Eri en route to the Course Record in Ichinoseki (iPhone photo courtesy of Second Wind AC)

Eri Okubo (Second Wind AC) won the Ichinoseki Half-Marathon in Japan on Sunday in a new Personal Best and Course Record of 71:22. Eri took more than three minutes off her eight-year old PB of 74:27, set when she was 2nd at the 2003 Nagoya Half-Marathon. The new PB comes just three weeks after her breakthrough 2:28:49 PB at the BMW Berlin Marathon. Eri will train at altitude in Albuquerque, New Mexico, from early November with a target of the December 11th Honolulu Marathon.