"I Want to Send a Message" - Tsutomu Nagata to Make European Debut at This Weekend's 100 Meilen Berlin
by Brett Larner In the fall of 2010 Tsutomu Nagata was in his mid-20's, a nearly-elite runner who had done 14:16 and 29:44 on the track before leaving the Self-Defense Forces team to join the ranks of the world's countless full-time working amateur runners. On November 28, 2010, he raced the Tsukuba Marathon, running down four people in the last 5 km to take 3rd in a PB 2:27:36. Nine days later Nagata's right arm was caught in the conveyor belt of a can-pressing machine at the factory where he worked, causing serious damage that left him hospitalized for almost two months. Reconstructive surgery was unsuccessful, leaving his right arm permanently in a brace with limited use of his hand and fingers. After months in the hospital he was unsure of the impact on his running, but, he says, "there was never any question of quitting. Instead, I felt very strongly that 'I can still do it!'" Once he returned home he started with walking, building up to...