Race Report by Nils Krichel
A Thursday morning last September. Two days before running the Highland Fling and, with that, my fifth and final Ultra for 2025. It’s been a really strong running year for me – Comrades being the absolute highlight – and I was looking forward to a quieter Winter break, maybe a bit of cross country, and leisurely figuring out running plans for 2026.
Except that on that Thursday, instead of the usual rejection email from the Tokyo Marathon ballot, I got an entry!! Some cynics say that the easiest way to get into Tokyo Marathon – besides charity and tour spaces – is to move to Japan for a couple of years. So, despite a severe lack of remaining holiday allowance, I simply had to let that fateful email upend my plans of a lazy Winter.
I got a bit distracted by Ultra running over the last two years, so Tokyo would only be my third road marathon. After a surprisingly strong debut at Manchester in 2023, and an injury-plagued and notoriously hilly Loch Ness 2024, I reckoned I should take this one seriously and see if endless slow mileage over the last years would translate into a good base for a strong training block. I decided to try something slightly different this time, and after some research went with one of Jack Daniels’ 2Q plans. Instead of the usual two structured speed/tempo/hill/interval sessions plus a separate long run per week that most plans prescribe, this one is based around two weekly, gruelling “Quality” sessions a few days apart, typically just over two hours long each and containing lots of tough mileage on tired legs. The rest of the week can be filled with easy runs to make up mileage targets. There’s a lot of photos of suffering elite runners in that book alongside charts and graphs that explain in detail how they are suffering, and why that level of suffering is needed to become marginally faster. I really should have taken this as a warning sign…
Tokyo Marathon is early enough in the year that my training block had to start in late October. By the time most folk start their Spring marathon training, I was already fighting my way through the usual niggling injuries that come with lots of hard tarmac mileage. There’s not too many options for fast tune-up races in the depth of Winter, but an almost-PB at Tilli 10k just after Christmas did bode well. After a total of 18 weeks and 1600k/1000mi of prep I got on the plane mostly ready, very worried, and with a bout of plantar fasciitis that I chose to ignore for just a little bit too long. At least I managed to avoid a last-minute lurgy!
The two flights to Tokyo were long but uneventful, connecting through Qatar (queue ominous, foreboding music). Nine hours time difference and a day in the air mean that, no matter what you try, you will find yourself in a bit of a state at the other end. I have spent a fair amount of time pre-planning the trip in some detail and was really rather glad about that – particularly as I had not much time to waste once I was there. Arriving on Friday night, I would have to get myself to the Expo on Saturday, ideally fit in a shakeout run somewhere, load up on carbs, and catch a few hours’ sleep before running a marathon on Sunday morning. No pressure then!
After a sleepless first night, I successfully got myself to the Expo at the other end of Tokyo, expecting to stand in very long queues for most of the day. Japan loves a queue, and with the previous two expo days being very busy, I was primed for the worst, only to be positively surprised. After quickly picking up my number and various bits of pre-ordered merch (an option that was new for this year, avoiding throngs of runners fighting for out-of-stock items), I spent a bit of time wandering about the exhibitors to let it all start to settle in.
The carb loading bit is fairly trivial in Japan, with ubiquitous konbini stores on every block offering a wide range of onigiri and other rice-based products, and every sweet snack and sugary drink imaginable. Just to be on the safe side, for dinner I still went for pasta and pizza to cover all bits of the runner’s food pyramid.
And with that, it was already time for a semi-restful second night, and a fairly civilised 6am start to race day! My hotel in Shinjuku was a 20 minute walk from the start, so I had plenty of time to wake up, get sorted and work my way through some breakfast porridge. By this time, the situation in the Middle East had escalated badly enough that it was clear that this would scupper my return plans. Between spoonfuls of instant porridge, I managed to book a different flight back to Edinburgh via Beijing before prices started to skyrocket. One thing less to worry about during the race, and an impressive bit of multitasking ticked off!
The start area was very well organised, with no queues at the security checks or bag drops. Toilet/urinal queues were fortunately very reasonable – Tokyo is notorious for kilometer-long diversions should one need a pit stop on the course itself, so this is best avoided!
Unlike most large marathons, Tokyo lines up all 39,000 runners by starting pen and then sends them on their way in one big mass start, rather than having starting times for different waves. I was reasonably far forward in the lineup, and crossed the start line four minutes behind the elites. The first kilometer or two were fairly congested, and getting into a rhythm and finding my target pace took a while. I got overtaken by a fellow runner I had a chat with in my starting pen and we assured each other that we were looking strong so far. Good omens then!
I should mention the weather at this point, particularly as the forecast variably predicted snow, rain, heavy wind, and blazing sunshine for race Sunday. In the end, we got the latter, with a chilly start to the day that very quickly heated up to 17 degrees with cloudless sunshine. This added to the course congestion, as most runners squeezed themselves into the shade provided by the tall buildings along the course.
The route is very flat and covers a fair bit of Tokyo, starting in Shinjuku in the West, passing a good number of landmarks including Kaminarimon gate, Tokyo Skytree, and Tokyo Tower, and finishing up close to the Imperial Palace. There are a few 180 degree switchbacks which aren’t great for PB ambitions, but they do mean that you get to see the elites passing at a ridiculous pace!
Having put a fair amount of work into my training, my targets for the day were fairly ambitious – my C-goal was a new PB! After recovering from the chaotic initial bit, the first half of my race went fairly well to plan, leaving me reasonably fresh. Still, by that point I was about a minute behind my A-goal and didn’t feel I had enough steam to speed up substantially, particularly with the temperatures notably on the rise. Keeping my pace so far though felt achievable, and that’s what I stuck with until about 35k/21 miles in.
That’s where the last out-and-back started. Unfortunately, this one runs North-to-South and back, with no shadow to be had. The runners ahead of me on their way back all looked a lot worse for wear, and the number of walkers and cramp victims picked up substantially. Grinding through this bit, I lost a bit more time but overall finished relatively unscathed in 3:18:25, more than six minutes faster than my previous Manchester PB and well within my B-goal of sub 3:20. I was well chuffed with that!
Picking up my shiny medal, a fleecy cape, and assorted bath salts and other goodies then had me dragging my tired legs to the baggage pickup about a mile from the finish. After an uneventful subway trip back to the hotel, a celebratory ice cream and beer, and a quick nap, I felt surprisingly good and even managed to wander out later on for some dinner.
Having only four nights left before my flight back home curtailed my touristic mission somewhat, but taking the train to Hakone and spending a night in a traditional ryokan, soaking sore muscles in a hot volcanic spring onsen, and having an amazing, elaborate dinner that evening is very warmly recommended! Over the next days, I got the full spectrum of weather that was on the forecast, but still managed to tick off some of the sights, and even got the obligatory snap of Mt Fuji, from the top of Tokyo Skytree!
With my rebooked flights, the journey back via China was embarrassingly eventless. A couple of days either way, and I might have found myself sheltering in place in Doha instead.
As it was, this was an amazing trip that will take a while to unpack. Given the jet lag, the short turnaround time, the heat on race day, and the switchbacks and congestion, maybe there is potential for more, but don’t let that hold you back – there absolutely is a PB to be had in Tokyo, and a fantastic trip to suit!! Keep applying to that ballot, it’s an opportunity not to be missed.