Tuesday, February 15, 2011

Osaka Marathon Time 大阪マラソン2011

This blog has three basic themes, life as an educator, living in Japan and running. Today’s post is a mix of running and life in Japan.

All right, today the registration for the 1st Osaka Marathon 大阪マラソン opened. It was supposed to start at 10am this morning, but then got bumped up to 11am. Similar to the Tokyo Marathon, registration will be open for one month and it will be a lottery. If you are interested in running in the Kansai Region’s first major international marathon you apply and then sit back with your fingers crossed. At some point in late April they will announce the lucky 28,000 folks who get to run the full marathon.

I’m really hoping I get selected after last fall’s disappointment with the Tokyo Marathon 東京マラソン. I was selected in 2009 to run the 2010 Tokyo Marathon. That run was the time of my life. I was so happy to have done it and I applied to run in this year’s as well. Unfortunately I didn’t make the cut. Although many other folks I know were selected to run again, I wasn’t. To be honest, I think people who apply from outside of Japan have a far better chance (if not guaranteed) to be selected in the race (Tokyo Marathon) than those applying from within Japan!

Last fall, when I ran the Osaka Yodogawa Marathon I ran a sub 4-hour marathon. I have to admit that I trained well for the race, but was a little lazy and could have trained much harder. For the Osaka Marathon I put my “hoped” time as 3hrs 45mins. I think this time will be completely achievable if I add more tempo runs and more sprint training.

The Tokyo Marathon has a relatively short history, but has brought a great deal of attention to the city of Tokyo as well as a huge infusion of money into the Tokyo economy. I suppose Osaka, Kobe and Kyoto are looking for the same financial windfall! That’s why 2011 will see the first Osaka Marathon on October 30, the first Kobe Marathon will be at some point in November and Kyoto will have their first full marathon sometime in early 2012.

It’s shaping up to be a fun running year in this part of Japan!

On a side note, I was really surprised by the most recent poll I placed on my blog. I asked readers to vote on the Japanese city they would most likely want to visit. The results:

Sapporo 28%
Tokyo 21%
Kobe 14%
Osaka 14%
Kyoto 14%
Fukuoka: 8%

That’s right. Most people who voted wanted to see Sapporo. I haven’t been there yet, but I hope I get the chance.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Top on my list of marathons to run aboard are: London, Paris, Toyko & Berlin.

Anonymous said...

I reckon a lot of the votes probably came from people who are in Japan. Fewer of them have been to Sapporo than say Kyoto or Tokyo, so may have voted Sapporo simply because they haven't been there yet. Well, that's what I did anyway!