Tokyo Marathon 2024

The feeling of finally getting on the plane is a feeling of relief - I've finally made it! There's not much more I can do now. A week of tapering and being a tourist in two different countries. I'm about to run Tokyo Marathon, my second Abbott World Major Marathon.

The preparation

My last marathon was Outback Marathon 2021 where I ran a 25min personal best (PB) from my New York Marathon (2019). It was definitely, the fittest I've been. Since then, I've had covid, not once but twice, three months apart. It was the first time however, that really affected my health. Constant fatigued and an elevated heart rate meant I couldn't really run for a very long time. I saw my Parkrun times go from a comfortable 24mins to predominantly walking and doing 5km within an hour. It felt like a big slap in the face after all that hard work to build my fitness.

Training for a marathon takes time whether it's the preparation that leads you to race day or it's purely the time and sacrifices you make to fit in your training, or going to bed early to rise well before the sun. Preparing for a marathon is not for the faint-hearted and for me it's been a minimum 18months of slowly building to get here.

To build back up I've focused a lot on my aerobic fitness and watching my heart rate has been the main focus. Progress has been agonisingly slow and although consistent with my training, my ability to hold a constant pace has varied so much. To a point, some races in the last 18 months, I honestly didn't know what goal to set as I didn't know if it would be a good day or a bad one. I was hitting walls in half marathons at 13km last year which was a sign I was a long way off another marathon.

It's been from the beginning of the year, that I've finally felt like I had started making head way. I was able to stick to a pace. It was instilling confidence that I might have a good marathon. Still not as speedy as 2021 but I felt like I was starting to make progress.

The experience

Tokyo Marathon for me is marathon number 6. Funnily, when I look back, I've never run a good marathon. Something has happened or I've hit the wall and run considerably slower to the finish line. It's these hiccups each time that make you learn about yourself and about strategies that best work for you. We are all individuals and what may work for one person may not work for everyone else. Hitting that wall though, it is truly character building. That's the time you learn about you and what you're made of or what drives you to keep going. If you want to learn about yourself - run a marathon.

Tokyo marathon 2024 has been a special one. If you're going to run one, I highly recommend doing it with friends (whether they run it as well or come along as your support team), it makes it so much more special when you get to share the experience with people you know. I was privileged this time to share it with a group of legends (one completing their 6th Abbott World Major). Each one of us in a different stage of our own running journey.

As a coach you often don't get to run the same race as your athletes and this was another reason why this marathon was special. I could share it with two athletes not only competing at their first international race but also their very first marathon. I may sing the song of many marathoners out there, but your first marathon is so special. The emotions, the feelings when you cross that finish line - you can never recreate it. It's a treasured memory and I'm honoured to share that with them.

The race

What a race! It was a chilly 1 degree when I got up to start preparing for the race. The forecast was cool, favourable running conditions.

Sadly, I lost my fellow friends in my corral after I lined up for the toilets, but this may have worked in my favour. I was on my own and it gave me the opportunity to focus on me - no one else. The first 5km was downhill. I was running faster than planned but figured it would be ok if I relax into the downhill running. Once it levelled out I stuck to my race plan. The drink stations were chaotic and it was hard to run in and out of them. In my panic to stay hydrated I probably drank too much as I needed to take a toilet stop around 9km. With so many runners, at times the GPS on my watch was playing games, indicating I was running considerably slow but I continued with how I felt and tried to maintain my pace. 26km mark - needed another toilet stop. The toilet stops definitely added mileage. They weren't along the course and you had to run a fair distance to get to the toilets and then return to the course.

30km mark for me, this is when the race the begins. This is when your strategy and experience can help you. When I hit this point, I was feeling surprisingly fresh. I had decided that it was time to start pushing. I picked up the pace. I pushed hard in the last 5km, running a minute quicker per km then what I had been averaging. The hardest part was navigating through the people slowing down and stopping to walk. With the finish line in sight, I sprinted. I crossed the finish line and so many emotions welled up inside. I did it! Not only did I finish, but I didn't hit a wall and I finished the strongest I've every been able to in a marathon - I even got a PB. It was so unexpected and it was so great to see that on my watch (I actually remembered to stop it)!

Post race

Catching up with others at the end of the marathon was very special. Hearing their stories of their experience. Everyone I ran with pushed and we all got PBs. Both my athletes ran good races and finished in good times. This summed up a magical event, with the high continuing at the events after party.

What's next?

Some people have natural ability but some of us have to work bloody hard to get there. I hope that my run has been motivating for others, being consistent with training and persevering will eventually pay off. There are always up and downs in life and in your training. Ride the roller coaster: it's the highs and lows that make the journey worth it, the release of that raw emotion when you finally succeed because you know the sweat and tears that got you there. Keep one foot in front of there other.

Now it's time to recover and build for the next race.