I traveled San Diego for one week and came back to Japan this weekends. On the second day I joined the marathon race called
Rock'n Roll marathon at San Diego and finished it fortunately in the California sunshine.
My time of this race is 6 hours, correctly 06:02. It was the HARDEST RACE EVER! After the start of race I was getting lost my energy and stopped running at 15 km point and then almost walked until the goal. Last year I finished Tokyo marathon in 04:24 so I thought I would finish it in 5 hours in the worst case but... Let's look back on the race.
Start:
I arrived at San Diego one day before the race. Landing in America first time! On the day I checked in at a hotel in beach side and joined Marathon Expo at the convention center. I had dinner at Holton Plaza in down town and then came back to the hotel. On the race day I woke up at 4 AM and walk to the Balboa park, the start point, through the silent streets in the dark.
I was ready and waited more than 30 minutes at the starting point. I'm surprised a little at many tattooed runners there, arm, leg, head?..., because we don't have tattoo except scary people, you know, like Yakuza in Japan. I think here tattoo is a kind of fashion or cool thing ( maybe their grand mother disagree...) but some Japanese think they are mafia runners, haha... Anyway, the race was started at 6 AM, 06:15.
Race & Goal:
After the start I ran slowly first and kept my pace enjoying the band play ( more than 30 bands play in the course, it's rock'n roll marathon! ) and taking photo. The camera was heavy in my pocket, I forgot the porch for camera from Japan... The sunshine was getting strong than I expected and lost my energy little by little. haa haa... haa haa... hot...hot... I had a bad feeling that this race will be tough one. It was right. I stopped running at 15 km point. And I gave up the good record and focused on finishing this worst parade ever! I can get a medal when I crossed the goal line. I walked and waked, the limit is 7 hours, I watched G-shock and I believed I can finish if I won't stop walking.
Cheerleaders and visitors repeated "Keep it up!", the same meaning of "Ganbare!" in Japan, they talk in a low voice, but whatever. I kept walking and finally crossed the goal line at Petco Park, MLB stadium of San Diego Padres, and finished the race without a smile, you don't know, I can't afford it. But, AWESOME! I got a heavy big medal. It's two times bigger than Tokyo marathon's medal, it's American Cheeseburger, hehe. My legs (and I) were almost dead and I maybe was sunstroke or heatstroke, I don't know, so I came back to hotel by San Diego Trolley soon and jumped into the bed and died.
The next day, fortunately I came back to life and enjoyed watching MLB game at Petco park and sightseeing to Ensenada, Mexico. I introduce them later too.
After work I sometimes drop in to Shibuya town since I change the train in the station. I see many travelers to Tokyo at Starbucks. There, they take photos of the scramble crossing which is the most popular crossing in the world while we have coffee time. Since the cafe is on the second floor in the building in front of the crossing, there is the best place for photo.
