The Great Cookie Toss at the Tokyo Marathon

If you’ve been traveling with us on our journey through Japan, you know that each day has been leading us closer to the reason we were there. We visited grand toriis; drank sake in a roof top igloo. We played with snow monkeys and rode on fast trains. It’s been an amazing ride but now we need to unpack the great cookie toss at the Tokyo Marathon.

First, remember the Collision at the Crevice

In case you missed it, let me recap. Our hotel room in Tokyo was small. How small was it? If it were any smaller, the bidet could have doubled as a shower. It was so small even the mice were hunched back. It was so small, the only place Stephen could stage his race day clothing was in the four free inches under the mounted television. And when he stood up, he hit his head so hard on the TV we thought he would need stiches and we would need a new television.

But since the blood was minimal and the crease wasn’t too large, Stephen moved forward with his big plans for the next day. I’ll let him tell you what happened next.

The Running of the Marathon

Remember when I said it was going to be a very crowded and interesting start? Well that ended up being an understatement. I don’t usually run with music but since we were required to run with our phones I decided to throw my AirPods in and give it a go. I turned my running playlist on just before the gun went off and was lucky I did. As soon as the starting gun went off, there was a huge surge forward and it felt for a second like I would be trampled. I managed to keep my feet underneath me and as I moved forward. It was the tightest start I’ve ever experienced in a race and and it felt a bit more like a mosh pit than a road race (and I’m way too old for mosh pits).

One thing I noticed right away is that my head was pounding from the get go. I thought I was ok from my incident the night before but the constant pounding seemed to indicate that everything was not alright. I knew that I had a long way to go so I tried to not think too much about it. I also noticed that the long wait in the corral left me having to pee rather badly.

Mile One and The Rookie Mistake

I hit mile one in 7:17, right about where I wanted to be. I saw some porta johns right off the course on the right at this point and figured I could duck in and pee quickly without losing too much time. Boy was I wrong. I ended up losing almost three minutes waiting in line. Now I was irritated and my head hurt but at least I no longer had to go to the bathroom.

I made a huge rookie mistake at this point and tried to make up all the time I lost over the next couple of miles. Busting ass and weaving around people, I wasted a lot of unnecessary energy and added unneeded distance. I ended up hitting mile two at 8:20, even though I was running closer to a 6:15 pace for a good portion of that mile.

Feeling behind now, I continued to run much faster than I was prepared for hitting mile three at 6:49. I knew I wanted to have my 5K splits under 23:30 and was still a little behind at this point. Thankfully, I had enough sense to dial it back a bit. The course was still moving downhill slightly and I hit mile four at 7:11. It was time for me to start my fueling strategy. I took my first Maurten gel at this point and threw it up almost immediately. I was having flashbacks to my first Boston where I couldn’t keep anything down and ended up running a 4:08 marathon.

One thing I had going for me over that day was the weather. Where as in Boston it was hot as hell and humid, today’s weather was pretty ideal. The temps were still in the upper 40’s and the dew point was low. Other than it being windy I knew weather wouldn’t be an issue.

Trying to Enjoy the Experience

Things were uneventful for the next few miles. I was dialed into my pace and tried to enjoy the sights of the city. Between 9-12 km we hit our first out and back section. I always enjoy these during a race as I find it motivating as well as a good distraction when there are runners going in both directions.

My 10 km split came in at 23:05, still a bit faster than I was targeting but much more even than my start. I heard my friend Jacque give me a shoutout as I was approaching the end of this short out and back. How did I hear her if I was wearing AirPods? Well…even though I made sure they were fully charged, my left one died on my right after I passed the 10 km marker. No biggie I thought. I can hear my music and the crowds and I could hand it off to Jill when I saw her at mile 8.

And Where is Jill??

Taking my second gel as planned at mile 8, I proceeded to throw that up as well. I was drinking water regularly and was keeping that down so I figured I would be ok once I got my handheld from Jill. That would just have to be my fuel for the day. I misjudged where she would be and came across her at mile 8.5. No biggie, right? Well, the challenge was that they put up fencing so she was unable to get close enough to give me my handheld. As I ran up to where I expected her to be I heard her yelling “I’m sorry”. I think she got some excellent video of me throwing my dead AirPod to her as I ran on by.

The head was pounding, I couldn’t get my fuel, and I had 18 miles to go. Not ideal but I also knew that there was no way I wasn’t going to finish this race. It was just a matter of how ugly things would get before it was all over. Shortly after I hit my 15 km split in 23:33 which was right in the neighborhood of where I wanted to be. Just past mile eleven we had a couple of right hand turns that took us past Senso-ji Temple and brought us face to face with the The Asahi Flame (Flamme d’Or), more affectionately know as the “Golden Poo”, and a great view of the Tokyo Sky Tree.

At some point through here I managed to see the lead wheelchair athletes pass by in the opposite direction. This was a first for me and I found myself inspired and motivated. From here on out through mile twenty there were runners going in both directions. As I approached the 20 km mark I took my third gel, and threw this up as well. I was determined to keep fueling even if my body had other ideas. It was also right around this time my other AirPod died. I actually chuckled to myself a little bit wondering what was going to go wrong next. My 20 km split was 23:27 and I was pretty happy to see that I was hanging on for now.

Breaking it Down

This was the first marathon I found myself breaking the race into 5 km sections and I think I will do so in future races. I found it a nice way to break the distance into more manageable chunks. I somehow missed the halfway point as I passed it but saw that my 25 km was split was 23:23. My goal was to pick up the pace a little from here on out so I was happy to see this. My head was still hurting but the body felt good otherwise so I was still hopeful that I could hit my goal of negatively splitting the second half.

I took another gel at mile 16 and you guessed it. It didn’t stay down either. I think the fact that I kept drinking water and seemed to be able to keep that down was what saved me on the day. I might have been fuel deficient but I wasn’t going to be dehydrated. My 30 km split was 23:17 but things were definitely getting tougher.

Where is Jill Part 2

I was looking forward to seeing Jill at mile 19 and hoped to get my handheld at that point. Mile 19 came and went and there was no Jill. I wasn’t sure if I somehow missed her and the course no longer seemed familiar to me. At this point I think I started to panic a little bit.

Just after mile 20 I could see that there was a left hand turn coming up and I realized that this is where I was supposed to see Jill. I’m not sure how I miscalculated by over a mile where she would be but I sure was glad to finally see her. I ran up and grabbed my handheld and although I was feeling pretty crappy at this point I knew I only had 6 miles to go. I hit the 35 km marker in 23:46. I had slowed a little and the going was definitely getting tougher.

I started taking small sips of my Maurten mix every km but knew I was behind in my fueling and also knew it was next to impossible to catch up at this point. I think I around this time I mentally gave up a bit. My primary goal for this race had always been to run under 3:25 and although doing math was hard at this point I was confident I could still accomplish that even if I slowed down a bit.

Heading to the Finish

I don’t really remember a whole lot about the course from this point on. I think I remember running by a temple or a shrine but I was having a hard time focusing. I was just trying to keep my mind on getting to the next km marker and sipping my handheld when I hit each one. I didn’t throw up again the rest of the race so I was certainly thankful for that. My 40 km split was 25:16. My pace had slowed to just over 8:00/mile during this stretch. I’m not sure if my issues were physical or mental at this point but I couldn’t get my body to move any faster.

I knew I was going to finish in under 3:25 and all things considered I was pretty happy with that outcome. With 1 km to go, I started to cry a little bit. I find myself getting emotional at the end of races on occasion and it always catches me off guard when it happens. I wasn’t sad. I think in this moment I just had a profound sense of appreciation for having this opportunity. As I made the final turn and could see the finish line a smile came over my face and I was proud of what I had accomplished on the day.

I crossed the finish line in a time of 3:20:13. This was my 27th marathon finish and my 14th Boston Qualifying finish.

He Came. He Ran. And He Made it Back to the Crevice.

Join us next week where we’ll share the post race celebrations with you and wrap up our trip.

This week we are heading to Traverse City, Michigan so Stephen can pace the Bay Shore Marathon. Follow us in real time on Instagram at The__Travel__Oracle. Or if you like getting our latest article right to your inbox, you can subscribe to us for free. (I mean, who doesn’t like free stuff??)