Hit me with your flashbulb eyes

Watching Fukuoka:

Fukuoka Marahton starts at 12:10pm JST on December 1 (10:10pm on November 30 EST)

There are three sites (that I know of) streaming Fukuoka marathon;

Trackie.ca

Watchathletics.com

 Japan Running News

BonusLink

Sometimes you have to download Keyhole TV, Japan Running News explains how to do that HERE.

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I’m in Fukuoka now and looking forward to race day.  The taper is fully on now, only one hour run today and some light exercises.  I’ll hit race pace in two sessions this week to stay fresh.  I’m also strategizing my post-race food which will most definitely include crepes and fresh dorayaki (packaged ones are nasty), which are both in crawling distance of my hotel.

Fukuoka is an amazing city with so much to see.  Thankfully I was here last year for about two weeks and was able to explore.  I was only slated to pace halfway in 65:30 and had time afterwards so I didn’t mind walking all over the place.  This time around I’ll be more conscience about saving my legs which means a lot of movies and reading in the last few days.

Chiba was ok for the Canadian team placing 8th.  We probably could have been 7th on a better day, but 6th place was way ahead in time.  I warmed up with Alex before his leg and watched the start.  They round the track twice before heading out onto the course and then I went inside to watch the action.  I had to peel myself away from the TV to get my own run done.  I had a good session of 3 x 3km on the roads and then did my cool down with the guys who raced the first leg once they rode the bus back to the stadium.  It was good to hear Nick Willis and Will Leer say they wish they would have stayed with Alex when he went by them.

At the Chiba Ekiden they ended up having a 5000m on the track for the alternates but I decided to do my workout instead.  I was prepared to step in for a 10km leg as 2:55-2:57 pace is in my wheelhouse right now.  I didn’t want to get carried away in a 5000m on the track and risk getting tight from the turns.  I felt bad because perhaps someone else could have been the alternate and got a race out of it. Hindsight is 20/20. I even asked other teams if they knew there would be a 5000m for alternates and they didn’t know either.  Only about half of the teams entered a runner. In the end I was ready for a 10km on the roads if needed and that is the most important part about being an alternate there.

Full results: http://www.inter-chibaekiden.jp/sokuhou/total.php

The banquet was a lot of fun.  The hosts present a bunch of funny awards and Chris Winter won “best smile,” you can’t argue with that.  Zane Robertson was male MVP with his 28:04 leg record and the NZ team did the Haka for him.

Afterwards Nick Willis challenged everyone to a “circle of death” push-up contest.  Each team enters one athlete and one at a time they do one push-up, then 2 push-ups, then 3…. The hard part is you have to stay in the plank position between turns (or at least stay on your hands and feet without bending your knees).  Dylan was our representative and held his own by making it to 12 (or 13?) and not cheating (some of the other guys took a knee here and there) and having proper technique. In the end the Aussie and German both got to 16. Remember, you have a long time between turns, it’s intense!

Dinner from a vending machine? No thanks.