Skip to main content

Shibui Considering San Francisco Marathon

http://www.sponichi.co.jp/sports/news/2009/06/29/13.html
http://www.sanspo.com/sports/news/090629/spg0906290503000-n1.htm
http://www.daily.co.jp/general/2009/06/29/0002070253.shtml

translated and edited by Brett Larner

World Championships women's marathon team leader Yoko Shibui (30, Team Mitsui Sumitomo Kaijo), returned to Japan on June 28 after a month of high-altitude training in Flagstaff, Arizona. In April Shibui injured her left thigh, leading to a month of medical treatment. To fill this gap in her preparations she threw herself into rigorous training in Flagstaff. "It was quite a severe remedy," smiled her coach, Takao Watanabe. Located at 2100 m, Flagstaff is 200 m higher than Shibui's usual training venue in Kunming, China. "It was completely different [from Kunming]," Shibui told reporters. "Honestly, it was really tough. Training turned into 'crying practice' every day. It was the first time I've ever cried like that."

With such tough practice under her belt Shibui's motivation is riding high. On July 5th she will race in the Sapporo International Half Marathon, then on July 14th she will return to Arizona for her main training for August's World Championships marathon. As part of her preparations Shibui is currently planning to run the July 26 San Francisco Marathon.

Translator's note: If Shibui runs San Francisco it will no doubt be as a training run. Nevertheless, the current course record of 2:43:41 and possibly the all-time race record of 2:35:33 should be within her reach.
Labels:

Comments

Simon Phillips said…
Shibui sounds as tough as old leather. Let's hope she can keep it together and get to the start line in Berlin in one piece!
June 30, 2009 at 11:33 PM
Brett Larner said…
Agreed. Her injury problems got more and more alarming as the spring went along, but this sounds positive. We'll see how she holds up in Sapporo this weekend.
July 1, 2009 at 11:50 AM
Post a Comment

Most-Read This Week

On the Loss of the ARRS Database

At some point in the last few months I discovered that both versions of the ARRS database, the static one and the searchable version , are gone. Last week David Monti posted a link to the ARRS history of an event he covered in Race Results Weekly, I guess copying and pasting a link from last year without looking at it, and that reminded me to write something about the loss of the database. The Association of Road Racing Statisticians was basically a one-man show operated from the remote Northern California shores by Ken Young . When the site existed its intro read: The Association of Road Racing Statisticians (ARRS) is an independent, non-profit organization that collects, analyses and publishes results and statistics regarding elite distance running at distances 3000m and longer...The data of ARRS is stored in the ARRS database, which has more than 1.3 million performances from more than 240,000 races by more than 95,000 elite and sub-elite distance runners worldwide...This website ...
1 comment
Read more

Multiple National Records This Weekend

Olympic and World champion Haruka Kitaguchi got the biggest headlines among Japanese athletes this weekend, overcoming a rough last year and a half that included injury and a coaching change to break her own javelin throw NR by over a meter and a half to win the inaugural WA Ultimate Championship in Budapest. U20 WR and Asian AR holder Ziyi Yan opened with a big 68.05, 0.67 m further than Kitaguchi's best-ever from back in 2023. That could have been the end, but Kitaguchi came back from a 61.15 m first attempt to throw a massive 68.92 m NR on her next one, ultimately enough for the win. She still has a long way to go to match the 18-year-old Yan's 71.74 m from May, but it was a clear statement that Kitaguchi is back. Back home at the National Corporate Track and Field Championships in Kyoto, women's pole vault NR holder Misaki Morota continued a solid comeback season of her own, bettering her NR from May by 1 cm with a 4.51 m on her first attempt. Morota took another 3...
Post a Comment
Read more