Race report: Tokyo International Women's Marathon

There is always next one. The words are usually encouraging when you hear them after a bad race. However, they came up to my mind when I was passing 15km point.

There was no negative symptom before the race. The training went well and having marked PB's at 5k, 10k and 20k, I felt confident for a new marathon PB. My tapering went as I planned and I ate very carefully before the race to avoid stomach problem.

My plan was starting out with 4:30/km pace till 10km, then change into 4:24/k pace to the finish line, expecting to have 3h05m - 3h07m new PB.
I admit I started a bit faster (22:05 for the first 5k), but considering the long downhill, it wasn't that stupid pace. When I reached 10k point where I was supposed to change to the next gear, I realised the pace doesn't feel easy at all to me. I tried to keep the pace but I just couldn't. The feeling is somehow familiar to me. Yeah, I remember, it was just like my first Tokyo Women's in 2004! The nightmare race I slowed down to 7min/k pace and swept by the bus at 34k point. Oh, no...By the time I reached Shinagawa, I started to think "Today doesn't seem my day. Perhaps I should give up my target time".

Until the halfway point, I still tried to keep decent pace (10sec per k slower than planned pace, though), but after the turnaround point, with no motivation, no concentration, no guts, no patience, I got slower and slower. When my left calf got cramp and stopped me several times around 35k, the idea of pulling out started to look tempting. But this could be the last Tokyo Women's Marathon, this could be the last chance to experience the stadium finish, I couldn't miss it!!!

With a slight fear for the sweep car, I kept running, no, jogging. Before the notorious long hill, my calf got cramp again, but I tried to ignore and kept jogging. I saw Namban cheering squad at the end of the hill. I felt embarrassed and was disappointed about myself to have shown such miserable run to my team mates.

At 40k point, I tried a harder and sped up a bit, running side by side with other runners. When I reached the stadium, I felt better and passed some people to the finish line.

My time was 3h21m54s. Almost 12minute off from my PB. Disappointed, but not shocked. Just puzzled. The experience taught me the mystery side of a marathon.

Thanks for all who came to cheer us at the roadside, and huge otsukaresama to all girls who ran the race.

◎Splits
5k 22:05
10k 22:17 / 44:22
15k 22:17 / 1:06:39
20k 22:51 / 1:29:30
half 1:34:36
25k 23:02 / 1:52:32
30k 24:16 / 2:16:48
35k 26:55 / 2:43:43
40k 27:34 / 3:11:17
42.2k 10:37 / 3:21:54

Loading carbo.

I started loading carbo from tonight. Pasta with tomato cream source, oomori no oomori! Tomorrow, I will eat Chikara Udon (udon & mochi).

I am getting fat!

10km PB! :-D

3:57/4:05/4:03/4:04/4:03/4:04/4:06/4:06/4:09/4:01
Total 40:43

Paced by and run with Brett, Omar and Stuart. Thank you so much!

25km pace run and US olympic trial.

I did 25km pace run at the Palace with Harriers group. I joined 4:40/k group but I kind of wanted to run faster, I took off at 2km and ran by myself to the finish. Still there are many runners running around the Palace and I tried to keep the pace by targeting and catching up one by one. My laps were: 23:25/22:08/21:56/21:56/21:53
I felt OK till the end. Happy with it.

Today is the day of the US olympic marathon trial and Brett and I were so much looking forward to watching it via the Internet. However, we found out that the Internet broadcasting was blocked for international viewers. We got shocked. Especially Brett did, and he spent almost an hour to find out the way to break the block, and finally, he found the link to a (sort of) independent broadcasting site! Thank God! Thank Brett!

We could watch more than half of the race and...it was great! Not only witnessing Ryan Hall's brilliant victory, whole race was so dramatic. It was just like we were watching a sport movie. The result was:

1. Ryan Hall
2. Dathan Ritzenheim
3. Brian Sell
4. Khalid Khannouchi
5. Jason Lehmulke

いやー、すごかったよ。