El Tigre:A Runner's Idea for Fun

El Tigre
Originally uploaded by mjbruni.

What is this great idea? Getting a group of your friends together to wake up at the crack of dawn to run a marathon together outside in the pouring rain at 3 degrees C while wearing a tiger costume. OH, and then you have to finish the last 50m on all fours while roaring.

There was also a group of cowboys, a pro-wrestler, a bear, a swan, and a bunch of little elves. It was awesome. I did not dress up sadly (although I was decked out in all Badger gear and just being the only foreigner and standing almost 2m high kind of makes me an outlandish creature already). The reason for the post is not to say that Japanese people are crazy, which they are, but that runners, no matter where in the world, are at the forefront of this craziness. Many people dress rediculously or make animal sounds, but they don't do it while pushing their bodies to their physical limits. Who's heard of a futball(soccer) player that has dressed up as King Kong and played an entire game just for the hell of it ? I know this happens in the US, but today showed me how universal the trend is.

To recap today's events, I entered a relay marathon with some fellow Toyo employees. This meant creating a team that would trade off running 2km laps until you finished 42.195km. There were over 120 teams 'competing'. It was the most relaxed, but competitive event I've ever run in. Everyone was there to challenge themselves and have fun doing it. I finished my 10km averaging under 4min/km. I ran with a huge smile plastered on my rain pelted my face while water was gushing through my shoes. It was also sweet because the last 195m the whole team comes off the sidelines and joins the last runner to finish the race together. I definetly want to do this again.