Shouhashi Half Marathon
Yesterday, I ran the Shouhashi Half Marathon in Nanjou (formerly Sashiki, Chinen, Tamagusuku, and Ozato). Compared to other half marathons I have run, this one was quite difficult. Due to the huge crowd, I lost quite a bit of time early in the race, and the huge hill (maybe I should say, "mountain") at the 4K mark destroyed me. I tried to run for a while, but the many walkers seemed to be going just as fast, so I gave up and started walking myself. As a result, my halfway point split time was pathetic, just under one hour. The second half, however, was mostly downhill, which allowed me to make up a lot of time. I was really flying down the hills (probably under a 4:00 / K pace) and passed hundreds of other runners! In retrospect, I think I made a good decision to walk up the hills because that allowed me to be very strong for the second half.
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