Day 142: Marathon

I ran Shonan International Marathon last weekend.

I think I've run probably 7 or 8 marathons in my life.

Last year, I participated in the same race, and after 30 km, I ran pretty badly.
It was because, I concluded, I got too old.
I think I prepared ok, but I thought the late 40's would limit my physical strength.

So after that last year's marathon, I made my mind to do more practices so that I could overcome the getting-older-physical strength.
However, with this one year period, I could not prepare well enough as my resolution..., as it's easily imagined.

So, before the marathon started this year, I was thinking that I would be probably finishing slower than last year.
But, this year, one of our friends said he would be a pacer for my target sub 3.5.
This guy is such a person who loves running so much, and has run so many marathons and the other events.

As a result, with his help, I could run faster than last year, though I could not reach 3.5, with 1 minutes behind...

This means, his help was enormous.
He incessantly cheered me up, especially after 30 km when things got really hard physically.
I thought of slowing down my pace, but I felt guilty to do so, because he's been cheering me up so nicely.
Unfortunately, after 40 km, my legs started to cramp, so I could not catch up with his pace, and I really felt guilty not being able to respond to his support.

So, after finishing this year's marathon, I made up mind to do more practicing!
But, I also realized that the mental strength is also very important, that probably I had been giving up too easily.

Word of the day:
cramp : さしこみ、激しい痛み

Quote of the day:
“The pain of running relieves the pain of living.”
― Jacqueline Simon Gunn