JUST into her fifth day of training in Tokyo, Japan, the country’s marathon Queen Mary Joy Tabal has already earned the respect of trainer Akio Usami, a legendary Japanese marathoner.
In her Facebook post, Tabal said she was evaluated by Usami yesterday in a test where she and other trainees were made to run a certain distance while maintaining a 70-80 percent of their pace in a regular marathon.
Usami was impressed when Tabal hit the target.
“I’ll see him again this Sunday for another training workout,” said Tabal in her account. “I was so blessed to be here. I thank the good people who helped me achieve my goals.”
Tabal is in Japan for a month-long training, which is part of her preparation for the the Boston Marathon on April 18.
In Boston, Tabal will try to meet the qualifying time for the women’s 42k marathon for this year’s Rio Olympics.