"Real" Marathon Training

After listening to so much strategizing and analysis among all the real marathoners at Tokyo's Namban Rengo running club, it dawned on me that I should actually do some marathon training myself, given that I am supposed to complete a marathon in 3 weeks as part of the alleged Ironman.  Or more specifically, I should do a real "long run" -- since for me a long run has meant any distance over about 12 kilometers, and apparently the most vital preparation for a marathon is doing comparable endurance runs of over 30 kilometers.
 
So on an unseasonably warm Monday afternoon,  I headed to Tokyo's Imperial Palace for a brisk 32.5-kilometer run.  I felt miserable running, but the one nice thing is that despite living here in a megalopolis of some 32 million people, I happen to run into 4 different friends during the course of the run (Dave, Meg, Stu, Jeff) and can feel like I am part of an intimate little community.
 
After I jog the first 2.5k at maybe 6-minute pace, I decide to speed up to a rather randomly faster pace, and I manage to run the next 20k in about 86:30.  This is wildly faster than my Ironman race pace, and I find myself getting tired, so I dropped off to 4:30-5:00 pace for the final 10-kilometers.  For the first part of the run I walked for 15-20 seconds every 5 minutes (but continue to let my watch run).  I was hoping I would feel better than I did, but the important thing is I will sleep a little better knowing that I have got some legitimate marathon training under my belt.