Yamada Honichi was an unknown athlete when he won the 1984 Tokyo International Marathon. People said he was just lucky. But in 1986, he proved them wrong by winning again—this time at the International Marathon in Italy. When reporters asked him the secret to his success, he explained:
“Before each race, I walk through the marathon course and pick out visual landmarks to use as personal goals. For example, my first target might be a bank building, the second a large tree, and the third a red house. I create a series of small, manageable goals just for myself. Then, once the race starts, I run toward the first goal as if I’m doing a 100-meter sprint. When I reach it, I keep the same pace and run toward the second one. By breaking the full course into sections like this, the run becomes much more manageable. In the past, I used to focus only on the finish line, which was over 40 kilometers away. But I would feel exhausted after just a few kilometers. This approach changed everything for me.”