Shonan International Marathon (2023)
Race report 5
This year (2023) was my second year to run the Shonan International Marathon. The details of the course are exactly the same as last time so if you would like details about the marathon itself I recommend checking out my first report, which can be found here.
Like last year, the Shonan International Marathon did not pass out paper cups at aid stations. You need to bring along water bottles/cups to refill at the water stations set up every 200 meters. This adds an additional challenge to the marathon so rather than aiming to break an overall personal best (I ran the Yokohama Marathon in 3:21:58 on October 29th), I aimed to beat my previous Shonan time of 3:33:38. And as always, finish with a smile (笑顔で完走 : Egao de kansou).
The taper
In November I kept up my running volume until about a week before the race. I passed the 300 km point on November 25th and decided to just focus on walking and active recovery until the race. Unfortunately, I caught a cold during my taper week and was taking some over the counter cold remedies right up to the race. This wasn’t ideal but I went in with the attitude that I’d complete the race even if I needed to walk it.
18th Shonan International Marathon (3 December 2023)
Race morning
I got up early and took the train from Tsujido station just like last year. I got on a different train car so when I got off the train I was right in front of the escalator in Oiso station, which made getting off the train and getting to the bus very simple.
It was very cold (3°C), but the forecast predicted it would get up to 15°C later, so I wasn’t too worried about the temperature later in the day. I arrived at the A block before 8:30 and started a bit behind the very front of the pack. This is the furthest ahead in the field I’ve ever been in a race. Last year I was in the C block and I wanted to start a bit further forward so I didn’t need to weave around so many people. This was already a good start.
I met a couple of friends in the starting area. One of my friends was aiming to run his first sub-3 hour marathon and planned to run with the sub-3 pacer group if he could find them. I started looking for a slower pacer group but ended up not being able to locate them right at the start.
I was very close to the start line and after the usual greetings and speeches we all set off at 9am as planned. I crossed the sensor at the start line before the clock went to 9:01 so this time the actual time worked well as a backup (more on that later).
The first section of the race went pretty much as expected in terms of my physical condition. I was running reasonably well despite my cold symptoms and was feeling pretty good. As I was running I saw quite a few friends of mine cheering everyone on at the side of the road, including one friend dressed as Spiderman. Seeing friends like that always gives me a boost.
This marathon is basically a straight line down to the first turnaround point at around 18 km. I didn’t stop at all during this run and didn’t fill up my water. I had taken a few sips of water from my bottles as I ran along and tried to pick up some packs of raisins from the aid stations as I ran. The raisins were very difficult to eat but they did their job.
Just after the turnaround point I picked up an energy gel and started heading back towards Oiso. I was still running relatively well but I started to slow down a little bit. My cold was finally starting to catch up with me.
At about the 27 km point my watch started to fail. I’ve never had any problems with my watch before but it at this point the display started looking like it was trying to download something and kept resetting over and over again. I ended up slowing down even more here to try to troubleshoot my watch on the go. It kept starting and stopping but I eventually decided to just ignore it and sort it out later. What an absolute nightmare.
This incident with my watch, plus my cold, plus the distance I’d accumulated had me feeling like garbage at this point. I was originally relying on my watch to figure out how fast I needed to go to break 3:30, but now I didn’t have any data to work with. When I crossed the 30 km point there was a clock and based on that time (and the knowledge that I knew I started at 9am sharp), I thought that if I kept going I’d probably have enough time to finish and beat my previous year’s time.
By this point of the race I started seeing an increasing number of runners either walking, standing at the side, or sprawled out on the road waiting for first aid to arrive. I felt like I was doing ok because I hadn’t actually stopped yet, but my willpower was starting to break down as I started getting to a section with hills.
I ended up stopping at the top of one of the hills where a water station had been set up. I asked the volunteer if they had any sports drink and realized I was slurring my words pretty badly. I filled my cup, drank the entire thing in one go, then filled it up again deciding to walk towards my goal while drinking. By the time I finished the second cup I got my second wind and I was ready to run again.
One cruel design of the course is that when you get to the point that you can see the finish line there is still about 6 or 7 kilometers to go. To my right was the finish line that was still out of reach, to my left was a beautiful view of the sea, and in front of me was a road being battered by strong winds on the way to the final turnaround point. I checked the time and thought that it was getting less and less likely that I’d come in under 3:30 but I’d probably still beat my previous time if I didn’t stop so I just kept pressing on.
Right as I hit the final turnaround point at around 39.5 km a bunch of people overtook me followed by pacers wearing 3:30 T-shirts. I stated cursing to myself about this as I saw the pacers getting further and further away from me, but after running a little further I saw the 40 km checkpoint with a clock indicating that I was 3 hours 18 minutes into the race. I had 12 minutes to cover the last 2.195 km and finish with a sub-3:30 time.
With that I went from running at roughly 6:00 /km to under 5:00 /km as I charged towards the finish. When I hit the 41 km marker I knew I was safe but still wanted to keep going to get the best time I could.
There is a steep hill right before the finish line, which I charged up as best as I could, and right as I rounded the corner I saw the 3:30 pacers that had overtaken me earlier. I dug deep, ran as hard as I could and passed those pacers right before I crossed the finish line.
I wasn’t paying attention to the clock as I crossed the finish line but right after I knew I was in the clear I took a selfie with the clock at the end as evidence for myself that I came in under 3:30. I’d wait for the official time later but that was good enough for me on the day. I’d done it!
After the race
Right after the race I drank my remaining water and stumbled over to the stage where people were able to take pictures. I didn’t have access to this area last time I ran the marathon because it was being used by the race organizers. Seems like I came in early enough for a photo op. So I had my picture taken on the stage then decided to just pack up and go home.
I saw one of the regular volunteers at my parkrun after the race and I asked him how he did. He had run the 10 km race so was a lot more functional than I was. Listening to myself it sounded like I was talking in slow motion. After we parted I grabbed my bag, sat down, drank the coffee I prepared earlier (best coffee ever). I didn’t even register the exhibition stalls on the way back. I just ended up going directly to the bus stop.
Results
The first time I completed the Shonan International Marathon (2022) I completed it in 3:33:38. That was my PB at the time. My official time for the 2023 marathon was 3:28:20. I cut 5:18 seconds off my previous time. All while fighting off a cold. I’ll consider that a massive win.
I came in 975th place (975/12238) in my category and 1004th place overall (1004/14271). I’ll take being in the top 8%.
I showed my race medal in the previous report. The race medal for this year was pretty much identical to last year, so I took a picture of them side by side.
Below is the online certificate I received:
Oh, and that friend I mentioned earlier that was aiming for sub-3:00 came in at under 3 hours. Massive respect there.
Lessons learned
This year I didn’t have the same problems as last year. I started very close to the front so I wasn’t weaving through thousands of people in order to get going. I also wasn’t carrying any equipment that I didn’t need (last year I brought a hard water bottle that I didn’t use at all). Overall, my race strategy was pretty good.
The main things that threw me off in this race was the fact that I was fighting off a cold and the fact that my watch malfunctioned. I can’t do much about having a cold, but next time I can make sure to fully calibrate my watch before setting off, disabling anything I don’t need and disconnecting it from my phone in case it tries to download an update.
Maybe another thing I can consider is that if I REALLY need to, I can stop and it won’t totally disable my legs. I should know this from ultra running because I stop a lot while doing longer distances, but I still have the habit left over from my very first marathon that I don’t want to stop in case my legs stop working. The very short break I had while getting the sports drink in this marathon helped me actually finish the thing.
Final thoughts
I’m very happy to have taken part in the Shonan International Marathon again. I’m not sure if I’ll enter it again in 2024 because there are a lot of events around that time of year. But it’s nice to have this event on my doorstep should I decide to run it again.
My next event is the Shonan Fujisawa City Marathon (I know it has marathon in the name but it’s just a 10 mile race), which will be held on January 28th, 2024. After that I’ll be focusing on preparing for the ultra I spoke about in the article Achievable vs audacious goals.
It’s been a great 2023. I’m sure 2024 is going to be great as well.
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Osu!
Anthony
Nice one Anthony. That’s a great time particularly considering the cold and watch setbacks!