Close-up | Crazy "running grandma": 62 years old, finished the marathon in 3 hours
The Paper, journalist Ma Zuoyu, intern Rosie
At the just-concluded Nagoya Women's Marathon, 13 runners ran for 2 hours and 30 minutes, and 124 runners broke the 3.
Among these 124 "Broken 3" runners, Mariko Yuzada's name is even more noticeable than the top three.
She is the first female runner over 60 years old in the world to run a marathon for 3 hours, and holds the world record for women over 60 years old.
At the same time, she also holds more than 60 records in Japan and even in the global running circle.
Although Mariko Yukita’s performance was more than 2 minutes slower than the goal in this competition, she was able to run 2 hours, 54 minutes and 31 seconds at the age of 63, which is enough to add a rich touch to her legendary life. .
"I believe I can run for 3 hours at the age of 65." In the life marathon of Mariko Yushita, insisting on running made her more confident and positive-running changed her life trajectory, and she also used her own story to make her feel better. The runway has become warmer, more inspirational and even more passionate.
"Horse racing women are tough and strong"
Mariko Yushita, known as the "60-year-old fastest female runner" in the Japanese running circle, has always had an idol, that is, the greatest female runner in the United States, Joan Benoit Samuelson, the woman of the Los Angeles Olympics. The marathon champion once ran 3 hours and 04 minutes at the age of 61.
Mariko Yuzada and Samuelson have many similarities in performance, but their running lives are completely different.
Mariko Yukita, born in May 1958, was not always good at long-distance running, nor was he always active on the competitive track.
Mariko Yukita spent her high school and college careers in Saitama. When she was a student, she was a "national" middle and long distance runner. At that time, her best time in the 800 meters was 2 minutes and 16 seconds, winning the country. High school champion; and her 1500 meters in college was 4 minutes and 36 seconds, which is also the national college champion.
But it wasn't until the junior year that the 21-year-old Mariko Yukita was exposed to marathons for the first time.
The Tokyo International Women’s Marathon, founded in 1979, was the world’s first women’s marathon. At that time, Mariko Yukikata was just a spectator, but when she saw runners running desperately for the last lap in the downpour, she was caught Shocked.
Joan Benoit Samuelson.
"They are so strong and so tough." When Mariko Yushita was interviewed by the American running magazine "Runner's World", she still remembered her feelings back then. "I want to participate, and I want to join them."
Three years later, as a high school physical education teacher, Mariko Yushita completed her "first horse" in this event-3 hours, 09 minutes and 21 seconds. She ran brilliant results on her first attempt. But she was not satisfied, and then secretly swore that she must run for 3 hours.
However, marriage and pregnancy disrupted her original running plan.
When Mariko Yukita was pregnant with her first daughter, she stayed up late to watch the women’s marathon in the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics. It was at that time that she was fascinated by Samuelson’s strength, "We are not too old. I thought,'If life is different, I might also compete with her.'"
"I promised myself that when my children no longer need my care, I will seriously participate in the marathon."
This promise was fulfilled when she was 41 years old.
When Mariko Yushita became the mother of four children, she began to return to the track, ran a marathon with a score of 3 hours and 30 minutes, and improved to 3 hours and 14 minutes a year later.
"In fact, when I was in my 40s, it was still difficult to balance training, raising children, and work." Although Mariko Yushita participates in competitions almost every weekend, from small track and field events to ultramarathons, at least every month. One game, but the results were not as good as her expectations.
It wasn't until her youngest son started junior high school that Mariko Yukita, who was in her 50s, finally had time to arrange a training program and joined a well-known amateur running club.
Her running volume and results then improved by leaps and bounds. In 2012, when she was 54 years old, she ran a marathon of 3 hours and 01 minutes; at the age of 55, she ran in 1500 meters, 3000 meters, 5000 meters and 55 national records were set on the 10,000-meter track.
Integrate the strengths of a hundred families and fulfill self-promise
When Mariko Yujita was 56 years old, she read Samuelson's article on social media again-the Olympic champion ran 2 hours, 54 minutes and 26 seconds at the age of 57.
This is another great encouragement for Mariko Yushita, because she has never forgotten the promise she made, which is to run for 3 hours on the marathon track.
Her own outstanding talent and rigorous training that surpassed many young runners helped her realize her dream when she was 58 years old.
She completed the "Broken 3" in the 2017 Osaka International Women's Marathon with a time of 2 hours, 59 minutes and 36 minutes.
A month later, she ran again in the Tokyo Marathon for 2 hours, 58 minutes and 15 seconds.
"It has always been my motivation to run for 3 hours, but when I finished the race with '258', someone told me that it was the fastest among the 58-year-old contestants, and no one 60 or older could do it. When it's past, I know I have a new goal."
One of the characteristics of Mariko Yuzada’s training is that she will collect training methods used by runners that she believes to be excellent, and copy or improve them into her own training methods:
When she read that the legendary runners of the Japanese men’s marathon, the Zong brothers, used sauna and hot spring therapy during their rehabilitation, she added these to her rehabilitation plan; when she read that she had instructed Japanese runners to win 3 When the women's Olympic marathon medals and helped the female athletes to run for the first time in 2 hours and 20 minutes, Yoshio Koide asked the athletes to practice mountain roads, she also started running on nearby mountain roads to increase her strength.
Not only that, self-discipline is another key factor for her to remain "strong" at the age of 60-she pays attention to obtaining iron, and then she will sleep for 8 hours every night and receive regular acupuncture and massage.
And 60 years old is the age at which Japanese women can choose to retire, but Mariko Yushita did not completely give up work, but changed from full-time to part-time. In her opinion, "Such a decision has given me more time to prepare to break the record. Training."
Mariko Yushita increased her monthly run to nearly 150 kilometers, and with the help of her husband’s pick-up and drop-off, she used the slope of Mount Fuji to train for climbing to strengthen her leg muscles...
That year, she was 61 years old, and it has been 40 years since she was moved by the marathon for the first time as a spectator.
Just a month later, Mariko Yushita set a new record in the Saitama International Marathon, raising her time to 2 hours, 56 minutes and 54 seconds.
Crazy marathon grandma
"I have become accustomed to going to the competition almost every week. After all the competitions were suspended in April, I started to do 1000-meter interval training every Sunday."
After becoming "the world's first person", the story of Mariko Yukita and the almost harsh training methods also spread in the running circle. "When the high school I taught at started, my weekly training changed to multiple times. I will take the girls to run 400 meters, complete the 1000-meter interval training with a '355' pace, and run 6000 meters with a '420' pace."
Mariko Yukita’s love and dedication to running did not stop because of the realization of her self-promise. When she read that Haruka Yamaguchi, who once ran for 2 hours, 26 minutes and 35 seconds in Osaka, trains with a running volume of more than 180 kilometers per week, she Touched again, "If she succeeds because of this amount of running, I must do the same."
As a result, in spring and early summer, 62-year-old Mariko Yukita is increasing his runs every week.
Last August, she ran more than 180 kilometers per week.
This amount of training is a difficult task even for amateur runners in their 30s and 40s, let alone in her 60s.
"I have always been very busy and never really took the time to run." Mariko Yujita told Runner's World, "I have been very aggressive in training, so my body has adapted. I think it is for older runners. Said that my training method is not worth advocating, because their legs will not have such adaptability."
In the eyes of many people, Mariko Yushita is a crazy marathon grandmother, but she actually pays attention to her physical changes-after the start of the autumn road running season, she will gradually reduce the amount of running.
From mid-October to December last year, although the epidemic affected the road running competition, she still completed the "Broken 3" in the three small marathons that she participated in, with results ranging from 2 hours 54 minutes to 2 hours 55 minutes. between.
In order to qualify for the Osaka International Women’s Marathon in January this year, she needs to run within 1 hour 59 minutes of 30 kilometers, so on December 5 last year, she ran 1 hour 57 in a 30 kilometers race in Osaka. Points 18.
But while she was so desperately chasing the record, her body load also reached a critical line-in a test match on January 3 this year, Mariko Yushita felt severe pain in her right hip.
"I know that I have lost part of my health, but I believe I have been trained for a long time." Just as the family and friends around me started to worry about Yushita Mariko's body, she was helped by acupuncture treatment and muscle patch. Before the women’s marathon in Osaka, Japan on the 31st, they recovered.
That was her 109 marathon races. Due to restrictions on mass runners, her registration score was ranked last among all runners.
But in the end, she finished 48th among all 61 finish runners. Not only did she defeat those opponents who were only one-third of her age, but she broke her own world record with a time of 2 hours, 52 minutes and 13 minutes. She was shocked. The world runs laps.
"If I didn't miss a month of training due to injury, I think I could run to 2 hours 50 minutes or 2 hours 51 minutes." Mariko Yushita is still not satisfied with her world record, but she also knows that her current physical condition is not good. Allow her to be more "crazy", "Running in 2 hours and 50 is beyond my ability. I have done all the training I can do, but it is the most important thing to stop getting hurt."
Today, 2 hours, 54 minutes and 31 seconds in the Nagoya Women’s Marathon can only be regarded as a "transitional period" for her to hit the world record again-in May this year, 63-year-old Mariko Yukita still wants to create more legends, "I believe I can run into 3 hours by the age of 65."
"I hope to be able to participate in the Boston Marathon, and then have the opportunity to introduce myself to Samuelson. She and I are in different worlds, but I think we have a lot to say."