My first ever race report: Rora and the Monkey Man

When you learn how to run, you learn a whole lot of other things, too.

I’ve learned about which sneakers to buy. I’ve learned to shut off my brain and listen to my breathing. I learned that my old neighborhood in Fukuoka had at least 8 Indian restaurants. I learned that my new neighborhood has at least 800 cats. I learned the name for two specific vertebrae in my lower spine, the L4 and the L5, and that the nerve that originates between those discs, the sciatic nerve, happens to be the largest and widest nerve in the human body. I learned that when the disc between the L4 and the L5 bulges, it can cause a lot of problems.

And so a year ago I went from learning how to run, to learning how heal myself. I had to stop running for a while.

DON’T CALL IT A COMEBACK?

I’ve gotten better. Last August I started running again, slowly building up my mileage from scratch with C25k. I was never a great runner before I got injured, but I’ve always loved running as a way to clear my head. My goal was to just run 2-3 times a week for 20-30 minutes, at whatever pace, and I made good on that goal for a while.

In December I heard about a race happening in my tiny little town, the Harajo Marathon. All running races in Japan are called marathons, but this was actually a 5k and 10k. A lot of my friends signed up to run the 10k. Feeling confident, I signed up for the 10k, too, and started training. I was regularly running 5k at this point so I was eager for the challenge of a 10k.

And then, like ALL evil villains, the sciatica came back at just the right moment in the plot of my training, about a month before the race. I took a rest for “a couple days” that ended up lasting 3 weeks.

2 days ago I went on a “can I do this?!” run. I ran 5k in the mountains behind my house. It was lonely and cloudy and not pretty, emotionally or physically, but I ran 5k in 38 minutes and wasn’t in pain, nor was I in pain the next day, so I decided to go ahead and do the race.

I can’t for the life of me get this picture to not be upside down. But here is my number! First ever!

 

I woke up today feeling READY. I woke up today feeling LETS DO THIS. I woke up today convinced for some strange reason (maybe it was the slight, rare bit of sun peeking through a cloud?) that I could even maybe run the whole-damn-10k-thing!

I guess in my heart I knew it was biting off more than I could chew, so I went into it with an escape plan- the course was a loop that repeated twice, so I could always run 5k and call it good.

The pre-race environment was really exciting. I’ve never felt so nervous before running before! But I’ve also never experienced the sinking feeling of watching an entire crowd of people run past you and off into the distance. It was a little crushing! I may joke a lot about being a slowpoke, but I really don’t worry about it much (and I am a pretty big worrywart so that is saying a lot). I know that getting up and just doing it matters most. I’m friends with a lot extremely talented runners and they are the reason why I am just doing it. Their love of running reminds me why I love running. If they weren’t great runners, I wouldn’t even be a runner.

But man, watching everybody run away as I slogged on, that was weird! It wasn’t even something I had anticipated even being an issue- I was too worried about whether I could even run the race to think about other “what if’s”. The whole thing felt like I was in slow motion while everybody else was going at regular speed. It was like a strange dream. Then, suddenly, the dream was over and they were all gone, off into the distance, and I was alone, back to reality, and I felt fine, maybe even relieved. It wasn’t a race anymore, it just felt like I was running for practice, which is what all running should always feel like, anyways. I began to relax.

Except I wasn’t alone.

There was a MONKEY.

There was a monkey in front of me.

A person in a monkey suit, running the race.

Some Japanese people take their hobbies really seriously. They buy the most expensive gear to prove how serious they are. Having a hobby is important. This race was full of these kinds of people. Serious faces, expensive shoes, fancy running outfits.

But some Japanese people also love to have a laugh and be crazy and dress up in funny costumes for events like this. I LOVE this. At the starting line, I saw a couple in matching bear outfits, a gladiator, a reindeer, a man wearing an afro wig, and a person in a full monkey suit.

And the monkey happened to be just so slightly ahead of me the whole race. We were running about the same speed (12 minute miles / 7:30 minute kilometers). But we ran this race basically together. We ran the looooooong, steep hill together. We ran the looooooooong windy seaside path together. We ran through the twisting streets full of sweet people yelling “ganbatte! (try your best!)” and “faito! (…fight!)” and cheering for us even though we were the only ones there. It was lovely.

Having that moneky in front of me was the best thing that could have possibly happened. The monkey kept me from slowing down when I started to feel weak-willed. The monkey reminded me not to take this race too seriously. The monkey kept me smiling to myself the whole time. The monkey helped me decide that I should listen to my body and call it good at 5k.

As we neared the 5k halfway mark, I sped up and passed the monkey. “I don’t need you anymore, monkey!” I thought to myself. And then, right at the sign, not even a step further, I stopped running, rather unceremoniously, veering away from the path into a patch of grass next to an elementary school. No finish line. Just, finished. 38 minutes again, except I didn’t feel dead like I did on Friday. I felt giddy. I even felt like I could have kept going? But I knew that my body was done and I’m proud that I listened to myself. And, hey, now I have a time to beat!

 

This is my favorite shot of the day. Look at how my camera can’t even handle how fast Mike is running! And the peace sign is so perfectly Justin Beiberish.

I love watching people run. It’s satisfying. I especially love watching people I know run, which I learned today, because it’s the first time I’ve seen my friends run, and they are awesome!

I walked over to the finish line to cheer on everyone on as they finished their 10ks. I caught all except my friend Devin, because he actually finished before I got to the finish line because he ran the 10k in the same 38 minutes it took me to run 5. DAMN! So amazing! I’m so excited for him, he came in 3rd in his age group! All of my friends did a kickass job and I am so proud of them and like, thinking about watching everybody run through the finish line kind of makes me tear up as I write this? Is that crazy? I don’t know? Yes? Okay, fine.