The 1992 Boston Marathon was held on April 22nd, "Patriots Day" (a holiday in Maine and Massachusetts.) I joihis marathon last year as well as this year. The Boston Marathon in spring and the New York City Marathon in fall, these two races are the greatest pleasures in my life in the U.S. Some of you might have watched these races, often broadcast on TV in Japan, too. Similar to the New York City Marathon, the Boston Maratho have a "go aurn" course with a turning point, but it has just a "one way" course from one place to ahe starting point is a small town in the suburbs of Boston, Hopkinton, and the finish is in the ter of Boston. When you feel that the goal is approag after about a 30- kilometer run, you have to tackle with the famous "Heart Break Hill" in Boston which is ing into sight. This naming of the hill might sound a bit exaggerated, but youll notice what a tough hill it is after actually running it yourself. Running up the hill is not so hard, but after reag the top, itll get arduous itself. You climb up the hill with all your energy, encing and saying to yourself that theres no more steep hills after this and that now is the time to endure. After a short break when youve got to the top and you think the rest is the flat course leading to the downtown of Boston, the sudden fatigue thuds into you as if it were waiting for you to e.
This fatigue resembles the middle age crisis around 40. The instant you reach the age, when you have some rest after clearing the difficulties in the 20s and the 30s, the crisis falls upon you with a thud. (Some people might never uand how it is without actually experieng it though.) Several gentle slopes iown, which are far less equal to the "Heart Break Hill" in steepness ah, start t you. I felt so this year as well as last year. Especially this year, the rapid rise of temperature exhausted me. My record of this year was 3 hours and 38 minutes, which was 7 minutes slower than that of last year. But the starting point is so crowded every year due to the narrowness of the street, and it takes us over 5 minutes actually to start running after the "Go" signal. Taking all these things into at, I guess my record this year is not so bad.
Anyway all of us e from Boston to this small, starting town on board the coaches chartered for us runners, and we wait here for the Go signal at noon. This little, suburban town, populated by some 2,500 people, es to be overflowed for a couple of hours with the "enthusiastiners" reag the approximate number of 8,000, who join the race from every er of this try and the world. Literally it is a big festival held once a year iown. Hopkinton is a typical residential suburb that one find anywhere in Amerid it has nothing outstanding from a strangers viewpoint: one church, one high school, one fire station, and one short main street. After passing along the main street with a gas station, a pub, a real estate agend a florist , youll find nothing but an endless series of cozy houses with front yards. Every house looks well attended and the lawn in the yard is detly trimmed, but there exists nothing to stimulate your imaginatioher extraordinary geous mansion remely shabby house attracts your attention. This row of houses looks as if to insist that the most valuable virtue in life is not to attract peoples attention. This unity happeo be chosen as a starting point simply because it is located exactly 26 miles or 42 kilometers from Boston, otherwise it would remai