by Brett Larner
Fukushi at 26 miles. Photo (c) 2011 Dr. Helmut Winter
Multiple national record holder Kayoko Fukushi (Team Wacoal) ran a solid performance at her second marathon, running a promising 2:24:38 for 3rd at the 2011 Chicago Marathon. Fukushi ran the first half of the race shadowing eventual winner Liliya Shobukhova (Russia) at Japanese national record pace but faded after 25 km, slowing dramatically in the final kilometers. Nevertheless she still finished with the fourth-best time of the year by a Japanese woman and the third-fastest time ever run by a Japanese woman within the United States.. In so doing she also became the 20th Japanese woman to break 2:25 and the 50th to break 2:27.
In post-race comments to Jiji.com Fukushi said, "It was a 2:24, so it was good. I wanted to take it as far as I could. I couldn't have done any better. I was able to move my legs a bit after 30 km. If I can run more comfortably than this [at the Olympic selection race next year…
Fukushi at 26 miles. Photo (c) 2011 Dr. Helmut Winter
Multiple national record holder Kayoko Fukushi (Team Wacoal) ran a solid performance at her second marathon, running a promising 2:24:38 for 3rd at the 2011 Chicago Marathon. Fukushi ran the first half of the race shadowing eventual winner Liliya Shobukhova (Russia) at Japanese national record pace but faded after 25 km, slowing dramatically in the final kilometers. Nevertheless she still finished with the fourth-best time of the year by a Japanese woman and the third-fastest time ever run by a Japanese woman within the United States.. In so doing she also became the 20th Japanese woman to break 2:25 and the 50th to break 2:27.
In post-race comments to Jiji.com Fukushi said, "It was a 2:24, so it was good. I wanted to take it as far as I could. I couldn't have done any better. I was able to move my legs a bit after 30 km. If I can run more comfortably than this [at the Olympic selection race next year…