Kagawa Marugame Half-Marathon

My last race of the winter racing season, one week after Tatsuno, was a half-marathon on Shikoku Island. The Kagawa Marugame half-marathon is a pretty big race. It's certified by the IAAF and attracts a pretty strong elite field. This year's Kenyan winner broke my six-race streak of being the top foreign finisher.
I wasn't sure exactly what to expect out of this race. I still wasn't sure how I had run so well in Tatsuno, so I didn't know whether I could expect a similar performance on Shikoku, especially going a much farther distance. It turned out that I was ready for an OK race, although I tired toward the end because I didn't have enough strength due to the less mileage I had run that fall. Most of that was largely rendered moot, however, by the sheer size of the field.
There were roughly 7,000 other runners in the non-elite field. I'm not sure if I missed something on the entry form or whether it was poor race management, but somehow I ended up in the group at the very back for the start. The result was that for the first 5km of the race, and to a lesser extent the entire first half, the course was jam-packed and I found it impossible to run at the pace I wanted to. The first 5km probably ranks among the slowest 5km I have ever run in any situation. That meant my overall time was not going to be important, and I tried to just concentrate on how I was feeling the rest of the way.
The highlight of the race was probably the honorary starter, 2000 Olympic marathon champion Takahashi Naoko. Of course, since I was so far back I didn't actually see her fire the gun, but by the time I jogged by (almost 10 minutes later) she was still standing on the podium waving. Surprisingly, at about 4km she came running up behind me. At first I was pretty confused as to who was rapidly making their way through the pack, since I was having trouble. But she's a celebrity, so it was easier. It actually made things easier for me, too, as many of the runners around me surged towards Takahashi to try to give her a high-five or something. That opened up some space along the side of the road for me to pick up the pace. By the way, Takahashi is retired and was just jogging as a good-will ambassador. She was wishing everyone she passed "good luck" (in Japanese, of course).
-Jason