I Will Be Running in the Tohoku Miyagi Revive Marathon! Training has Begun!
113 days to go until the Tohoku Miyagi Revive Marathon! My goal is to make it across the finish line!
I’ve written here on the blog that I’ve been sick since last December.
I have a hard time believing it but I still haven’t fully recovered though it’s been more than six months.
I’ve started jogging to improve my overall health and thought why not enter to run a marathon while I’m at it.
This will be my first marathon and I will be running the full 42.195 km.
The marathon that I will be running is the Tohoku-Miyagi Revive Marathon
Tohoku-Miyagi Revive Marathon 2017
This is the first time they’re doing this marathon
The marathon, which will be held on October 1, 2017, will be the first time for this marathon.
Close to the marathon course, another event will be going on called the “Marche 2017” where guests can enjoy meals from the Tohoku and Kumamoto area.
The reasons I entered the Tohoku Miyagi Revive Marathon
- It’s 4 months away, giving me plenty of time to train
- The course is flat, increasing my chance of finishing the race
- The time limit it 6 hours 30 min, increasing my chance of finishing the race
- The course is along the seaside, which seemed pretty cool
- This is the first time for this marathon so it will go down in history giving me bragging rights
- A Finisher Stone will be awarded to all runners that are able to finish
I decided to enter this particular marathon for these main reasons.
I have to confess, the Finisher Stone is what really caught my attention.
This medal, the Finisher Stone, is made out of Ogatsuishi and will only be awarded to runners that finish the full 42.195 km,
Ogatsuishi is a stone from the Ishinomaki area.
Some people might remember that Ishinomaki is one of the areas that was hit most in the earthquake/tsunami of 2011.
A company in Kumamoto will be making the ribbon on the medal.
Kumamoto is a prefecture towards the south of Japan which has also been effected by recent earthquakes in 2016.
The stone will not only serve as a memory of completing the race, but as a sign of revival!
The hotel that I reserved
Based on my brief research on the web, I learned that there weren’t many hotels near the marathon starting line so I booked a room at the Westin near Sendai Station.
I should be able to get from Sendai Station to the station where they will be running shuttle buses to the starting line easily by taking the train.
My Gold status with SPG should entitle me to a 4 PM late check out.
If I can cross the finish line within 5 hours, I should have plenty of time to take a shower before heading back to Tokyo.
My current time
I’ve never ran long distance before so I have no idea what time I should aim for.
I’m currently running 10 km at a pace just under 60 min.
I plan on gradually extending this distance to 20 km.
If I can do that, I should be in good shape to finish the race.
Running related accessories
In the spirit of this website, I really want to get some running accessories for the race and post reviews on them.
Things that I am considering on getting:
- Tight, dark colored, minimal design cool looking running wear (form over substance is ok with me)
- Cool looking running watch (maybe the Apple watch?)
I don’t know much about running accessories so please let me know if you have any recommendations!