit chaotic.  Fortunately my teammate Chiba-san is amazingly organized and diligent and it turns out to be a great little weekend trip with a nice express train journey to the sprawling resort situated on the side of Mount Fuji.  We enjoy singing and dancing and feasting and skating and lots of family activities.

The race itself is a bit of an ordeal (for me anyway).  The course climbs for the first 5k, then it rolls up and down for the next 11k before dropping back down over the final 5k.  I feel reasonably good through about 10k but then start to run out of energy -

5k      -   21:05

10k    -   40:02
15k    -   60:20
21.1k -   83:21

Compare my times over the past 3 years at this course -

2008 - 1:20:18
2009 - 1:25:03
2010 - 1:23:21

I just could not stride out on the final 4k downhill section and make up for the slower uphill start like I did back in 2008.  Maybe it was the fatigue from recent travel and stress, or maybe just mental weakness (or maybe the basketball shorts I raced in).  I felt completely drained at the completion of the run and was passed by 3-4 people over the final 5k (in contrast to most of my recent races where I have managed to pass competitors the entire race).  Still I was able to enjoy a 5th place podium finish and the nice weekend.