Namban Half Marathon,10k, and BBQ

2nd Annual Namban half marathon and 10k race took place yesterday. What a beautiful day we had! Similar to last year with clear skies and perfect temperature. This year though, we had almost double the amount of people who participated in this non official race. This year we had about 130 people show up for the BBQ and about 80-90 people who ran.

As for this indecisive person, the 10k was decided on the day. This year was different from last year in that I was relaxed and didn't care very much how I ran. Last year I was training hard for Tokyo Marathon and was just doing milage, milage, and more milage. So of course, I ran the half marathon. I even took home the 2nd place prize! AND got my PB (personal best). It was a great and unexpected win. 

2009. Half marathon -  2nd place winner at 1:36

This year, I'm not training for a single thing. Instead I'm running when I want to run and I haven't been to track session in over a year. Shame on me! 

So with little expectation, but with every intent on running my very best, I started the 10k yesterday feeling great. I ended up surprising myself in the end. Its kind of all a blur now. I remember coming to the half way point and still feeling relatively fresh. So I pushed it harder for the 2nd half.  With about 4k left to go, I saw the leading 10k lady and I told myself to keep my steady pace and not get too excited about passing her. At 3k I passed her, but I still focused on keeping it steady. My legs, more then anything, were starting to feel tightness and I told myself the pain I felt was only temporary. With only 2k to go, I could handle the discomfort.  

When I saw the finish line, it finally dawned on me that I was the female winner for the 10k! Winner? no way! With the finishing time at 40:40, this is my BEST 10k time and honest to God, I never dreamed I could get that time. I haven't done a 10k race in 3 years and that time was 46 min something. To make a 5 plus improvement is more then I thought I was capable of doing. 

Before the race I told Motozo I'd be happy to just get under 45min. After the race he told me how OFF I was. 

The prize, a nice bottle of white wine = ridiculously happy Meg 

Another nice thing that day was meeting a fellow vegan runner. First time to meet a vegan runner in Tokyo!  He was so kind to share his delicious homemade hummus and I apologized for my failed cake. No, I did not try baking again the next day. I resorted to buying vegan cookies at the store for the meat eaters. Shame on me again! I will try harder next time, but I'm thinking, maybe raw desserts are more my thing. Ovens, flour, and I don't seem to mesh too well.  

Vincent (in red) has been vegan for 13 years and is raising his daughter vegan here in Tokyo. I'm looking forward to picking his mind in the future when I have to start thinking about the diet of my child. I was so distracted with all the vegan/health conversations we were having that I totally forgot to take photos of food. How unlike me! 

Our beautiful day ended with a round of some ball game. With a couple of hours drinking just prior, naturally, we had some accidents. One hurt his shoulder and another fell into a ditch full of water. But everyone was happy and smiling in the end. Great successful day! 

Special thanks to dear hubby for volunteering to help with the time keeping.  

It was great to anticipate seeing him at the finish line and of course, he kindly carried my wine bottle home :) 

With the race behind me and renewed motivation to run, I'm thinking I may show up to track session every so often now. Who knows, maybe I do have potential to be faster? 

Tomorrow I will see what my potential is for Astanga Yoga. Mysore class 6:30AM! Time for shut eye.