The Tokyo Marathon was so well organized that I never felt lost or confused as to where I was supposed to go or what to do. This race is packed! For the insane amounts of people there, you would expect chaos, but there wasn’t. They even have security checking your bags before you check them in at the baggage check. They also had a food station before you check your bags so you can fuel up really quick before the race. I really mean food station, like bagels, bananas, juice, etc… The baggage check are impressively organized. Plenty of porta pottys to use prior to the start line. We arrived early, so maybe that’s why it didn’t feel as chaotic. Good time to arrive is 7-7:30am. The race starts at 9am. Instead of giving you a mile by mile course run down, I’ll just share some tips and things I learned when training for the Tokyo Marathon:
The course is pretty flat for the most part, there are a few rolling hills, but nothing too crazy. The Tokyo hills will be like a bump in the road. Actually there’s one random hill towards the end that can be a bit of a nuisance, because your legs are tired and it kind of forces you to keep your feet up, or you’ll feel like you’re tripping.
I found my biggest challenge with this course was the constant turns, lots of turns. Especially towards the finish line, just when you think it’s over, there’s more, and more and another turn, and another turn. It gets a bit discouraging.
It’s a very crowded course. I saw a couple of people trip and fall because they didn’t watch where they were going, also, there are cones and barricades on the side of the course, if the person in front of you makes a quick left or right because of an obstacle in his or her way, and you aren’t paying much attention, you will crash. I saw this happened to a few people.
As far as fueling goes, you are pretty well fed throughout the course, and there are plenty of water stations to keep you hydrated.
There’s quite a few tempting down hills that will make you want to go super fast at the beginning of the race.
Lastly, one thing I wish I knew was that they “time you” by gun-time not chip-time. So once your corral gun goes off, make your way to the start line quickly if you’re not close to the front already. I was a bit in the back so it took a bit to get to the start, maybe 20 mins.