[Self-Introduction] "Let's run again someday." Thinking that, I realized 10 years had passed. If you, too, are harboring similar smoldering feelings deep in your heart, please listen to my story for a moment.
The finish line of that day: February 2026, Kumamoto Castle Marathon
I approached the race after abstaining from alcohol for the month leading up to it.
With an eye on next year's "Sub-3" (completing a full marathon in under 3 hours), I made a calculated gamble to run at a sub-3 pace from the start until the 10km mark.
The first 5km in 20 minutes and 40 seconds, 10km in 41 minutes and 55 seconds. The response was sufficient.
However, reality is not so sweet. On the day, it was unusually hot, with the maximum temperature approaching 20°C. On the downhill after 32km, my right hamstring cramped severely.
If I stop here, it's over.
I slowed my pace and used only the strength of my arms to move my legs forward. I absolutely could not walk. On the steep hill past 40km, even when my right arm, which had reached its limit, went numb and turned into pain, I continued to swing my left arm desperately.
I finally reached the finish line. The time was 3 hours and 12 minutes.
Along with a sense of accomplishment, a feeling of frustration welled up, thinking, "Is this as far as I can go?"
My personal best in the past was 2 hours, 54 minutes, and 1 second. I am still far from the person I was back then. But it was a race where I felt a certain spark that "if I do the right training, I can definitely reach the sub-3 again, even at this age."
The 10-year void away from running
Actually, my running life has not been smooth sailing.
I achieved a sub-3 for the first time at 38 and cleared it a total of four times. A sudden tragedy struck me, who believed without doubt that "time is the means to express myself."
Severe lower back pain from overtraining. I couldn't run for three full months.
However, what truly made me forget about running was the "caregiving for my parents" that began after that.
My father, who suffered from mental illness and shouted, "I'll kill myself," from the emergency stairs of the hospital while in a wheelchair. My mother, who couldn't support him and collapsed from depression. In the days of going back and forth between the two who were hospitalized in different hospitals, there was no room to think about running anywhere.
At night, I couldn't sleep without drinking alcohol. Before I knew it, every night was spent escaping reality with heavy drinking. While telling myself, "The day will come when I can run again," I realized 10 years had passed.
A restart where I ran out of breath at 1km and shed tears of frustration
Last year, my life finally settled down, and I started running for the first time in 10 years. I was afraid to compare myself to my former self, so I started while hesitating to even time myself.
The result was staggering. I ran out of breath before I had even run 1km, and my time for finishing 3km was 16 minutes and 37 seconds. Tears mixed with sobs overflowed on the way home, thinking, "Have I become this unable to run..."
But what overflowed along with those tears was the pure feeling that "after all, I love running more than anything." Come to think of it, even during the 10 years I couldn't run, I never missed watching marathon broadcasts and kept reading track and field magazines. I had been chasing the backs of people who run all along.
Why am I sending this message now?
I chose the name "Yuki Akari" (Light of Courage) when I was attempting a comeback.
When I was at the bottom of caregiving and heavy drinking, the fire inside me was about to go out. So first, I decided to light the "lamp" for myself once more.
And the reason I am writing this note now.
It is because I want to light the lamp of passion once again in the heart of "you," who, like me in the past, is about to give up due to injury, caregiving, work, or age.
During the 10 years I couldn't run, I was always thinking about the same thing. For the bodies of adults in their 40s and 50s, both time and physical strength are limited. The guts-based theory that insists on "quantity over quality," and the idea that insists on the opposite, are actually both dangerous. What we need is "scientific and efficient training for adults" that produces maximum results in a limited amount of time.
A great comeback story for adults, together with you
In this note, I will give away everything—my realistic training menu, body conditioning, and time management—until I achieve my return to a sub-3 marathon time for the first time in 10 years.
I will write honestly about everything, even the messy days when things don't go well.
I also hope to someday create a place where people who are about to give up, just like me, don't have to carry the burden alone.
Won't you join me in experiencing that trembling sense of fulfillment once again when you overcome a blank period and achieve your goal?
If you feel like "I want to run seriously one more time, too," please follow me. Without rushing, but without stopping. Let's stand at a new starting line together.
To those who have read this far: I have also left my thoughts, which I couldn't fully express in writing, in my own voice. Please listen if you'd like.
▶ Self-introduction in my own voice: https://stand.fm/episodes/6a5cabbbf2861392aface0f6
Akari Yuki