The Good, the Bad and the, I won’t call it Ugly, but a bit disappointing.
The Lead Up
Toward the end of 2025 we had a busy period with Melbourne Marathon leading into the Marine Corp Marathon in Washington DC, followed a week later by New York Marathon and a week later again by the Rocky Run in Philadelphia which totaled 21 km over two events (5 km and 10 miles (16 km)).
All of these went really well with the quickest marathon being the last one in New York and the most successful in terms of placing being the final one in Philly where I won my Age Group in the 5, the 10 mile and overall.
The body held up well and I planned a break before getting back into a twelve week block just after Christmas to prepare for the Tokyo Marathon in 2026. I had secured a spot in Tokyo in a ballot attached to running a series of virtual half marathons and it would be finishing the second round of the six major marathons.
The build up went without a hitch right up to the point where I only had a couple of long runs and maybe two long mileage weeks left to complete when something popped in my left hamstring. I went from running freely to barely able to run at all. Seven weeks out from the Marathon.
I gave it a week as at my age having something hurt is not a new experience and often times they go away by themselves or something new arises. Didn’t happen, so off to Physiotherapist Dan for a bit of massage torture and exercises to strengthen the pesky muscle. With three weeks to go I could run slowly and not very far. With one week to go we all concurred that a conservative run was possible but any over excitement would probably lead to a DNF.
Marathon
We flew Qantas (Equivalent to Jetstar but you pay upfront for food and drinks) to Tokyo on the Thursday before the Marathon which gave us a chance to look at the expo and work out the train system to get to the start as well as work out how to get to the Shinkansen (fast train) on Monday, so nice and relaxed. I had a little shakeout run around the Imperial Palace where I met a runner from the Netherlands and we had a chat about Marathons and life over 8 km around the palace. This is why we run.
Sunday Morning. There is always some angst about getting to the start of a major marathon. The sheer numbers of people moving toward the start area and the doubt about being in the right corral or near the toilets and etc always play on my mind the night before a marathon. It generally leads to a poor nights sleep and being up and going well before necessary. In the case of Tokyo the help of an army of volunteers makes getting to the start really easy. Getting off the subway in Shinjuku you are met by volunteers holding signs indicating the corral and the direction.
All good. Been to the toilet, weather good. 35,000 people waiting. Cannon goes off, confetti blasts eventual slow movement and then away. 2 km in and need a wee. It’ll pass. No it won’t. I remind myself that there is no time pressure on this one so I could pause at the toilets on course and make myself more comfortable. Much relief. Settle into stride.
10 km down, running comfortably. 15 km down in my happy place. Comfortable running and lots and lots of people around. Tokyo is a pretty flat course so no worries about hill climbing or sharp downhills that might challenge the hamstring. Through 21 km in around 1:45 and still running freely. I just know that somewhere up here is the big bear that will jump on me to remind me that we hadn’t done the kilometres in training. I was just hoping to get far enough along that when it happens it’s not too far to the finish.
Through 25 km, through 30 km. Starting to feel the challenge building. At somewhere between 33 and 34 km as we headed toward the Imperial Palace the wheels fell off. It became difficult and then painful and then it just hurt. A lot. The last 3 km were a jog, a shuffle and a little walk but I did know what I had let myself in for so I never really expected anything else. Up the last little street over the final 800 metres I managed a bit of a run. The last turn and into the finish chute. Over the line in 3:38. If I’d been offered that at the start I would have taken that gladly and gone home to bed. Finished about 7250 out of 35000 so around 20 %. Good result under the circumstances. That was the good.
Post Marathon
By the time we finished the day was starting to warm up. I was a bit dehydrated and feeling a bit nauseous. Waiting in line to pick up the six star medal was airless and close with lots of runners in line. I bolted from the line and brought up the water, pocari sweat and the gel imbibed over the last kilometres into a garden bed. I only mention this to add the Imperial Palace to the list of notable places where this has occurred including the Grand Canal in Venice and Central Park in New York. It’s not common but enough that I know I’ll feel better afterwards.
Walking back to the family meeting area took quite a while. It is a distance away on very sore legs but we got there, picked up clothing and support staff (Anne) and walked back to the hotel. Usually this gives the legs a chance to recover without load and helps in recovery but I was just as sore back at the hotel as at the finish. That then was the bad.
After Marathon
After a shower and a nap we headed out for Japanese beer and chips. Recovery food.
The next morning we were to catch the shinkansen (fast train) to Hakata from Tokyo. There was discussion the night before as to whether we would walk to the station, catch the subway one stop or catch a taxi. This was solved in the morning when I woke up and limped down to breakfast. Taxi it was.
I couldn’t put weight on my right foot. I thought it was probably muscle overload and would come good. We travelled to Hakata which is the railway station for Fukoshima had a walk (limp) around town and found the Kushida Shrine and then the tempura restaurant both on the itinerary put together for us by Kyushu Journeys. The tempura restaurant is an interesting concept in that we select the dishes that we want from a push button display and pay for them, it prints out a ticket and then you wait in line for a position to become vacant at the bar. All of the tempura is batched so a batch of prawns is cooked and distributed to those whose tickets specify it and then a batch of eggplant is cooked and so on until all of the items on the ticket are satisfied. Fun to watch, very efficient and very fresh. You don’t get to hang around however as there is always someone waiting for the stool.
Next morning it was back on the train and down to Kagoshima. This is a very interesting city on the water but over the strait is a large volcano. It wasn’t rumbling while we were there but had repeated ash plumes back in 2025. We used the tourist bus around the city and visited the park above the city and the gardens and home of one of the early governors. Really pretty Japanese gardens, all with volcano in the background. Then on to Kumamoto and the castle that is being restored as a civic attraction. There is a lot of information on how the restoration was done to make the tower safe from earthquakes and as a focal point for tourism to the city. There is a lot of scaffolding around the site, and it will be even more amazing in a couple of years. The problem appears to be that they are playing catch up after an earthquake back in 2016 and if another happens in the future whether that will put the restoration on hold while repairs are done again.
Another day, another fast train. Next stop Nagasaki to see the Peace park and look at the information about the atomic bomb that was dropped on the city in 1945. It puts it in perspective when a world leader says that we can cause “damage never seen before” when you look at the damage that has been done before here and in Hiroshima. The death toll, the agony of radiation burns and the long term health effects, let alone the property damage to the city are cause enough to never, ever think about the use of nuclear weapons ever again. We spent the overnight in a Japanese onsen, a kind of local bath house hotel with a set dinner menu that we didn’t understand and the staff who didn’t speak English couldn’t explain. We adopted the try everything and eat what suits your own palate approach and had a lovely meal. Unfortunately, we couldn’t go for a post meal walk as it was pouring rain.
Leaving the Onsen we travelled back through Fukoshima and on to Osaka. The idea was to complete part of the trip back to Tokyo and not leave too long a trip on our last day to get to the airport. Friday night in Osaka was interesting as people get out into the night district and let their hair down. We didn’t stay out too late having to get back to Narita the next day. We had a bit of a walk in the morning and visited the Osaka Sky Tower, a very tall building with views of Osaka from a very long way up. It was a good way to complete our travels and then time to get onto the train back to Tokyo.
After an uneventful trip back to Tokyo we then found that all seats on the Narita Express train are pre-booked and require an additional ticket. Even though Anne had a Japan Rail pass it still required an additional ticket for the seat and I needed to purchase mine. Took about an hour of working out and then we made it out to the airport a little closer to departure time than comfortable but safe.
Overnight flight in Economy Qantas, so no sleep and back to Melbourne.
Post Trip
After a couple of days of catching up with sleep and around the house jobs I still couldn’t put any weight on my right foot. A trip to the GP didn’t shine any light on the problem. Her suggestion was time. Not much help with Canberra Marathon five weeks after Tokyo. Can’t run, any attempt just leaves pain in the heel behind the ankle. With three weeks to go we decided that Canberra is not an option this year and we’ll focus further out to Akaroa in May. The Physio suggested that the calf muscle that runs behind the ankle and stabilizes the foot may have overloaded and has given me some exercises and taped the foot. It is coming good so skip Canberra and hope for the best. C’est la vie.
And that was Japan 2026.