After the Month of MAF in Sept. I participated in a half marathon in Takayama, Gifu pref. Starting at 1800m this race had an aggressive elevation profile. Almost 500m of gain/loss according my Garmin data!
I met a friendly fellow in the first couple km. We were beginning the long descent to the half way point. He advised me to remember that what goes down must come up. I had already decided on a modified Galloway protocol of 2 min. runs and 30 sec. walks except when going downhill I skipped the walk breaks. When I reached the half way point I took a little break and then started back up hill.
Although the second half was mostly up hill I wound up with a negitive split. I counted over 50 "kills" from the half way point on. Nothing like passing people. This was probably my slowest 1/2 ever but the views along the course made it one of my most enjoyable. I pushed my pace up a bit in the last 2km wanting to impress my wife and daughters whom I expected to see waiting for me at the finish. Didn't find them anywhere. They were off eating lunch and hadn't expected me to be back so soon.
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| I wrote the names of 21 people in my life on my arm and dedicated one km to each of them. |
