Two-time Olympic marathoner Suguru Osako posted on his Instagram story on Aug. 26 about his trail running debut at last weekend's UTMB MCC in Chamonix, France with support from his high school friend, trail runner Ruy Ueda. Osako ran the 40 km division with 2300 m cumulative elevation gain. In 4th at the first checkpoint, he slowed partway through when the course got steep and rocky. "To be honest it was too scary," he wrote. "How can people run there? LOL. It was different from what I'd heard. Mostly rock."
Osako struggled on the descents, writing that he had cramps in his legs. Video showed trail specialists running smoothly past him on a steep downhill. But in the end he managed to finished, placing 50th among men and 52nd overall in 4:30:41. Afterward he wrote, "It was scarier than I expected and my legs wouldn't move, even more on the downhills where I'm terrible. But at least I was able to make a mark in the safe first 10k! LOL. I've gotten new respect for all trail runners. Maybe it was because I was concentrating or because of the beautiful scenery, but compared to doing 4 1/2 hours on the road it felt totally different. More trails to come!"
Fans reacted on social media, commenting, "Osako's amazing! He got people's hopes up when he was 4th at the first checkpoint in his first-ever trail race, but even though he cramped up he looked like he was having fun in the story he posted and enjoyed UTMB all the way. That's more than most people could do." "We're the same kind of people! LOL! I feel like we're family now." "I like how he always shows his true colors, LOL. I can totally relate to not liking the downhills."
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translated and edited by Brett Larner
Comments
This type of genre switching is always fun to watch and analyze. The strong trail runners around him when he was 4th at the first checkpoint must have wondered if this was really bluff or not. Not surprising that he faded after this in the more mountainous part but I think he did pretty well and he certainly seemed to be having fun.