The Hitachi women's corporate team has announced that Maya Fukushima has retired effective the end of November. Fukushima joined Hitachi last year after graduating from Josai University and Eda H.S. In high school she ran a best of 9:24.93 for 3000 m and won her stage at the prefectural ekiden championships. At Josai she grew into one of its best runner, running a PB of 15:44.90 for 5000 m and the longest stage at both the Morinomiyako Ekiden and Mt. Fuji Women's Ekiden university championships. Her 4th year she was 2nd in the 10000 m at the Kanto Region Championships and 5th on the Morinomiyako's Fourth Stage.
But Fukushima was diagnosed with task-specific dystonia, a disorder that causes abnormal postures during particular motions and prevented her from racing after joining Hitachi. "As the days passed and I couldn't run like before the mental stress got worse and worse," she wrote in the Hitachi announcement. "But I'm really grateful to everyone who encouraged me and tried to help. It helped me face myself and try to find a way through trial and error. In the end I couldn't have the kind of career as an athlete that I'd hoped for, but I did this for 11 years and learned a lot. It made me really happy."
On Hitachi team social media they praised Fukushima, saying, "She was sincere and diligent in how she approached her work, and that had a positive effective on all of us." After her retirement Fukushima will continue working at the Hitachi corporation.
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translated and edited by Brett Larner
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