Ashiya Sakura Fun Run Half Marathon 2026

I finished the first running event of the year. A half marathon in Ashiya. The route was excellent, although the paths were at points a tad too narrow to accomodate all the runners. It took some time for the mass of runners to spread out, but it happened.

I had been worried about my right knee, because I had not been stretching as I should. It's one of those things, you know. You know what you're supposed to do. It makes sense, and you'd tell everyone else to just do it, but you just don't do it. It is not that you can't. You just don't. I don't. It's a terrible predicament that I'm continuing to work on.

My knee held for the duration of the race, but as the DOMS (Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness) kicked in in the evening, it was clear that my ITBS had flared up. It is now day 3 of not really being able to bend the leg. Good thing I have gotten to know an excellent physiotherapist.

On that note, physiotherapists ranks highly among professions I'd absolutely like to have chosen for myself. Not only to help runners who go out on too long distances for their weak bodies to handle, but also to just help people feel better within the constraints and pressures of modern society. Bad furniture, bad movement culture, meeting culture, transportation culture, bad fashion culture, entertainment culture.. they all add up to unnatural strain on our bodies. Unnatural and invisible. We feel the pain, the aches, but a lot of the time we don't take in the totality. The orchestrated pressures that we actually have to deal with.

The physiotherapist that helped me with my pain also helped me see that.

There's the totality of the problem, and there's also the totality of the solution. Because what happens in a lot of cases, he said (and I've noticed that too) is that people reach for over the counter pain relief. Or they go to amateur massage parlors to get relief. They feel like they have done something towards alleviating the problem, and they accept the recurrence as a breakdown of their bodies that can't be helped. But it can be. We're just so souped into unhealthy habits, that we are in essence tied to our pain. Even though the bonds are not physical.

As I keep working on myself, listening to my body is a big part of it. I'm getting better at it, but there's still a ways to go. Stretching, working out.. it all fits together.

I guess you could also say that I have to get better at listening to my mind. But this requires a bit more space to unfold.

For now, let's say I'm looking forward to running the next half marathon in the mountains North East of Tokyo in Karuizawa. The half marathon is a good distance, because it doesn't get boring like a full marathon does.

👋🏃🏼‍♂️💨