by Ricky.
A totally different race to the other Abbot world majors, with very strict guidelines and rules to follow. This involved lots of covid testing which had to be submitted on a special app. Due to all the traveling, I decided to wait until the Friday morning to make my way to the Expo to pick up my race number. So Friday morning I awoke and took the 45 minute train journey, which passes through one of the busiest stations in the world. Shinjuku station has 3.4 million people that pass through it daily, and the people of Japan are so friendly and helped me when I asked for assistance. When I arrived at the expo I had to wait for nearly 2 hours, and it felt less organised from the other majors I have done. However, as this was the first time since the pandemic, you expected some teething problems. All the covid tests caused a lot of nerves, as you would have been denied racing if anything wasn’t right. So when I had finally passed all the tests and got my bib, I felt much better!
Toyko doesn’t allow plastic bottles or the throwing of clothes, so if you wanted to remove any layers you had to wear a backpack and run the entire race with it! The route was lovely, but not many spectators due to race regulations (only at specific points). The volunteers were fantastic, and they did provide energy water and mandarin oranges, but it was my first experience of having Himalayan salt at mile 15! I crossed the finish line with a PB, which left me buzzing; especially since they have a cut off point and remove runners from the course at the 11km mark! I am grateful to having now completed my 5th Abbot world major and enjoyed the experience, especially enjoying the snacks of walkers crisps, a banana and apple outside the Japanese Imperial Palace afterward (even though that is strictly not allowed…no eating outside in Japan!)