Tokyo Marathon

Today was the day for the half marathon which I wanted to think of as a benchmark for my progress for the big race in 3 weeks. Before i talk about today’s race….. i just want to say to Paul & Graham - its not how well you run the race, but how well you blog the experience that counts!!  I enjoy reading both of your posts and want to nominate each of you for post race recognition/awards:

             Most informative blogs – Paul, for all the valuable info (jumpers knee, norovirus) & great graphics (Homers brain, jumpers knee, running shoes, watch).

             Most entertaining blogs – Graham, for such classics as ‘Blue’, ‘My knee is speaking to me’, ‘Cramp’ and of course his unique training philosophy…. ‘I am story believer in the power of rest and of positive thinking.’ : -) 

Now about the race… it was packed with 4500 participants. At the start the running track was full half way around the stadium with runners standing a to b (asshole to belly button). The course was laid out in 3 laps, the first was 10k and then cut down to the same 5k course for laps 2 and 3. Two things stand out from the race that i didn’t expect, were the amount of people and the idea of not knowing where i was running.

          For the entire race there were people right in front of me and right behind me, not once did i have the feeling that the pack had thinned or i was running on my own. Also because i didn’t study or understand the map, i had no idea where we were going.  It was a little strange to be running a race and not know where i was racing too.

I ran pretty hard the first 10k lap, and started thinking that I may run out of gas if i didn’t slow down. After the 10k mark I made a conscious effort to slow down & get my wind back. I noticed a LOT of people running by me on that 3rd lap and i was wondering how many I would be able to catch before the race was finished. A bit after the 15k mark I felt good and picked up the pace, so I slowly started passing many of the people who just ran by me. I made a real effort not to look at my watch during the run…. so i don’t know my times at 10 or 15k, but when i got to 20 i had to take a look. 1 hr 38min.  I was pleasantly surprised and felt good about the run into the stadium, around the track to the finish line.

My official time was 1hr 44min, but the time on my watch (from when I crossed the start and finish lines) was 1hr 43 min.  I ran the race with Andy & I think he finished at 1hr 53min, he had a personal best for his time to the 20k mark and until today he had never ran over 20k, so that was also a personal best distance for him.