WILMER JOEL
A Japanese man ran the Majuro equivalent of a marathon — the 30 mile distance from Laura to Rita — this past Saturday. The run was timed for his birthday.
Makito Murai, 41, who is from Tokyo, Japan, completed a six-hour Laura-Rita run as a way of saying farewell to Majuro.
Murai’s “supporter,” Matthew Loreto, trailed him in a vehicle until he finished the marathon.
Murai, who works for Marshalls Japan Construction Company as an assistant manager, lived in Majuro for three years with his wife and two children.
“It’s so long — I couldn’t imagine that it would be that long,” said Murai to the Journal describing his run with shortness of breath.
As part of his training, he often runs from his house in Long Island to the end of the airport to improve his endurance on the weekends.
“I will miss leaving the beautiful sea and the wind,” he said. “I don’t get weather like this in Japan. I was very busy in Japan, but here was not so busy in this quiet place. It is good experience for my family.”
He wished he could have more time to visit the outer islands. The only one he ever visited was Arno. Murai leaves on January 18 for Japan to start a new chapter in his life working for a construction company and hopes to establish a business career to “export (supplies) from Japan to Marshall Islands.”