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.

Recovering

There were many long weeks in the build up and last Sunday it all came to an end. I ran the Tokyo Marathon on what was the most miserable weather experience for me while on a run. It was pouring rain and at times the rain changed to snow and freezing rain. The wet and cold wreaked havoc on my knees. I normally never have knee issues, but they were aching and causing my problems by 15 km. I got through the experience though and am very glad I did it.

What got me were the thousands of people lining the entire marathon route cheering us all on. There was an energy and excitement in the air that I had never experienced before. When the pain felt like it was getting too much, the cheers and songs of people put a smile on my face and gave me a little extra kick to my stride.

There were so many people who had obviously made their own sweets, cookies and bread and brought them down to the race course just to give them to the tired runners. The stretch between kilometers 28-35 (the wall) were especially filled with kind people cheering extra hard and giving candy and chocolate to all the runners (especially the ones who looked like they were hitting the wall).

Would I run Tokyo again? Absolutely. I think it is a very worthwhile destination marathon for anyone!



Proud and tired runners just received their finisher towels. Everyone was very quiet and moving slowly.


The race finish was held at Tokyo Big Sight. Little did I know but as the marathon was finishing there was a tsunami warning for the same area as a result of the Chile earthquake.


As you can see, it was very wet at the beginning of the marathon. In fact, it was wet for the majority of it.


I plan to continue training. By Friday I should be ready to hit the road again. My goal is to run a marathon this Fall under 4 hours. Ideally around 3 hours 50 minutes. That's what i am shooting for! Expect my face to look slimmer in future pictures!

I will be posting a 5 part series of videos about my Tokyo Marathon experience on You Tube. Stay tuned.