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Reiko Tosa Returns to Boulder Training Camp After 7 Years

http://www.daily.co.jp/newsflash/2008/05/01/0000996944.shtml

translated by Brett Larner

Beijing Olympics women`s marathon team member Reiko Tosa (Team Mitsui Sumitomo Kaijo) left Narita Airport on May 1 for a high-altitude training camp in Boulder, Colorado. "My preparations start with this camp," Tosa told reporters. "I`m going to be training very hard." She will return to Japan on June 4.

Tosa last trained in Boulder while preparing for the 2001 Edmonton World Championships where she won a silver in the marathon. Tosa first visited Boulder in 1999 as a training partner for some of her teammates, and rapidly improved while training there. Last year she did most of her training in Kunming, China, but, as she explained, "I`ve always had a good image of Boulder because of how much faster I`ve gotten there in the past."

3 days before leaving Tosa had the dental braces she has worn since the spring of `05 removed. Tosa got the braces on the recommendation of her husband, Keiichi Murai, who said they would help her performance. Her fresh new smile has yielded the planned side benefits. "When I had the braces I was always a little off-balance. Now that they`re off I`m standing up straighter and running better." Her renewal comes just in time as Tosa prepares to run her second Olympics.

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