Japanese runner wearing wooden clogs runs 42 km

Osaka Marathon 2023 will take place on February 26 in Osaka city, Osaka prefecture. Minoshima, from Sapporo Prefecture, decided to challenge herself by wearing traditional Japanese wooden clogs to run the full marathon (42.2 km). He even wrote the information on the running bib as "Geta", which means wooden clogs in Japanese.

The 47-year-old runner then finished in 3 hours 28 minutes 55 seconds, with an average speed of 4 minutes 56 seconds per km, ranked 2,896. This result also helped Minoshima improve his personal best (PB) by nearly 10 minutes, compared to 3 hours 38 minutes 39 seconds at the Showa Memorial Park Marathon on February 12.

Many opinions on social networks believe that if using normal running shoes, Minoshima will comfortably reach the standard of 3 hours 20 minutes for men aged 45 - 49 to participate in the Boston Marathon, one of the six largest marathons on the planet. Marathon Majors. The remaining five tournaments are held in London, New York, Chicago, Berlin and Tokyo.

On his personal Facebook, Minoshima said he did not have much time to prepare for the Osaka Marathon. He hopes that he can improve his performance even more.

Wooden clogs are a traditional type of sandal in Japan, often combined with yukata during occasions such as summer festivals. The clog consists of a wooden base, with fabric or rope straps.

This is not the first time Minoshima has worn wooden clogs for a run. In 2019, he wore wooden clogs and completed the 100 km distance at the Kamalai Shrine 100, Taiwan, in 13 hours and 45 minutes. Minoshima's best is 2 hours 59 minutes 20 seconds, set at the 2014 Hokkaido Marathon in casual running shoes.