It Takes A Special Type Of Crazy .....

..... to run an ultramarathon, and here are three crazy people. We were joined this morning just after 0400 by Randy's ultramarathon running friend Carlo. He is even crazier than the Randy and I. I mean, we slept in a tent. Carlo went to a friend's wedding party in Tokyo on Saturday evening, then took a train to to Nikko which arrived shortly before midnight, then kipped on a park bench until it was time to sign in at 0200 Sunday morning. Bonkers!

We look confident here, don't we, just before the start of the ultramarathon. Unfortunately, only one of us completed the run. I was ten minutes late getting to the 75 kilometers gate. I learned a big lesson from this; make sure you take a list of cut-off times with you when you run an ultramarathon. The cut-off times on regular marathons are really generous and you don't have to worry about missing them. On ultras, they are a lot tighter. If I had known the cut cut off time I would have exerted myself and probably would have made it because I was feeling pretty good and probably given it a little more. Still, you live and learn and next time I run a 100 kilometers ultramarathon - and I will try again - I will not make this mistake.

Carlo was twenty minutes late at the 89 kilometers gate. We met up at the finish point and waited with Kimmy to cheer on the finishers, including Randy who scraped in with four minutes to spare after thirteen hours and fifty-six minutes of hard running. He was wasted at the end and I pushed him in a wheelchair to the field in the stadium so that he could lay down and sleep on the grass. A fantastic effort.

Later, Kimmy, Randy and I went for a much-deserved sento and a meal at a sushi restaurant. I wish I could say we slept like logs that night but bugs and rain prevented that.

Although I didn't complete the ultramarathon, I am still proud of my run and still glad I competed. The scenery was incredible, I ran a good race, I met lots of wonderful people and learned some useful tips about running this type of race.

I'll be back.