This was my second time at Three Peaks Yatsugatake. The last time, three years ago, I didn't know what to do, so I just participated by setting up a stall. Many of the other stall owners asked me, "What? Aren't you going to run?", so I thought this time, I'd definitely go and set up a stall and run.

Local people drumming to liven up the event before the start.

Champ's radio exercises help ease tension.

The 40km journey begins. The weather is perfect and it feels great.

For the first half of the race, I ran on an easy trail. I decided to run with photographer Shintaro Mitsui, who was running at the same pace as me.

The backlighting was nice, so we both took out our phones at the same time and took pictures of each other with our phones lol.

I could clearly see Mt. Fuji in the distance! This got me excited. However, the steep slope slowed my pace. And my ranking also dropped. Lol

Up until then I was doing pretty well and moving forward with the first half of the group, but I realized I just couldn't climb. As I was slowly making progress, the course director, Ryuji Oyamada (also known as RYUG), greeted me with a smile and a walkie-talkie in hand. I couldn't help but take a snap.

He even took a photo of me looking exhausted.

The second half of the race was mostly downhill, and I kept going at a good pace. I just finished the race. In the end, I managed to complete the sub-7 marathon in 6 hours and 57 minutes. I felt that I still needed to train, but my new number belt felt great.

Thank you to everyone who participated. And thank you to everyone who spoke at the event. See you at another event!

P.S.: I realized that if I were to open a store, I shouldn't go for a long one. In many ways lol