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［フォーラム後記｜Forum Epilogue］29［ファシリテーター：小川貴裕］In Japan today there are some 10 million people who run marathons or regularly run or jog for exercise. The Japan Association of Athletics Federations (JAAF) hopes to increase this to 20 million in the next 10 years. People can achieve bet-ter health and relieve stress by running, making it possible for them to work with more energy. That is the idea behind my efforts in organizing attractive and satisfying marathon events.─Good Places to Run There are surprisingly few good places to run in Japan. Public parks are rarely big enough to have a 42-kilometer course, and most marathoners are forced to run on public roads. Regularly paved streets or roads place strain on the feet and can lead to accidents and injury. They are not made for pleasant running for the ordinary person. trian paths are often lined with wood chips, a surface that is easy on the feet. Saunas and lakes abound, offering excellent places to refresh and recuperate after a run. Japan, too, has plenty of beautiful mountains and woodlands, but the envi-ronment is not necessarily amenable to pleasant running. Marathon runners often practice on river embankment paths, but such spaces have to be shared with people strolling, walk-ing their dogs, and cycling. edge of Tokyo’s Yoyogi Park, which I have been packing down with my running for 35 years, is now a natural earthen path where many people run. I would like them to name it Seko Road, but so far I’m afraid the name has not stuck!─Pleasures of RunningMarathons are held no matter what the weather, even if it is raining or snowing. In my days as an active competitor, I would practice under the eaves at Meiji Jingu Stadium even when it was snowing. Some practice in covered shopping centers. Osaka has a shopping arcade that is about two kilometers long, and we’ve even discussed holding “arcade marathons” around the country. That way they could be held rain or shine and chil-dren and adults can all get into the running. The idea would be to have the track circle around through the arcades, where run-ners and spectators would all be able to enjoy the event together. 10 years. That’s also the amount of time it takes to design and build a town, isn’t it? Competitors work over six months toward a race, running more than 40 kilometers a day at the peak of their practice. We aim for a daily diet of 4,000 kilo-calories. In my case, I don’t eat much in the way of sweets. In order to avoid the possibility of an upset stomach on the day of a marathon I avoid eating anything raw for about two weeks beforehand. I also don’t meet up with friends. Such practices help one build the strength needed for the last 35 kilometers of a marathon. Over 20 years I have run a distance equivalent to three and a half times the circumference of the earth. I have run full mar-athons over and over, but these days running about 10 kilo- meters feels just about right. Beer tastes really great after a run. In Finland, for example, roads a bit out of town and pedes-I am happy to say that the wooded belt around the outer It isn’t easy to become a marathon runner. It takes at least Toshihiko Seko was lauded as an assured marathon winner. I was able to engage in a dialogue with him as a result of my proposal to the JAAF, through my book Koen ga shuyaku no machizukuri (Community Building Centering around Parks), for improving local communities and local value through sports. I was impressed with the humor and commitment to practice that filled Seko’s talk for us in the Forum. He spoke about the importance of the “design process” not only for a runner but for community building; about having high aspirations and an image of one’s goal; about how one builds confidence through the accumulation of practice; about the importance of humble gratitude to the people who support you; and about never thinking “I can’t” but always being ready to “give it a try.” I was struck with the recognition that Seko represents not “genius” but, on the contrary, slow and steady endeavor; his wisdom applies not only to marathon runners but is applicable to business in general. 瀬古さんはマラソンレースの優勝請負人とうたわれた方です。拙著『公園が主役のまちづくり』の中で、スポーツを通じた地域コミュニティや地域価値向上を日本陸上競技連盟にご提案したことがきっかけで、対談が実現しました。今回の瀬古さんのお話は、自らの実践に基づく信念とユーモアにあふれ、すべてが印象的でした。ランナーもまちづくりもプロセスのデザインが重要であること、高い意識とゴールのイメージをもつこと、鍛錬の積み重ねでのみ自信が培われること、常に謙虚に自分を支えてくれる方々に感謝すること、やる前から「できません」ではなく「やってみます」の意識をもつことなど、天才のイメージとは真逆の地道な活動が、マラソンだけでなくビジネス全般の共通の心得であることを強く認識しました。　もうひとつのテーマである健康まちづくりにおいては、マラソンを通じた地域課題解決案について日建グループへの期待を込めて具体的にご提案いただきました。誰しもの頭に月桂樹が飾られるよう、皆の誇りの象徴となるまちづくりを実現すべく、日々研鑽と謙虚・感謝の気持ちを忘れず、パブリックスペースの効果的利活用を通じた社会課題解決に向け精進していきたいと思います。 [Facilitator: Takahiro Ogawa]