At Sunday's Osaka International Women's Marathon 62-year-old Mariko Yugeta ran 2:52:13 for 48th, massively improving her own women's 60+ world record of 2:56:54. "It was hard, but I'm glad I could improve my best," she said post-race.
photo: Yugeta, in pink hat, at around 15 km in Osaka.
Yugeta's training load is incredible. In the summer she runs 800 km per month, and she typically runs a marathon every month. Her new record was the result of hard work. Where she has had problems with slowing down after 20 km in the past, this time that didn't happen.
But at the same time she experienced fatigue in her build-up to the race, and on Jan. 3 she felt pain in her right gluteus maximus. For two weeks she had acupuncture treatments and went to hot springs to try to take care of the problems. For the race she also used taping, and she was able to run it pain-free.
Yugeta is entered in the Mar. 14 Nagoya Women's Marathon. Ever ambitious, of her goals for Nagoya she said, "I want to keep my legs in perfect condition and go for 2:50 or 2:51."
translated by Brett Larner
Comments