LetsRun.com reader Brett in Tokyo sent us this Yoko Shibui update:
http://www.daily.co.jp/newsflash/2007/10/16/0000698768.shtml
On October 15th, former Japanese women`s marathon national record holder Yoko Shibui (2:19:41, Berlin 2004) broke her 40km PB during a training run as part her preparation for the Tokyo International Women`s Marathon on November 18th. In Tokyo, one of Japan`s Olympic selection races, Shibui will face defending Olympic gold medallist and current Japanese national record holder Mizuki Noguchi (2:19:12, Berlin 2005).
Shibui ran this 40km training run to simulate staying with Noguchi, who is heavily favored to win Tokyo. The next day, Shibui left Japan for a high-altitude training camp in China.
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That`s it for the translation. This looks like it`s going to be an incredible race if both Shibui and Noguchi make it to the starting line intact. With Reiko Tosa having secured a spot on the Beijing Olympic team by medalling at the World Championships there are only two slots left but three qualifying races, Tokyo, Osaka and Nagoya. It`s very
unlikely that whoever comes in second in Tokyo will be selected and also probable that the winner will not be selected if the winning times in Osaka and Nagoya are faster. Thus it seems like neither of these sub-2:20 women can afford to run a conservative race. The Tokyo Int`l
course is pretty challenging, with large uphills in the last few km, but Eri Yamaguchi ran 2:22:12 and Gert Thys ran 2:06:33 there in `99, so fast times are possible. I think that they`ll be going for the course record (Yamaguchi`s time) at an absolute minimum, possibly sub-2:20.