Race Day!

NOTE: This is entirely from my perspective, not Travis’s. No exciting running notes here. 🙂 Just exciting non-running notes.

4:45 AM: Apparently no hot water in the showers today! Good way to wake up, I guess… Travis called down to the front desk to ensure hot water later.

5:30 AM: Wrapping up breakfast. Travis is all suited up, and we’re heading for the train station shortly. We’ll have an hour and a half to do an hour’s trip on the train.

7:30 AM: after the fastest train ride we’ve had so far, Travis is off and through the runners only gate. The race actually starts in about an hour and a half, so I’m at a Starbucks. I was totally psyched to use my struggling Japanese to order hot tea, so I stood in line, got to the front, and said: “Atsui ocha, onegashimasu?” The girl behind the counter looked at me confused, paused, and said in English, “You want hot tea?” Apparently my accent is pretty bad so hey, I’ll take English when I can get it. I said yes and found a spot to sit.

Scone! Tea! Tokyo! I love love love the feeling of knowing how to get around a place just enough to stay out of trouble, but with enough still to learn that it’s an adventure.

9:10 am: AND THEY’RE OFF!! First the wheelchairs, then the runners.

I stood on a low railing and balanced on a tree, along with some other people, so that we could see above the shrubbery lining the street. At 9:10 exactly we heard the starting pistols fire and people around me shouted “STARTO!” We couldn’t see the starting gate so we waited for the runners to come around the corner. As soon as they did everyone started clapping and calling out “Ganbatte!” (“Good luck!”) There was a large party near me from Taiwan and every time one of their friends ran by, they cheered loudly and the runner waved back. My section of the sidewalk held Americans, Canadians, Japanese, Chinese, Taiwanese, and Germans. We didn’t speak the same languages but we all laughed at the guys dressed up as the power rangers.

9:57 am: Now back in Starbucks, where my toes are less numb, I have more tea (no attempts at Japanese this time,) and most importantly, I have a power outlet for phone juice. There were a few good photo ops while walking back from the starting line:

The Mode Gakuen Cocoon Tower: it’s the cool oval one. Read more here.

Fountains (water wasn’t running yet:)

11:00 am: It takes awhile for phones to get from 20% battery to 100%, so by the time my phone was ready to go for more pictures it was time to head to Big Sight for the finish. I was going to head to Ginza’s Apple store in between the start and finish of the race, as that’s right next to the race route and I’ve been told it’s a great place for pictures. (It’s also apparently one of the Apple stores you have to visit before you die.) But, the length of time it takes to get from Shinjuku to Big Sight with the new-to-Tokyo handicap meant I needed to hit the road and skip Ginza this trip.

12:30 pm: Finnnnnaaalllly got to the spectator line at Big Sight.

One of the best things about Japan is how efficiently everything is run. Trains, airplane boarding, etc. However, there are some things that even the Japanese can’t make run stunningly fast, and one of those are the logistics for all of the spectators for a marathon. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not complaining. Every line I stood in was moving, and that in itself is a huge accomplishment. There were a lot of lines that went back and forth and loops around blocks and buildings that you didn’t expect, so basically you spent the time you would’ve been standing still in line moving through lines. Psychologically, I’m sure this is better, but it still took awhile.

I hung out here for an hour or so and watched for Travis. Unfortunately, he ran right by me and I didn’t see him because he was in a small crowd a few steps ahead of a guy dressed up as Batman. Fortunately, he finished and reached his target time!! He texted me and I started walking towards the designated area for spectators to meet up with runners post-race. This meant another winding walk through many lines, but at one point I had this view:

1:45 pm: Travis and I finally met back up at the “Family Reunion Meeting Place #5” as we had prearranged. There were about 16 meeting places, all designated with a huge number sign and balloons.