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Just half of the epic chaos that was bag reclaiming.
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Tokyo Big Sight, a monstrously big creation.
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Step one: Wake up at 6:00, breakfast at 6:20, out of the house and at the station by 10 to 7.
Arrive at Shinjuku station and then the starting gates around 7:30. Load bag then do a warm up and prep for a 9:10 start.
Step two: 0-10km hold a 155 bpm heart rate, pace at 5:30. 10-20km raise pace slightly to around 158, pace to 5:15. Drink every water station, have a gel from stash. 20-30k raise hr to 160 bpm, pace to about 5:00 per km. 30k-finish, open 'er up, slowly build to a full out sprint, hr at 160-65bpm, pace 4:45, 100% last 2.2km. Glide gracefully over the finish line at 3:50 or lower, gently mop brow and go about the days business.
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This was how it was going to happen. Now all I had to do was fall asleep, wake up, and perform the plan as proposed.
Thats the truly great things about plans, is that you think your being proactive. Planning exists by nature to avoid any problems. Of course, I am told I come from a family that has an issue with doing things the easy way. The main issue I have with planning is that I really only think of things once. Oh that? Right, I better remember it, then I go on to immediately forget said object. So planning is more counter productive than anything, as when it comes time to put it into action, I've already thought of it once so ignore it a second time around.
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The morning went something a little more like this. Smooth, would be the operable word. I woke up had a breakfast of champions, including omochee, a rice cake known both as a pre-race snack eaten by Japanese marathon runners and for its penchant for causing death by choking in the elderly. When served properly it is a delicious white pastry that resembles something between a marshmallow and gummy bears with that quality of sticks to the top of your mouth so often found with peanut-butter-on-a-spoon. Its then lightly toasted, dipped in soy and wrapped in norii.
I then left Junko's and arrived in Shinjuku, a 10 minute walk from City Hall, and the start, when I heard a man talking about something he had gotten at the previous years NYC marathon. I looked over and he had several people clustered around his right foot. Gosh, I wonder what that could be. Maybe a timing chip? Oh... a timing chip.
The sprint back through Shinjuku station and back east took about 45 minutes. Luckily Junko met me at the station with said black timing chip, of which I had so carefully left out in its clear plastic bag in my darkened room. The only issue was that I had only budgeted enough time to get from A to B, not A to B, B to A, A to B. I figured that the average morning commuter would have some more sympathy if they saw a giant bag emblazoned with TOKYO MARATHON on it before they got knocked over, and as such managed to make it back 10 minutes after the trucks were supposed to have closed, yet still managed to get mine in. Though in my rush, I realized I had unfortunately not taken any of my bars, gels or camera out of the pockets of the sweater I just packed away.
Finally, I made my way through the starting area with a Swedish (I think) fellow. I started to feel a whole lot better about my training when he told me he had never run over 2.5 hours. The starting area was an experience in itself.
There were 40,000 people stretched around several city blocks. 10,000 or so were for the 10k race, and 30 for the marathon. I was in the 3rd starting block from the front and got a decent view of the proceedings. In true Japanese style the start was not marked by waving cheerleaders or witty commentary by some celebrity athlete, instead one side had about 100 men and their wives in suits in grandstands who looked as though they were prepared for a state funeral, and the other had a mens choir that was singing what sounded to me like the Russian National anthem.
As for weather, last year a number of people hadn't ran due to extreme cold and rain, but this year boasted not a single cloud in the sky and temperatures warm enough for many to run in shorts and gloves and provide me with a satisfyingly painful sunburn. The route was good, rather ordinary as it was through downtown Tokyo, and the path didn't get to intimate with any cultural heritage sites it passed. For example the palace grounds are always closed, but it was cool to go by it, and some of the other temples would have been hard to spot unless you knew they were there. At some point I think we passed the fish market, but I didn't recognize it.
The crowd is probably the biggest reason I was able to smile for 3 hours and 53 minutes. They lined the entire 42k going from 1 to 5 deep at some points. They were truly Japanese, some as silent and stoic as statues, and others a level of cheering that often reached hysteria when a loved one was spotted. Water stations were every 2-3k and food stations started around the 25/30k mark with bananas and raisins, then adding chocolate, M&M's and red bean paste buns that tasted like baked flour. One of the most fantastic parts of the audience was the food they were handing out. Despite entire tables of untouched water cups people were handing out their own along with boxes of chocolates, sweets, baked goods and even sushi at one point. I think a Japanese lady I was running near got as big a kick out of that as I did.
Despite some achilles issues, things were going awesome, then at maybe 30k I thought, 'gosh 12k sure is a long ways to sprint, maybe I'll just wait a bit", this was repeated just about every k up until 33/35. I guess I had mixed some food properly or got a sugar rush or something because I could just not hold it in any longer. These people just had to know how happy I was to be there! They had to know how much I loved this city! They had to cheer louder! And I was going to be the one to tell them! I think for the next 3k I must have given out 200 high fives. I started clapping incessantly and trying to get people riled up. I ran facing backwards for awhile, I danced at one point and once tried to stop and hug a water volunteer but fearing this large alien creature she was having none of it. There are a lot of cameras at such a big run, and I decided I wanted to get a photo of me. And really the only way to ensure this was going to happen was by doing something stupid. Clearly I wasn't dressed stupidly enough, so I found someone who was. First it was a big asian/african guy dressed in victorian style drag running with a fan that got a crowd reaction, then it was a guy in a blue power rangers costume who looked like the full face mask wasn't the best idea he had ever had. So while the cameras focused on them I ran in the background giving my true KISS (rock band) salute, with tongue wagging and fingers raised in rocker style. I don't know if this was effective, or just made a whole lot of Japanese people never want to go to Canada, but it was at least 3km of amusement for me.
Another awesome runner was high five girl. I think out of 30 000 people, she likely gave high fives to 20 000 of them. Literally, thats all she did the entire race. But if she had become one of the victims of roadside carnage that began littering the streets around 15k, I would have happily carried her the rest. Its runners like that, that give an awesome boost.
When I got around 40k that boost of elation came back. I realized that my muscles didn't have enough in them to push my heart past 156bpm, and pain passed somewhere around the 36k mark right where I realized I was no longer running, now I was falling forward. Instead of pain I was once again overcome with an overly emotional joy. This time it wasn't for the race or the people, it was that in a mere 2195m I would no longer be running. I actually turned to one guy and said "Can you believe it? We're almost there! I can't even believe it!" And literally, it seemed like one of the greatest wonders of the world. Then with not an inch of feeling in the woodblocks I once called legs I picked up the pace and finished. I pulled another Toronto waterfront half and saved half an ounce of energy to speed by about 100 people in the last 200m to the finish line. Which is both an ego boost when the crowd roars and then when they wake you up an hour later, you can truly say you gave it everything you have.
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It was an awesome experience, and I would truly recommend it to everyone. Don't think its beyond your means, its not. If anything, this race was a lesson in not judging a book by its cover. Several times I saw someone fast looking pass me by and considered pacing off them, then several km later I would pass them as they walked or wheezed by the side of the road. People of literally all shapes and sizes, few young many older, big, small, you name it. Despite being overly competitive I realized part way through the race (right when I realized I couldn't feel my legs) that this had barely anything to do with running. It was entirely taking the opportunity to do something challenging in a spectacular environment. But if you do do it, Train!!!
