thedrifter
05-19-09, 07:57 AM
Training for the top: Camp Fuji Marines prepare for Mount Fuji race
By Tim Wightman, Stars and Stripes
Pacific edition, Wednesday, May 20, 2009
CAMP FUJI, Japan — It’s like running in kitty litter.
That’s what Camp Fuji Marines say about trekking up the mountain that overlooks their base, a process that causes a person to sink up to their ankles in lava sand with every step.
And it’s a process the 12 Marines who make up the Adventure Race Team hope to have mastered by July 24. That is the date of the 2009 Fuji Mountain Race, which draws thousands of participants from all over the world every year. The half-marathon starts at Gotemba City Hall and ends at the summit of the mountain.
"It’s a big deal," said team organizer Staff Sgt. Jay Johnson. "A lot of people come out for it, and rightly so. It’s an icon. Everybody knows what Mount Fuji looks like."
Johnson and Command Sgt. Maj. Bruce Cole were both new to the base when they noticed pictures from past mountain runs posted in the gym. Cole looked into it and found it had been eight years since the base had a team run in the event. He told Johnson to head up the recruiting effort and to hold practices so that the team could represent well come run time.
Cole said it just made sense to field a Marine team.
"Every morning when you wake up, you look up there and you see the mountain. And there’s a race every year that goes up the mountain," Cole said. "It seems natural that the Marines should be participating and at least showing every year in that race."
Johnson had a vision of his own for the team. He wanted the team to compete in not just runs but all sorts of fitness venues, including weightlifting and iron man competitions on other bases. For that reason, he said, the team sports a diverse skill set.
"Everybody brings something to the team. I can’t really say there’s a weak link," Johnson said.
Of the group, Cpl. Troy Grassi and Lance Cpl. Mathias King are recognized as the fastest, while Pfc. Kyle Campanella and Cpl. Chad Lepine are two of the strongest — both having done well in a recent bench press competition at Naval Air Facility Atsugi.
Johnson designed the team’s grueling workout schedule to improve everyone’s abilities. Each day they meet from 6 a.m. to 8 a.m. Sometimes they focus on weight training. Sometimes it is just running. Other times they meet in the gym for what Grassi calls "Jay’s crazy workouts."
The team’s calling card, though, remains running. To even make the team, a person has to complete a 2 ½ mile, mostly uphill course in 21 minutes. The runs take them off base and oftentimes off road. It was on rough and smooth terrain that the team recently competed in a 15-kilometer relay race against members of the Japan Ground Self-Defense Force from nearby Takigahara Garrison.
"Some people won their legs, some people lost, but the last little bit of it was a dead sprint. It was beautiful," said Johnson, who said the race was too close to call. He said the Japanese team will also be running in the Fuji race.
As that race grows nearer, the team plans to make more runs up the mountain in preparation. They’ve made a few trips over the past month. Last week, members of the team ran from station 5 to the weather tower — a distance of about a mile, but one in which Johnson says there’s a 1,400-meter, or nearly 4,600-foot, rise in elevation.
"It was an hour straight of just trucking straight up," he said. "At one point we were actually on all fours going up it. It was so steep."
On another outing, the team was passed by a vehicle making its way down the mountain.
"Little did we know that the people driving by us on their way down were going to lock the gate," Lepine said. "So after our friendly run, we come back down the mountain and we’re locked inside."
They were stuck for a half-hour, but Johnson said the team built some unity trying to get out.
"Everybody kind of pulled together to make it happen. We’ll just say it was quite a hefty lock," he said.
The lock has since been replaced. Lepine keeps the old one in his barracks room as a souvenir.
The team’s goal in the mountain race is simply to finish, said Johnson. But he says failure is impossible at this point.
"These gentlemen are out there making it happen every day," he said. "Win, lose or draw come July 24, it won’t be because of a lack of effort, because everyone here has done their best."
Ellie
By Tim Wightman, Stars and Stripes
Pacific edition, Wednesday, May 20, 2009
CAMP FUJI, Japan — It’s like running in kitty litter.
That’s what Camp Fuji Marines say about trekking up the mountain that overlooks their base, a process that causes a person to sink up to their ankles in lava sand with every step.
And it’s a process the 12 Marines who make up the Adventure Race Team hope to have mastered by July 24. That is the date of the 2009 Fuji Mountain Race, which draws thousands of participants from all over the world every year. The half-marathon starts at Gotemba City Hall and ends at the summit of the mountain.
"It’s a big deal," said team organizer Staff Sgt. Jay Johnson. "A lot of people come out for it, and rightly so. It’s an icon. Everybody knows what Mount Fuji looks like."
Johnson and Command Sgt. Maj. Bruce Cole were both new to the base when they noticed pictures from past mountain runs posted in the gym. Cole looked into it and found it had been eight years since the base had a team run in the event. He told Johnson to head up the recruiting effort and to hold practices so that the team could represent well come run time.
Cole said it just made sense to field a Marine team.
"Every morning when you wake up, you look up there and you see the mountain. And there’s a race every year that goes up the mountain," Cole said. "It seems natural that the Marines should be participating and at least showing every year in that race."
Johnson had a vision of his own for the team. He wanted the team to compete in not just runs but all sorts of fitness venues, including weightlifting and iron man competitions on other bases. For that reason, he said, the team sports a diverse skill set.
"Everybody brings something to the team. I can’t really say there’s a weak link," Johnson said.
Of the group, Cpl. Troy Grassi and Lance Cpl. Mathias King are recognized as the fastest, while Pfc. Kyle Campanella and Cpl. Chad Lepine are two of the strongest — both having done well in a recent bench press competition at Naval Air Facility Atsugi.
Johnson designed the team’s grueling workout schedule to improve everyone’s abilities. Each day they meet from 6 a.m. to 8 a.m. Sometimes they focus on weight training. Sometimes it is just running. Other times they meet in the gym for what Grassi calls "Jay’s crazy workouts."
The team’s calling card, though, remains running. To even make the team, a person has to complete a 2 ½ mile, mostly uphill course in 21 minutes. The runs take them off base and oftentimes off road. It was on rough and smooth terrain that the team recently competed in a 15-kilometer relay race against members of the Japan Ground Self-Defense Force from nearby Takigahara Garrison.
"Some people won their legs, some people lost, but the last little bit of it was a dead sprint. It was beautiful," said Johnson, who said the race was too close to call. He said the Japanese team will also be running in the Fuji race.
As that race grows nearer, the team plans to make more runs up the mountain in preparation. They’ve made a few trips over the past month. Last week, members of the team ran from station 5 to the weather tower — a distance of about a mile, but one in which Johnson says there’s a 1,400-meter, or nearly 4,600-foot, rise in elevation.
"It was an hour straight of just trucking straight up," he said. "At one point we were actually on all fours going up it. It was so steep."
On another outing, the team was passed by a vehicle making its way down the mountain.
"Little did we know that the people driving by us on their way down were going to lock the gate," Lepine said. "So after our friendly run, we come back down the mountain and we’re locked inside."
They were stuck for a half-hour, but Johnson said the team built some unity trying to get out.
"Everybody kind of pulled together to make it happen. We’ll just say it was quite a hefty lock," he said.
The lock has since been replaced. Lepine keeps the old one in his barracks room as a souvenir.
The team’s goal in the mountain race is simply to finish, said Johnson. But he says failure is impossible at this point.
"These gentlemen are out there making it happen every day," he said. "Win, lose or draw come July 24, it won’t be because of a lack of effort, because everyone here has done their best."
Ellie