The Tokyo Marathon is my top Abbott Major and probably my top big city marathon. It helped that the Hyatt Regency was right at the start line and the start time was 0910. So I got to wake up and have a leisurely breakfast, stretch and stay inside the warm room until almost 0800. 
It was supposedly 35 degrees out but with the sunshine it didn’t feel too bad. I met a couple of nice ladies from the UK at the start and we passed the hour we were stuck in the K corral. Mom took a picture of this no warming up sign - Japan has a lot of rules!
The second great thing about the Tokyo Marathon was that despite being in the next to last corral we crossed the start line only 22 minutes after the first runners started. 
Mom could see the runners from our hotel room.
They did have cut off times but it was almost a good thing because I focused on those rather than the fact that I had to run 26.2 miles. Also I enjoyed the km markings in the beginning because it felt like we were accomplishing things more quickly. Towards the end it was not so great to think you had 10K left vs. 6.2 miles.
I didn’t take any photos in the beginning because there was the fear of missing the cut off times. But later on like when we passed the Sensoji Temple or the Tokyo Tower I did stop and get a photo. 
We ran past the Tokyo SkyTree and also the Asahi Beer Headquarters with the golden flame. Due to worry of earthquakes the flame was required to be on its side. Locals now refer to it as "the golden turd" and the "poo building". 
The water stops were also unique in that you were assigned a number and that was the water station you were to go to. What a great way to keep it organized. The crowd was sometimes very interesting.
There weren't too many in costumes as I think the race generally kind of discouraged it but this guy was running as Mahomes.
The finish was also flawless. It didn’t seem crowded, I knew right where to go and if I didn’t there were a ton of volunteers to help. After a few photos and putting on my towel blanket sweater I was sitting on the transport back to the hotel. My finishing time was 5:5:45.
The bus left almost immediately after I got on and was back near our hotel in about 30 minutes. I didn’t have any issues with the walk back to the hotel and even stopped in the 7-11 for some more fried rice.
From 6-8 there was a celebration party back at the Hilton Hotel and we met Will and Tawnecia there. We had a nice drink and snacks with them before calling it a night to get ready for the snow monkeys tomorrow!
This featured blog entry was written by ErinDriver from the blog Making It Count.
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