Jen was nervous to begin her first “full” marathon, and I can’t fault her at all – I felt anxious just watching. But the whole of Tokyo was excited for this marathon – the first open one since COVID.
Height worked to Ryan’s and my favor as we stood near the first turn by the entrance and watched the Paralympic athletes head off first. A second horn and smoke plume signaled the race proper, where ultrarunners blazed through for the cameras. The stream of runners surged into a constant wave; pacers with purple balloons signified finishing time by hours and occasionally blind runners were led by a volunteer tied by the wrist. Apparently this “major” international marathon in the same caliber as London and Boston also draws runners in costume, and I managed to catch a few photos of the best outfits. With so many people participating, Ryan and I actually missed a Jen’s first appearance so we cut across to the 10k mark.
I have to give kudos to the volunteers; easily five hundred people were stationed at aid stations, crosswalks (to direct traffic and physically carry bicycles up and down elevated walkways above the street), metro stations (to direct spectators), and media outlets (for encouragement and reporting to the NHK). At this point, we discovered that the thumbs-up sign is pretty universal as Ryan and I got plenty of feedback from the runners going by.
We actually got stuck on the wrong side of the road near Akihabara, so Ryan and I killed time looking at figures and electronics until the crosswalks opened and we could head to the halfway point. A strange observation we noticed was the lack of encouragement from the general viewers; we stood out as the obnoxious-yet-welcomed-by-participants Americans who cheered on everyone who passed by with “ganbatte!” and English phrases.
At the last 1k, Ryan and I posted up to give that last little bit of oomph to folks with dead legs. We’re damn proud of Jen for finishing below her goal of six hours!!
Ice's Travels 