APRIL 2013

LOOKING BACK, LOOKING AHEAD

APRIL

• Two major marathons on the April calendar: Boston and London. This year’s Boston turned out to be memorable for the wrong reason, but fortunately the five Nambanners who ran the race finished well before the bombs went off. But despite the tragedy, Boston was and remains the world’s greatest marathon in terms of tradition (117 years) and probably spectator support (so loud and enthusiastic it has to be experienced to be believed). I highly recommend it to every marathoner — provided you can qualify, of course. Stan Chow and Anna Novick were the Namban stars of the day, Stan running 2:56:01 and Anna 2:56:23 (82nd woman, which at Boston, is very impressive). Brett Larner cruised a 3:04:19 and Brent Millican, up from Texas, ran a great race to finish in 3:06:34. Yours truly Bob Poulson enjoyed the Boston experience but had a terrible race, finishing in a painful 3:40. No more marathons for this boy….
• The following week we were represented in London by Adam York, who ran an excellent PB in 3:14:02.
• That same day, Jay Johannesen was in Shanghai for the Jinquaio 8K. Fortunately the air was breathable, and he finished 6th overall in 29:57.
• In Japan news, the Kasumigaura Marathon was held on the 21st in horrible conditions: 5 degrees C, rain and wind. Raymond Wong and Derek Leong gutted it out, running quite respectable times: 3:14:52 and 3:25.
• Back overseas in Italy on the 28th, Stefano Coradeschi ran the 100km Tuscany Crossing in 15 hrs. 20 mins.! He said it was very tough, especially the uphills, but the scenery was amazing and he made it.

MAY

Namban workouts on Wednesday nights at Oda track from 7:25pm.
• 1 – 1000 x 6
• 8 – 1600 1200 1000 1000 800 400
• 15 – 400 x 12 (A), 400 x 10 (B)
• 22 – 600 800 1000 1200 1000 800 600
• 29 – 5000m time trial

HAIKU OF THE MONTH

(Composed with Pete Lyons after quite a few post-racebrews)
Boston Marathon
Winds may blow, bombs may explode
Safe finish brings peace