Invited by a good friend of mine, I decided in August to participate in my first marathon ever, the Fujisan marathon… The practice time of 3 months was actually too short and I started getting pain in my left knee in November. Anyway, the Fujisan marathon started at 9am with a temperature of 2 degrees which felt very cold. The running went smoothly until 22 km, when there was a grueling elevation of 1km. Not only my left knee but also my right knee started to feel painful. And to make things worse I also started to get cramp in my thigh… My body was screaming to give up but if the mind is strong, you can overcome a lot. The elevation did have an effect on the remainder of the run though as my speed decreased drastically after. But in the end, I reached the finish after 05:49:56, ten minutes before the time limit. My whole body was hurting after the finish so it will take some time to recover. Thank you all for the support and many thanks also to the great organization and Japanese locals/volunteers who supported the runners during the marathon!!

フロンティアインターナショナル J.W.