高知県土佐塩道トレランレース！🏃‍♂️🏃🏃‍♀️　Kochi Shiomichi trail running race!の写真

このレースはめっちゃ楽しかった！🤗 友達が誘ってくれて中途半端なトレーニングしかできない忙しさの中でもとりあえず出て、とりあえず頑張ってみた！✊ でも残念ながら今回11回目で最後🥺 また復活してくださいね！⤴️ 25キロから足がプルプルし出しツル寸前手前まで常に来ている状態を何とか43キロまで保てた🥵 後半の分全部走れずだったが、一生懸命も頑張りアンダー7時間未満達成！🥳🥳 🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧 Lovely local race through local Kochi mountains, villages and rice fields with 7(!) aid stations for 43K (officially 41K) and 1800m of elevation. Overall the course is quite runnable, with one section through a cave(!) and a few of sections of road. I started slow knowing the little road and trail training I had done compared to last years’ Nozawa (which I started slow anyway lol) After a quick road section came an ascending single with the usual traffic jams. I took my poles out and overtook a few people following other overtakers. Honestly the first 25km were executed perfectly. Pushing strong on my poles when going up. Running on flats and downhills with good rhythm. Maybe a tad too greedy speeding down a couple of downhills, which might have contributed to leg soreness in the second half. Coming at the top of the tallest peak on the way back was the 25km mark. Legs went from fine to suddenly being on the verge of cramping… I tripled down on salt candies (literally trying 3 brands at once lol), tried to drink some more but my stomach seemed already full of liquids. I need to figure a better strategy to combat cramps. After 25km, what should have been a faster return with one less mountain and more road ended up being both physical and mental battles. Physical as I kept struggling in and out of that cramping zone as I alternated running and walking (for recovery). Mental as I did not want to stop for a break nor slow down too much on what were quite runnable portions. So I kept myself near the limits of cramping while focusing on refueling and running efficiently. The road section, both long and under the scorching heat was never ending torture of “keep running, this is not worth walking” type of mental battle. Reminding myself to keep pushing, to avoid the regrets of giving up, and actually powering through it mentally to go get the sub-7hr mark was my personal highlight of the race. A moment to reminisce in future races and challenging runs, a time when the body needs the mind to step up and it delivered :) Several bits of the final road section were some unexpected (short) uphills, but by then I was grooving in a continuous (albeit slow) run, and nothing (including uphills and legs screaming abort) stopped me from finishing strong. 43K, 1800m, 6h55 is a lot of time spent in my own head, but in the end what made this race special was to be able to share it with friends, being welcomed in a the finish, then in turn welcoming others on the final effort. And sharing all these adventures while soaking beaten down bodies in hot springs or appreciating delicious local cuisine among good laughs. Thank you Seiko, Sayaka, Omar and Koji for this epic and soul-filling race weekend! 🧡🧡🧡