Tokyo Marathon: Journey and Expo

It’s been a whirlwind. The Tokyo Marathon snuck up fast, like I knew it would. I’ve been counting down the weeks and detailing my training here for months. Last week my older daughter and I headed to Japan for the Tokyo Marathon. I’ve got so much to tell you. Are you ready? Then settle in, here we go.

The flight to Tokyo on American Airlines was direct and seamless…..well seamless if you don’t count the extreme rudeness of the TSA people at Chicago O’Hare. I’m sure their job is exhausting but the mean sarcasm directed at innocent travelers simply standing in line is uncalled for and an embarrassment to the city.

For those of you who don’t remember exactly how I snagged myself a coveted spot in Tokyo, here’s how it went down: I was a Tokyo lottery fail in 2018 so I joined Marathon Tours’ 7 Continents Club and entered their lottery which was also a fail. MT added me to their wait list, which I assumed was probably futile. Imagine my surprise when a spot opened up last October.

You all know the kind of winter we had (are still having) here in Chicago. Hands down the most brutal conditions I’ve ever trained through. The polar vortex yielded us numerous snow days, sub-z temperatures and record amounts of ice. That sent me down to the pain cave for more than my share of treadmill runs. My training was marginal at best. In a perfect world I’d have done more runs >15 miles but it is what it is.

My birthday gift of first class plane seats from the Caveman was, in a word, Fabulous. Omg it was SO nice to be able to stretch out and recline in all sorts of ways and even lie flat. Easy access to water and decent food was awesome as well. So were the copious entertainment options. I watched no less than three movies on the flight over. Who am I?

Japanese food on the airplane

The jetlag-avoidance plan on the 13+ hour flight was to NOT sleep on the plane and I mostly succeeded, except for a couple of short cat naps.

We arrived at Narita airport the FOLLOWING evening (because Japan is 15 hours ahead you lose a day), claimed bags, cleared customs, found the airport bus counter and bought tickets for transport to our hotel. It was easy peasy. Things are so clearly marked in Tokyo, there was no question as to where to find the bus. The attendants were so kind and helpful. Things were orderly and ran like clockwork. We boarded the 6pm bus and made our way through snarly traffic arriving at the Tokyo Hilton 2 or so hours later. The bus was filled with mostly runners. Tired, nodding off runners.

After retrieving a welcome packet at our hotel from Marathon Tours and checking in, we basically crashed for the night. Hard.

We had a city tour planned for Friday, including lunch and culminating at the race expo. I’ll fill you in on the sightseeing in another post. Let’s fast forward to the race expo.

Tokyo Marathon Expo

Similar to the Tokyo Marathon, the Tokyo Marathon Expo is an experience unlike any other. Similar to Berlin, only runners are allowed in the bib pickup area so Maddie waited outside for me. The process was very orderly. It’s the Japanese way.

We were photographed for ID purposes, issued bracelets, got our bib and race shirt. then funneled out to rejoin the non-runners for the remainder of the expo.

The expo was held in a series of outdoor tents. This is temporary because the usual expo site is being used for the 2020 Olympic Games. Anyway, the official Asics gear was first and that was a cluster of the highest order. Similar to Berlin again, except the merchandise had already been picked to the bone, even though there was another full day (Saturday) of expo to go. Rumors of jackets being sold out were confirmed. Sigh. There was no Tokyo Edition shoe in the Nimbus I wear either. Double sigh. With shoe prices upwards of $200 though, this didn’t break my heart.

There were Asics marathon tech tees but meh. Not a single sweatshirt or half-zip. I got a long-sleeved tee then waited in a long, long checkout line.

The subsequent tents were organized by subject. One was about Japanese tourism. Another was all about various charities. Another was about other races in the area. We basically streamed through in parade fashion while people in the booths shouted at us and prodded us to take their advertising flyers. It was a quick, loud process.

Finally there were some smaller merchandise tents but, by large marathon standards, they were very limited. New Balance was there but only with shoes. So was Karhu and Garmin. I held a small glimmer of hope that the INKnBURN booth would have a Tokyo jacket, alas when I finally found their tiny booth and inquired, the lady (wearing the jacket) told me it was from 2 years ago and of course no longer available.

So we left, reboarded the buses and planned to check some of the area Asics stores in hopes of possibly finding some marathon gear. Spoiler alert: We came up dry.

I’m going to leave it here for now. I’ll be back with a full race recap soon.

Have you been to a race expo in a foreign country? What’s the best/worst race expo you’ve ever attended?