The London Marathon was my 58th marathon and fifth marathon major. I did not get a spot through the lottery but did obtain one through a UK charity early on. I flew into London with my sister, arriving the Thursday before the race. I wanted to hit the expo early on rather than put it off until things got crazy there.

Thursday proved a good plan! Picking up my number was fast and simple. There was still a lot of merchandise available in all sizes so I had my pick of items (though I ordered the jacket online weeks earlier). There were lots of vendors and promotions going on and the overall vibe was fun and exciting. I can’t speak to how things were later in the week, especially Saturday, but I assume things got busier and more crowded.

Race day was the hottest London Marathon to date though the morning leading up to the start was comfortable (before the exertion!). I was in red start and staying right next to Hyde Park Corner station; getting to Greenwich on the tube was simple and travel on the line from London Bridge was free with a bib. There were also volunteers assisting runners and making sure everyone made it to the right place from London Bridge (and other stations). I arrived at Greenwich around 8am and made my charity team’s photo before proceeding to the red start area. There were tons of portajohns without a line (if you knew to keep walking and not stop at the first long lines you came across). There were also large screens up with footage and audio from the elite start and the Queen pressing the button in Windsor to start the race. They used waves within each start area to help keep the crowding down a bit. I was in wave 3 which was very near the front and within sight of the screens. We took off about 10:12am and you could instantly feel the heat!

We ran for about three miles before merging with the other starts. This was surprisingly seamless though I’ll say that you never get any room. There are tons of people of all paces around you which can be a real negative but then again, it’s a Major and that’s how they all are to a certain extent so you deal with it. It was entertaining to see some of the funny costumes though!

The crowds at this event were FANTASTIC. I’ve never seen so many people in a marathon crowd; three, four, ten deep, along the entire course. More than Chicago, NYC, Boston, and Tokyo. The good spectator weather may have contributed but it was crazy. I had headphones but never used them; I wouldn’t have been able to hear music anyway as the crowds were cheering so loud. Just amazing support the whole way and it was even better because of the multiple charity team spots along the course that cheered even more loudly when they saw one of their runners approaching.

Volunteer support along the course was great too. There was (in my experience) plenty of water and sports drink (Lucozade) along the route, nearly every mile. I did read the next day that some stations around miles 8-10, ran out of water for an hour. I was not affected by that shortage thankfully but it would have been tough in that heat and unrelenting sunshine. The race did take precautions and added extra shower stations to the course to help cool off runners.

Speaking of water, I thought it was strange when I read that London hands out bottles of water as opposed to cups. At first I thought that would be annoying and dangerous (trip hazard!) but I changed my mind after the first aid station. It was SO NICE to have a little sports top bottle of water to carry, drink from, and squirt over my head, face, neck, and arms. Most people were good about tossing empties off to the side too, so no real problem there. I made the most of those water bottles and carried the larger sports drink bottles for a long time making sure I stayed hydrated.

The London course itself was probably my favorite of the majors. You really get to see a ton of the city and surrounding areas, including Tower Bridge and the mall leading to Buckingham Palace. Just a beautiful and historic place to run and it was great soaking up the sights and support from the crowd. There were only a few little hills and otherwise a fairly flat course.

The finish was unreal. Tons of people and an amazing place to finish the event on a sunny day. The finish was a lot nicer than Tokyo, which was a bit anticlimactic. Here you received your medal right away, there were photographers ready to take finisher pics, and goodie bags with finisher T-shirts in them. Meet-up areas for family and friends were a short walk away. I didn’t check a gear bag so not sure how long it took to retrieve them but I didn’t see any lines of waiting people.

I was able to take a quick tube ride back to my hotel to clean up and then get out for some pub fare and a beer with my sis.

On another note, while I had a decent race and finished around 3:54, that was not the case for everyone. Medical teams were busy treating heat injuries and dehydration all day. The effects were evident as more and more people slowed to a walk. I understand and sympathize with this but runner etiquette of moving to the side and being aware of those around you was not common.

Swag was great all around. The runner bag at the end had a good finisher shirt, lentil chips, dried fruit, water, an apple, heat sheet (not needed that day!) and Lucozade in it. The medal is large and suitably stately.

Overall, London has moved up to my top spot as far as the majors go. The biggest negative to me is definitely the crowded field but hard to alleviate that with a major. Otherwise I really enjoyed the event and thought that the organization and support were top notch. Five stars!

This was my first international marathon and it was a doozy! I had been to Tokyo once before so I knew I liked the city and the culture, and I was excited to run my first international marathon at this particular WMM. It did not disappoint. Though giant city races are not my favorites at all, I do enjoy them from time to time. I view these iconic marathons as bucket-list races, and am happy to do them once and be done. Chicago, NYC, Boston, and now Tokyo, have all been fantastic for their own reasons.

It is a long trip to Japan but well worth it. Tokyo Marathon is probably the most well-thought-out and well-organized race I've ever done, and considering the size of the city and the logistics involved, it's impressive they pull it off so well. We stayed closer to the finish area near the Imperial Palace (a quick 5 minute train ride from Tokyo Station for us to get back to the hotel (Prince Gallery Hotel, it's luxurious but if you're an SPG member and can use points, it's soooo worth it). The subway and train system is superb and we purchased PASMO cards at the Narita Airport so taking the train everywhere was a breeze. We took the train to the expo on opening day (Thursday) and I was glad we did. There was already a line waiting to get in but everything moved quickly once they opened the doors. There's a lot of security associated with the race; as a foreigner, bring your passport to get your race number, then you get a wristband that gets scanned race morning and they take a photo of you with your number. You get your shirt and then follow the yellow path through the enormous expo. There was a ton of stuff to see and lots of swag. The assortment of official race shirts was astounding; I bought two nice marathon shirts and a pair of gloves, plus the race teddy bear and some bib magnets. I did hear that the expo on Saturday was insane, so if you can go on the first day or even the second, do!

Amongst all of your stuff from the expo will be a map with very useful start and finish area information including what gate you have to enter through. You also get a 24 hour metro pass. I was a "white bib" which showed I had elected not to check a bag and would get the cool Tokyo Marathon poncho upon finishing. This was the first year for the poncho, so not sure if they'll keep doing that or not. Jumping ahead, it was a very cold after finishing the race - walking through the chute toward the exit I received a nice navy blue fleece zip up jacket and then the race poncho on top of that, which helped enormously!! You also get a finisher towel and a few goodies to eat and drink. I absolutely am glad I didn't check a bag.

Jumping back to the race, it's you and 35,000 of your closest friends. Getting to Shinjuku from where we stayed was a cinch. Everyone else seems to like to stay in that district but I am happy with our choice to stay closer to the finish; it's quieter and not as crowded and busy as Shinjuku plus it's less than ten minutes by train. Once at Shinjuku station, we just followed the crowd out of the station to my numbered gate. They had volunteers with signs pointing you to the right area. Security to get in (especially without any baggage) was quick, not sure about later as I got there around 7:15am. They are strict on what you can bring with you (i.e. liquids) so check the handbook to make sure whatever you bring is allowed. I used the facilities then went to my corral (D...corrals go from A to L and are easy to find and enter). The race started right on time at 9:10am, I crossed the line maybe 3 minutes or so after the gun.

It's a big city race and the crowds are fantastic pretty much the whole way. There are several out and backs and never really any "quiet" areas. I saw the elite men run by on one out and back which was very cool. While it never thins out too much, I didn't find the race to be too overly bunched though I probably weaved and darted enough times that I added another .3 miles to my distance. Water and Pocari Sweat (the electrolyte drink offered) were fairly frequent though only on one side of the course so keep your eyes peeled. I loved that sports drink but did order some from Amazon before leaving for Japan to make sure it didn't cause any stomach issues. It's tasty! This race is amazingly clean too; volunteers were everywhere and cleaned up any cups or other garbage that missed the trash bins so you never felt like you were slipping around on wet cups or Gu packets.

The course itself is fine. The roads are great, no potholes or obstacles. It's a city course so not a lot in terms of scenery though the cityscapes are kind of cool and there are some iconic sights here and there. The crowds make up for any lack of actual scenery. Lots of costumes and other on-course entertainment.

The finish area was a little anti-climactic but it's also a new course and a new finish area, so maybe they'll improve that for next year. You walk a pretty good distance from the finish to the medals and ponchos, and even further for any baggage you might have checked. Again, it was frigid so I was happy to get that poncho!! The medal is very pretty and almost elegant in a way. It's not huge, but the ribbon is beautiful and its simple design is very Japanese. Tokyo Station is right there so my husband and I were able to meet up at our train and take the quick ride back towards our hotel, after making a stop for ramen at our favorite ramen house!!

I highly recommend Tokyo Marathon for anyone looking for a cool marathon, and international experience, or a tourist/marathon destination. Obviously it's one of the Majors already so if you're chasing those, it's already a must-do, but I really loved it and feel blessed to have gotten in through the lottery on my first try. Good luck to any and all who run it next year!

I finished my 50 States Marathon quest at the Maui Oceanfront Marathon and what a way to finish! Les makes this race fun from start to finish, starting from the day you register. Communication is frequent and quite humorous much of the time. Emails also come full of great info for anyone with a few days to spend on Maui, which is very helpful given the number of tours and things to do.

Packet pickup takes place in two locations over two days so it’s pretty convenient regardless of where you’re staying. We rented a VRBO house in Lahaina which was walking distance to everything on Front St/waterfront, including packet pickup.

There are shuttles Race morning but my husband drove my friend and me to the start. There’s also an early start option (the regular start is 5am to avoid the heat as much as possible). Before each wave there’s a Hawaiian blessing which is very cool. Fifty staters finishing their journeys all get bib #50 and line up across the front row for the start which is a nice touch. All total there’s probably around 400ish runners I think (wild guess).

The course itself is very pretty. We had a detour this year that ran along the beach on the hard packed sand for a couple of hundred yards; the RD planned ahead and advised runners to put baggies on their shoes. They had volunteers assisting at the beginning and end of this portion. It ended up being a nice detour by the water with tiki torches in the darkness.

There are some rolling hills in the middle section but then the course flattens out to the end in Lahaina. There is some shade along the way (after the sun comes up of course) but not a ton. Lots of aid stations though. We saw whales breaching along the way which was spectacular. I’d say the only downside to the race is the traffic along the highway. Runners use the shoulder and it’s a main thoroughfare with nonstop traffic coming toward you. I don’t know that anything could be done about this, I’m sure the city wouldn’t close that main road down for anything. In any other race it would have been a major negative. In Maui it was a minor bummer because of the scenery on the left!

MOM gives fifty state finishers a special medal in addition to the marathon medal which is a very nice touch.

All in all I really liked this race. I’m normally a 3:40-3:50 runner but ran with my friend at his pace, so we were out for a lot longer. I was worried about the heat initially but honestly the breeze made a huge difference and I never felt like it was that bad; I’ve certainly run in worse heat. I’d definitely recommend this race for fifty staters or anyone looking for a great race in Hawaii. Much better location than Oahu in my opinion. Make sure you do some snorkeling with Maui Snorkel Charters, do some whale watching, and take in the beautiful luau at Old Lahaina Luau grounds on Front St. Sunrise on Haleakalā is also amazing! Aloha!

Monumental Marathon was state number 49 for me. The weather forecast leading up to race day was a little disconcerting with initial thunderstorms predicted, which then became showers predicted, but thankfully on race morning, it was cool and overcast. Ideal running conditions!

Indianapolis is a pretty cool town and if you book your hotel in advance you don’t need a rental car downtown. I took an Uber from the airport to the convention center for packet pickup which was pretty painless (lots of vendors, good expo) and then walked the two blocks to my hotel. There are lots of restaurants and monuments (hence the race’s name) and it’s a fun place to explore. I’d advise you get dinner reservations in advance. My party of four had a table reserved at super casual Buca di Beppo for carbs and due to the marathon, convention, concerts, and a marching band competition, they weren’t taking walk ins. Phew!

Race morning is low stress because it starts at 8am and again, two blocks from my hotel to the start (and the finish). It’s well laid out and organized and we went off on time. There were waves assigned based on finish time but it was on your honor. My first complaint, and really my only complaint, is don’t make that optional. If you go to the trouble of assigning people to waves, then ensure they go to the correct wave. I felt like I was constantly weaving and dodging for two or three miles around walkers and much slower paced runners. I’m not knocking anyone who chooses to walk but if you do, line up closer to the back please.

The course itself is pretty typical for a city. We started in downtown and ran around downtown for about three miles then outside the city, into neighborhoods, past a college, down a highway, through a park, and eventually back downtown. The half runners split at around mile 7 which was nice as the crowd thinned out. It’s also fairly flat with just a few small hills, no monsters. There were a lot of segments where runners were in one lane and cars were in the others, which didn’t always bother me but in his day in age, it’d be nice if that could be avoided for safety and security reasons.

On-course support was fantastic. There were probably 20 aid station/water stops, lots of portajohns, plus a few Gu and candy opportunities. Crowds were pretty good too, with very enthusiastic supporters!

The medal was good. It was the last in a four year series so it had a notch taken out of the corner (if you ran all four, it would form the Indiana flag and the notch makes sense). I’m not a fan of series because I don’t run the same race over and over but I can see the incentive to get people to return. The shirt was nice though I think they gave me a men’s small so it’s a little big. There was also a knit cap which you got at the finish line. I like that they distinguished between distances for all the swag - half was red, full was blue, etc. There was a pretty nice finish line spread plus space blankets and chocolate milk. I was freezing after I stopped running so I didn’t linger, just walked back to my hotel.

All in all, I think this is a solid race. The weather turned out to be perfect, I had a lot of runner friends present, and it’s a fun city, so a good way to finish off the year until number fifty. I’d recommend it for sure.