We get ourselves organised, still coughing and gurking a bit, but feeling the best we have for a week. We make the short walk from our apartment down to the marathon route, at the 3.5km mark. Start time is 9.10am.
First along are the wheelchair athletes; they come hurtling past to a wave of cheers and are gone in a blur. There are a few stragglers, pushing with some degree of weariness already. They roll on by and shortly after, the leading bunch come racing by at high speed. These are the elite athletes - the Kenyans, the favoured runners. Wilson Kipsang was tipped to win, and was anticipating setting a marathon record - he did win, but with a race time of 2:03:58 (how do they do that!) was just outside the record. The Kenyans came 1st, 2nd and 3rd.
In the women's division, Sarah Chepshirchir from Kenya won in 2:19:47, with Ethiopians coming 2nd and 3rd.
Apart from the elite athletes, there were plenty of people in it for the fun of it. Most of the early runners going by were in lycra, looking like serious marathon runners, but as the pack thickened and pace slowed, there were people in all sorts of costumes - Minnie Mouse, Spiderman, Where's Wally, fairies, brides, fruit, vegetables, animals, dinosaurs, dragons ... you name it, they wore it. How do you run a marathon dressed as an eggplant? Or with a cloth toadstool on your head? Or as a beer can or coffee cup? One guy was dressed as Michael Jackson and ran past doing all the moves with feet and hat and hands, moonwalking and spinning and showing off. He was great but I wonder if he made it round the whole route doing that!
We watched probably for about an hour until the very final stragglers staggered past. They looked completely exhausted already and had barely done 4km! I wonder how many dropped out ... One thing's for sure, you could not have got better conditions for a marathon - and Tokyo is such a flat city, that it must be a pleasure to run in it (if you're into that sort of thing ...)
We found a cafe and had some brunch (not too much open on a Sunday in this area), went back to the hotel, packed up and hailed a taxi to Shinjuku Station where we boarded the Limousine Bus for Narita Airport. Cost $35, travel time 1hr (usually longer, but it was Sunday afternoon).
Checked in, went through passport control and bumped into ... Beauden Barrett!! The Hurricanes had been in Tokyo playing the Sunwolves (bugger, we hadn't really locked into this otherwise would have gone and watched). Suffice to say they blitzed their Japanese rivals. Many of you will know that our son Sam plays No.10 and this season played for Auckland U85kg; he gets comments all the time about how much he looks (and plays) like Beauden. In fact, team mates just call him Beaudie. So I simply had to have a quick chat to Beauden and I have to say that standing right there next to him, the similarities are uncanny. Same vibe, coy smile, modest manner. I brought Beauden's best wishes back to Sam, and hope that bodes (Beauds) well for both of them!
The flight home was great and, again, only partially full (and mostly with rugby players, although they were in Business Class!) A meal, a couple of wines, a movie and I was out like a light. I watched Snowden - complex and slow but watchable. If anything puts you off using social media and whatnot, this film will! I also watched Le Ride - Phil Keoghan and his mate set off to cycle the Tour de France route taken by Kiwi Harry Watson and his Australasian team back in 1928, following their route as accurately as they could and using old bikes and gear from that era. I don't think there could be anything more difficult on this planet than cycling through the Pyrenees and Alps on those old heavy gearless bikes. Now or back then. And back then, three of the four team finished the Tour, against all odds. A very evocative film and even though I'm no cycling fan, I found it astonishing.
To quote from the NZ International Film Festival: "Handsomely shot and rich in fascinating detail and photographic evidence of Watson and his teammates' epic achievement Keoghan's film feels their pain so you don't have to. It's a stirring salute."
Swiftly through baggage and customs, we were out the other side in bright Auckland sunshine and warmth, thus bringing a very happy Honeymoon to a close.
Despite our ailments, we had a thoroughly fabulous time. The skiing was challenging, the snow amazing and the hotel fantastic; the food was fresh and tasty everywhere we went; the wine is cheap, the whiskey excellent. Tokyo was easy to get around, diverse, fascinating, efficient; weather was great, hotel excellent, garden walks relaxing. Two very different experiences in one country - we loved it.
OBSERVATION OF THE DAY: The lack of eateries and shops at Narita was unexpected. It really is just an airport, facilitating air travel for passengers, rather than being a great retail complex like many international airports are these days. Quite refreshing in a way, not to be bombarded with consumer goods and bars everywhere you look, encouraging you to spend your money. Gave us time to just sit and reflect on a really fabulous couple of weeks.
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