Tokyo Marathon

I ran well at the Tokyo Marathon Sunday, finishing in 2:55:50, a personal best by over 10 minutes.

When I say I ran well, what I mostly mean is my pacing. Or to a certain extent Martin Verdier's pacing, since we ran together and traded off on pace for almost the entire run. Here are my 5k (gun) splits:

5k 22:32
10k 20:26
15k 20:28
20k 20:39
25k 20:35
30k 20:29
35k 20:45
40k 21:07
42k 9:18

Among the most challenging aspects of the day was coping with handing in my bag of warm clothes and then waiting in driving rain at the starting line. After that, the running felt relatively easy, at least until we reached the first turnaround at 15k and faced a bit of headwind.

When I reached the halfway mark in 1:28:20 I wondered about my chances of breaking 3 hours. I was already tiring, and everyone knows that marathoners slow down after 30k. That I actually managed to run a slightly faster second-half of the race could be attributed to:
1. Gels - 30grams of carbohydrates every 35-minutes
2. Martin and the other supporters - Elite athletes stay within themselves and focus on form, but talking and cheering other people helped me considerably
3. The psychological boost of overtaking 2,500 runners from the 2k mark to the finish.
4. Long training runs - My overall training was moderate, but I did four quality 30k-plus runs in the final weeks leading up to the marathon plus many long trail runs

Apparently I was 353rd overall. Given the caliber of the local running community, I am surprised to finish so high.

When I staggered to the finish of the Seattle Marathon in a time of 3:07 I told myself that I would be back and break 3 hours. Well it took 26 years, but it is good to finally run sub 3 hours (as evidenced by the film footage of the finish