Kinser Half Marathon (Phedippidations
Worldwide Half Marathon Challenge)
10 /10/2006 13:56
After
the Iheya Marathon was cancelled, I frantically rushed to find
another race that would be held the same weekend, mainly because I
was running the race as part of the Phedippidations
Worldwide Half Marathon Challenge, which
I would be running with friends and fellow listeners of the
Phedippidations
Podcast.
In the Phedippidations' "Shouts of Encouragement" podcast, I had
said that I hate being told, "Good luck!" because I feel that
training and hard work--not luck--are what determine how one does
in a race. I said that I prefer the Japanese cheer, "Ganbatte,"
which means, "Push yourself!" After the Kinser Half Marathon,
however, I felt kind of stupid about those comments. First, the
full marathon I had trained for was cancelled due to a typhoon.
(The typhoon actually hit the day BEFORE the race, but the island
is only accessible by boat, so no one would have been able to get
there. No refund, by the way.) Then, I was able to find a half
marathon that was being held the next day, and since it was a small
race, they were accepting on-site registrations. (As far as I know,
this is the only half marathon in Okinawa that does that.) The
weather forcast was predicting a high of 29 degrees Celsius (that's
real hot in Fahrenheit), but by another lucky coincidence, the sun
was behind the few clouds in the sky for the entire race, and there
was a nice breeze. The conditions were ideal, and I broke my
previous PR by about 3 minutes Obviously, luck is quite important
in long-distance running.
You can listen to the silly clip that I recorded for the "Shouts of
Encouragement" episode of Phedippidations here: Phedippidations Clip.
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