This story starts on a beautiful fall day in 2023. I had just returned from a run, when I checked my email and had received one from my friend Robin Jumper of The Kauai Marathon. I was excited, as I always love hearing from Robin and anything to do with Kauai and The Kauai Marathon makes me happy.
The email said would you perhaps be interested in going to Japan to represent The Kauai Marathon as you were one of the top finishers at the 2023 Kauai Marathon. I finished 2nd overall and I was really happy with that as I had just come off doing the Hardrock 100 miler, so my legs were not fully back yet. I didn’t need to read anything more because I knew if it was possible I was going to say, “HECK YES!”.
I love Japan almost as much as I love Kauai so having the opportunity to visit Japan and getting to represent one of my favorite marathons in the world was a no brainer. I was all in. Then I remembered that I had already signed up for a bunch of events in 2024 and in particular for a bike packing race across the South Island, New Zealand for the first few weeks of February. I was thinking that I hope that going to Japan doesn’t conflict with the trip to New Zealand.
I remember writing Robin back immediately and saying something about when would the trip to Japan be and could I bring our son, Grant (15 years old). Grant loves Japan more than I do. He is into Ramen, Anime, Sushi, and video games. I thought it was a chance to take Grant back to Japan as teenager, as the last time Grant traveled there, he was about 9 years old, so he could experience the culture in a different way.
Robin got back to me promptly and said the Iwaki City Sunshine Marathon would be February 25, 2024, and it would be in the town of Iwaki City and that she would check to see if it was ok for Grant to accompany me. I was intrigued as I have raced 5 times in Japan and knew a bit about the culture and the Japanese obsession with running. Every time I have raced in Japan it has been a humbling experience. Japanese athletes are determined, highly trained, extremely talented and they love to compete, so I was looking forward to the opportunity to mix it up with these hard charging athletes.
She checked with the Iwaki City Sunshine Marathon team, and it was ok to bring Grant. I checked my calendar, and it looked clear as I would be coming home from New Zealand on February 13, 2024, so there was time to pick up Grant, do some work and laundry and then head out to Japan.
We were set and things were in place, and all was good and in order. I trained all winter for the Iwaki City Sunshine Marathon, but also for the bike packing adventure across New Zealand. Well, as it happens in life, things don’t always go to plan. The 1333 Kilometer Tour Te Waipounamu, was HARD. So hard. I thought I was ready, and I was not. I struggled from the first day and by 500K, my mind and body were done. I had picked up a few injuries, and things were not going well so my team withdrew from the race, and I worked on getting healthy.
I flew home from New Zealand injured and with my tail between my legs. I had overstepped my abilities and now I had to rehab so I could still make the trip to Japan for the Iwaki Sunshine Marathon.
There was another wrinkle. Besides the injury, my buddy, and double amputee para-Olympian from Great Britain-Richard Whitehead, who I paced/guided at the New York City Marathon for Achilles International was doing the Tokyo Marathon the week after the Iwaki City Sunshine Marathon. I asked Richard if he needed a pacer and he said yes. I absolutely love helping athletes, especially challenged athletes. It lights me up!
So now, I had to run two (2) marathons on back-to-back weekends, coming off an injury. This would usually not be an issue for me as I love to run and doing back-to-back races is something I am known for and good at but with the travel and injury thrown in, I just didn’t know how it would go.
Within a day of landing back in the United States, the team at MedStar Health had sprung into action and seen me and then referred me for an MRI to determine just how injured I was. In the meantime, I had seen a great Physio in New Zealand and I was doing his exercises to rehab what we thought was the problem. It turns out all the exercise and rest helped, and I was cleared to race the day before leaving for Japan. I had been doing exercises and some light hiking, but I hadn’t run seriously in a few weeks.
This was going to be a challenge, but Robin and The Kauai Marathon team were behind me, and Richard and his team were ok with whatever I could do so I went ahead to Japan with an uneasy but full heart.
Grant was excited for the trip, and I was determined to give Grant the best experience possible. Grant was missing two weeks of school to accompany me and be my photographer and travel companion. We had big plans for the week between the races and I was pumped we were going to get some one-on-one time together. Grant, is a freshman so he could afford join me and I really wanted us to have a chance to bond. We only have a short time with our kids and the time goes fast so this would be a moment to really embrace that. I find travel really galvanizes people.
Grant and I arrived in Tokyo, Japan, on Friday evening of the Iwaki Sunshine Marathon weekend, we were greeted by the amazing team from the Iwaki Sunshine Marathon. Thank you, SHU, for collecting us and taking us by car for the 4-hour drive to Iwaki City.
If you don’t know Iwaki City, it is about 4 hours northeast of Tokyo near the ocean and the Fukushima nuclear power plant. It has a terrific aquarium, that blew us away. We got to see the course and go to the welcome party with our hosts May and Shu.
The team at the Iwaki City Sunshine Marathon went above and beyond and Grant and I were so grateful for their hospitality. We also got to meet the athletes from Townsville, Australia that were representing their city at the Iwaki City Sunshine Marathon. It was a great time and now it was go time.
I went to bed, nervous, exhausted from travel but also excited to run. I woke up early, dressed, and did a little shake out run…my body felt tired but good, no pain, shoes good, stomach ok, all systems go. I don’t know what I expected but there were way more people (about 5000 runners) than I expected at the start of the Iwaki City Sunshine Marathon. As an invited athlete you start right at the front and that was fine.
I usually know what to expect as I have done over 200 marathons, and I can predict most of the time barring injury how my race is going to go. But for this race, I had no idea! Maybe the rest helped, and I would be fresh or maybe the lack of training would show up or worst case, maybe we overlooked something, and my injury would reappear, and I would have to drop out.
I love that nothing is guaranteed, everything is possible until it isn’t. Well, the gun went off and I got swept up in the lead pack. I settled into a pace a bit under 6 mins per mile…comfortable but well off my best time. I knew the course was hilly and then went by the ocean so probably would be windy. It was chilly at the start, high 30’s, low 40’s so I was dressed accordingly. I had my GUs, and I was ready for the challenge ahead.
I felt great for the first 13.1 miles, I went through the half marathon in about 1:16 mins and my body was so happy. I remember thinking, this is what I am made for. This feels right to me. I was probably in the top 20 at this point and right behind a guy dressed as a panda bear and ahead of a guy dressed as an anime character and a few minutes ahead of the first lady. I was still feeling good, but starting to feel it…I thought, this is ok.I am good.
By 18 miles, I was really digging, and I was like, um…this is getting hard, and I am feeling the pace. By 22 miles, the panda bear was well ahead of me, the anime character had just passed, and the first lady was about to catch me. My legs were toast, and I was in the pain cave. I knew I had only 4 miles to do, and it was possible to make it, but it was going to hurt.
I had used all 6 of my GUs and I was looking for more food. I grabbed a can of coke and bowl of miso soup and woofed those down. Ok, 3 miles to go, more people were streaming past me. Ok, that is fine, just get there. I turned at 26 miles and I could see the finish…oh, thank goodness….legs hurt, but smile was huge. I had done it.
My time was 2:43:53, and I think I was in the top 40 overall.
Most importantly, I was tired, sore, and hungry, but I was healthy, I didn’t feel my injuries and I knew that I could pace Richard at the Tokyo Marathon the week after once I recovered.
I was met at the finish line by the Iwaki Marathon team and Grant, and we immediately went to the train station so that Grant and I could catch a train back to Tokyo and onward to Osaka for the next part of our trip. Grant, and I had tickets for Universal Studios Japan in Osaka the following day, which was great as I love to be active the day after a race and walking around a theme park and going on roll coasters sounded fun and it was.
We had a blast and from Osaka, we visited, Nara (to see the deer), Kobe (so Grant could try the beef, I am plant based so only had veggies), to Kyoto to see the history and temples, and then back to Tokyo for the marathon.
My legs felt better and better during the week and when I met Richard the day before the Tokyo marathon, I was ready to guide him.
I did have a secret and that was that I had picked up a bit of a cold from the rainy and wet weather and I didn’t want Richard to worry about it so just tried to act cool about it and I wore a mask for most of time so I wouldn’t give him anything.
The Tokyo Marathon is huge, I think over 30,000 people and for a challenged athlete just getting around and navigating the crowds is a big deal so having a guide really helps. I was able to help Richard get to the start line and work his way through the course, the biggest challenge for the guide is to make sure your athlete has everything they need so I did that, and I was able to help Richard achieve his goal of running sub 3 hours and close to 2:50 minutes.
Richard, actually dropped me the last 2 miles and ended up finishing about 90 seconds ahead of me, which is the first time I had been dropped by an athlete I was guiding.
All in all it was an amazing experience, and I can’t thank The Kauai Marathon, the Kauai Visitors Bureau, the Iwaki City Sunshine Marathon, and the people of Japan for being awesome and to Grant, my travel companion for the chance to connect with you.