My Tokyo Marathon Story ***** (that’s five stars, thank you!)

Marathon (distance) #70 – Marathon Major #8 (3:39:53) – BQ Race #2

My journey to ‘chase stars’ started long before it was a ‘thing’. Back in 2008 with my first ever charity place in Marathon (London). I quickly collected another three stars with New York (2009), Berlin (2010) and Chicago (2012). In those days there were only 5 Marathon Majors, and the elusive Boston would have meant a much faster marathon time as I was ‘only’ 40 years of age in 2012. During this period, I had participated in some scientific testing – sessions measuring LT and VO2 max – and was advised by Sports Scientists at Eastbourne University that there was no way I was going to achieve sub 3:45 plus the expected Boston Qualifier Buffer (you typically need below the qualifying time to get a place in the ballot). Therefore, I decided to focus my endeavours elsewhere, did some further International Marathons and then ventured onto the trails – the latter now being my true running love.

The Marathon Majors then expanded to six, which included Tokyo, and I wasn’t really that interested in completing the now extended journey… or was I deep down?

For the next 10 years I focused on trail running, building the distance, elevation and time on feet with various associated challenges. I learned a lot about my mental and physical strengths, including areas that needed further work, and am still learning today.

2023 was a difficult year health-wise and while recovering I entered the Tokyo ballot.  Unbelievably I bagged a place! I initially thought “How brilliant!”, followed immediately by “Eek that doesn’t fit with my ‘return to running’ trail plans for 2024”. What an opportunity though; I felt so grateful. To secure a ballot place for Tokyo is nigh on impossible so, after some discussion with the husband, we decided to seize the moment and go for it! I paid my money, panic bought flights and accommodation and then parked the plans until February 2024. I had trail events to train for and needed to get back up to Marathon distance, then 50k and then my first 50 miler post left hip surgery in July 2023.

The events and winter passed successfully with training hard – both running and cross training – including more strength and continuing yoga (for the mind). After the Arc50 at the end of January 2024 followed by a week of recovery, I focused on my ‘road running’ training which basically meant a couple of longer runs on the road and practicing fuelling solely on gels and water again – talk about turning back the clock 5 years. Ultimately, I was relying on all my years of training and experience, not merely 3 weeks of road running.

Now possessing a Tokyo place, the little devil in my brain started to wonder whether Boston might HAVE to be on the cards again in the future. Now at the ripe old age of 50, my BQ time had changed so I needed 3:55 (plus the usual BQ buffer time) which I thought might be feasible with some proper road running training. But with three weeks of road training until race day I resolved not to worry, to go and do my thing while enjoying the whole event experience and collecting the fifth star.

February 2024 involved planning tourism stuff as we wanted to maximise our visit, clearly lay out plans and have fun, as it was a big trip to make for really only a long weekend – although super exciting too!

Travelling to Tokyo was tiring and jet lag really is a thing! With them being 9 hours ahead, we tried to sleep as much as possible on the plane and stay awake when we arrived on the Thursday. We went straight to the Expo after we landed, which wasn’t the best with people literally fighting over the merchandise.

With Packet Pick Up ticked off, we headed to the hotel before walking around the Yoyogi Park and Shrine to get our legs moving.

Friday was allocated to tourism including Senso-Ji, Shibuya Scramble Crossing, Sky Tower Observation and lots of walking. All amazingly beautiful and crazy at the same time. We were lucky with the weather too.

On Saturday we ventured out of the main city and completed the Hikarigaoka Park Run 5k.

The volunteers were all dressed up in DJ’s and super friendly.

 

It was a lovely little course around a park (would highly recommend), nice to bag that Japanese flag for my Park Run tourism and to see some early cherry blossom.

Cherry Blossom in Hikarigaoka Park

We also checked out the walk to the marathon Start area from our hotel and the Finish line last 1km for visualisation purposes too. I find a recce very beneficial. The last 1km is over almost cobbles and down a narrower street before you turn left to the not so impressive Finish line.

When race day arrived, I felt like I had finally slept the night before (first time in about 3 nights) so was up with the larks and consumed my imported porridge pot. Tokyo Marathon organisers are super strict in their Runner’s Handbook (which didn’t arrive until 3 weeks prior) about what you can and can’t do, although some of it is conflicting advice (no hydration packs but take a rucksack to carry your clothes?) and not particularly clear with weeks of questions on the Facebook pages discussing the same thing over and over. So, after getting a little wound up about what I could and couldn’t take to the Start, and could I wear old clothes or not, I just went with what I thought – this is a Marathon Major so surely they have factored in clothing discard and hydration for the Start area.

It was a very cold morning, yet sunny. Dressed like a trail runner in my husband’s old jogging bottoms, top, another few layers, warm hat, sunnies and coat etc we trundled to the start. At Gate 2 we said our goodbyes and I wandered into chaos. I had forgotten just how many people sign up to these events, very different to recent years of trail running, and also Seville Marathon 2019 which was only about 20k runners. Nerves were starting to creep in, but I told myself “This is not your first rodeo – you are super experienced; you are just here to collect star 5. What an opportunity!”

The Brits love a queue and so it seems do the Japanese. The toilet queue went on forever; I spent 45 minutes of my life snaking back and forth wondering if I was going to make it to the Start line, even though I had arrived in the Start area 90 minutes beforehand! I then offloaded my baggage (as a heads-up you have to pay for this service and sign up in advance) and entered Corral D. I wasn’t fussed about getting to the front and wouldn’t have been able to anyway with all the runners. I was in this corral due to my Seville time so knew it was going to be a bit too speedy for me five years later so happily sat at the back.

The Corral started to move almost immediately; excitement was palpable as we walked forwards slowly. I ate a gel and checked my race card. “Calm, controlled, confident” – my mantra for this event. I’d also worked out the average paces for 3:45, 3:50, 3:55 and 3:58 depending on how I was feeling. That was it – no pace band per say, just a rough guide to, and a custom alarm added to my Run setting on my Garmin to prompt me every 35 mins to “Gel Now!”. One earphone in, shuffle on (yep, I’m old skool) and I was ready to rock Tokyo and enjoy the whole experience. The other thing I had to do was to play spot the camera points to smile and wave – as agreed with a friend – and count down the switchbacks. Busy morning planned.

The course itself is not the most exciting. It’s exhilarating to be running Tokyo Marathon Major, however half a dozen switchbacks was not that inspiring. But I knew that having studied the course before race day, had accepted it and was ready to tick them off. You can’t change the course, so you have to change your mindset to just ‘deal with it’. I also knew the first 10-15km were slightly downhill; it was likely to be super congested at the start and with the Corral I was in I was very likely to get carried away on the pace front which I usually DO NOT do as I always like to save it for later on. I went with the flow, and it was all of those things and more.

The first water station is not until 5km which was too far for me bearing in mind I’d been in the Start area for 90 minutes and not found any water. But I had broken the course down into ‘bite sized chunks’ to make it mentally more manageable – these being 5km first water/gel, 10km, Half, 16m, 20 miles and then the last 10km. At 5km I learned about their aid stations. I had read that you have to go to the table with the last number on your bib as each aid station has a number on it. Diligently I went to table 4 and then realised I was probably the only one being rule abiding so abandoned that later in the race.

At this point I had settled into the pace. The GPS wasn’t working properly due to thousands of GPS trackers and the high buildings; at one point I noticed a 6:35m/m so realised it wasn’t right, therefore I switched over to use Heart Rate screen instead which is how I usually manage the effort levels on my trail events.

I had heard the course is not well supported and very quiet – almost like a silent disco – but actually there were crowds out and about with some cheering; it was all good fun and supportive. The toilets however were a big no-no, as some of them were off the course. There was much discussion on the Facebook forums and in the Runner’s Handbook about being courteous regarding using the facilities properly… and that some of them were quite a distance from the route, so I didn’t really want to have to risk this. Consequently, I was monitoring my hydration (trying not to over-hydrate but maintain sufficiently to digest the gels). It was also getting sunny and quite warm, especially with the pace picking up nicely.

At 10 miles I realised I had caught the 3:30hrs pacer which made me dial it right back as I knew I would burn out if I continued to push it as my watch was roughly indicating 7:45-8m/m. Seville had been 8:22m/m all the way round so I thought it was the right time to visit the facilities. The queue was long, but it meant I regained some composure and got my breath back, even if I did hang about for about 5 minutes or more.

From 10-13miles I struggled to get back into my rhythm – it’s funny how a stop can do that, you’d think this would be helpful, but it wasn’t. I was grinding it out whilst not feeling the love but after the half sign, I settled back into pace again and was feeling much more confident with the general effort level, taking on board the fuel and hydration whilst allowing myself to walk through the aid stations for a quick break every 5km. The music in one ear was all good, I was smiling and enjoying the moment – feeling super privileged to be there.

I then lost count of the switchbacks but remembered that the last one goes out past the turn for the Finish when you see a sign saying 1km. This appeared earlier than I thought which was a nice little boost and I knew there was only 10km to go, but that last 5km out before the turnaround seemed to go on forever. I kept telling myself that it’s only 30 mins out and 30 mins back… “just a little run around the block”. I had also read about jet lag kicking in at this point for some international runners, but as that crept into my head, I quashed it out with the thought that as a long distance trail runner I am used to running tired and through the night, so I knew this was my time – I told myself the sooner I got it done the sooner I could celebrate with the husband and a beer! I pushed on and past people, smiling as I went.

We reached the left turn, 1km sign and cobbled section. Suddenly the crowds were huge with lots of photos and cheering. I heard my name called and the husband was there at 41.5km videoing me best he could – I waved and smiled, knowing it was a left turn and the Finish line! I don’t remember the last bit really or even crossing the Finish line as it’s much more refined than other Majors – just a couple of side hoardings and no huge gantry taking photos.

When I stopped my watch, it said 3:40:02 but it turns out that net time was actually 3:39:53 so I must have started it a bit early and finished it a bit later. Better that way around!

The volunteers were shouting for us not to stop and keep moving… but I wondered “where to?” There was immediately a queue (of course!), a short walk, another queue to collect one’s medal and then luggage before the tricky negotiation of getting back to the agreed meeting point. All day the volunteers were amazing and super helpful throughout – a huge win for Tokyo Marathon.

I finally managed to meet the husband and we took some pics, made it back to the hotel and celebrated with a few beers. Job done, number 5 ticked off and overall, a really enjoyable experience (for someone who doesn’t do road marathons anymore)! I couldn’t be happier with the “cherry on the ramen” of not only a Marathon PB but a Boston Qualifying time bagged with -15mins of buffer. Way beyond what I dreamed of! And to have done it exactly one year to the day since I was diagnosed with Malignant Melanoma felt incredibly special, and I felt so grateful to be there.

The following day we flew home super early with very sore legs, a Medal Monday pic on the tube and lots of fantastic memories of our madcap adventures in Japan. We both felt like exhausted winners! Huge thanks to the husband for sharing these experiences with me – you make everything possible.

Now I need to research that BAA qualifying window. And up next… a week of recovery and then back to the trails for some hiking adventures…