I should go back and read Run With the Wind again! I haven't read it in years and years, but I love Miura Shion. Come to think of it, I found a Chinese copy a while back; I need to do a bilingual reading... And yeah, I remember hardly being able to get through poor Shindo's part of the race because of the tension. (And thanks to that book I usually remember to turn on the TV and watch the Hakone Ekiden every New Year's!) Translator's notes are also very interesting--I'm in two minds about the word choices, although I think basically I agree.