Running an ekiden in Japan

I have had the priviledge of running in an ekiden in Japan and this is very special to me. In Japan ekidens are taken very seriously. What is an ekiden you may ask? An ekiden is a running relay in which members of the team pass a sash to each other and not a baton. This sash is usually draped across the body. Usually in ekiden each team member usually gives more than 100 percent and is practically dying before he or she passes the sash. This is how serious ekiden is in Japan. Another indication of the seriousness of ekiden in Japan is that a number of them are televised live nationally. The ekiden that I competed in was the East Japan International Ekiden this is an elite ekiden with teams from all over Japan and some foreign teams. The club I raced for was composed of Canadians, Americans, and French. I raced two times that day both legs that I ran in were 5k. You know when you are in the wrong race or you should not be racing at all when at least 6 other people in your race have PR's 2 minutes faster than yours and it is just 5k. That is DANGER!! or ABUNAI!! as Japanese like to say. I did manage to race my guts out that day and came in 4th and 10th not bad for my first ekiden. In my first race the masters race the over 40 division I ran 15:52 and was amazed of the quality of competition for old guys in Japan. I believe the first guy was timed at 15:32 that is one fast old dude. My second go round I was able to rise to the occasion 2.5 hours later and run 15:50 but that was a whole another race completely I believe first place that day was 14:02 YIKES!! that is fast. My team Namban Rengo still manage to hold on to 10th place through out the relay and we were very excited about that. 10th place out of 125 teams is pretty damn good even though the gap between us and first place was some where out in the stratosphere. I love that memory and I just had to share that.

How I began running

It was my sophmore year at Greenway high school in Phoenix, AZ. and I waiting for Earth science class to start. I was smoking by the class room before class when I over heard two cross country guys talking about their recent win over Sunnyslope high school. They were talking and talking and maybe a little gloating. I interrupted with you know I can run. They looked at me like was from Mars. They said you can? Well Pierson, why don't you come out for cross country and give it a try. I said I will and I can beat you!! They said we doubt that Pierson, but give it try and let's see what happens becareful though this running stuff is pretty DAMN HARD!! I quit smoking the next day.

Summer started and I started running with my baggy white shorts. Whoa!! those were hideous I think about it now and wonder how I even ran with those. My first training run I will never forget I tried sprinting as long as I could. I had no idea how to train. After a few days of that I decided I need to modify my training. This sprinting thing was not working out for me. So in my complete brilliance I decided I should try and slow down a little bit. So I tried slowing down a little bit and before I knew it I was able to run further and actually get a workout in. Before I knew it I was running 5 miles WHOA!!! I kept that up 5 or 6 days a week through out summer and when cross country tryouts came along in September I was ready to go. I THOUGHT!!! At the first day of practice I found out my white baggy shorts were not the thing to be wearing but OH WELL!! After a few weeks of practice were finished and I was able to hang with everyone on training runs coach decided to have me run on the varsity team for our first meet. It was a triangular meeting between Greenway high school, Thunderbird high, and Cortez high. I can remember having this incredible AMPED UP! feeling before the race. The race started and I could not believe how great I felt racing. I beat those guys that day and finished sixth on our team and after that I never looked back. I have loved racing since that first race and I hope that I can run and race for the rest of my life. Cheers to everyone and keep running!

Running With A Champion

It is quite an expierence to run with a true marathon champion. It has a unique feel to it. You are running with someone who has really done something in his or hers running career.