California Runner Yuta Arai Embraces the Challenge and the Community of Running
Los Angeles runner Yuta Arai at a recent Koreatown Run Club group run.
Five years ago, the COVID pandemic put lifelong soccer player Yuta Arai in a confusing place. The sport, hobby and form of exercise he’d always relied on was no longer possible as all organized team sports came to a standstill.
He was living in the Bay Area at the time and a friend told him about this cool app (Strava) that recorded running and other activities and it didn’t take long for Yuta to jump right in. He downloaded Strava and the activity of running started to fill the void that the absence of playing soccer had left in his life.
Then Yuta moved to LA, joined the Koreatown Run Club and what had become a personal challenge soon became a community activity and a team sport in a way that got the best out of him and took his running to new heights. Five years later, Yuta not only has seven marathons under his belt but he also has a new PR almost every time he toes the line.
In seven weeks he’ll be in Eugene to go for another big time goal. Here’s a little bit more about what’s getting Yuta to the Eugene Start Line on April 27:
Name: Yuta Arai
Age: 38
Where are you from and where is home now?
I was born in Yokohama, Japan; I grew up in NorCal (Bay Area); and home now is LA.
What’s your local run club or training group and tell us about it?
Koreatown Run Club in Los Angeles. When I first moved to LA, I just ran by myself, then I went to the Twilight 5,000 at UCLA and saw Koreatown Run Club and they had a really good vibe, so I decided to move to Koreatown and joined the run club and immediately loved the atmosphere. From top to bottom, it’s a great organization. There are group runs on Mondays, Wednesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays; and I really fell in love with running during those Wednesday night track workouts. Then I got to know more people during the Saturday long runs and it quickly became an amazing community.
Why Eugene 2025?
I ran the Santa Rosa Marathon last year and it was my last chance to qualify for the 2025 Boston Marathon. I ended up running a 2:58, which was a big BQ for my age group and I was really hoping that it would be enough of a buffer time, but I ended up not qualifying for Boston by just six seconds. I was pretty disappointed, but I still wanted to run a spring marathon, so I did my research and started thinking about Eugene. I read about Track Town, USA and about the University of Oregon track and field team and then I was like: this is it! I’m in! Screw Boston!
Current Total Marathon Count:
7
Favorite road race or racing experience?
Well… I have two favorites. One was Surf City in 2024: I was going for sub-3 but with my fitness at the time, it was a reach. I bonked at Mile 20, but I tried to do my best to finish. My leg just gave out about 100 meters to the finish and I ended up having to crawl and roll across the finish line. It was rough, but when I look back on it, that was my biggest effort ever. Somebody reached out to me from a community page on Facebook where he had seen photos someone posted of me crawling across the finish line and the comments were so inspiring and positive. It gave me a lot of warmth from the running community and it ended up being a great memory.
My other favorite race experience was CIM this last December. In my mind I was going for sub-2:55 and I was feeling a lot of vengeance because of not getting into Boston, so I was pushing it and around Mile 8 this random guy who was running with us said we were on track for sub 2:50. I just locked in from that moment on and was like I’m gonna get sub-2:50. I didn’t even look at my watch for the rest of the race, then I saw the finish line clock was at 2:50, and I knew the time was a little off so it was gonna be close. I sprinted for the finish and ended up breaking 2:50 by four seconds (his chip time was 2:49:56).
What kind of training plan are you following and do you have a specific goal on race day?
My goal is to go sub-2:45 in Eugene. As far as training goes, I don’t follow anything formal, I just follow the philosophy of running an average of 60 miles a week, with one track session and one long run per week.
Finish the sentence: What I love so much about running is _____
The challenge. I love the challenge of running because I’m all about bettering myself in every way possible. In the sport of running, there’s nowhere to hide. It’s about testing yourself and breaking through your own limits. And through that process, I learn about myself: what are my strengths? What are my weaknesses? Running gives me confidence in who I am.
Why the marathon?
I think it’s a really challenging distance. With a 5K or a half marathon, you don’t have to have everything figured out. With the marathon, it’s like an exam. You have to prepare. It tests your discipline and your consistency; and not only that, but you have to prepare and get your nutrition right. And lastly, you have to prepare mentally, you can’t just wing it.
What started your running journey?
I played soccer growing up and in college (his club soccer team at UC Berkeley and won Nationals in 2008). I love soccer! Soccer was my sport! But when COVID hit and all the team sports got shut down, I had to find a new hobby. One of my best friends introduced me to Strava and I immediately got addicted to running. This was right before I moved to LA and after moving to LA and joining Koreatown Run Club, it was on. Running became my thing! I just wanted to be better and better and I admired the fast runners in the club and I wanted to catch them. Running is all positive for me; mentally, I just feel healed after going for a run. And I’m so appreciative of the community that running has brought to me.
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Yuta will be at the Start Line in Eugene alongside a large Koreatown Run Club crew and hundreds of others from the thriving LA running community. Give him a follow on Instagram at @yutaaraisan and a big high five on race morning.