OCTOBER 2011

LOOKING BACK, LOOKING AHEAD

OCTOBER

Racing season in full swing — lots of results!
• Alex Fluery, now back in Denmark, ran the Budapest Marathon on the 2nd. His time of 3:27 was slower than hoped for due to temperatures as high as 30C, but he enjoyed the course through the lovely city.
• Cory McGowan took part in the Arakawa 30K/50K on the 8th, finishing the 30K in 2:04:25 and placing 39th overall out of 1,500 men. Other than warm weather and a rather dull course (except for Arakawa river fans) he enjoyed all aspects of the race, including the free food and beer at the end.
• Tsutomu Ishida was in Hawaii on the 8th, representing Namban Rengo at the Ironman World Championships. Despite hot, humid, windy conditions, he improved his time by 30 minutes from 2010, completing the swim/bike/run in 10:33:19, good for 768th place. His marathon time was 3:26! Most of us can’t run that in the heat, much less after a 3.8k swim and a 180k/5.5 hour bike ride.
• Over in the US, Brent Millicam traveled from Texas up to Chicago for the marathon on the 9th, finishing in 3:15:29 – a PB by 7 minutes and a Boston Qualifier!
• The 16th saw Nambanners striding along next to the Arakawa, at the Turtle Half/10K/5K (12,000 in the Half, 4,000 in the 10K). Conditions were not ideal, as it was a very hot day. Bernd Plagge ran an excellent 1:33, but Padraig MacColgain, Paddy O’Connor, Paul Mundt, Anthony Kraft and Jon Holmes were disappointed with their times. Christophe Dewulfe paced his wife to a sub-2:00 finish. Juergen Wittstock, who had arranged for free entry for the group, ran 41:38 in the 10K, finishing in the top 40! And Frank Arnaud Mehl placed 3rd in the 5k in 18:50.
• Also on the 16th, Saara Pekkarinen, our flying Finn, traveled out to Chichibu and came back with a first place trophy for her 1:26:07 half marathon win.
• Down in Singapore on the 16th, Leng Leng and Mika Kume ran the North Face 50K as Team Compact Dynamite, the perfect name for them!
• The Suwako Half, a popular race around Lake Suwa in Nagano pref., was held on the 23rd. Nambanners did well, with three under 1:24—Richard in 1:23:06, Cory in 1:23:26 and Paddy in 1:23:57. Phil Ryan ran a 1:46, and Taeko Hara, Geraldine Nogami and Maya. Photos in the Reports section.
• Over 50 runners showed up for the Namban 5,000m time trial on Wednesday the 26th, which many treated as an all-out race effort. We were led by Joe Stowe’s 16:04 and there was at least one PB that we know of, Padraig’s 20:34 – well done!
• Pat Higase didn’t run the 5,000, as she was in California running the Healdsburg Marathon, up in the wine country above San Francisco. The very hilly course proved to be a tough one, as she finished in 4:18, well outside her goal of 3:51. But she vows that the next one will be better!
• The 30th saw the first running of the Osaka Marathon, with seven club members taking part. By far the smallest and fastest was Chika Kanai, racing to an impressive 3:24:58. She was closely followed by Carol Cunningham, up from Melbourne, who ran a slower-than-hoped-for 3:26, but vows to be ready for Tokyo in Feb. Anthony Kraft finished in 3:51:10 with leg cramps and Laci Demko also broke the 4:00 barrier in 3:56:42, a 32 min. PB! Congrats to Thomas Sawada who ran his first marathon in 4:42:47. Adrian Ringin ran 5:10:56, a good effort since he was slowed by foot and ankle pain. All praised the race organization, especially the many water and food stations, where they enjoyed (?) cakes, candy, cucumbers, cherry tomatoes and pickles. There was also an 8.8k “Challenge Run”, which saw Namban’s Simon Fisher crossing the line first! (two others had faster net times, but still…)
• Jay Johannesen was in Seattle on the 30th for the hillyPumpkin Push 5K, which he ran in 17:36, finishing 6th out of 636.
• Also on the 30th was Namban Rengo’s famous “marathon” (39k) around the Yamanote train loop in Tokyo. Always a fun event, this year saw 29 loopers taking part, with 8 going the entire distance. See photos on right for half of the group and the official t-shirt.

NOVEMBER

All Namban workouts at Oda Field from 7:25pm.
• 2 Namban workout 1000 x 6
• 3 Shonan Marathon
• 9 Namban workout 600/800/1000/1200/1000/800/600
• 13 Namban Half and 10K
• 16 Namban workout 400/1000/1200/1200/1000/800/400
• 20 Toda Half Marathon
• 23 Ohtawara Marathon and 10K
• 23 Namban workout 1200, 1200, 1000, 1000, 800, 800
• 26 Run for the Cure (Imperial Palace, can sign up on the day)

HAIKU OF THE MONTH

The marathon is long
You think they’ll get easier
But they never do