Influenced by Oyagi, Fujita started to think about running a marathon in his junior year in college and he started to train with that in mind. With Oyagis influence, Fujita made a commitment to running. First in February of 1998, his junior year, Fujita ran the 30 km road race and set a collegiate best - 1:30:21, which was exactly the time Oyagi had in mind for Fujita to start serious marathon training. A year later, Fujita made his marathon debut at the 1999 Lake Biwa marathon just a few weeks before his graduation from Komazawa University. With his eye on the collegiate record, Fujita ran with his hero, Martin Fiz of Spain until 30 km. Even after being left behind by Fiz in the final 10 km, Fujita showed unparalleled tenacity and finished second in 2:10:07, which broke the legendary Toshihiko Sekos collegiate record. With this performance, Fujita was selected for the marathon team for the World Championships in Sevilla.
In Sevilla, Fujita (despite injury) showed his tenacity once again and finished sixth with 2:15:45. Suddenly, he was in a position to shoot for an Olympic marathon team berth. Unfortunately injury prevented him from starting the 2000 Lake Biwa marathon, and his Olympic dream had to wait for another four years. Once he given up hope of running the Lake Biwa marathon, he channeled all his energy to prepare for the prestigious Fukuoka marathon in December.
To prepare for Fukuoka, Fujita covered 4400 km during the four months leading up to the race. Not only had he covered unprecedented mileage in preparation for the race, he was able to stay injury free. At Fukuoka, on 3 December, 2000, by running 14:44 for the 5 km segment from 35 km to 40 km, Fujita broke away from the reigning Olympic Champion, Gezehange Abera. He went on to win with a national (and Asian) record time of 2:06:51, which automatically qualified him for the 2001 World Championships marathon team.
Fujita has been preparing for the World Championships near mount Fuji, at an altitude of 900m. For his preparations for Edmonton, Fujita has covered 1200 km in month of June. Although he finished sixth in the World Championships marathon two years ago, Fujita feels that he was not participated in the competition, because he lost contact with the lead pack around the half way point.
"I want to be part of the race this time around. I will cover all the important moves," says Fujita who understands that unlike invitational race, in the championships race, the pace changes often. "I think the ability to change gear is very important (in the championships). I want to be ready for that, and I am training for it," Fujita told the Monthly Track & Field (of Japan). Like other Japanese team members, Fujita has also run over the marathon course in Edmonton. "I did not think it is a very hard course," was his assessment. |
