Background
I have entered quite a few marathons and ultramarathons in my time, but I have never actually entered a half-marathon event. I previously entered an event called the 湘南藤沢市民マラソン (Shonan Fujisawa City Marathon) in 2023 and 2024, but those events were both 10 mile runs. This year was the 15th event of its kind and the organizers put up the distance to a half-marathon.
I enjoyed the previous 10 mile distance but I did also have some frustrations about the course due to the overlap between the first loop and the second loop. This year the course was much more sensible and had the runners doing two loops of the 江ノ島 (Enoshima) to 茅ヶ崎 (Chigasaki) course, meaning there was much less overlap between the quicker runners and the slower runners.
Because this was the first time this event had been done I wasn’t sure if the distance would be correct. It was my plan to simply run intuitively and have a good time. I had no special intention to set any records on the day.
Race day!
On the day of the race I had a modest breakfast and just drank a little water in the morning. I decided to avoid coffee and drinking too much water in case that had any impact on my running. I remembered last year that it was very cold at the start so I wore the same outfit I prepared for the Izu Trail Journey so I wouldn’t freeze at the starting line. This also gave me the advantage of being able to carry a water bottle with me and not needing to stop at any of the water stations on the course.
The weather was very clear on the day. During the 2024 race we had snow and a small earthquake on the day, so we couldn’t really have asked for better weather on the 2025 run.
I bumped into quite a few of my friends before the start of the race. I have been getting more and more involved with running groups in the area so it was nice to run into so many friendly faces.
I dropped off my stuff at the baggage area and joined a line for the restrooms…just in case. I ended up giving up on that idea due to the limitation of time and ran over to the starting block. Fortunately or unfortunately there was an issue with the course, which meant the race would start 20 minutes late. I used the extra time to dash over to a closer restroom (with a much shorter line) and was back at the starting block with 15 minutes to go.
When the race started at 8:50 I was stuck behind/in a very large group of people. This limited my speed to start off with but it meant that I always had a chance to overtake people when I wanted to. As I mentioned, I was just running intuitively on the day and just overtook when I felt like it. I didn’t even look at my watch until around the 5 km marker just to see how fast I was going.
I ended up seeing a bunch of my friends cheering on the race as I ran along. I managed to give out a few high fives and acknowledge a lot of people as I ran along, which also added a bit more of a spring to my step.
At the end of the first lap near the aquarium I checked my watch again and noticed that I was running a lot quicker than I expected and I was looking at 10 km PB if I kept going at that rate. I kept on pushing all the way to the turnaround point back at Chigasaki where I checked again and realized I was likely going to hit a 10 mile PB as well.
This was all pretty good motivation as I was going along but in the last few kilometers I realized there were a few things I needed to get past. There was one guy in front of me wearing a Challenge Fuji 5 Lakes Ultramarathon T-shirt from 2015, who I saw on the bridge at the beginning of the race and wanted to pass, and also a guy dressed as a swan. The Fuji 5 guy was just a marker but after seeing the swan I just felt like my spirit couldn’t take being beaten by a guy dressed as a swan so I kept running hard has I headed towards the aquarium.
At the final stretch I had some friends cheering on the bridge, which gave me the final boost I needed to speed up even more and overtake a few more people near the end.
I charged through the finish line, noticing the clock was reading at just over 1 hour 32 minutes, so I was very happy with that result.
After the race
Right after the race I handed in my race chip (selecting next year’s T-shirt design), picked up my participation towel, and was handed a sports drink, energy bar, and a gel drink. I love these post race bonuses.
I went and got my picture taken at the photo booth and also picked up a free Red Bull. The staff were opening the cans and handing them to people so I imagine they didn’t want anyone stockpiling a bunch of Red Bull and taking it home.
I didn’t feel too bad right after the race. The fatigue caused by running so hard hit me the following day, but all the really long runs I’ve been doing meant I was pretty prepared for this one.
I think it’s likely to be another half-marathon next year. I’m already looking forward to the one in 2026. Hope the weather is this nice this time next year.
Race results
Although I didn’t intend to set any records during this run I ended up getting PBs in everything from 10K to half-marathon. I couldn’t have asked for better results on the day.
When it comes to official results I was in 78th place in my division. I can’t directly compare it to last year’s results since the distance was different, but in 2024 I came in 99th place. I was much more comfortably in the top 100 this year.
I should probably note though that last year that my Strava picked up the 10 mile run as 16.0 Km. In fact, 10 miles is 16.0934 Km so it didn’t register my 10 mile time last year. According to the official time last year I ran 10 miles in 1:07:28, so I may have been slightly quicker on the 10 mile distance last year. But now I have a new OFFICIAL 10 mile time so I’ll use that as the point to beat for the future.
Looking forward to next year’s event.
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Osu!
Anthony