7 Days to Tokyo Marathon

On Wednesday (2/24) we depart for Tokyo with the marathon set for Sunday (2/28). It has been a long, cold winter of training and I am looking forward to running in the more temperate weather predicted for Japan. My goal is to finish the event in good health in 5 hours or less. How much less will depend on the weather and, like any athletic competition, what I bring to the party that morning. If I am able to build on my 11:30 training pace, a time between 4:30 and 5:00 is possible. But 26.2 miles (42.1 kilo) is a long way and many factors can impact my performance.

For those who are around next Saturday evening or can't sleep, you can visit the Tokyo Marathon web site and check my 5K splits. The starting time of 9:10AM Sunday Tokyo time means a 7:10PM Saturday time on the USA east coast.