Race Day!

I'm so proud of Rebecca!  She made it through.  When Lisa Mitchell (with our group) asked her how she did, she said, "I PRed!"  Now, all the Rogers siblings have completed the Ibigawa half marathon.  I'll have her write about her experience when she gets out of the shower.  Before the race, the organizers lead everyone in a warm up.  It's so much fun to watch.  I think next year, I will go down and do it with them (assuming I get to come again).

Iain's Race
Race Details: I had a goal written on my locker door that has been there since 1 January 2014 that says, "PR in Ibigawa half marathon".  A second goal was to go faster than 1:10:00.  I looked at the race printout from last time I ran and decided to start at about 5:15 to 5:20 for the first couple of miles.  I hit the first mile in 5:15.0 and thought, "This is going to be a good day".  I kept good pace going and didn't worry about where other runners were.  I wanted to get to 10k at 33:30 to 33:40 and got 33:30.  There were four runners ahead of me at that time.  We got to the turn around spot in the canyon and I felt just like I should (tired, but not too tired).  It rained for most of the race and was a great temperature.  The top 4 kept shifting positions and testing each other.  I just kept going the pace I planned and waited to see if any of them would fade back.  One of them dropped off before the canyon ended.  Then, we have a 2 mile run to the finish on flat ground.  A couple more faded and came back to me. I had a good strong finish, but I couldn't quite catch up to the leader.  He won by 6 seconds.  It's more fun to win than be second, but I'm very happy with the day.  I got my goal time at 1:09:55.

Fun and Feelings: It was so much fun with all the elementary school kids that line the course.  They get so excited to hold out their hands and have us slap them.  Most up front do not do that, but I felt like I was energized by their enthusiasm.  Whenever I looked up after slapping their hands, I was a little closer to whomever was ahead of me at the time.

There are a lot of people outside their homes watching the race and cheering us on.  They usually say, "Gambatte kudasai!" which means "Good luck!".

The announcer made a big deal of me being there for the fourth time and told everyone my name when we were introduced prior to the race.  After the turnaround, a lot of the runners coming up the hill called out "Hunter!".  Everyone is so excited to have us here.  It makes the trip so much fun with how the people here treat us.

Prizes:  There are no cash prizes in public races in Japan, so my main prize was 10kg of rice and a few kilos of potatoes, onions, and something else that nobody knew how to translate.  I got two medals (one from the Ibigawa Marathon and one from the sponsoring newspaper).  There are two nice certificates, a plaque.

Ready to run!

Lots of signs like this are on the course to encourage us

Rebecca's Race
I had to take advice from everyone, seeing as though I haven't run since Jonas was a baby, and I did that solely to help keep pounds off.  I began the asking by inquiring the ladies if they wore underwear or not.  It was a resounding no.  I had already asked Iain that morning, but he sweetly assured me he didn't know anything about the matter.  My new friends were great.  When Catharine said "shoot, I forgot my gel" I panicked and wondered where the gel was supposed to go because maybe girls need gel lathered in a certain spot or two.  She then said, "does Iain use gels?"  And then I realized the gel she was worried about is just that gel you eat.  Oh good, I didn't need gel.

Eddie and Yoko were dolls.  Their sweetness and calming confidence that they knew what they were doing made me forget that I was about to do something absolutely crazy.  They doted on us and as grateful as we were for their attention I think they were just as grateful to have us to dote upon.  It rained the whole morning but the weather warmed up.  Every time we had to walk outside Eddie held the umbrella for us.  At the starting line we had to wait for almost 30 minutes and Eddie held the umbrella.  I squeezed his bicep and told him he was very strong.  He laughed.  I had my warm clothes on and Matt asked me what I was going to do with them when it was time to start and I said, "Yoko and Eddie!"  Now everyone wants Eddie and Yoko to be their host family.  I called him Coach Eddie the whole morning because he had told me how fast I should go (3 minutes per K!) and made sure we were where we were supposed to be.   But even now as I write I feel emotional when he looked me in my eyes a minute before start time and said, "just have fun".

Before the race, Iain had me looking like his team member, dressed in red USA jackets and blue BYU warm up pants.   I knew I looked like a contender for first, and I loved it.  Watch out, here I come.

I really liked seeing all the children dressed in their uniforms and matching rain jackets lining up and down the race path  We gave them all fives, as many as we could, anyways.  Everyone cheered us on.  We had to embrace the rain, which we did, and it actually felt good.  The course couldn't have been more beautiful.  So many people running and so many people standing in the rain watching.

When I finished the race, Eddie welcomed me with concern and question on his face.  I couldn't smile yet, and he was all business, taking care of my needs, even taking off the tracking chip from my shoe. I hadn't realized my foot had been bleeding until he asked me about it as he loosened the chip from my laces.  It didn't hurt at all.   He became serious and led me along the walk way, across the street, and spotted Iain before I did.  Yoko and her son met us closer to the library.  She reminds me so much of Adrienne.  I love it.  She's so hardworking and giving.  She sat in the back seat on the way to the race so her son could sit up front and Iain and I had the two bucket seats in the middle.  She gave me an umbrella.

I felt so sad about my time and couldn't feel joy until later, dressed in dry clothes, chatting up in the library with my most fabulous host family.  Iain had to sprint on over to the women's awards to take pictures. Everyone congratulated me on a fabulous finish and I felt so much joy in their success.  I've grown to really like those others!

We will go visit a palace tomorrow.  Eddie showed me on the computer.  It has four stories with very steep steps.  Then he laughed and asked if I would be able to do stairs!  What a funny guy.  Of course not, he'll have to carry me.

Eddie is always taking care of us so well.

The two of us finishing the race.  I was so excited that Rebecca did so well.  She might not think she did well, but I know the truth.

After the Race
On the way home, a runner that did the marathon was on the ground in pain with muscle cramps all by himself.  Rebecca was already getting out of the car before we had stopped to help him.  We worked on helping him stretch while Rebecca massaged his calves.  It took us a long time to get him relieved.  His right leg quickly relaxed with stretching, but his left was a big problem.  He kept saying "Arigato Gozaimasu" and letting us know if was getting a little better.  Finally, he was able to get up to stretch, then got to his car.  He had nobody with him, so we were worried about him, but he got to his car.

Now, we are home, showered and about to eat hot curry made by Yoko.  I've been looking forward to this dinner for a while.  Yoko is a great cook.

We'll be glad to rest tonight and enjoy the day tomorrow.

We love the banana twinkie things.

Rebecca massaging our new friend who had leg cramps

The awards ceremony.  They make it a really big deal.  We all did short speeches about how the race went.

Lots of people dress up for the race.

The 60kg rice bags for the overall winners.