Something I would like to comment is that one big difference between Japan and Finland(particularly the town I live :D) is just how much more 3d Japan(and in particular Tokyo). Not just left/right, front/back but also up/down. Lots of tall buildings so often good idea to look up if you are looking for stores and stations are in multiple levels. Just on this I went first ground level, then one level down for subway, next station yet MORE down, then back upward to ground level, then up for railway that runs over street levels and finally descending back to ground.
This is btw probably part reason why lots of Japanese mothers have instead of baby cart these harnesses where babies are sitting either at front or rear. I find those rather cute. Though obviously takes more effort from the mother. But not only this avoids the space consumption of cart(handy if you need to take trains in rush hours) but you don't have to use elevators all the time. And since all this up/down moving that means avoiding lots of elevator usage.
I found map of running course and looked that I was at the 2.5km turning point and found the start line. Figured start line is pretty good spot for the reception to be.
Anyway got to the start and...Nothing that looked like reception. Ummm...Okay I'm early up but one would assume SOME sign of marathon.
Found another map and...noticed here are not one but TWO running courses. And the other one's name...Daiba running course....WHOOOPS! Odds are damn good that daiba evening marathon is done on daiba running course. Not on this whatever-named-running course I was on. OOOOOOPS! Back to where I had started on the double.
And worth mentioning it was bloody hot day here. Felt like day could compete with Finnish summer days. Was later told it was unusually hot day and no wind to cool you down.
However I was still not at home. I had assumed spot marked as "start" was the starting point. Nope. Nothing there. Grabbed up my email and read it more carefully front of map and finally found spot that had name that matched part of the email(names do give me trouble). This was...Pretty much on opposite end of the course. I went there and did find the right location FINALLY. By now I had pretty much walked/jogged quarter marathon already!
And clearly not many foreigners come to this event as after asking is this reception I was asked if I'm from Finland. So he was able to guess who I was. Though did spot few other foreigners but they I hear live in Tokyo. Odds are good I was only foreigner here who does not live in Japan(on long term basic).
Staff had went to trouble of ensuring there's some English speaker to help me if need be but that proved to be unneccessary as I was able to understand pretty much whole explanation. Hearing us speak in Japanese some women came and we chatted for a while and she said she would be cheering me on which she did around the 180 turn at the bottom of what looks like sort of moon at the bottom half of the map.
On Baltic sea marathon I had been near the end so took time to get to the start line. This time I went as forward as I could. Was bit nervous how I would do because as I said legs weren't in best shape for running and after coming to Japan had done no running practice either. But start went pretty nicely. Wasn't in ground breaking pace but decent enough and legs felt surprisingly good. There was decent amount of spectators and I always smiled when I heard some young kid yell "ganbare!". Cute! Speaking of kids something I had never heard before was "pair marathon" so 2 persons running in a team. Huh? I think of running as solitary sport in that you do your result alone. But guess pair marathon is one way. Lots of what looked like boy&girlfriend together but also lots of mother+daughter, father+son, father+daughter and mother+son pairs were also running. Not that bad idea actually. Good way to spend some quality time together.
So I reached 1500m sign when I suddenly heard "Timo-san!". I was like "What? Who on earth here would know my name" but then again odds of some other Timo being here was...Well EXTREMELY small I would say. I looked right and saw somewhat familiar looking women but with white mask on her face couldn't say for sure. Next to her was also somewhat familiar looking men at which point suspicion started to pop to mind which was confirmed when I looked down and saw this brightly smiling face of a young girl. It was the friend I had met on thursday + her husband and daughter whom I had met last year(and spent nice evening playing uno card game). I was so stunned I nearly tripped on my feet. As I had said last I knew(from yesterday) was that girl wasn't feeling well enough to come. Well either mother had deliberately told white lie to make for(quite a happy) surprise or girl had simply felt well enough today to come after all.
Either way I was positively thrilled to see them and with the girl yelling "timo-san ganbare!" I could actually feel my legs feel lighter. They had chosen pretty nice spot. Look at the map and find the white box where reads ハーフスタート. That means half start so point where half marathoners would start. Then go to end of the arrow and look at the below for grey part between 2 red lines that extend to right. That's where they were. From there they could see me come from above, then approaching that area from bottom and then again when I loop through right back to there. Realized that this 2.5km track is also good for spectators as you can see more often same runners so good for cheering friends/family participiating.
Well this was happy surprise. And gave me extra speed for the run. I was now very determined to do my best in front of the little girl and FOR SURE did not want to be forced to walk where she could see me. So I kept steady pace. Luckily another advantage of 2.5km lap done 4 times is that it makes easier to monitor your strength level as you have decent idea of how much is left.
2nd lap was the hardest as it still felt like long way left. 3rd was easier as it started to feel I'm almost there while last lap was maybe easiest lap of all due to "only little left". There was water(or sport drink but unsure of that taste I went for safe option of water).
Turning for the last L shaped sprint I put in full speed mode leaving one couple behind and starting to gain on men running ahead. Didn't expect to overtake him(nor was it goal. I simply wanted to use remaining strength to go for maximum speed for the last sprint) but as it turns out was able to get past him shortly before goal line as well.
At the goal I lost bit of time as I put my arm to the box wrist up. This meant between sensor and the tag was my arm. Too far! Needed to turn wrist upside down for it to register(thankfully with clear beep). Friends were taking video of the goal reaching and you can see the staff rushing to help when they saw it didn't work but I realized my mistake and fixed it soon enough. Should have had the tag part at the bottom of wrist and not like watch like I had it though.
Result?
Second&3rd line: Name of event(4th time this was done it seems)
fourth line: date. Japanese counting so 26th year of current Emperors reign.
Fifth line: indicates 10km length, men, 25-34 year old category.
Sixth line: My participiation number and name(kanji sign is dono for polite reference to the person. Seems mostly used in envelopes etc. First time seen that in use. In speech san/sama is more common)
Seventh line: Result. 55 minutes, 5 seconds. YEAH! Best quarter marathon time(alone) was 58:47. On Baltic marathon it was 59:30. This route was 550m shorter so not quite comparable but my best average speed was archieved and pretty sure I would have broken record even on full quarter marathon run.
8th line: Indicates I was 37th out of 53 men taking part in the 10km run. Not too bad. Relatively worse result than at Baltic marathon. Christ there's some fast runners. There was one dad/daughter pair running long time at my ahead but approaching 3rd lap they simply went their way. That daughter was probably no older than 13 though albeit seeing her only from back make estimating age hard. On 2nd lap I was overtaken(fast) by guy who was probably already on her 3rd lap. These guys are FAST!
9th line: Out of my age group(25-34) I was 13th out of 16. Whoops. Definitely at the bottom end. I clearly need to speed up if I want to compete seriously :D Though then again with this age group not getting many chances anymore.
Was able to run the whole thing from the get-go stopping only for the water breaks.
Well my plans for end of the night were then "ruined" with the arrival of friends. Unfortunately hadn't brought much in forms of change clothes as there was no shower available nor coin locker but there was area where you could leave stuff marked with number so I had left my upper jacket(too hot to run with it anyway) and with towel I had chosen as reward for completing(didn't want to start pick t-shirt since I couldn't try the size). Not that interesting towel as no pictures and pink colour(uhhuh). But good thing was that with the towel I could go to toilet and wash myself a bit on upper torso and hair. They asked if I would like to go somewhere to eat and I said if they don't mind possible smell I would be delighted. Well hopefully didn't smell too sweaty thanks to the washing I did.
Well they had searched for this Osakan styled restaurant where we went chatting this and that. Turns out husband has participiated in full marathon so that gave some raw material for chatting. He agreed with what I had read before that it's around 30km or so that's the hardest part(something about human exhausting max energy level he can have stored around that time so you suddenly feel like hitting a wall. Most of those who quit midroute quit somewhere around this part I hear). Also climbed to Fuji Mountain so got good advice on that one as well.
And the young girl was fun little chat partner though in typical children style(kids are kids whether in Finland and Japan :D) the explanations she did were a) very fast spoken b) bounced bit here and there c) articulation is not as clear as adults(particularly when they are talking to foreign) so it was bit of a trouble to follow at times. Particularly when she was explaining her newest hobby.
Well the food in restaurant was delicious. Note from pictures: a) I did not take pictures of every thing b) I did NOT eat everything in pictures as there was 4 persons sharing this stuff ;) Though do think I ate lion's share of it.
Meat thing on the black bowl at top you put to your plate(the silver thing at bottom for me) eating. Fairly common way here in restaurants. Rather than ordering own plates you have shared plate from which you put what you want to your own plate.
So there. One very good day. No pictures yet to show me while in running but I should be getting some later so will be posting them on later blog entry.
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