Shizuoka Marathon 2026
Race Report 22: Seventh Official Marathon, Second Shizuoka Marathon.
Background
I ran the Shizuoka Marathon for the first time in 2025. If you read the race report I wrote about it you will know I was met with quite a few issues related to my shoes last year. I was hoping that I managed to resolve that this year but I’m not sure I got all of the kinks out of my plan.
Just to give you a bit of background on the race (and to not make you go and look at the previous report), here is the Shizuoka marathon course. It is a flat course with just under 100 meters of elevation.
There are 15 water stations on the course, 6 of which have food as well. There is also an oden aid station but I knew from experience that I would not stop there since it is off the course at the 25 km point and would definitely be a time sink.
Before this marathon I made sure to “get some things right” that I did “wrong” last time. I bought a new set of shoes (same ones I completed my 100 miler in) and completed a few 5K races in them (setting a PB). I also bought some new gels and practiced with them (no stomach issues). One concern I had was that I was about 3-4 kg heavier than last year (I’ve been working out), but otherwise I felt pretty optimized for the race.
静岡マラソン (Shizuoka Marathon): 8 March 2026
Like last year I woke up at 4:00 to get over to Shizuoka. The first train was at 5:18 and the Shinkansen from Odawara was at 6:17. I went to bed at 20:00 the previous evening so I was well rested and ready to go. Exactly the same as last year except I didn’t have a reservation for the Shinkansen and needed to stand for that 20 minute segment of the journey.
I walked over to Sunpu Castle and everything was ok in terms of the queue for the restrooms etc. I didn’t drink any coffee on that day and didn’t feel any restroom related discomfort around the beginning of the race.
I got to the starting block as planned and when I looked over the crowd I was able to see the 3:00 pacer ahead of me. I wanted to try and keep the pacer in my sight for as long as I could but I knew they would have a head start on me.
The opening ceremony went ahead and by 8:20 we were off.
There were so many people at the start that it was not comfortable to move forward. Normally that’s expected at the beginning of a marathon but this one felt a bit oppressive because of the sheer number of fast runners. This gave me a chance to ease into going faster but I was not out as quick as I would have liked to have been. Being in the A block would have been perfect but B had me fighting my way for the first while.
The first 10K of the race went well. I picked up drinks at every water station and managed to get to the 10 km mark in record time…but only just. The water station was right before the 10K mark and I ended up losing a bit of time trying to pick up a drink. I managed to get through that section fine though with an average speed of 4:10/km. It was at this point that I had my first gel. So far so good.
On the next stretch of the race I found the 3:00 pacer and observed that I was still running comfortably at 4:10/km. I felt like if I kept my pace going at that rate I would have no problem but I also did what I could to accelerate and try to chase down that pacer. During one of those turns I noticed that the pacer was wearing a hat which made him look like a monkey. So playing in my head over and over again was, “chase down the monkey.”
I saw some of my friends in the loop leading up to the 15K turnaround point, which gave me a boost, but right at that corner before heading to the river I took a very quick restroom break since the toilets were free and right next to the course. I put in some extra effort right after that point and saw the monkey pacer ahead.
Running down that river segment is one of my favorite parts of this course. It is a little narrow but very scenic. You also run over quite a nice bridge at the 18 km point, which brought fond memories back of the previous year.
I blew through the 20 km point, had my second gel while charging past a taiko group, then after hitting the halfway point I felt like things were starting to go a little wrong. I had a numbness starting to bother me on my right foot. I could deal with it at the time but it’s not something I’d felt before. It was only impacting my right foot but it may have started wearing down my running form from that point onwards.
There’s a bit of climbing going in the loop at the south side of the course and then it comes to a straight line for the next 10 km of the run. My foot was holding up until roughly the 30 km point but then I started to break down a bit. I had my third gel but stopped to stretch as I had it. I occasionally needed to stop here and there to stretch my toes back because of the feeling of both numbness and pain on my right foot. Not ideal, especially when I thought I’d properly prepared.
Last year I stopped at some of the aid stations along the coast to eat/drink something and based on the way things were going (me needing to stop and stretch every so often), I decided to combine the slow parts with visiting those aid stations again. At one of the aid stations a bunch of kids (junior high school/high school) were shouting at me to get strawberries. I stopped, grabbed a cup of strawberries, shouted, “LET’S GO ICHIGO!,” ate the strawberries, then grabbed another cup as I started jogging again. That got a great reaction.
I was planning to have my next gel at 35 km but I took it just before the 34 km point to get it out of the way and hope the caffeine would push me through. Right after taking that gel a guy in front of me fell and did a sort of half roll. I grabbed him by the hand and hoisted him up using a karate technique I use during paired drills and we both managed to get moving again with almost no time loss.
I ran around the curve at just before 35 km, planning to slow down for a bit just after that point, but there were a couple of friends of mine there cheering me on so I decided against stretching there and powered on to the next aid station at 36K.
While stopping at that aid station the guy I helped caught up to me, tapped me on the back as he went past and thanked me for helping him out. Once I started up again I passed him saying, “頑張りましょう! (ganbarimashō : let’s do our best)” as I ran by him. I think we were both suffering a lot at that point but it was very good to see him moving again at a good pace even after a fall.
The last section has some really great support from the crowds in Shimizu City. I still needed to slow down every so often as I ran along but I made sure to not stop dead. When I needed to slow I’d do so by walking for 100 meters and then start running again at my regular pace. My pace at that point was still around 4:40/km even despite the pain in my foot so I was still going strong.
Once I hit the 40 km mark I was doing my best to keep going without stopping at all. I was considering stopping again to stretch but leading up to that point I realized I would be able to finish in a decent time as long as I kept up the pace. Since I wouldn’t be able to get a sub-3 hour marathon this time I was just aiming for a PB, but that plan changed when I realized a sub-3:10 would still be possible.
The last area of the course has you doing a few twists and turns around Shimizu City. There was a taiko group playing drums in the last kilometer but I still couldn’t see the finish line. I ended up turning one more corner, seeing the finish, then trying to speed up as much as I could before the finish.
Some friends of mine were at the end and even managed to get a video at the finish. Epic!
After the race
After the race I limped over to pick up my medal, finisher towel, and other participation goodies (a bottle of tea, an orange, and some snacks). Just like last year. The atmosphere is always amazing at the finish line.
I made sure not to accidentally step on the orange I received this year. This was made easier by the fact that it was a pretty warm day so I just went to pick up my belongings and finisher t-shirt then chill out on the street for a while.
I ended up meeting some friends of mine right after the race. There was a tent giving out venison meatball soup to the runners so I enjoyed a chat with my friends over a very welcome bowl of soup.
Race results
Very similar to last year, I crushed most of my previous personal bests.
The official race certificate had my net time at 3:07:39 (with the record time of 3:08:54). My previous PB was last year’s Shizuoka Marathon, which was 3:15:43, meaning I officially improved my time by 8 minutes 4 seconds (according to race records).
Also, here is this year’s finisher medal:
Final thoughts
This year was a massive improvement on last year. I didn’t hit my ultimate goal of a sub-3 marathon, but I am getting closer. If I am able to make the same improvement at my next marathon I will be well under 3 hours.
I thought I had everything dialed in on this one. The gels I used worked well, and my physical condition was generally good, but my shoes (once again) ended up causing an issue, despite the fact that they were shoes I thought I could trust. Was it that they weren’t broken in enough? Who knows? But next time I’ll probably use a different set of shoes after a consultation with staff and make sure they are properly broken in before the race. (My right foot has two quite nasty blisters on it from the run).
I took a look at my pace chart from this race. Definitely an improvement on the last Shizuoka marathon, but I’m still not quite there. That last hour just wasn’t up to standard. But I did clearly have a strong finish. There was plenty of fuel in the tank aerobically, but my legs/feet just weren’t playing when going so fast for so long.
When I think about most of my training, it is very focused on just building running volume so I can run for a really long time. Getting a sub-3 marathon is likely to need some more focused high aerobic training over long distances and with shoes that are comfortable enough to get the job done. Each time I do one of these it’s a learning experience.
Marathon season is now over for me. My next two races are ultras so I’ll need to be training specifically for those. The next one is a trial so I’ll be spending a lot of time trail running moving forward. I’ll also need to consider which marathon to enter in Autumn/Winter and prepare to train specifically for that.
Let’s do this.
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Cover photo:
