Mariko Yushita is being interviewed.
Do you still think that the marathon is exclusive to young people?
In the recent Nagoya Women's Marathon in Japan, a 62-year-old runner attracted media attention.
This old man named Mariko Yukita finished the race in 2 hours, 54 minutes and 31 seconds.
It is worth mentioning that this is not the best result of Mariko Yukita.
In the Osaka International Marathon held in January, she ran for 2 hours, 52 minutes and 13 hours, breaking her world record for women's marathon over 60 years old.
As an old man who is over sixty years old, the story of Mariko Yukita does not lose any female inspirational blockbuster.
From a physical education teacher, to a marathon enthusiast, to a world record creator.
Mariko Yuzada vividly explained what is meant by "people can be because they believe that they can."
Mariko Yujita is in the game.
Mariko Kumakata first encountered a marathon in his life in 1979.
The Tokyo International Women's Marathon that year was also the world's first women's marathon.
When she saw the runners doing their best to complete the last lap in the heavy rain, Mariko Yukita felt another possibility in life: "They are so strong, so strong, and I want to join them."
In fact, running is not too difficult for Mariko Yushita.
She participated in national competitions in both high school and college, and won the national high school championship and college championship respectively.
After graduation, Mariko Yujita became a high school physical education teacher.
With a certain running foundation, she participated in the first marathon in her life in 1981 and finished the race in 3 hours, 09 minutes and 21 seconds.
For ordinary horse racing enthusiasts, this result is pretty good, but the 22-year-old Mariko Yujita is not satisfied.
She immediately set a goal for herself: to run within 3 hours.
Mariko Yujita is in the game.
Although there is only a time gap of less than 10 minutes, in a marathon, an increase of 1 minute also means a challenge to the limits of your own body.
In order to accomplish this goal, Mariko Yukita took 35 years.
During this long period of time, Mariko Yukita, while taking care of her career, also had a successful family.
She gave birth to 4 children one after another, and she was exhausted and exhausted every day for life.
When she was pregnant with her first child, Mariko Yushita also thought that her marathon dream might be shattered.
At the time of the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics, Mariko Yushita watched an Olympic marathon one night, and American athlete Joan Benoit Samuelson, who was the same age as her, won the gold medal in one fell swoop.
The marathon dream hidden in her heart once again sprouted in Mariko Yushita's heart. She secretly made up her mind: "After raising the child, I will run a marathon seriously."
In order to stay in shape, Mariko Yujita will also participate in some short-distance competitions during this period.
In 2000, Mariko Yukita, who was over 40, returned to the marathon track.
But as she got older, her score dropped to 3 hours and 30 minutes, but a year later, Mariko Yukita ran out of 3 hours and 14 minutes.
Mariko Yujita was interviewed.
In fact, it is difficult for her to balance the relationship between hobbies, work and family when she is middle-aged.
However, Mariko Yujita insists on training every week and has to run a marathon every month.
After the youngest son entered junior high school, she finally had more time of her own.
She joined an amateur athletic club in Tokyo.
There, she found people who shared her own interests, and started training with young people who were teenagers younger than her.
Mariko Yushita also increased her training volume to 60 miles per week, and her performance continued to improve.
At that time, she was over half a hundred years old.
She knows that accomplishing her goal requires not only strong perseverance, but also scientific training methods.
In order to run within 3 hours as soon as possible, Mariko Yuzada strictly controls the intake of red meat and liver, and also regularly performs acupuncture and massage.
Every morning when I get up and brush my teeth, I will stand on the lacing board for 3 minutes to stretch the calf muscles.
After learning that professional coaches would let athletes train in the mountains, Mariko Yujita also began to run daily in the mountains near her home.
In the arena, not a single drop of sweat is in vain.
In 2017, the 58-year-old Mariko Yukita finished the Osaka International Women's Marathon in 2 hours, 59 minutes and 36 seconds, fulfilling the promise made when he was young.
In the following year, her grades continued to improve.
When she learned that no woman could still run within 3 hours after her 60th birthday, Mariko Yushita decided that she would set a new world record.
Mariko Yujita is in the game.
After 60 years old, Mariko Yukita decided to retire from a full-time job.
I thought there would be more time for training, but her body seemed to have reached its limit.
Long-term high-load exercise caused her right leg and left hip to have varying degrees of injury.
Once in a game, Mariko Yukita also fell due to an injury.
But Mariko Yujita never gave up the word in his dictionary.
If she is a person who gives up easily, it may not take her 35 years to improve her 9-minute score.
In 2019, Mariko Yukita, who was 60 years old, finally became the first woman in the world to run within 3 hours with a time of 2 hours, 59 minutes and 11 seconds.
After that, the record has been in her hands.
Every spring and early summer, Mariko Yujita will increase her training volume.
At one point, she increased her training volume to 115 miles a week.
She said frankly: "My body has adapted, but for people without any foundation, it is very difficult, and their legs will not be able to stand it."
In fact, as she got older, Mariko Yukita also began to consciously control her running amount.
In May of this year, she is about to celebrate her 63rd birthday.
She is still eager to run into less than 3 hours at the age of 63.
(Reporter Xing Rui)