The day after...

...and I feel just great! Legs are in very good condition, just like after a long run. Feel a little tired but that's about it. Now, let's look back and give you a short summary of my run. I started in C block and it took me 30 sec. to pass the starting line. From the beginning I knew that I would not stay sub3. First two km passed by in 4:45/min each and soon after I slowly picked up the pace. At km6 I passed Satohi. She looked relaxed and we had a short chat. I planned to run the first half slidely above 1:30 and then hoping for the second wind. Well, first part of my plan I could manage quit easily ;-) 1:32:30 was my net half time. Until then, the weather was really good. Almost no wind, cloudy, temperatures around 14-15 Celsius. Around the km23 mark I started to speed up a little and settled for a 4:10/min pace. It did not feel too bad but soon I could feel my energy level getting pretty low. Around km32 my pace went up again to 4:20/min and from there on it became clear that I would not stay sub3. Well, I would have needed more than just one miracle at that point in time because the sun came out and temperatures hit the 20 Celsius mark immediately. From km33 on we had some headwind and it cooled a little. When I entered the stadium I felt relieved because it was over. However, the race itself was very rewarding for me. Because the course has some turning points, I could see Tegla Loroupe twice, Yuri once, all other Nambans at least once. There is a lot of support in Nagano and the people welcome specially the foreign runners very much. Going to Nagano with all these lovely and nice Namban ladies was a real treat for me. I felt sorry for Chad, who had to go back by Shinkansen ;-) We had a great time the last two days. Thanks to all of you, I really enjoyed this weekend.