I have been wanting to start a blog for a while already but have been lazy/busy. Well finally, and mostly due to the weather conditions (too hot to do anything else other then sit near the AC), I have gotten myself to begin. It will be a blog mostly about my sport life in Japan, but maybe in the future there will be all sort of posts...or no posts at all if I get lazy/busy.
For those who do not know about me before I arrived to Japan...
I was born and raised in Peru (if you do not know where that is ... think Machu Pichu, Inkas or Nazca lines) and lived there until I turned 20. During my school years I went to the American school of Lima, a private school with all sorts of sport facilities (a couple of indoor and outdoor soccer, volleyball, basketball fields, baseball fields, 5 climbing walls, a cheap gym, a 400 meter track, amongs other). We were taught to play all sort of sports as well: lacrosse, golf, wall climbing, swimming, skating, etc. And I'd say physically speaking, the students in my school were a lot bigger and stronger than those in normal Peruvian schools.
Ironically, nationally speaking we pretty much sucked in sports. We never had a chance to play public schools, but I am sure they would have kicked our asses in any sport.
I was ADCA (the group of schools we belonged to) track champion throughout pretty much all high school ... but was a joke in any other tournament.
Before track I was in love (initially forced by my parents due to my asthma problem) with swimming. I began practicing this sport when I was about 6 years old and had my last competition when I was about 18. After my 15th birthday though I was fed up with it and my transition to track began.
I was never to crazy about practicing, always too busy with weekend parties (like everyone in school, I guess that's why we were not elite in sports) and get togethers...and of course with school work...hmm. But I did get some runs done and had a PB of 2.08 when I was 16 in the 800 meter run. PB that had to wait 8 years to break (a couple of months ago).
The month after graduation I broke my ankle real bad and was away from sports for about 1 - 2 years. That was pretty much the end of competitive sports chapter 1 in my life's story.
For those who are wondering where in the world is Omar????....
After living in NY for a while I decided to make a trip to Japan ... learn the language, culture, tradition ... I am half Japanese but had never been to this side of the globe before.
I arrived September 2004 and began working as a language "teacher" in Saitama, about an hour away from Tokyo. One of the teachers in my school participated in marathon races and now and then would tell me about how running is big in Japan. That fall I decided I would get back in shape and race again ... I thought "if I can sprint 800 meters for sure I can jog 21 kilometers ... how hard can that be??"
So I signed up for my first race: Toda half marathon Nov. 19th 2005.
I began my training early October having 6 weeks before the race ... First two weeks I think I averaged about 30 km total after taking some days off from my two first runs. By the time the race day came I had run a grand total of 150 km in 6 weeks. I was ready to rock...
I do not remember much, as it was 2 years ago...all I remember is the frustration of watching girls, boys, grandpas and grandmas passing by me while I was suffering to finish.
I finished with a 1.24 ... with a terrible back pain and an ambulance waiting for me.... and of course with the next day or two off work as I could not really move.
A few weeks after that I began jogging again ... I was ready to give sports a second chance.
Currently
I joined a team the following year: Namban Rengo, where I met many experienced and fast runners who helped me out and gave me an idea of the Japanese running scene.
After a year with them I am now more of a loner, making my own running schedules (still learning) and chosing my own races (I race about twice a month now!!).
My Pb's to the date are:
800: 2.07
1000: 2.38
1500: 4.13
5000: 16.19
10km: 34.16
21km: 1.14
My goals for what's left of this year (2007) are:
800: 2.04
1500: 4.09
5000: 15.45
10km: 33:20
21km: 1.11
Next I will be posting some boring data just as a note to myself...about my training in 2006 and the first half of this year.
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