After successfully completing the Tokyo Marathon last year (my first marathon), I thought doing the same race this year would be a breeze. I trained harder (but still took a break over winter vacation while I was in Malaysia and Thailand), and felt more ready than I did last year. The day of the marathon arrived, and I was feeling rested, prepared, and calm. So, what happened? Sunday, February 28th was a day filled with bad luck and bad decisions, and ended up with me being disqualified from the marathon.
I went to the race with my friend, B., who was running her first marathon. Before the start, we got in line to use the toilet and waited too long. We missed the deadline to be in our starting block, and while she managed to jump a fence and get to the place we were supposed to be, security stepped in and prevented me from following suit. As a result, I had to go to the back of the 35,000 runners, which meant it took me 20 minutes to reach the start after the gun went off, instead of the 10 minutes it would've taken if I'd been in my starting block.
Next, remembering how long the line was for the first toilet last year, and even though, yet again, I had to go right at the start of the race, I managed to wait until about 4.5k before needing to use the bathroom desperately. BIG MISTAKE. I couldn't find a short line, and although I'm not sure, I must've been in line for about 25 minutes. I knew I was wasting valuable time, but still wasn't worried about the 7 hour time limit, and really had to pee. What I didn't know, was that I was already dangerously close to the 5k gate time cut off. My fault for not reading all the race materials. When I got there, there was a rope across the street, and race officials pointing people towards a couple of buses. I was shocked. I couldn't believe that I'd been DQ'd, especially so early in the race, and not due to an injury or something more substantial than bad luck and my own mistake. I called a friend who was cheering further along the route, and tried to figure out what to do.
Then, I saw someone step over the rope and start running. Hmm, I thought, maybe it's ok to keep running? So, I jumped over the rope and started running again too. The race officials that I passed were still cheering for me, so I thought maybe it was ok, and I picked up speed. I passed tons of people, and even passed people waiting in line at toilets, so I thought I was safe. In fact, I ran the next 5k in about 27 minutes, 8 minutes faster than planned, and only 10 seconds slower than my 5k PR. However, I made it to the 10k gate cutoff about 30 seconds too late, and this time they were more forceful about putting people on the buses. They even chased down a couple of people who jumped over the rope.
So, the 2010 Tokyo Marathon ended for me at 10k this year and I was devastated. All that hard work, wasted. I was so disappointed in myself. And I learned a valuable lesson: ALWAYS be aware of ALL time cutoffs, even if you think they won't affect you.
My friends who ran finished, and were happy with their times. I tried to be positive that night when we went out to celebrate, and I came up with a plan to make myself feel better.
I plotted out a 42.195k course in and around the town where I live and planned my own, private marathon-length run so that the training wouldn't go to waste. I tapered again, and treated it exactly how I had prepared for the real race: plenty of sleep, water, carbs... and this time I did get nervous, and had a hard time sleeping the night before.
I woke up at 5:30, ate oatmeal and drank coffee, and started running (in the rain- just like the weather during the marathon) at 7:30. I started early so that B. would have time to meet me for 10k near the end. How awesome is that? She'd just run a marathon 6 days before (in 4:26!) and she offered to keep me company when I'd need support the most. That's a great friend!
The first half was fine, and I made good time, although the route I'd picked was hillier than I'd remembered from long runs I did last year. I met up with B. at 25k, and she ran with me until 34k, when I turned back towards my town. My knees were killing me by then, but there was no way I was going to give up, so I pushed through the pain. I made it home at 12:57pm, which meant a total time of 5:27, and my Garmin time (taking off time for 2 bathroom breaks and traffic lights) was 5:03:12. Last year my chip time at Tokyo was 5:47, so I'm very happy with both times, and relieved to have long runs behind me for awhile.
I'll probably try another marathon next spring (either Tokyo or Vancouver, depending on where I'm living then), but for now, I'm back to short runs and training for a 10k race on a hilly but beautiful course, and I'm hoping to break 1 hour, or at least get close. This will be my 4th time doing this race, and 1:06:42 is my PR for the course. However, I've never been properly trained in time for the race (actually last year it was 3 weeks after Tokyo, and my first run after the marathon), so I'm hoping that if I focus on hills and speed work in training, it might be possible. I've been running for a week now since my private "marathon" and my knees are a little achy, but my confidence is back and I'm ready to speed up!
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