After many seasons of racing, Ironman racing, I have never experienced a race quite like the Strongman Japan.  It was one of the most rewarding and enjoyable trips I have ever had involving a triathlon.  The race consisted of a 1.9 mile swim, 96 mile bike and 26.2 mile run. It is just shy of the Ironman distance with 1500 participants.  It is held on a little island south of Tokyo called Miyakojima, which is actually closer to Taiwan than Japan itself.  My teammate, Rachel Ross, who won the Strongman race in 2007, told me how much fun it was.  After being contacted by the race committee last fall, and being asked to race as an “invited” athlete, I immediately jumped at the chance. 
 We left Colorado the Monday before the race April 14th, and after 15 hours of flight time, Nikki and I landed in Miyakojima and were greeted with 80 degree temperatures.  Myself and six other invites athletes, were all on the same flight.  I was the only American athlete along with three from Australia, two from Germany, and one from Austria. Our athlete coordinator, Gary Sato, explained to us that the “press” was at the airport and were planning on taking our pictures once we left baggage claim.  To my surprise that is exactly what happened.  The media swarmed us and put our picture on the front page the next day.  You see, there are not many people outside of Japan that come to this race, or the island for that matter, so we were considered a considerable news story for the media. The media coverage would be a trend that would last for the duration of our stay.  After leaving the airport we got to our hotel, the Miyakojima Tokyu Resort.  It was probably the most beautiful spot on any island I have ever been to.  The water was crystal clear, shallow, and there was virtually no boat traffic.  It was a swimmers paradise!  After we got checked in we had a meeting with the mayor and gave him gifts from our countries.  
 On Thursday and Friday we had our school visits.  The international athletes are invited to elementary schools to talk about triathlon and answer questions about our countries, with a translator of course.  They welcomed us with music, dancing and even gave each of us gifts.  It made me feel so good that I could share my culture with them and teach them a little about why I do triathlons and how being physically fit can help them in their lives.  We played games and I gave out a bunch of Timex hats which they loved.  Here is a picture of the kids and us at Fukumine Junior High School wearing their new hats.  Thursday night we had a dinner with the local Rotary club and exchanged flags.  We played more games and laughed together almost the whole night.  Other athletes that were invited were the Taiwan and Korean triathlon teams, who all were super friendly.  They were so welcoming to us and truly appreciated the fact that we came to their island to see their lifestyle.
 
On Saturday, the day before the race, Nikki and I took a boat ride to one of the neighboring islands named Irabu.  It’s an island which I’m sure no tourists go to, let alone Americans.  There was not much there except for the occasional farmer working in his tobacco field giving a passer by a bow or wave.  We stopped by a convenience store and picked up a bottle of Pocari Sweat (kind of like Gatorade) and headed back to Miyakojima.  I checked in my bike and soon prepared my pasta dinner.  We ate in our room overlooking the water and to keep with Japanese tradition, I ate my meal with chopsticks.
As race morning came, I couldn’t have been more excited to race.  I was a little nervous, but more anxious to see what the race would deliver and how I would feel.  I felt very confident in my training and thought about all of the great workouts I had in preparation for the race. I knew what I trained my body to do, which was to go fast for long distances.  As I headed down to the start we saw Gary and the rest of the invited athletes and got ready for the gun to go off.  Little did I know that the former Japanese Prime Minister, Junichiro Koizumi (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Junichiro_Koizumi), would shoot the starting gun.
The swim went very well.  I immediately found myself in 2nd place overall and one other guy was about 30 seconds in front.  I guess the winner of each leg would get 50,000 Yen (that’s about $500 US to you and me) so that certainly crossed my mind.  I tried to close in, but he finished about 1 minute ahead of me.  As I exited the water, I found myself in front of many, many cameras.  The Japanese press takes things seriously and they were all over the place!  I hopped onto my orange Trek (one of many Trek OCLV models, although the only orange one) and tried to catch the leader.  I passed him after 5K and was soon leading the race.  Soon after that I was passed by Bevan Leach, one of the Aussie athletes from our group, and a great guy.  We made our way around the island and saw some spectacular views.  I was passed a few more times, but made my way back to T2 in 5th place.  The run was 13.1 miles out and 13.1 miles back - pretty cut and dry.  I felt very good out of transition, caught one other guy, and soon was passed by the eventual winner.  I felt great until the last 5K where my quads felt very tight. However, I managed to make it to the finish locking up 5th place overall with a 3:03 marathon and the mayor giving me my finishing medal.  Total time was 7:58, just 14 minutes or so from the winner.  I was very pleased!  The award dinner was very special.  They honored the top 10 overall and I felt very proud to represent the USA so well in a large race where there were less than 5 Americans. After the race, Nikki and I spent a few nights in Tokyo and had a blast exploring the city together.  Yet, we’re ready to head home to see our kids. 
It was a tremendous experience for us and one that I will never forget.  What I noticed was that the generous people of Miyakojima treated the Strongman race as a celebration of life and fitness.  What I did not see was people getting caught up in pre race hype such as split time talk, age group placings or overall times.  I witnessed athletes gathered together happy to simply participate in an event where they could just enjoy themselves.  To me, it was a very cleansing feeling that made people feel good about themselves.  I hope to go back again next year and do it all over again.

 
Thanks for reading—
Tim