Not only did Dan have his second-ever marathon this past weekend, he KILLED it! The only one he’d done prior to this weekend was the Walt Disney World marathon, as part of Goofy’s Race and a Half Challenge. His disadvantages were the merciless heat and humidity, and the fact that he’d run a half marathon the day before!
First off, I should add that as much as I love running races, I really love cheering at them too! The night before the race I used my Cricut to make Dan a sign. Penny helped:
We took the trains from Tokyo to Ibaraki. It was the inaugural Koga Hanamomo Marathon, so that was exciting. We got to the race site and checked in with registration, then Dan got his bib on.
Ready to go and representing in a Team Sparkle skirt!
Things moved pretty quick pre-race. Once he got his bib he made his way to the corral to stretch
It was only a few minutes then that he was off! I wished him luck and told him I’d find him out on the course!
I took a gander at my all-Japanese race map and started to worry about finding him. The further you get from major cities in Japan, the less English you come across. I took my backpack, his backpack, and my hand made sign, and hit the road to find another part of the course to cheer for him at.
So many runners!
There was going to be a big clover, where he would run up and down 3 of 4 streets of a single intersection. Perfect! But after 25 minutes of walking I realized I wasn’t even halfway there, and that this map didn’t exactly depict distance too well. I headed up to the next main road where I saw part of the race. According to my map it was the 10k mark. I checked on Endomondo (gotta love technology these days!) and saw he was at the 8.5k mark. Perfect! For maybe 10 minutes I cheered other runners, then, after much worrying I’d miss him, I saw Dan!
I didn’t get many photos of him, because I wanted most the time to be spent entertaining him and taking his mind off the race!
I “pep talked” him on Endomondo, which is a way to communicate w runners while they’re on the move, and told him I’d be on the right-hand side of the course. I snapped a couple photos and then grabbed my sign and started jumping up and down like a crazy lady. He got so happy when he saw me, I was so pumped!
The moment was over all too fast and I had to strategize where to go next. I decided to try to head to the big clover of the route, but after 15 more minutes of walking realized I wouldn’t beat him to the finish line.
I made my way back to the start, which was also the finish, and found a place on the bleachers to sit. I entertained myself w my phone and iPad mini, and it wasn’t long til the announcer informed us the winner was on his way!
Seeing him cross the finish was ridiculously inspiring!
Slowly more runners trickled in. Some were dressed pretty crazy!
The time passed pretty quick, and after not too long Endomondo said Dan was about 2 miles out from the finish. I got up and hauled my stuff out of the finish area. It was quite the tease of a trail: Runners first rounded the running stadium, then entered and completed a lap on the track. That would drive me crazy!
I tried to get a picture of him here, but no luck! He was nothing but a blur! But I held up my sign again and he smiled. He tossed his Spibelt to me and kept going.
I then hurried into the track so I could catch him again but he didn’t see me. So I put the sign away and tried to get a picture of him crossing the finish: FAIL! Too many runners came in and stopped, so my view was blocked. There were some professional photogs though, so maybe we’ll see what they got.
Getting his medal
Hanamomo means peach flowers. His medal!
He stretched and told me all about it. I was a little jealous, as I was also signed up to run this beast, but the ankle let me down. I was so happy for him though. And the amazing part: He shaved 70 minutes off his PR! Awesome!
Our running club isn’t a race, but we do call the first couple runners in the “front running bastards”. Today Dan was totally FRB, no matter his time. I like to say no matter what he does in life, he’s an FRB 😉
FRB … I love that! Haha.
Congrats to Dan for shaving off 70 minutes (!!!!) off his PR. Awesome!
Fantastic! 70 minutes, Wow! That other marathon at WDW must have been a killer!
Actually, tho, it gives me hope. I’m planning on running my first marathon during the WDW Marathon weekend as part of the Dopey Challenge, which includes the Goofy Challenge.
Sorry about your ankle, hope it’s better soon!
Rick
You’re awesome Rick! Were you at marathon weekend this past January? We were there and Dan rocked Goofy! Me, not so much! I hope to blog about my experience one of these days, since it’s when I tore my achilles. All I can say is train train train! Back to back distance runs are key!!! You’ll be great!
Awesome job Dan! He kicked butt. I can’t help but notice there appears to be a small female child running the marathon in one of the pictues. Was there a half too?
There was a 2k kids run, 10k and marathon, all on different courses. That chick is actually a really short woman (do we still say little people?), totally rocking the marathon!
70 minutes! Amazing! You will be up and crushing PRs in no time too 🙂
Yay! Dan looks great and BIG congrats!! 😀
Hi Laurel, My name is Mario and I came accross your post while searching for info on the Koga Hamamomo 2014 marathon. My friend and I are traveling to Japan in March and we signed up for this marathon but we don’t have much info about it…do you have any tips for this race? Do you remember what time it started and from the blog post it looks like you pick up the BIB the day of the race? Any helps is appreciated. Thanks!
Hey Mario! Great choice for a marathon! Nice, flat and during the cool part of the year. The trains from Tokyo will be full so be prepared to be on your feet for a while before the race, and likely after since everyone will try to go home around the same time. Races in Japan often start later than in the States since we all rely on public transportation, so I think it started at 10am, but I can double check if you’d like! Bib pickup was the day of the race. If you have any more questions email me! laurelmoffitt [at] gmail [dot] com 🙂