Rain & Pain

Tokyo Marathon 2007 Report
Something or someone made the gods very angry (Gov. Ishihara, perhaps?). On Sunday, February 18 they opened up the heavens and pissed on Tokyo’s little party. The gods must be silly if they thought a little rain was going to stop us. Runners laugh at rain. Actually, once I started running, I didn’t mind the rain one drip. And right after the start, as we crossed under the JR trestle, I was treated to a thrill I won’t forget: a sea of runners pouring down Yasukuni Dori. Goose bumps. Along the way, my spirit was continually buoyed by the cheers of the stalwart spectators and race volunteers. Way more fans and friends lined the course than the weather would have indicated. And I had the added pleasure of chatting to my running buddies along the way and making eye contact with friends and family in the crowd.

I remember seeing lots of spectators who had taken it upon themselves to offer food and refreshments to the runners: a young couple in Asakusa passing out mikan orange wedges on a plate, an old man on a corner in Ginza thrusting out a Wieder energy gel pack and yelling “ganbare!” (keep it up!), old ladies passing out small packets of candy. Images like that kept my spirits up and warmed my heart all day. The weather? An afterthought.

Overall, the race was well organized. The only problems were with the baggage check and pick up system. Granted, it’s no small task to manage the bags of 30,000 runners (in the cold rain!), but it could have been planned better. The panicky, pre-race pushing and shoving that marred the bag check situation was unfortunate. I also heard that many runners had trouble retrieving their bags after the race. People were holding numbers and screaming like they were on the trading floor of the NY Stock Exchange. I was lucky. I went to the designated truck, looked down and there was my bag at my feet. Put there by an angel, perhaps, because I wouldn’t have been able to yell or wait for my bag. I was in grave shape, sports fans. I was death, but not warmed over.

As for my performance, I was really rolling a long, having fun, through 25K. For my fitness level, I ran a great 30K. In fact, my 30K split was the exact same time as my Ome Marathon (a hilly 30K race) result from two weeks ago—2:22, which is a 4:45 pace. After 30K, things went downhill rapidly for me. Unfortunately the course did not. My 35K and 40K splits where 29:18 and 29:35, respectively. The last 2K plus took me15 minutes. I was cursing myself decided to do this race. Every step was mental agony. However, my net time, 3:37, was only two minutes off my goal of 3:35, so I’m satisfied with my performance. And I know that with a little more long distance training (perhaps 2 months more), I could have turned out a much better performance, and felt better at the finish.

After the finish, I was a shivering, monosyllabic wreck, and the shivering didn’t stop for about an hour. Thankfully, my elocution skills have also returned. I enjoyed the post-race party, but I could not walk properly on the following Monday, and it wasn’t because of a hangover. Going down stairs was near impossible. But hey, that’s why we run marathons. We’re gladiators. And I think I might just do another one. It’s time to attack my PB (3:09) and join the Sub-3 Club. New York, New York?

Here are my 5K splits:
5K—24:01
10K—22:39
15K—22:35
20K—23:21
25K—24:36
30K—25:43
35K—29:18
40K—29:35
2.195K—15:16
Total: 3:37:10