Back here for another crack at this race on Sunday the 7th of September. However this time I was only doing the 10K. Still not ready for a half-marathon yet!
Got set to go and was walking to the start when I bump into the guy from last year who kept talking to me in broken English five minutes from go time while I was nervously stretching and not that interested in talking much past name and nationality. After being peppered with a billion different personal questions when I would much rather be making final race preparations, I started to edge away…so he then started talking to my wife. My Japanese wife. In broken English! There’s always one… Turns out he had shifted to the 10K as well. Just my luck! Not such a big deal today, but he did make some kind of comment to me whenever he had the chance though…
The course was different to the half course and we started off in the opposite direction. Not crazy hot, but still pretty hot out. Just tried to cruise and kept to the back of the group. This riverside area totally feels like the course for the Asahikawa half-marathon. Kinda cool crossing over the bridge and getting to the other side where the first, and only, drink station was. (Not four like in Shibetsu!) I pounded my Seicomart jelly drink at the first turnaround just before that though. I couldn’t quite wait till I actually hit 5K. Just got no stamina… Yet…
After that, we were back over the bridge and off in the other direction. Starting to heat up and was really hoping there would be a drink station around 8K and the second turnaround, but sadly, that was not to be. Managed to conserve enough energy that I could fly into the “stadium” (think it’s the local outdoor ice rink) and look cool for the finish though. Well, as cool as I could despite the heat!
What up with this though, they give you a bottle of water at the finish, but there were no stalls at all this time. No one was selling anything! Free mini tomatoes, but that was it. Last year they had some canned drinks on ice, but this year…nothing. This is a local small town event, but they could definitely be making money here. I would so have had two plastic cups of draught beer. Totally. Fried chicken on a stick? Absolutely. Ramen? For sure!
Instead we hit the revolving sushi restaurant and I got my 11:30am buzz on, which didn’t take much. MHM ate all sorts of weird raw fish too. All in all, a good race on a nice day. Worth getting out for.
Getting it done…
Konbu. Again…
Hokkaido Shred 