Miura Peninsula MidNight 70km Michikusa Ultramarathon (2021) - First Ultra
Miura Peninsula MidNight 70km Michikusa Ultramarathon (2021) - First Ultra
Race Report 2
三浦半島MidNight 70kmみちくさウルトラマラソン（プレ大会）: Miura Peninsula MidNight 70km Michikusa Ultramarathon (9 October 2021)
I am releasing this race report on October 9th, 2023. So this is two years on from the actual event. I previously published a version of this report elsewhere. This is a new version written with the benefit of hindsight.
Introduction
As I mentioned in my article on my first marathon (link here), I first took up running in August 2020. From December that year I started running 300 km every month and wanted to continue challenging myself. I ran my first marathon in April 2021 in 3:37:08 but I still felt like I could push myself further. I listened to a lot of audiobooks as I ran and by chance I picked up Can’t Hurt Me by David Goggins (available here). David Goggins started off with humble beginnings before transforming himself into a Navy SEAL, ultra-endurance athlete and one of the toughest men on the planet.
Before I listened to Can’t Hurt Me I thought that marathons were the ultimate expression of endurance. You hear people say, “It’s a marathon, not a sprint,” when telling people to think of the long game. So when I heard about people entering events with distances much greater than marathons, the masochist in me wanted to get involved.
After my first marathon I was sore for more than a week (and my toenails have never been the same). But as a martial artist I’m no stranger to pain. I wanted to give an ultra a go and to see if I could hit a new level of endurance.
I found a local ultramarathon group I could hook up with called Michikusa Ultra (Website in Japanese only). Since COVID-19 was continuing to be a problem in 2021, I just signed up for the closest available ultramarathon (the MidNight 70km Ultramarathon) and hoped there wouldn’t be a problem. This ultra was a 9pm start and the plan was to arrive at the finish line in the morning.
Preparation and waiting for the ultra
Taking on an ultramarathon (especially as a beginner runner) is no small feat. To make sure I was ready to take this on I kept my streak going of running 300 km a month. I also started a GoFundMe page where I would raise money for Médecins Sans Frontières (Doctor’s Without Borders) so if even one person donated I’d be on the hook to do this ultra. (I received a donation quickly so I was locked in).
The original date of the ultra was August 21st but the pandemic led to it being rescheduled to October 9th. We were expected to wear masks for the duration of the ultra and to participate at our own risk.
Note: Because of the delay I ended up needing to extend my 300 km a month run streak a bit further. I ended up with 10 months in a row at 300 km a month.
October came around quickly and to prepare I took pretty much a week off running before the event.
First ultramarathon
On the day of the ultra I tried to sleep as much as I could during the day because I knew I’d be up all night. I arrived in Yokusuka at around 19:30 and checked in at the reception (by a large cannon) in Verny Park (website in Japanese). I didn’t have much to do until the race started so I found myself just trying to keep myself calm and visit the restroom as many times as I could before the race started (just in case). While stretching and warming up I managed to strike up a conversation with some of the other runners. I didn’t know at the time, but these people I randomly spoke to would end up becoming good friends of mine. We ran the whole course together and I entered another race with one of these guys later on. (To be discussed in a future report).
Although the Michikusa group organizes ultramarathons they don’t organize competitive races. This MidNight 70km Ultramarathon was a course debut for Michikusa, so it was run by a relatively small group. The event was supposed to have 100 people taking part but about half of those people couldn’t show up.
In addition to the small number of runners there were also not many volunteers and also not many aid stations. Once we set off there were checkpoints and aid stations at 17km, 27km 40km, 52km and 70km. Beyond that we had vending machines and convenience stores for supplies (if we could find them in the countryside).
The run started on a well lit route around Yokosuka City with a guide/pacer. The pace wasn’t too hard and I felt pretty good thanks to the few days off I took beforehand. The guide was going to take us through the first two aid stations (aid station 1 at 17km, and aid station 2 at 27km).
At 10km we stopped for a quick restroom break at a park on the outskirts of the city. This park/roadside rest stop was absolutely full of rough looking 暴走族 (bousouzoku : Japanese biker gang members), but Japan being Japan they were no trouble at all.
As we got out of the city and started running down the coast the footpaths got narrower and the streetlights became fewer. One guy in the group I was running with tripped and landed head first on the concrete. He was “ok” but he was banged up to the point that he couldn’t continue. We couldn’t just leave him at the side of the road at night, so the guide called for the race doctor to pick him up, which ended up taking about 15-20 minutes. A few members of the group decided to leave and figure the course out for themselves, but I felt better just sticking with my group.
The rest of the way to the 27km aid station was pretty uneventful. Beyond that point however the street lights just seemed to disappear, leaving the next part of the course looking like a dark abyss with no more guide and nothing but our headlights and a paper map to follow. It was at this point that I was happy that I was with my group so if we got lost we would be lost together.
Although I run a lot at night I very rarely run in the unfamiliar countryside and I’m usually home before midnight. Running in the dead of night had my imagination running away from me. Something in the back of my mind kept telling me to watch out for bears or wild boar jumping out and attacking me. These were silly ideas but those silly ideas were very strong motivators to keep with my group.
The next aid station was at 40km. Just before the point where we leave marathon territory and enter into the ultra world. We were running up and down hills, along roads and through tunnels in total darkness with nothing but our headlights. The deeper into the countryside we got the darker it got. Thoughts of being mauled by wildlife aside, the view was amazing. The sky had almost no clouds. I saw more stars during this run than I’ve ever seen before. I think the awe I felt at the time may have been amplified by the runners high but it’s something I’ll never forget.
To get to the 40 km checkpoint we needed to run through a weird maze of bridges and overpasses to get to an island. The only way off the island was back the way we came, so after we ate some cup ramen at the aid station (best cup ramen ever) we needed to retrace our steps to get to the next checkpoint at 52km. By this point the hills were starting to get really hard. When you don’t know what’s in front of you, you take the hills as they come, but when you know you have to run back up some steep hills you just ran down it becomes pretty miserable.
After the island section we came to some little seaside villages and civilization gradually began to reappear. It had been hours since we saw anything resembling a convenience store, so when they started reappearing it was a great opportunity to hit one up as a custom aid station to buy an energy drink to keep me going.
Getting to the 52km checkpoint was one of the most painful parts of this journey. For a long time I thought it was just around the corner. Then my watch counted me past 52km, past 53km, past 54 km. I thought we were lost in the darkness and needed to retrace our steps somehow. We eventually found the checkpoint right where it was supposed to be but it wasn’t at the correct distance according to my GPS. I was just using a simple Fitbit for this run so an upgrade was required for future runs. The aid station was like an oasis in the desert we eventually got to it. The sun was also coming up so we lost the headlights.
The final stretch was tough but the light of dawn and the knowledge that we were nearly there managed to keep us going (though we did stop at another convenience store for an ice cream and another energy drink). There were a few more really hard hills with some of the steepest ones going back to the beach, but seeing the ocean as we were going down the hill was a real relief.
When we got down to the beach we could more or less see the finish line. I could have pretty much given up running and crawled to the end there but we all managed to muster up the energy for a run towards the finish. Everyone in my group stopped at the finish line together and had that photo with the timer as the official ending photo.
The official race time was 10 hours, 9 minutes, 52 seconds.
After we took the photo, picked up our gear and everyone started to go home. We got through the entire night without any real issues but it started to drizzle right as we reached the end. There was a McDonalds close to the finish line I had planned to get picked up at so I hobbled over there, got changed and sat with a coffee watching the rain get progressively heavier. It took a while to sink in that I’d just run 70km for the first time and my body wasn’t really sure what to do with itself.
Shivering and craving either more caffeine or sleep was pretty much all my body could do at that point. When I got home I showered and collapsed into bed for a nap. It took me just less than a week to fully recover. To my surprise, I was much less damaged after this run than I was my first marathon so I was confident that I was improving.
After the race
My fundraiser managed to raise £360 for MSF, which I was really happy with. I went in with the attitude that I was going to do this anyway just to prove something to myself, but if I could leverage the event to do some extra good then it will be worth it even if I raised a penny.
A few weeks later I received the official race photo in the mail along with a finisher certificate. The Michikusa race certificates have a reputation of being a bit wordy and eccentric. But that is one of the charming points for me.
The translation of the main part of the certificate is as follows:
“Aren’t you ridiculously surprised that you ran around the Miura Peninsula in the dead of night? You obeyed the anti-infection measures and running etiquette, and completed the run without incident. This completion certificate is to express our respect for that strength and determination. You are awesome!
10 October 2020”
Final comments
I really enjoyed this event. So much so this wasn’t my last ultra with this group. (I ran a similar course in 2023). I’ll upload more race reports when they are ready. To make sure you don’t miss them please consider subscribing.
Thank you very much for reading. If you enjoy my work please share it with someone you think would also enjoy it.
If you aren’t subscribed, please sign up to keep up to date.
If social media is more your thing I’m active on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.
And if you are looking for ways you can support my work please check out the page below:
Osu!
Anthony