Tokyo Marathon 02.27.2011
I will never forget that sense of accomplishment after I crossed the finish line at the Tokyo Marathon. Less than two weeks later, that sense of accomplishment and jubilation vanished on March 11, 2011. Three disasters happened in one. Beginning with the 9.0 earthquake, followed by a tsunami and then a multiple reactor accident. The earthquake on 3/11 was immense and it went on for what seemed like an eternity. How the Japanese have handled the aftermath of this situation humbles me. They have handled this in a dignified manor, and an absolute civilized manor. There has been no loss of law or order, no loss of any kind of civilized decorum of the people. It has been something exemplary and something that the Japanese as a people can be proud of forever.
I completed my first marathon! It seemed more like a festival than a race. My favorite part was running past several of Tokyo's landmarks, such as the Imperial Palace, Tokyo Tower, Asakusa, Ginza and Japan's world famous fish market. It all seemed surreal. There were a total of 33,353 participants in this years Tokyo Marathon. Hundreds, (maybe thousands) of runners dressed up in costumes, everything from ninja's, samurai's, superhero's, anime characters, princesses and brides. It seemed like there were just as many spectators as there were runners. People were lined up on both sides of the streets from start to finish cheering on runners. Many of the spectators were dressed in costumes as well. Tokyo Marathon 2011 was 26 miles of fun and the memory of a lifetime.
VIP sitting next to the starting line...
It took me about 35 minutes just to get to the starting point...
OMG there I am!!
Gotta go. I was just getting started :)
Tame streamed his entire 26 mile run with four iphones and an....
Ipad on his back. He's British (in case you were wondering)
An elderly blind women running in the marathon with her volunteer who escorted her. They both held on to a band almost like holding hands the entire marathon.
Pikachu!
Snow White!
Is he wearing a thong? LOL
MJ is Japanese!
Tokyo Tower Ran In The Race!
The paparazzi after the finish line...
Tokyo Marathon 2011 finisher!!
Yokosuka Seaside 10K 11.21.2010
Overall Time - 55:37, 8:58 pace
My name is miss-spelled for my first 10k race. Just a tad embarrassing. No biggie :)
Anyway, back to the event. Wow! What an amazing experience. I am hooked now! I don't know why it took me soo long to sign up for my first race! I had a really good time. There were three distances: Half-Marathon, 10k and 5k. Roughly around 6,000 thousand runners. There were only a handful of Americans. I only saw a total of 7 Americans but there were more.
What a great race! I plan on competing in more 5 and 10k events. Only for fun, nothing serious. I really enjoy running. It took me 55 minutes and 33 seconds to complete 6.2 miles. I believe I set a new personal best record!
Unfortunately Shawne wasn't able to come to my first race because of his knee. He will get to see me in action at the Tokyo Marathon in February. I'm looking forward to it :0)
Sorry for the poor quality pictures. I took them with my Iphone.
My certificate after I completed the race.
The roster...
Can you find my name? I will give you a hint...It's the only one in English on this page.
Japanese school girl dancers...
Vendors...
The blue tents in the background is where I picked up my bib # ...
The Japanese love chocolate covered bananas...
Waiting for the race to start. I was in the middle closer to the back of the line. You can't even see the starting line from this picture.
The finish line...
Waiting in line to get my t-shirt and certificate...
Japanese boy band singing on stage...
People just hanging out, waiting for their loved ones to finish the race...
Everyone was eating ramen after wards. I would of too but didn't have any money on me.
Food lines..
