Naha Marathon - Run

The run went really well for me. It was my 3rd marathon- my second at Naha- and finally, I had one of those runs where you actually don't feel like you're going to die in the last 10K. I've been trying to figure out why- I did less training- also ran slower than before- these are the two main reasons, I think. After last year (when after a lot of training I only improved my marathon time by one minute from the previous year) I began to wonder if I hadn't overtrained. Well, whatever the reason was, it was nice to finish this one and actually feel like I could be a normal human being again a few minutes after the race. In the past that feeling hasn't returned until maybe 24-48 hours!

Well, now my question is- what if I had run faster? Was it one of those days where if I had pushed I could have significantly lowered my PR? In terms of how I executed the run and kept on the pace I had selected (5 hrs.) I did great.

The Naha race is really well done. Tons of support from the local community. There are people who go out and just buy a ton of oranges, bananas, a local specialties called kurosato (black sugar- made from sugar cane), etc. just to hand out to runners passing by. People are continually offering you these things and even occasionally sports drink and gels. This is in addition to the race-sponsored aid stations! It is really well done.