About Me
Born in Japan. I have lived most of my adult life in northern California and now live in San Francisco. Found love of distance running when I ran my first half marathon in 2006 and finished in 1:53:39. A month later, I started to train for San Francisco Marathon with San Francisco AIDS Foundation group. And the rest was history. I also re-discovered joy of running on track at my first Gay Games in Köln, Germany, and have been training with San Francisco Track and Field Club since then. As soon as Boston Marathon is done, I switch gears and start training for track events. My focus is 1,500m or a Mile with 400m and 800m as potential double when schedule and my energy level allow. I have had plenty of injuries, but so far I have been able to improve my personal records at most of the races I’ve run. Hope I keep improving. Knock on wood! Below is my PRs as of this writing:
Marathon – 3:10:56 in Sacramento – December 2011
Half Marathon – 1:25:10 in Oakland – March 2012
10K road – 39:36 in Köln – August 2010
5K road – 19:10 in Oakland – October 2011
5,000m track – 18:32 in Köln – August 2010
Mile – 5:05.00 in Hayward – July 2012
1,500m – 4:44.5 in San Mateo – May 2012
800m – 2:13.75 in Davis – June 2012
400m – 57.61 in Hayward – July 2012
Discus Throw – 23.78m in San Francisco – August 2011
Shot Put – 8.62m in San Francisco – August 2011
See my race history on Athlinks.
2013 Races
I plan to run following races/meets this year. There might be impromptu races that I decide to run at the last minute.
3/24 – Oakland Half – A tune-up race for Boston. I ran last year and the course is pretty flat. It’s a local event and some of my friends are running, so I decided to run.
4/7 – Rock ‘n’ Roll San Francisco Half – Another tune-up race for Boston. This one is not going to be a flat course but it is the first Rock ‘n’ Roll in San Francisco, so I thought I’d run.
4/15 – Boston Marathon – The main event! Although I won’t be in a top shape, I love this race so I am running. If I were to run another one next year, I need to BQ somewhere before September…
6/8 – USATF PA Masters Track & Field Championships – Last year, I competed in this and it was a great track meet. Not sure if I compete in this meet, due to lack of speed training this year.
6/15 & 6/16 – USATF Master’s West Region Championships – I did not go to this meet last year, since our own Pride Meet conflicted with this. It does not look like I would want to travel to LA for this, since my track training did not start until late in the season.
7/7 – 6th Annual Pride Meet – Hosted by our own San Francisco Track & Field Club. If I compete at all in track, this should be the one.
8/25 – Santa Rosa Marathon – Hope to get a BQ in this summer marathon.
I just found your blog in freshly pressed. I wish you well in your races and in the one in Stockholm this July — it should be a blast!
Thanks, Danny. Yes, Stockholm should be blast!
I just read a bunch of your interesting informative blog posts. I love your quote on the top of your pages. I think it is so great that even though you have had a lot of injuries you are still improving and have a great attitude! I have a masters in exercise and sport science with a concentration in sport psychology and blog about exercise advice and motivational tips if you are interested in following. I am more than happy to help any way possible. Keep up the great work! Thanks for sharing!
Thank you, Aaron! Yes, the quote is my favorite. Whenever I hit a wall (running or otherwise), I remember this and try to turn the suffering into more pleasurable experience, if I can
I will check out your blog.
Curious what running shoes you race/train with. Also, curious if you’d like an exclusive invite to the latest project from Mizuno? If so, please email me for more info. Hope to hear from you.
I have been training and racing in a couple of different shoes for a while now. For distances shorter than Half Marathon, I train/race with Wave Universe 4, WU3 when it rains =), and Saucony Kinvara 2 for longer than 13.1. At Boston Expo, I bought a pair of Wave Ronin 4 that may replace Kinvara 2 for my long runs. Having said that, I also bought a pair of Kinvara 3. So, I will be trying both and see which shoes I like better. Lately, I have been having small but nagging pain in my Achilles and beginning to think WU might be too minimalist for my Achilles. I will send more info to your email address. Thank you for contacting me!