Tokyo Marathon

Dear Mr Tokyo Marathon organiser

 I hope I may ask a stupid question. We start the race and sprint/run/walk/crawl/taxi it 42.165 km all the way across Tokyo to Odaiba right ? It will be something like 4 hours (for me) or longer until we finish by which time we will be tired, wet and cold and probably thinking we are stupid to have attempted such an event.

When we arrive at the finish will our clothes and things be waiting for us ? Do we have to run back to the beginning ?

best regards

Graham

A colleague of mine knowingly informed me that this week I should be running 30km.

“Once I had done this” he noddingly said “I can ramp down the length of my runs”

With this knowledge firmly lodged in my brain I set off for the gymn. Quite prepared to hog the treadmill for 4 hours !! BTW they have instigated a new system at my gymn. They obviously ran out of patience with Oyajis hogging the machines for longer than the specified 20 minutes. The new system requires you to write down your starting time. The attendents can come round and throw you off if there are people waiting. Quite clever I thought.

Anyway I started my run and managed to clock up 10 km after 70 minutes. Not bad considering the amount of socialising I had been doing the night before. I had to stop after 10km. My knees started to talk to me. Rather than risk injury I stopped there.

Will try again on friday. If I knock up 20km then I am on the right track.

I ran the unofficial Tokyo marathon back in 2004. It was going really well. I made good progress dodging the obasans, people walking their dogs, navigating the pedestrian crossings. However at around 27km a hodokiyou (pedestrian foot bridge) bit me. I was climbing the stairs when the first twangs of cramp hit me in the leg.

I have had cramp before and remember the cure is to rub the area to warm it up and, i assume, to get the blood circulating. After the foot bridge we ran up a hill and it was here that the mother monster of all cramp land bit me and never let go. Not matter how much rubbing the cramp didnt go away. at least for a while.

With signs like this you realise you have to take it easy. For the next 14 km I walked. It was only the last 1km did I start running.

 The thing is. I only found out later that the wardens of the race carry a can of coolant spray. You can use it to cool the leg and remove cramp. I wonder if the Tokyo marathon wardens will have the same spray ? I may even thing about carrying my own.

ran 10km today on the treadmill in Daikanyama public gymn. Took it easy ie) slow. ran it in around 70 minutes but felt like I could forever. According to the Hal Higgledy schedule I should be running 25 km but where do people find the time to train that hard ?

I am story believer in the power of rest and of positive thinking. You have to train hard of course but then you have to let the body recover otherwise damage will happen. With positive thinking you can run forever !

Oh dear. I was quite pleased with myself for Saturdays work.

However, soon afterwards, my knee started to speak to me.

“Ouch” it said.

I will resume the Hal Higdon schedule on Tuesday and hopefully the knee problem will go away. only 35 days left.

..but well off course.

 Today. The gymn. Me and the treadmill met again.

Ohisashi buri I said. It has been a long time.

The treadmill didnt reply. It just gave me that look that all treadmills give sad athelete wannabees.  Later on, I could of sworn I heard a snigger from the cursed machine halfway though my run.

Well after 8 weeks break I managed to clock up 11 km in total. 5km running at 10khm. Then walk for 15 minutes at 6.5 khm then running for 30 minutes at 8khm. Didnt feel too bad. In fact I could of run for hours more if it wasnt for the sniggers from the machine.

I now see the training as way of reducing the pain that will come from the day of the marathon.  I wonder how fit I can become,  and how much pain I can reduce, 5 weeks…