Tokyo Marathon Race (The first)

Date: Sunday, February 18, 2007 Weather: Rainy and then cloudy, Cold!!

Location: Tokyo metropolita area


Details of Race

Race	Full	Time Limit	7 hours	25,000 runners
	10 km		1 hour 30 minutes	5,000 runners
Entry Fee	Yen 10,000
Sponsors	Japan Athletic Federation, Metropolis of Tokyo
Gifts	T-shirt, Medal. Ponchoes
Free service	Sport Drink, Mineral Water, Banana, Bread
Remarks	No registration on the marathon day.

IMAGES

 
T-shirt Medal

Vinyle Poncho Nonwoven Poncho



Records & Impresiion

• The Tokyo Marathon Race was proposed by Mr. Shintaro Ishihara, a governor of Tokyo, who claims to hold a large-scale marathon race equal to world-renowned races such as New York, Boston and so on.
• I could be chosen as one of total 30,000 runners. It is said that more than 90,000 candidates applied for entry. The registration fee is Yen 10,000! It's too expensive!
• Anyway, it's a big event. 30,000 runners (Full: 25,000, 10km: 5,000) will run through the Tokyo metropolitan area. Until previous day, the TVs drastically broadcasted about Tokyo Marathon Race.
• The runners are so many that the registration should have been done on Friday or Saturday at Tokyo Dome by showing ID card. No registration was accepted on the marathon day.
• On Friday evening, I went to the Tokyo Dome for registration after work. Many runners visited there.
• There were many booths of sporting goods manufacturers and Tokyo Metropolis. Runners were gathering.
• I had been worrying about the weather on the marathon day.
• The weekly feather forecast said it would be rainy on Sunday. So far, the weekly weather forecast had been always wrong. The weather of the marathon day when I joined had never been rainy.
• However, this time, as forecasted, the rain started from Saturday evening. I expected that the rain would stop in the early morning of Sunday.
• To my regret, my expectation was completely betrayed.
• When I got up at 5:00 AM in the Sunday morning, it rained heavily. The weatherman said the rain would continue by noon.
• To tell the truth, I was at a loss for a while since I had never imagined that I would run in the rain.
• I immediately decided to wear the running wears before going out since I thought there might be no place to change wears in the rain. Then I rush to Higashi-kurume Station in the heavy rain.
• I arrived in Shinjuku Station at 7:30 AM. I tried to go to the toilet, but I found a lot of runners were waiting in front of the toilet forming a long line. Thus I gave up.
• Many runners were walking to Tokyo government office from West exit of Shinjuku Station. Besides many runners were changing wears alongside the underground walkways to avoid rain. My judgment to change wears at home was correct.
• I finally reached government office. Many trucks were parked beside the office. A lot of runners already put their luggage to trucks.
• I also put my luggage to the person in charge. It was said that the vinyl poncho would be given (with large logo of Tokyo Metro Subway). So I asked about the poncho, however, told that it was already out of stock.
• No kidding! I was not so late, but no more stock? I was also told to look for other place!! Anyway I was looking for one vinyl poncho and finally got one somehow. The poncho was inevitable to run in the cold rain.
• It seemed that the runners who came late could not get vinyl pochos.
• All I had to do after I deposited my luggage was to wait under the girder bridge to avoid rain. It was so cold.
• The full marathon race would start at 9:10 AM. However, runners should have stood on the starting point at 8:30 AM. My position was "F" between "A" to "K".
• It was raining while I was waiting. It was so cold! My shoes were already wet. I almost could not stand. (The temperature was 5 degrees Centigrade.)）
• Upper part of the highrise buildings in Shinjuke were completely hidden in the cloud.新宿の高層ビルも半分以上靄に隠れていた。
• At 9:05, the wheelchair group started and at 9:10, the full marathon race started. The starter was Shintaro. (Of course, I could not see him when he fired a signal gun.
• It took almost 4 minutes after signal fire to reach the starting line. Not so bad. I could see Mr. Ishihara waving his hand to runners at the stand.
• The course from government office to the large JR Bridge was slightely a downward slope. It was a grand spectacle to see a number of runners running in advance.
• Once starting to run, I did not feel cold. A lot of galleries were cheering in the rain alongside the marathon course.
• The flow of runners was smoother than I expected from the beginning since the runners could run the wide road.
• I could meet one of my running mates at the 7 km aid station, who applied for volunteer since he drew a losing number of Tokyo Marathon Race. I was given a bottle of water from him.
• The goal of 10 km race was Hibiya Park. When I reached there, many 10 km were finishing already.
• I ran through the Hibiya Street and passed by the Zoujoji Temple. The rain still continued. I could only see the bottom half of Tokyo Tower owing to rain.
• I could run to the turn-around point (15 km) of Shinagawa without problem. (Until then, the following wind was blowing.)
• However, immediately after the turn-around point, I had to run against a head wind. The cold wind was blowing and cold rain was falling! Suddenly I almost lost my spirits owing to cold.
• My body did not warm up although I continued to run. Besides, I felt hungry before 20 km point.
• There were enough water and sport drink at every aid station of the first half. However, no food was available.
• I remembered I put one soft rice cake stuffed with bean jam in the waist porch and I took out from the porch and ate it.
• I could gradually recover with soft rice cake.
• I returned to Hibiya Street and then passed the middle point just before the crossing of the 4-chome of Ginza. The passing time was just 2 hours. I thought that I might complete the race within 4 hours if successful.
• I could see many galleries were cheering throughout Ginza Street.
• I could finally get banana at the aid station just passing the middle point. I was told that runners might get doll-shaped cakes, however, I failed. (According to the magazine report issued after the race, only 6,000 pcs of cakes were prepared.)
• I continued to run matter-of-factly to Asakusa. The Raimon of Asakusa was next turn-around point.
• I passed 30 km point, but it was still raining. I could happily get one bun filled with bean paste at the aid station. The runners gathered and took away and buns were out of stock for a fleeting second.
• Owing to cold, I frequently had a desire to urinate. However, the number of toilets was not so many. Besides, a lot of runners were waiting there forming line. I hesitated to drop in.
• However, I could not stand and finally stopped at one toilet. However, I found only one toilet was available and several runners waited standing line.. Anyway, I had to wait. But I lost 5 minutes there. I regretted to stop there.
• I returned to the course, however, my running pace was very slow owing to 5-minutes stop.
• Moreover, when I was returning to the Ginza Street, I found something white was running down. It sleeted!
• It took extra time from 30 km to 35 km owing to fatigue, cold and toilet time.
• After 35 km point, I regained control of myself and continued to run as fast as possible.
• The rain finally stopped during last 5 km.
• The course was almost flat just before Odaiba. When entering to Odaiba, there were several bridges and the course became slightly up and down.
• I finally reached to the 1 km point to the goal. I felt that I could almost complete the race in the cold rain.
• I ran as fast as possible during last 1 km with my last energy. The goal time was 4 hours 8 minutes.
• I thought I ran well in the worst condition so far I experienced.
• A senior school girl hung the medal on my neck after the finish. A bottle of water, banana and nonwoven poncho were given to every runner. Bouquet flowers were ready for female runners.
• After the goal, I went to pick up my luggage. However, it took almost 20 minutes to pick up, because there were so many luggages on the truck and it was very difficult to find out. One middle-aged runner was angry against the staff.
• I finally got my luggage and went into big building to change wears. There were so many runners that it was difficukt to find out the place to change wears. I could finally keep my space and change the wears.
• Several my running mates joined the race this time, but I could not meet them among 50,000 runners.
• After the race, I went to the restaurant in Okachimachi since we had a plan to have a party there.
• 12 members gathered. We ate and drank and chatted about the race. I could warm up my body with hot Japanese sake.
• I got home around 18:30 feeling good.
• I thought I joined first marathon only, however, I could not enjoy seeing the scenery this time owing to bad weather. Thus I may try to join the race again to enjoy sightseeing Tokyo on sunny day.
• You can enjoy running since a lot of young gals also running. More than 30,000 runners joined the race although it was rainy. The percentage of completing the race was almost 96%.

Record

5 km	31 minutes
10 km	58 minutes
15 km	1 hour ** minutes
20 km	1 hour 53 minutes
Middle Point	2 hours
25 km	2 hours 30 minutes
30 km	2 hours 55 minutes
35 km	3 hours ** minutes
40 km	3 hours 55 minutes
Goal	4 hours 08 minutes

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