LOOKING BACK, LOOKING AHEAD
FEBRUARY
- T.S. Eliot said “April is the cruellest month”, but February is the coldest month. That didn’t bother the many Nambanners who raced this month. Beginning with the Kanagawa Half on the 5th. Eric Lebrasseur 1:22:34, Keren Miers 1:30:38, Ben Dyer raced to a PB in 1:33:09, Tim Williams 1:28:53 PB, Yuki Seshimo 1:43:31, Sumie Kawakami 1:44:37, Mika Kume 1:46:34, Makiko Hosokawa PB,
- Also on the 5th, David Sweet ran the Moriya Half in a PB of 1:25.
- At the Shinrinkoen Half on the 11th, Stuart Brady ran a 1:33:56.
- Padraig MacColgain smiled his way through the Inzai Smile Half Marathon on the 12th in a time of 1:36:17.
- Emmanuel Obser ran the Tama Half Marathon on the 18th in 1:27:38.
- The Ome Marathon, one of Japan’s oldest races, was held on the 19th. Yasuo Hayakawa, Chika Kanai (2:18) and Tom Boatman (2:51) ran the 30k, and Chie Minami ran the 10K.
- Also on that day, Bob Johnston ran the Kochi Ryoma Marathon in 3:24:57 (17:00 faster than last year) and Alan Cannon and Tim Williams competed in the 20km X-Run cross country race in Chiba (organized by Daigo Asada), finishing in 1:25:04 (31st) and 1:32.
- Of course, the highlight of February, in fact of the whole winter, was the Tokyo Marathon on the 26th. Surprisingly, given the difficulty of entering, Namban Rengo had 28 runners, as well as many supporters out on the course. Too many to mention, but top men’s times were Eiichiro Kamikawa in 2:39 and Mike Hegarty in 2:52. Fastest Namban lady was Marie Gras in a PB of 3:01.
- If you don’t get into Tokyo, there is always the Fukaya Half, two hours north of Tokyo. Racing there this year was Steve Karnas and Mika Kume (8-year PB of 1:43), Pat Higase and from Singapore, David Stephenson, who ran a nice PB of 1:21:35.
MARCH
May you enjoy good running in 2017.
Wednesday nights in Yoyogi Park. Meet at the kiosk 100m inside park entrance near Harajuku station at 7:15pm.
- 1 – 1000 x 6
- 8 – 2000, 1000 x 3, 500 x 2
- 15 – 1000 x 5, 500 x 2
- 22 – 2000, 1000 x 3, 500 x 2
- 29 – 5,000m time trial
HAIKU OF THE MONTH
March starts with cold wind
And rain that’s colder than snow.
