interview by Brett Larner race photos by Mika Tokairin mattress photo by Brendan Martin Hansons team member Brendan Martin ran the Ome 30 km on Feb. 17 off his 4th American placing at last year's Boston Marathon as part of a longstanding relationship between Ome and the BAA. Having been on the U.S. team at October's Izumo Ekiden where he ran the alternates' 5000 m on the track, Ome was Martin's second race in Japan. Starting conservatively and steadily moving up through the field, he finished 8th in 1:36:07 . A day later JRN caught up with him at Cafe Barney in Shibuya to talk about his experience. This was your second time racing over here. What were your impressions this time? I was honored to compete with some of the best runners in Japan. I stuck out like a sore thumb. The course was very, very challenging, very tough. It has a lot of unique character and I feel like there was a big component of running the course correctly....
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