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.