Sunday, January 24, 2016

Kyoto Marathon 2016 - 1 Month to Go

A month to go.

In about a month, I will be in Kyoto, Japan, pounding away at the pavement for 42km. Am I ready? Honestly I have no idea how can one be ready for a marathon. There will be always be the 'what if's, 'I should have's and 'could have'.

But throughout my preparation for the race, I realised one thing. I never regretted any of my runs - long, short, fast slow runs. I never said 'I regretted pulling on my shoes and running that 5km." Heck I dare say...I might even be starting to enjoy the run.

Gasp! The me a year ago would have balked in horror at the idea of me liking the monotonic, repetitive movements, the tiring yet slow progress of putting one foot in front of the other with no end destination in sight.
source: The Oatmeal
Well, joining a marathon quickly changes all that. I have a goal now. I have milestones to hit at each passing km. I have a pace to monitor. I need to think how to converse my body's energy when my mind is just begging for me to end it with one quick burst. Patience is a virtue and in a long endurance run, it can be rewarding.

I am really starting to look forward to Kyoto Marathon. I can't wait to start in the stadium with 16,000 other runners and to flag off with them. I can't wait to tackle the scenic city of Kyoto by foot and to soak in the atmosphere of the crowd cheering us on at ever turning and road. I can't wait to go back to Osaka and Kyoto where I can load up on ramen and sushi for this race. I just can't wait.

And the best part is...I think I might not stop running after this. I'll join another marathon and another and another because the journey in its ups and downs is just thrilling.

Oh, by the way the Kyoto marathon organisers dropped us an email with the race information and details and it's a heck of a lot of details. I just love how organised Japan is! I've even gotten my bib number and am starting in Block J. The second last block. Okay, not too bad. Hopefully it won't take 30 mins to hit the start line but it's Japan. In Japan I trust their organising skills.


To date, I have done 25km run. I am going to slot in two more long runs before tapering in the two weeks leading up to race.

Any readers running the Kyoto marathon 2016 or have run one? Tell me about by leaving it in the comments section or drop me an email!

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