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60-Year-Old Hiromi Nakata Wins Tottori Marathon Overall Women's Race

The Tottori Marathon held its 12th running on March 10. In light rain and 11˚C temperatures 3717 people ran Tottori's one-way course that passes local historic sites such as the Tottori Sand Dunes and the Tottori Castle ruins. Running 3:12:44 for the overall women's win was 60-year-old Hiromi Nakata.

"I was as surprised as anyone that I won," said Tanaka. "I had to stop at the toilets early on and lost some time, but I tried using the double inhale, double exhale breathing method that the actor Kankuro Nakamura uses on the Idaten TV show and got into a good rhythm. Thanks to that I could just keep going and going. I had no idea I was in 1st, and when they put up the finish tape as I was coming in I thought, 'No way!'""

Nakata is a resident of Hamamatsu, Shizuoka. In 2017 she ran the fastest time of the year in Japan by a 58-year-old, 3:05:02. In the mornings she does housework and works in her garden for an hour, fitting in 30 to 60-minute runs when she has time. "My house is near the mountains, so all my run loops are very hilly," she said. "I run about 300 km a month. Working in my garden uses the entire body, and I feel like it exercises muscles that don't usually get much use. Maybe that helps my running too."

In the afternoons Nakata works in the administrative office of a nursing home from 1:30 p.m. to 5:30 p.m. After work she does ten 100 m hill sprints on a slope near her workplace. "At night there are bears near my house so I do them near work 5 km away," she laughed. "I can't really do speedwork, but if it's only 100 m it's not that bad. The Tottori Marathon has hills early on, mid-race and near the end, but it was thanks to these hill sprints and my regular running on hilly routes that I was able to keep going without slowing down."

3459 people finished this year's Tottori Marathon, a finisher rate of 93.1%.

source article:
https://runnet.jp/topics/report/190315.html
translated by Brett Larner

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Comments

Metts said…
Hmmm, maybe no real long runs like......Also from Shizuoka? Something about Shizuoka and Saitama? As reported before? But lets not forget Yoshitomi, except for last weekend, and of course always C.T. of Hyogo.
Simon Sumida said…

That time is something many runners would love to beat! And for a 60yr old woman it's amazing.
But what's really impressive is her testimony of her daily life: gardening, housework, part-time job and... sprints for dessert!!! Absolutely inspirational...

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