Yokohama Marathon

by Brianin Japan, Kanagawaon Posted on

Well, I can’t believe I forgot to mention this post but this comes before my Taiwan trip.  In an effort to shake things up in my life a bit (and a fruitless attempt to lose weight), I signed up for the Yokohama marathon late last year.  Well, actually I signed up for the  Yokohama marathon and the Tokyo marathon however I didn’t win the lottery for the Tokyo one (1/8 odds).  Anyway, the Yokohama marathon has a first come first serve type deal for foreigners where the first 500 are guaranteed a spot… after that it is a general lottery so I made sure to sign up early.  The marathon wasn’t until March so I figured I had a lot of time to train (still procrastinated).  With it being winter and new position at work and some travel in between, by the time the marathon day showed up I didn’t feel ready at all… which is disappointing because you still go through all the normal sacrifices in the months leading up to an event like this.  Unlike the Honolulu marathon, there is a time limit for the Yokohama marathon of 6 hours, and having completed the Honolulu run just shy of that I sort of knew what shape I had to be in.  I have my own thoughts on the process and what I learned about some things but to sum it up, there really wasn’t any sense of accomplishment from finishing it.  Anyway, I don’t want to get too personal so I’ll just share the pictures:

They have the check-in and expo starting two days before the race... I decided to go on Friday to beat the Saturday rush. Get your t-shirt, numbers, chips, bag, etc first.
The expo is in the same building. Pacifico Yokohama @ Minatomirai
This race is world-class in my opinion. So well organized from start to finish... check-in process, expo, race support, bathrooms, organization... just everything. It almost makes the Honolulu Marathon seem second class... almost... but Honolulu will always be most special
Different uniforms for officials, doctors, pacers, volunteers... that jacket was the one I wanted most but only volunteers and staff got them... no buying either! Shucks If you know where to get an extra one let me know please!
Mizuno was one of the larger sponsors... huge store at the expo... people love those compression leggings.
Most of the expo were just booths with sponsors and various companies selling their goods... very crowded and they all end up giving you brochures, coupons, etc.
Packing my race day bag! That's the official check-in bag. Two VAAMs which is like energy gel.
At the train station the morning of... good thing I was going up the Minatomirai line and not down!
The check-in area and finish line road
They cleared out the check-in and expo area, plus did set-up all overnight! The bag drop off area... also post race changing area for some people lol.... this old guy dropped his pants in front of everyone after the race with a pretty girl right beside him lol aiyah.... You can also walk around and see what kind of costumes some people are going to be running in... I remember a giant green pencil with eraser box being one of them... I also followed an elmo for a lot of the race (I lost to a lot of people but an elmo I did not! hehe). Using the bathroom pre-race turned out to be a very critical move because every single restroom stop along the race route had at least a 15 minute wait which would've guaranteed me getting picked up by the slacker bus (the bus literally picks up people from the back of the race that won't finish in time).
I didn't run with anything on me so I don't have any pictures after check in until the finish. I think the towel was a nice add in for participants... I guess I was running too slow to get any good food at the checkpoints... they handed out mostly hard candy and salt tablets which I pocketed but didn't eat since those get annoying... only a couple stops had bananas and fruits which I tried to eat a lot of. Other than that, the drink of the day was Aquarius sports drink. Good thing I brought the VAAM.
Nice surprise, good looking medal has some weight to it too! Finish time was 5 hours 43 minutes. Not bad for having only run a max of 10k during training. Started the walk/run routine at about the halfway point during the race... once I knew I was going to make the 6 hours I kind of lost motivation and only ran on downhills and flats. I like this picture because you can see the words, "Yokohama, change, run, finisher". Running on the expressway was something different and unique to this race... it was very wavy (surprisingly up/down), windy, and cold... I took one look at the on ramp to it and just started walking haha. Passed a ton of people on their cell phones, taking pictures, waiting for friends during the race... so I wonder if they finished in time because I was already near the back.
The price to purchase the race photos is ridiculous so I just cut myself out of the bigger ones lol, hence the poor quality. These are the only photos during the race I have though. The things causing my pockets to bounce that way are the VAAM lol
Someone tell that guy in the back to put his hands down lol... why do people do that? "Hey, look at me while I block other people's faces???" Oh well.. I got in front of him for this one hehehe

It was very cold (~10 deg C) waiting an hour for the start wearing only shorts but once we got moving it was ok… in fact, that’s probably why I did as ok as I did because I had to keep moving. I do remember another old lady lined up in front of me (I was in group F; G was the last group) who kept jogging in place just to stay warm… she probably ran an extra 3 miles just doing that… Many people were wearing clear trash bags… at first I didn’t know where they would dispose of them but there are people in the first few miles that collect them… good to know! Also, don’t sweat as much since it’s cooler than say Honolulu. No cramps either… pretty smooth race, and even now I’m not sure how I finished it with such little training…

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