Tokyo Marathon 2011

Last year we entered the lottery for the Tokyo Marathon. There is only a one in ten chance of getting an entry which is decided by lottery although we have since heard rumours that if you enter from abroad you are guaranteed an entry as it is good for tourism!

The result of the lottery was entry for Sasha (sister with foreign address) and an entry for me on the second round of draws. Unfortunately no entry for Julie.

Training consisted mostly of slogging round and round the Imperial Palace. This is the only place in Tokyo where you can run for 3 miles without being stopped by traffic lights. It's also on my way home from work and close to where Felix plays rugby so very convenient for me.

Training was going really well until I over did it and injured my knee. Two weeks rest advised by the sports physio and a quick dose of treatment to try and speed recovery. After two weeks I started running short distances again and then we went snow boarding for the week! Fortunately by the time Sunday morning came around my knee was feeling pretty good.

The marathon takes place around the center of Tokyo and is really well supported by the crowds. There are 35,000 entrants and, get this, over 10,000 volunteers to make things run smoothly. That's one person to every three runners. I just read on the internet that this is one of the best organised marathons in the world. It was certainly well run and I couldn't fault the organisers for anything.

The race starts at 0910 from the Tokyo Metropolitain building in Shinjuku. Sasha and I arrived at 0800. First stop was the toilets as early morning hydration plan meant that we were busting. Next we had to deliver our special kits bags to the lorries parked down the side streets. Once loaded the lorries take everyones kit to the finish. It was then time to take another pee. This time the queues had grown considerably so we were amongst a small minority that decided it was acceptable to pee in the bushes. Then it was time to push our way through to the start pens before they closed at 0845. We were in a pen E which was only a short way from the start line. Maybe 200m.

Weather was perfect, started cool rising to maybe 15C by end of race. Sun was out (managed to get a sun tan) and just a very light wind. The course is also very flat.

After a lot of speeches and a ticker tape explosion, the gun sounded and the runners started to move forward. It took us four minutes to get to the start line which I think is pretty good by big marathon standards. For the first few kilometers it was very crowded with lots of slow people that had clearly lied through their teeth about their expected finish times in order to get a position in one of the first pens.

After about 10km the field had opened out and you could run at a steady pace without anyone getting in the way. This was also the last point at which we saw the leaders of the race. The route brought them back past the outgoing runners at this point.

There were amazing amounts of drink and food stations. Every 2km there was water and energy drink. With banana's, raisins, bread etc being given out in the second half of the race.

I managed to run a steady pace to about 32km and then it started to get hard. Legs were beginning to get very tired and didn't want to go fast any more. Last 5 km were really tough with body saying it wanted to stop and mind not allowing it to. I think this was same for most people around me. Finally crossed the finish line to be greeted by army of volunteers removing chips from shoes and handing out medals, towels, oranges, bananas, soy bars, water and energy drinks. You collect your bag from a big hall and then go to an area to get changed. All very slick.

The final times (chip time not gun  time) were;

3:34 Ross
3:56 Sasha

We were both very pleased with our times. After a quick pizza from a camper van at the end we headed for home.

Sasha and medal

Ross and medal

Both of us. These pictures were all taken at the end

Very tasty pizza from VW van

Not many pictures of the race as we had no camera with us, however if you want to see what the course looks like follow the link. The footage was filmed 2 years ago from the camera bike leading the way.

http://www.tokyo42195.org/movie.html

The race photos are now available. Follow link

http://tm11eng.allsports.jp/event/00055397.html

Enter password 2011

Enter race number 29238 for Ross
Or
Enter race number 50883 for Sasha

Not sure how long they will be displayed for. The cost id nearly £80 for the set. I decided to give them a miss