Race officials and reporters were a little suspicious when the initial printout of the 1999 Honolulu Marathon showed that 50-year-old Yoshihisa Hosaka of Japan had finished 13th overall while running 2:32:27. Four possibilities were recognized: 1) Hosaka had not run the entire course; 2) his age had not been properly input to the computer; 3) he decided not to run and gave his number to a younger runner; 4) Hosaka was a masters phenom.
For someone that age to run such a time in Honolulu, which is not noted for its fast conditions, is not unprecedented. New Zealander Jack Foster, the 1975 Honolulu Marathon winner at age 43 and an Olympian at 44, clocked 2:28:15 at age 50 in the 1982 Honolulu Marathon. But everyone knew that Foster was from another planet.
An investigation determined that Hosaka is the real deal. He’s from Shimoda-shi in Japan, about 300 kilometers south of Tokyo, where he works as a restaurant chef. In the 2001 Honolulu Marathon on December 9, bucking some strong winds, he was 23rd overall among the 19,236 finishers in 2:38:41. He was also the first masters finisher, beating out all the 40-year-olds.
"I wanted to run about 2:33 this year," said Hosaka, through an interpreter, "but the conditions were not the best." He mentioned that he had run a 32:12 for 10K in Japan several months earlier and felt prepared for a fast time.
Hosaka said that he ran in high school, but did not take up running again until his mid 30’s. He then went through the usual adaptation period of 5-7 years and did not set his PRs until he was into his 40’s. His first marathon was the 1991 Honolulu Marathon, which he completed in 2:31:19. "I won a trip to Honolulu by winning a race in Japan," he explained. "I had not previously considered running a marathon. Now, it is my favorite distance and Honolulu is my favorite race." His best of 2:25:28 was achieved at age 44 in Japan.
"It takes me a little longer to recover from my training runs, and so I am not quite as fast," Hosaka explains his slower times.
Hosaka, who stands 5’9" and weighs 143 pounds, said that he tries to average 30K a day in his training, Ten kilometers in the morning before work and 20K after work. Most of his training is in mountainous terrain. He also does a weekly interval session of 3x1,000 meters at something faster than his 10K pace.
"Yes, I often wonder what I might have done," he said when it was suggested he might have been an Olympic caliber runner had he been competing during his 20’s. "But then maybe I would not be doing so well now."
