Nagoya was a truly happy race.

RRC member interview

Text: Shun Sato

8th Course B+ Team (Goal: Sub-3 hours 20 minutes) MVP Natsuki Yamaoka

RETO is scary

I started long-distance running around the time of the coronavirus pandemic. My job hunting ended early, and as a student I didn't have much money, but I did have time. I started running because I wanted to do something on my own, but I had always loved running, having run short distances on the track and field team in middle and high school.

I joined RETO in August last year after being introduced to it by Asu (Yamamoto Asuka), and at first I thought it was intimidating. My monthly running distance was around 50km, while everyone else was easily running over 100km a month. My coach, Seiya, told me that "the results of your marathon are proportional to the monthly running distance," so I believed him and ran hard on the weekends, eventually exceeding 200km.

Aggressive Initiatives

In January and February of this year, I participated in a 30km race and ran a half marathon on either the weekend or weekend. I also asked a member to pace me and did some long runs as part of my personal training. I was able to run at a pace that was conscious of the actual race, so I'm really grateful to the members who agreed to pace me. I also practiced on an uphill slope near my house, which helped me to get my legs in shape and improve my cardiopulmonary function.

An astonishing 35 minutes reduction in one year

I believe the fruits of that effort were my personal best (3 hours 19 minutes 36 seconds) at the Nagoya Women's Marathon. Since I had achieved a sub-3.5 time (3 hours 28 minutes 65 seconds) at Beyond2023, I aimed for a sub-20 minute time this time, but at the halfway mark, I thought, "This is impossible." However, at 30 kilometers, Tsuchi-san (Yusaku Tsuchimoto) ran alongside me, which helped me change my mindset. From there, with the support of RETO and everyone at my company, I ran as hard as I could, calculating my time. My time was 19 minutes 36 seconds, so if I had let my guard down even for a moment, I would not have achieved my goal. I'm surprised I've come this far in just one year since the 2023 Itabashi City Marathon (3 hours 54 minutes 57 seconds) (laughs).

The power of support

This PB was all thanks to the support of RETO and everyone at the company. I won the 30km race in Tachikawa in January, and they took an interest in the company, so they came to Nagoya to support me and even gave me words of encouragement after the race. RETO is amazing because they work hard not only to achieve their own records, but also to help their members achieve their own records. I was surprised and happy that they spent money to come to Nagoya to support me. With everyone's support, Nagoya was a truly happy race.

The temptation of sweets

Looking back, the hardest thing about heading to Nagoya was refraining from eating sweets. I have a snack box next to my desk at work, and it's filled with Country Marm and homemade pies. I ate those and ate my normal meals, but then I felt heavy during practice. I knew this wasn't good, so I told my boss, "I'm not going to eat any sweets until Nagoya is over," and he stopped refilling the snacks. There were times in February when I felt unwell, but I felt lighter, and I was glad to realize that it was the sweets that were causing it (laughs).

Motivation is the completion medal

One of the things that motivates me when I run marathons is the medal I get for finishing the race. As an adult, you don't usually get medals, do you? But if you finish the race, you get one regardless of the result, and it's proof that you ran. The medals from Kobe and Yokohama look cool, so I'd like to run and win one someday, and I'd like to work hard in the fall and winter to get a time under 15 minutes.

Following in their footsteps

I'm really influenced by Naomi (Mizogami Naomi) and Yukorin (Hasebe Yuko). Naomi runs close to a half marathon almost every day, and Yukorin does high-quality training alone. I think if I could train like them, I'd become even stronger. Also, I've been feeling better since I switched to Saucony shoes, which Amane (Arimoto Shusho) recommended. I was urged to say this in interviews, but if I say too much, she'll get carried away, so even if it's just a little something, I'd like you to say, "Thank you for letting me get over being a shoe refugee" (laughs).