Battle of the Sexes Officially Decalered a "Re-Match" !!

The male side won the race...but only on a technicality, and the female side won the race to raise the most money, however the real winners are the neediest of the world's people. HOPE has managed to raise nealy 500,000 JPY (about $5,000 USD) to assist some of the world's poorest people.

Please read these messages from Kande and Lowell...

Hello to all my wonderful supporters - who believed in me, that I could finish the 20KM! Thank you for your most generous donations that will go to help the poor!

We were off at 10:10 and I was feeling stronger and stronger and beginning to pick up the pace at the 10KM mark (a friend who runs full marathons gave me this advice), when suddenly the City Marathon Officials, pulled the barricade in front of us.  We had to come screeching to a halt!  Much to our chagrin, had we been even 3 seconds faster, we could have kept going. But we had run up against the Official cut off time for allowing any more 20km runners through in the allocated City's 1/2 Marathon time allotment. I keep kicking myself...if I had only known this I would have increased my pace more, earlier.

I had been running 49 minutes by this point when I and others running around me were simply shocked that we were being made to discontinue - we all looked at each other helplessly and followed the system of embarking the buses provided to take us back to the stadium.  I was sorely disappointed, because I still had all this energy inside of me and knew that I was very much on target to finish under the allotted 115 minutes....but Marathons have their rules!  

I didn't balk the system and regretted it - for at 12:23 Lowell came running back into the grounds having refused to obey the officials and  get on the bus. Rather, he took off his number in front of them and continued along the sidewalk (as police were opening the roads to traffic again).  Yep it takes that kind of determination!! 

There, I was turning 'totally Japanese', sitting on the bus provided - coping with being told to quit yet so much left to give. Argh!!

However, my dear friends, I have come away using that same old wise saying I will know better Next Time!... change my tactics.  Looking at it in a positive light, despite today's ruling, I came away realizing that my condition is very good, I had the best time hooking up with friends, networking and fund raising for the Poor.  I thought about Y`all the whole way!!

Thanks again for your support.  You have helped me beat Lowell on the fundraising side at least.  Next year I will for sure beat him in the race, now that I know the 10 k cut off time.  Please, if you have not done already, forward your payment to HOPE International.  Details can be found on www.hope.or.jp.  Or if you need any assistance just let me know and I will have someone from the HOPE office contact you.

My kindest regards,
Kande

Message from Lowell

Just home from the marathon and I finished the 20 k course in 133 minutes. But it was not without incident. 

What I did not tell my sponsors before, is that I suffered  a fairly painful Hamstring Injury 5 weeks before ( local sports day . . . don't ask  . . . a 53 year old should not try to prove how fast he can run in a relay race!!) and as a result had not trained, and in fact had put on about 3 kilos! So my greatest fear was to be picked up by the bus! 

My strategy was to run about 60 minute per 10K pace for the first half, but about the 6 km point, I noticed that the pick up bus was only 100 metres behind me. So I picked up the pace was passing folks, and then at the 8 k, about 30 secs before I arrived, they closed the course and were guiding runners onto the Bus.  Wow, I was shocked. I refused to get on despite being a bit manhandled by an over eager official, and took off my number and said I would make my own way back.  I then continued running on the sidewalk to the turnaround point and then back to the stadium. I knew that it was tight whether I would make it back within the 115 minutes that they said was the maximum, but stopping at 8 k was simply not a choice.

I felt for Kande though,who was ahead of me, and although she completed the first 10 km in 49 minutes, very much on pace to finished the race with plenty of margin, the officials instructed her to get on the bus.  What a dissapointment . . . and injustice! She is more JP than me and as a result obeyed the instruction and got on the bus.

Must confess it seems a bit unfair when the general rule of thumb in racing is to pace yourself in the beginning and then pick up the pace once you are warmed up.

So, although I techinically beat my wife, I must take my hat off to her as she has only be running a couple of years and is much faster than me and has proven to be formidable in fundraising!!

Thanks for your support. The poor are helped because of it.

Lowell