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Shimahara Relocates to Saku, Nagano

http://www.jiji.com/jc/c?g=spo_30&k=2010050600753

translated by Brett Larner

2011 Asian Games women's marathon team member Kiyoko Shimahara (33, Second Wind AC) announced on May 6 that she is relocating her training base from Tokyo to the town of Saku in Nagano Prefecture. Last month Shimahara got engaged to Saku Chosei High School ekiden team coach Masaru Takamizawa (28). "I'm looking forward to training on the cross-country course the high school team uses and in all the great locations around Sugadaira," Shimahara said, promising that the new environment would be an excellent jumping-off point for the next stage of her career.

With regard to her training, Shimahara will continue to be guided by Second Wind head coach Manabu Kawagoe. Apart from training in Nagano Shimahara will be going on the Rikuren-sponsored women's training camp in Boulder, Colorado in June. In July she plans to run the Sapporo International Half Marathon. "I'm not young anymore," she told reporters, "but I can still improve my PBs. At the Asian Games [my teammate Yuri] Kano and I want to go 1-2, so all my best training will be geared toward that."

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