Post Race Report

Well before I go into any details, and for those that don't want to read to the bottom to find out, I finished. Below is a picture of me at the finish line. Official time was 5 hours, 20 minutes and 29 seconds. Full details of how I got there below.

After arriving in Shinjuku with plenty of time before the start I worked out where my starting block was. J bock, my block, was at the very back, the very last block to go. No matter, I duly queued up in J block and waited for the starting gun to go, nerves building but quietly confident. at 09:10 precisely we all heard the starting gun go off and a roar of applause from about a kilometer away from where we were slowly spread from block to block. Our spirits picked up, we knew we would be on our way soon. 20 minutes later I crossed the start line and started a steady jog that would set me on a course to complete the Marathon.


After about 3km's I realised I wasn't going to get much further without a quick call of nature. After my 6am alarm clock had gone off that morning I had made a conscious effort to get plenty of fluids down me before leaving the house. 1 Berocca, several large glasses of water and a sports drink on to the way to the start line later meant that by the time I got 3km's into the race I was needing to relieve some of that pressure. The problem was it seemed like everyone else had made that same mistake and the queue's at all the toilets were long. By around 4.5km's I found a block of toilets with what looked like a relatively short queue. 15 - 20 minutes later I was back out running and feeling fresh and ready for the rest of the race.


Being last to start the race and after the toilet break, I was pretty much at the very back and by the time I crossed the first 5k timing point. The time was at just over 1hr since the starting gun. I couldn't believe it. The 1st 5k had taken over an hour, I was so annoyed. I knew I needed to pace myself and not shoot off the start line but 1hr for 5k's was just ridiculous. Although it had taken me 15 mins or so to get to the start line that still meant 45 minutes + to get to the 5k marker. I needed to get my head down and start knocking the kilometers off in good time.


The next 20 kilometers went much better. My 5k splits were all around the 32 or 33 minute mark. This was much better and we were now firmly back in the middle of things and no longer at the very back. Passing through the half way point felt great and was a real milestone (pun intended) to get past. Cracking on through 25k and even 30k felt good and although by 30k a little stiffness was beginning to creep in I found that a quick 1 minute break to stretch out  every 30 minutes or so made things much better. This was going to be good we had got the measure of this race and I was going to finish it in good spirits.


By 35 kilometers I was really beginning to hurt; but never mind only a mere 7.2 kilometers to go. How hard could that be? Well I can tell you that it can be very hard indeed. It seemed that as the kilometer markers came and went by each one got harder. The markers started to count down with 5 kilometers to go and 5 to 4 went OK whilst 4 - 3 seemed to get harder and then from 3 on I couldn't believe how hard it was. I wanted to stop and walk but there was no way I was going to let myself with only 3 kilometers left to go. Finally the 1 kilometer came and what seemed to take an age the finish line came into sight and slowly came towards me as if I was crawling towards it. Even though I was still running towards it I was barely going at walking pace. Finally I crossed through the finish line barely able to breathe. I hadn't realised that over the last 5k, concentrating so hard on finishing, my chest had really started to close up on me and had been making my progress really hard as I had hardly been taking in any oxygen. 4 or 5 puffs on my inhaler to help loosen things up and 5 minutes later I was beginning to recover. And only then finally, that the joy of completing my 1st Marathon began to sink in. Below is my official timing splits and as you can see, rather bizarrely, my first 5k is my slowest by far! (Due to "pit stop" and starting from the back dodging slower runners.)

After this the usual procession of returning our timing chips, collecting a finishers towel (this was actually really nice as you could use it to wipe the sweat off your face and then wrap it around you to keep you warm) and collecting our finishers medals as well as lots of drinks and small food snacks and we were done and it was time to rest. The weather for the whole race had been great. In fact if I must be honest it was too hot. I think day time temps peaked around 18c and with bright sunshine on your face all day and little shade it really felt hot running. It also felt like the water stations were getting further apart as I was downing all my water before I reached the next one over the last 10 kilometers. All done though, we made it and in a reasonable time.


So what have I learned from all of this? Well my training wasn't enough as I really was struggling after 35 kilometers and that my time wasn't as good as I wanted, so I'm a little disappointed with that. There is unfinished business with this Marathon malarky, so watch this space, I will be back.


Meanwhile here is a picture of my finishers medal, as although I didn't quite beat the 5 hours I was hoping for, I did actually finish the Marathon.

I'm not done with this blog either so be sure to visit back again later for further updates.

Last Minute Race Preps

Here we go then. The race is upon us; no turning back now. I've made it through all the training injury free and I've just about staved off a head cold that has been bothering me all week, I still have a blocked right ear which is more frustrating than anything else.


For anyone who wants to follow me then as mentioned previously I will try to tweet at various points from the Marathon. You can follow me on twitter @JamesHardcastle. You will also be able to follow my progress round the course on the day through the Tokyo Marathon's own website at http://p.tokyo42195.org/ and by entering my bib number, J38685. This will show you my progress as I pass through each 5k check point and my timing for each split.


So now that just leaves me some time this afternoon for last minute preps. Firstly, weather check. It's looking very good for tomorrow, maybe even, dare I say it, too warm! Weather check below courtesy of Yahoo Japan:

As you can see a low percentage chance of rain, 10% in the morning through to 30% by the evening, and a maximum day time temp of 16c and most likely sunny.


Next checks are to make sure all my electronic devices and gadgets are fully charged. 1.) iPhone, yep charged and ready to go and will top up over night once more. 2.) iPod shuffle, yep, fully charged and loaded with pumping tunes. 3.) Nike+ Sportsband for tracking my distance, pace and time all ready to go.


Finally my running gear and items I will need on the day. These consist of, and in no particular order:

• Plasters: For any blisters or I hate to mention it but to prevent any onset of nipple rash. Far too painful for me to go into details about that now.
• Jelly Babies: A vital piece of equipment these are. They are basically a pure sugar energy injection to the blood stream. Keep a bag of these bad boys in your pocket and snack on one of them every other kilometer or so to keep your blood sugar levels up.
• Ibuprofen / Painkillers: Always handy to have just in case things become a bit too much. Ibuprofen is also an anti inflammatory drug so will help to stop any swelling should I injur something.
• Cash: Vital this, don't want to carry my entire wallet so some notes and my foreign ID card should be enough.
• iPod, iPhone and Nike+ Sportsband as already mentioned above.
• Race bib and number: This needs to be pinned to my top and on display at all times I'm told.
• Shoe chip: for the online time tracking and also to record my official time, assuming I finish.
• Inhaler: Just in case the ghastly Asthma rears its ugly head and I need a quick puff to put it back in its box.
• Ziplock bags: Even though it doesn't look like it is going to rain I will need to keep all of the above in waterproof ziplock bags to stop sweat getting through to them.

And that's about it, apart from getting a good nights sleep tonight and of course no alcohol! I have a friends wedding to attend this evening so will have to restrain myself from the bar but as for the buffet, well, I'm going to try and demolish that!

Wish me luck and my next update will hopefully be a post race report.

Tokyo Marathon Expo

Having just returned from the Tokyo Marathon Expo over at Tokyo Big Site (the finish line on Sunday). I've now got all the pieces in place to run the Marathon on Sunday. Namely race number and t-shirt. the Expo itself was quite interesting with all the big sporting names in running there showing the latest in apparel, shoes, gadgets etc. The Expo is open to all and not just the runners, so if you are around in Tokyo this weekend (Expo is open from today, Thursday, through Saturday) then I recommend you get yourself down there and check it out. Entry is free so take the kids and it will make a cheap day out!

Osaka Marathon

Well, with only 5 days to go you might be wondering why the title of this blog entry is "Osaka Marathon" when I'm running the Tokyo Marathon? The reason for this is because I have submitted my entry to the Osaka Marathon on October 30th, 2011. I guess with all this training I just can't get enough and had to sign myself up to another marathon! For anyone interested in learning more about the Osaka Marathon or looking to sign up click on the link below:

Osaka Marathon, 30th October 2011

The Osaka Marathon will be the first general public access marathon of its kind for the city of Osaka. They are making some 28,000 places available and should the Marathon be over subscribed then it will go to a lottery to decide places. Essentially the same process as for the Tokyo Marathon, so my place is not guaranteed. Applicants will be informed of whether they are successful or not by end of April. 

Moving on to more pressing matters and the ever looming Tokyo Marathon. Tonight was my last training run before the marathon on Sunday. a short 9k run done in a gentle and easy time of 58 mins. That was quite a slow time but it was the same pace I'm aiming to complete the Marathon in. If I can sustain that pace over 42k's I will be very pleased indeed.

In other news, my fiancee, Jumi, will also be running the Tokyo Marathon with me now as a last minute entrant. Jumi has been training with me most times and feels ready for the Marathon. Actually I'm more worried about her beating me but we'll leave that to the day to see how that pans out.

During the day itself I plan on trying to update my twitter account with progress and pictures. If you want to follow me on twitter then search for me @JamesHardcastle on twitter and I'll do my best to update as much as possible mid run. You can also use the twitter hash tag, #tm2011, for any relevant posts. For a fuller more involved experience of running the full 42km's from the comfort of your arm chair follow Joseph Tame (@tamegoeswild) who will be attempting to broadcast live to uStream from his marvelous contraption he's christened the iRun. You can also check his website out http://tm2011.com/ for more details. 

So with no more training runs to go now all I need do is sit back, get plenty of rest and carbo load on Saturday. (I can't wait for that last bit!) I'll post back again before Sunday, until then ciao for now.

The Final Countdown

So it's a little over 6 months ago that I first started this blog after submitting my entry to the 2011 Tokyo Marathon, you can read my first entry here. Now with precisely 12 days to go or 266 hours 33 minutes and 14 seconds as my counter is reminding me. We are in to the final run down to the marathon. (No pun intended there.) I have to say training this year has gone better than my training towards the latter part of last year. My running this year has been easier and just more fun and the distances have slowly come to me and my pace has stayed consistent over those distances.

With a longest run of 32km's under my belt I'm really feeling quite good about the marathon. My target time is still 5hrs and I'm hoping I can make this and maybe even improve on it but I don't want to be over confident and tire myself out short on the distance. So I'm sticking with the 5hr target. My 32k run (20 miles), by the way, was done in a time of 3hrs 21mins which I was very pleased with. I did have a few more aches and pains though after it but nothing that I couldn't cope with.

With training really now complete and some 230km's done to date this year alone, I'm now just leaving myself a few short 10k runs and maybe one last 20k run this weekend before the marathon. This evening I put in a short 9k run which felt great despite the snow on the ground, I'm hoping for a little warmer temps on the day but you never know with snow falling at the starting line last year! Really, there is now little else to do apart from prepare myself mentally and not go out and get drunk. I also have a wedding the day before the marathon to attend. Not the best preps for a marathon, but perhaps I can dig out on the buffet at this wedding without feeling guilty; I will most definitely have to lay off the booze though.

All the best for now and I will update more later. Don't forget to check back.

Born To Run

So with a little under a month left before the Tokyo Marathon 2011 the training has been going well. 135km's run in the month of January with a longest single run of 26km's. Next Saturday I hope to put in another long run, this time hoping for 30k's +. I'm now feeling much more confident about being able to finish the marathon. All indications from my training indicate I should be able to break the 5hr mark which is what I would be happy with. More importantly though, I'm enjoying the running and want to continue even after the marathon is done.


A lot of my inspiration has come lately from a book that I have been reading called Born To Run by Christopher McDougall. I really can't recommend it highly enough, even for non-runners. The characters in this book are all true but slightly crazy if not barking mad at times. The books a hoot to read and a real page turner. Here's a little overview courtesy of the Author himself:





You can buy the book from Amazon.com here. TIP: I bought the Kindle edition which is cheaper


Right so all that leaves me now is to get out there training in my final push to February 27th. Not long now and I actually find myself looking forward to it.

Somethings Changed

So after my previous post updating on my training status I was complaining that I wasn't able to train because of Asthma and it was too cold and I only managed a 4k run.


See here - Bad Start To The New Year.


Well. How things have changed now. I managed to start putting in consistent and good 8k runs. Then, last Saturday, I got up early in the hope of being able to go for a long run on my local streets and managed to knock out a half marathon in 2hrs 7mins. The thing is, I felt great for the whole run too and even when I stopped I felt I could run more, but I'd run out of time and had other things to do that day. I was really pleased with my run and not only that, but my time too. I set off intending to run slowly but for a long duration (1.5 to 2hrs) and once I was out running and warmed up, I just didn't want to stop and I didn't care about the pace and as it turns out the pace wasn't too bad at all, in fact, just the pace I need to maintain to do the marathon in around the 5hr mark.


Sunday was a rest day but I was also pleased here too as I didn't feel stiff nor did I ache. Monday I followed up with my usual 8k run but get this. Not only did I feel great running it, even in the 3 - 4c temp with a bitter wind, but my pace was naturally quick (for me) and it didn't feel like I was trying whilst I was literally flying round my 8k loop. I felt really light on my feet and just kept a consistent pace knocking off 8.25k in well under 48 minutes. Almost 4 minutes off my previous best time for that course!


Tuesday I couldn't stop myself and went out for a run after work and ended up doing 1.5 times my usual 8k loop, again I just didn't want to stop and felt like 8k wasn't long enough. I eventually knocked off 12k in 1 hour and 15 minutes. Once again, well inside the pace I'm looking for and it didn't feel like I was trying.


Yesterday I forced myself to take a rest day and all day at work I felt sad or depressed that I wouldn't be heading out for a run that night. Very odd, never felt sad about not heading out for a run before. This evening I was late home from the office and once again it was cold and windy outside and I really wasn't sure I was going to go out for a run. But within 5 minutes of being home I'd donned the running kit and was tightening the laces to my running shoes and went out for a 9.2k run in 55 minutes. I'm not even consciously thinking about my pace any more and I'm just running for the fun of it and really enjoying it. By the time I'm warmed up and 5k into the run, I don't want to stop. It always used to be that by 5k's I was counting off the meters before I could finish. I'm now actively thinking of ways to extend the run.


I also keep forgetting to use my inhaler and whilst I'm not totally sure it won't come back sometime, I haven't had a repeat of the Asthma episode at the start of the year. I've also stopped running with music. It doesn't bother me anymore when I forget to carry the iPod. I no longer need the music for the motivation.


So what is going on here? Something has most definitely changed. I'm not sure what it is but I hope it doesn't change back. Well, not until I've run the marathon that is ;-)