Diary of a marathon man in Japan

Posted by Grant Callaghan - 21 February 2012

Day 1 – Dumplings, kimonos, green tea and me

Out for a run at 7.30am in the bitterly cold air. Hands frozen. We just did 30 minutes to get the blood pumping. We ran down by the bay that is actually part of the course we will run on Sunday.

Then to breakfast with a view from the 54th floor which is amazing. The Dumplings for breakfast were sensational.

Headed out for a 3 hour stroll along the shops and found Starbucks for a coffee hit. One of the shopkeepers mentioned that snow is likely tomorrow here. So gloves were purchased.

We had a Japanese lunch at the hotel which was nice then had to meet or guides for the trip to city hall to meet the mayor. A very formal gathering in the main boardroom with the mayor and his executive. To my surprise he was quite young but very interested in what had to say about the Sunshine Coast. I learnt a lot about how the council is run here compared to ours. We exchanged gifts . We were there for about 90 mins. He mentioned how important the marathon is for the community and how this year is especially important as the chosen charity is in aid  of the tsunami disaster.

Then it was off to the Cross Cultural Society that threw us an amazing welcome party. Michelle and I were fitted with traditional kimono outfits. Being dressed by 3 strange Japanese women was an experience. Let me tell you they are tight fitting garments. The society is run to assist foreigners in Japan learn the language and culture. There was at least 40 people there including my home stay lady and she was very nice. Michelle and I had to make a few speeches and gave a presentation about the Sunshine Coast. The Japanese people are so welcoming and kind. We played a traditional japanese game and musical instrument. We also had tea and traditional sweets. A great afternoon.

I also started to appreciate how big the marathon is . It's shown live on TV here and we have 4000 starters. The route starts in then city of Osaka and makes its way all through metropolitan areas down to where we are here by the airport . They really want to showcase to the international community .

Day 2 – The enemy is yourself and the cold

We had a leisurely start this morning with breakfast at 8am. The chef on duty was a Brisbane boy so he was really happy to have a chat with a couple of Aussie tourists. He is in Japan because he married a Japanese lady.

After breaky we walked over to Starbucks for quick coffee hit and then back to check out of hotel at 10.30.

After checkout we transferred to the city of Sakai Osaka which is near the start of the race. From there all the international athletes were taken by large coach over to the actual course. It was a chance for us to meet the other athletes from overseas. It became apparent that there are some very talented runners in the mix. Not including me . We have athletes from VIC, NSW, USA and Kenya ,China and others. Of significant note it started snowing during the day.

Upon returning to hotel, we were ushered into the conference room for race briefing. Very special . The race directors were clear in making a point about it being very cold tomorrow. So it will be interesting . The final comment from the race translator was a classic. She said the enemy tomorrow is yourself and the cold..

Now it's off to the official welcome dinner/reception for the international athletes. Again will will be on stage to introduce ourselves.

Hope you're having a great weekend.

Day 3 – Ready, set, freeze

Wow what a day. Not sure where to start.

In summary. Goal time was 3h 20m, I achieved 3h 12m - a personal best. My fellow travel companion Michelle finished 3rd internationally in 3h 03m and about 7th overall for the females. All around great day.

Due to a much more pleasant start time, 10.30am,  to what we are accustomed to in Australia we could enjoy a leisurely breakfast. Good time to chat amongst the international athletes at the hotel.

Whilst as cold as anticipated  the sun was shining and the wind minimal so really really perfect conditions. Because the race is basically point to point, we would have headwind for the majority of the race. As long as you had fingers and arms covered, you were ok. Overall feeling good and the cold was not a factor, in fact was a help in keeping my heart rate under control and so it was all going to come down to pace .

On bus at 8 am to the start line where we had private nice warm dressing rooms. At 10 am we were asked to take place at start of the pack ready for the gun. So picture this, there I was front and centre next to race no 1, Sydney olympic silver medalist Eric from Kenya, who I had a chance to meet the night before. We had choppers overhead and TV in our faces leading up to start and all our names we're announced to the crowd. This average athlete felt very special.

The race goes through 9 cities in the Osaka prefecture, one of which is our host of Izumanasu at the 28km mark where we would have our big cheer squad. It's hard to describe the amount of people that came out to support the race. It was just non-stop for 42.2km. Each city has it’s character. The kids were a highlight for me. Especially the young baseball team in uniform , they deserved a high five from me so I obliged . Another was the traditional drums playing. Just amazing and made terrace go quickly. So here’s how the race panned out.

The gun went at 10.30am on the dot and off we went. Eric and the top guys out of sight almost immediately. No surprise. Knowing what Michele was likely to run I sat in behind her for about 4 km, but that pace was just too fast. She was running way faster than her plan so I had to back off and settle.

I hit the first 5 km in just over 20 mins. Oops. A little too fast. I decided to break the race down into 4x10 km segments mentally . and see what I had left for the final half. I clocked 10km in 42 mins, so was coming back to sanity . The 15km mark was a 1h 04m split so was still way under goal and wondering if I would pay a big price later on. I just keep checking my form and leaning forward and not over striding . At half way I was on 3h 03 pace so had banked a lot of time that I did not want to give away in second half.

The next goal was seeing our host city at 28 km and Michelle and I had arranged for our guide, Katsunori to hand us some small bottles of coke to give us a boost for the final stages. My 30 km split was 2h 13m so I was slowing but not by big margins. I knew if I  could hold my original goal pace from here in I would do a great time. It  becomes more mental from this point just focusing on form and  nutrician. The coke was a great idea. After 30 km the race here gets harder on this course as you negotiate 2 big bridges twice and head away from finish line. Going uphill was fine but the downhills were murder for my legs by that point. A lot of Japanese runners were starting to struggle so it was a boost mentally to start passing some people. Up until then it had been the opposite. The Japanese are very good runners.

At 35 km my split was 2hr 36m and I could start locking in a finish time to aim towards. A finish time of  3h 10m was on the cards but unlikely as the bridges were bringing down the average speed. So I had calculated about 3h 12m as where I would like it to be.  At 38 km we made the final turn for home, it was great to have some wind assistance finally so now it was just focus. At the top of the last bridge it was about 1 mile to the finish. The finish was great and really happy to see the cheer squad there for us. Especially my host family coming to see me.

We had soup in recovery which hit the spot and unlike the last marathon my tummy was all good.

After attending Michelle's presentation it was off to traditional Japanese hot springs/spa centre. Without doubt the best recovery ever. As long as you are not shy (clothes are not optional ). It was amazing few hours. It was interesting to note many families attend and enjoy these facilities. Mum,dad and the kids.

Feeling much better we headed to stay with our families for the first time and had an amazing Japanese sushi dinner and great discussions. They are a lovely family and the two girls are great.

A few memorable moments from my trip so far. Click to enlarge.