Nagoya Women's Marathon 2016 Race Review: Travelling to Nagoya and Race Pack Collection (12/3/2016)

As mentioned in my previous blog post, this is my first solo overseas trip. I had traveled on the plane on my own several times (Hong Kong attachment, trip to US etc) but this is the first time I was completely on my own for the entire journey and back. Talk about feeling the jitters!

I also met with some issues at work which made me feel really stressed before the trip. As usual, things can crop up anytime at work and getting a super saver ticket means I cannot change the date and time of travel. Boss was not happy that I did not get an approval before booking but I had no choice but to go ahead. (Cost savings vs flexibility? Super saver tickets are at least $400 cheaper but perhaps I will think twice about booking again for the peace of mind unless the travel period is rightfully during my holiday blackout period)

Here we go! 

I had a very long and tiring day at work on Friday ( workday+CCA+extra sharing session) till 5pm and I kept putting off the packing of my stuff till the last minute as my flight is at 1am Saturday morning. I got home feeling really tired but I really have to get down to start packing or I'll risk missing out on some essential items for my run. It actually did not take long for me to pack as I had taken down notes and listed down the essential stuff to pack on my phone. As the weather in Nagoya is less than 10 degrees at night, I had to pack my down jacket and it took up some space. I spent some time transferring the stuff from my own cabin luggage to P's luggage which is bigger. I finished packing by 7pm and this is when P had a suddenly craving for Prima Deli chocolate cake (someone gave him a piece of cake before and he liked it), I really felt like taking a nap instead but I felt bad for leaving him here for a few nights so we embarked on the Chocolate Cake Mission. We googled for the nearest outlet and it was listed as a shop in Khatib, but when we reached the said location, the shop was no longer there and it was replaced by another brand. We had to walk back to the mrt station, board the mrt again and travel a few more stations down to the next nearest shop at AMK hub. By the time I got home, it was 10pm and I was dead beat. There were still many small random stuff that I had to remember to pick up and put into my day bag and I moved really slowly, super in need of a good rest or just some time to stone. I got a little flustered and we left home a little late, only arriving at the airport past midnight when the gate was about to open.

Tired faces, but we managed to smile

A chance for me to stand at our spot (we both have left dimples)

I wasnt left with much time to linger around at the departure gate, I had to say goodbye to P soon after I go to the money changer (changed 400 SGD to Japanese yen) and picked up my mobile wifi from Changi Recommends as like the previous trip. We took some selfies at some exhibits that had already closed for the day, and we said our goodbyes. I imagined it will be hard for me, but guess I was too tired to feel anything emotionally.

P took this picture of me, everything looked so lonely in this pic lolz..

I was not left with much time to go anywhere, except for going to the toilet and buying water (and emptying it again) to get a water bottle for refill. After I got everything scanned and cleared security, I realised there's a small shop inside the area selling drinks and stuff (only available at certain bigger 'combined' gate area) so actually it was not necessary to stop and get a bottle earlier. My dinner was just a piece of the chocolate cake from our mission before leaving the house, and I wish I have more time on hand so that I can eat proper food but I guess dinner will be served soon after we board and in actual fact I'm more tired than hungry at that point of time. It was past midnight so traffic was fast for P and he had already reached home when I was still walking to the departure gate. It was already time to board when I arrived, but I took my time to board since I was alone and sitting quite near to the front. I looked around to see if there were other ladies looking like they were going for the marathon, but there was none. Most of the passengers were Japanese and in an instance, it felt like I had reached Japan.

All ready to board, I really loved taking SQ flights

I was among the last few to board

I slept quite a bit while the plane was taking off, exhausted from the super long day of events. I only woke up when food was served on board, watched a little of movie on the in flight entertainment system and fell into deep sleep again. When we reached Nagoya, it was already 7am in the morning. The airport was not crowded at all at that time, and having been to Japan just months ago, I found my way to the connected train station easily.

Riding on the travelator at the airport, I saw signs welcoming visitors for the marathon

I was very thankful for all the train adventure we had at Hokkaido, it really helped a lot when I was traveling on my own at Nagoya, I managed to get a ticket on my own and even secured a reserved seat for myself. Personally, I feel very 'shiok' when sitting on reserved seat and paying a few dollars more is quite worthwhile.

Train tickets similar to the ones we had in Hokkaido

Actually the JR system here is more confusing than Hokkaido as the Nagoya city is mainly served by subways that are not shown in the main map. Luckily I had taken down notes (joined some Facebook groups) and just noted down that I had to get to Kanayama to transit to subway to get to Sakae, the area I was going staying.

The cute holder for reserved seat ticket ( for ease of checking by train staff)

Going to Nagoya city only took less than 30min on the express train. At Kanayama station, I followed the signs to the subway lines. Its Saturday morning but people were rushing around to places, and an old uncle even frowned at me when I stopped to take picture of the marathon poster. 

A true city marathon, with poster at the major train station

It was just a brief 4 stops to Sakae on the Meijo line. Sakae is a really good place to stay for the marathon, the station is big with extensive underground shopping connected to malls. I will stay here if I'm back again for further edition of the marathon. As I've done my homework, I looked for the correct exit (exit 13) which is the nearest to my hotel and there is also a lift service to the ground floor. It is very helpful info as I'm handling my luggage on my own this time and its a bit more tiring if I have to haul it up the stairs using the other exits.

This is the correct exit with my hotel name, the lift access is also indicated

As Sakae station is rather big (like Shinjuku in Tokyo), I had to ensure that I leave the station from the east entrance to get to exit 13. I also have to walk down a further 100m or so and passed many shops to find this, but once I get to the ground level the hotel was just another 100m-200m down the street. It was quite cold when I was walking to the hotel, I'm glad that I've packed my trusty NorthFace down jacket and my JC jumpsuits for this journey, although it made the luggage heavier than expected.

The hotel was not really visible from the street, but once I got close enough, I saw the escalator

The hotel looked new and the reception area was quite welcoming, just like many other Japan boutique hotels in the city. As it was only 9am, and check in time is 2pm, I dropped off my luggage and head to the race expo. Arriving only one day before the race is not really ideal as I had read from the FaceBook page that the official merchandise is running out of sizes after the first day of race expo. This is quite common for races of this scale, but as I cant take leave from work, I have no other choice than arriving at the city and heading down on Saturday. As the race expo only start at 10am and it was still early, I decided to head to the Nike shop around Sakae to check out the T shirts, there's good chance I can find more stock there. 

There was fresh complimentary coffee available at the hotel lobby 

Despite using the Google map on my phone, I could not locate the shop and kept wandering back to the hotel area. After awhile, I got really hungry as the only proper meal I had for the past 24hours was on the flight early this morning. I spotted a Lawson drugstore and went in to get a raw tuna onigiri and it tasted heavenly, just like most Japanese stuff, really unlike food bought from a convenience store. With my stomach filled, I realised it was already 10am, I was tired from walking in circles around Sakae station and decided to head to the race expo. 

The volunteer at the station, I wondered how long he had to stand there

The race expo is held at Nagoya Dome, 8 stops from Sakae on the Meijo line. It is like a recce trip for me, as I will be going through the exact same way the next morning when I'm heading there for the marathon. A big crowd alighted at the same station, mostly ladies, and there was no way one could get lost as there were already volunteers holding up signs once we exit from the gantry. I was using the Suica card we bought in Tokyo to travel on the subway so it is much easier to just tap in and out, I've topped it up once and the 1000Y lasted me till the end of the my trip, or almost. 

More signs along the way

The Nagoya Dome is some distance away, I walked through an underpass, went up a flight of stairs (escalator was too crowded) and walked through a long walkway before I saw the dome from afar. The dome is kind of like our Sports Hub but the station is further away than our Stadium circle line station. At the same time we're having the marathon, there's a city marathon going on so there's also some males and locals heading the same way to do the collection of race entitlements. 

Foreign runners were directly to the Sports Center for collection

The race pack collection only started 40min ago but I was expecting a long queue at the foreigners' counters like what other ladies had shared the previous day. Surprisingly, that was not the case and I was in and out within a minute at the Higashi Sports Center. There had staff speaking in English and Chinese to help direct the foreigners, after showing them my passport and the confirmation letter, they found my bib and handed the purple Menard sponsor bag to me. 

My first sighting of the Nagoya Dome

Next, I'm headed to the Nagoya Dome to check out the race expo. There was a lot of anticipation as I've read a lot about how Japanese race expos were like. From the bridge, I could see that the preparation work for the next day's marathon had started, lines and lines of cones were already laid out and the excitement slowly crept up my throat as I surveyed the ground. 

The race corrals which will be filled with people the next day

There were signs all over the place, until we were right inside the Nagoya Dome, so it is not difficult to find my way around the place. 

The expo itself is split into exhibition and food area

Signages that we will see during the actual race

Signage of the cut off timing, something that we had not seen in SG races

Panoramic shot of the whole expo 

There is a different colour theme for the marathon every year and this year's theme is luminous green (or yellowish green), the whole expo was filled with balloons and signages of the theme colour and it made the whole place really lively. As you can see from the picture, the bottom right corner is the most crowded as it is the booth of the main sponsor Nike. That is also the first place I will be heading to.

People snatching the merchandise off the shelves

I am lucky to do my first overseas race with Nike as the main sponsor. A slot in any Nike race around the world is really much sought after, not to mention one with Tiffany Co. as one of the sponsors. The design of the race tee and merchandise looked very atas and sophisticated compared to most if not all other brands. I was already browsing through the stuff online before I reached Nagoya, and could not wait to lay my hands on these memorabilia. Unfortunately, the sizes of the event tee run really small this year but fortunately I had read up all about it online before going to the expo, so I knew I probably cant fit into the many many leftovers S and XS on the racks. I'm glad I've dropped off my luggage as there were some runners who came with their luggages and the area was really crowded and messy with people snatching the stuff like its free of charge. I was quite lucky to get hold of the a few leftover M size tee and the last L size windbreaker that I saw. I can only say I'm glad I came early enough when the expo opened on the second day as I really need to get a windbreaker for the race in this weather and I did not expect the sizes to run out so fast. 

Very nice and thoughtful changing room

I joined the queue to get into the changing room as I'm worried I will not fit the M sizes tee. It looked okay on the racks but the material is not stretchy enough like our normal event tee. True enough, the Tshirts were quite body hugging and I had to make myself think rationally (easy to get over excited when its limited stock) and I decided to just get one of the three colours I had tried on. This was the first time I was in a changing room in Japan, even though it was a makeshift one, the service was so good. The staff helped me take off my shoes so that the area will not get dirty and there's a designated area to put the shoes. They even provide face cover for ladies with makeup so that it will not stain the clothes. 

First time I see such supplies in a changing room

Lady luck was still smiling on me after I left the changing room. One of the staff was walking around and calling out to people as he had two pieces of L size Tshirt (still wrapped in plastic bags) on hand. I took one of those with a big smile on my face. Finally I have one tee which is fitting! 

Nike merchandise bought (a bottle, two tee and windbreaker)

I left the Nike feeling very happy as I was really lucky to get the stuff I've wanted. On retrospect, I was glad that I did not go overboard in getting those items as Nike merchandise is really expensive in Japan. Each of those tee cost about 47 SGD, the windbreaker (quality is very good and very light) almost 150 SGD and even the water bottle was almost 25 SGD. I guess this is still alright for my first overseas marathon, but subsequent marathon I will probably not go on a spree. Hopefully. 

The damage in Nike

After the Nike area, the rest of the expo did not really have as much stuff as I expected. There were a number of stalls promoting some sports drinks and so on but I'm was not so familiar with those and of course I cant read or understand the promoters, so I left the area after a brief look. I came to the wall where all the runners name were printed out and I looked for my name. There were quite a few Taiwanese with surname Chiang although it is not so common in SG. I finally came to the end of the wall and saw a Chiang Rong Yu. I was wondering if that's me, so I walked to the other end of the wall to see if there is a Chiang Yu Rong in the next line, and there wasnt. I assumed that when I entered my name, I did not get the sequence of the first (Rong) and middle name (Yu ) correct so it became this way. Nevertheless, I found my name and was surprised to see my NYNP squadmate's name right below mine. Till this point, I still do not know of any other Singaporean who is here at Nagoya joining the race, so she is the first. 

A Taiwanese girl spoke to me in English when I was taking some photographs of the wall, it turned out that she was alone so I helped her take some pictures. She also helped me in turn and we wished each other good luck for the race before we parted ways.

I looked like crap from the lack of sleep

Other ladies busy searching their names

This is where we will cross the finishing line the next day! 

This is just one of the several booths were we could key in our target timing and take a picture

Whenever I'm in Japan, I feel a bit self conscious when I look around me and the ladies were all wearing makeup and beautifully groomed. At Tokyo and Hokkaido, I made the effort to put on makeup at least for the first few days so that I will not look so crappy. When packing for Nagoya, I took out my makeup kit after my luggage became overloaded with winter clothes, I was thinking this is a really short trip and I will not really need it as I'm going for a sports event, plus I will not see anyone that I know. But.. I kind of regretted not bringing my makeup along when I see myself looking so unglam in the pictures. 

My wishes

A friendly volunteer stationed there helped me with the pictures

Next, I came across this wall where people wrote down their wishes for the marathon and stick on the wall. Just for the fun of it, I took one and wrote on it. There was a friendly auntie who told me where to paste it and took photographs for me. I forgot to take a closeup of the sticker but I actually wrote "Run happy and safe!"

The cabinet with awards for the top runners

A short while after I took the above picture of the cabinet, there was a ceremony and they revealed the design of the this year's marathon medal. There was a queue at the cabinet to take picture after that, but I was lazy to join the queue so I only took a peek. 

Cute keychain where we can customise our name or bib no

Embroidery of event tee

Another popular booth is the one where they will customise little keychains, event tee and other memorabilia at a nominal fee. There was long queue for both so I chose to do the keychain since the queue was moving fast. My stomach was growling as it was past noon and I only ate the onigiri the whole morning. I dropped off the order form and payment for the keychain and heading to the food area of the expo. 

The order form with the samples

Famished and happy to see the food area

I've no idea what those are, but I reckon the best of Nagoya

Its lunchtime and crowded, so I headed for the shortest queue

After its my turn to order, I realised its lobster stuff

I was tired and hungry from all the walking, the weight on my shoulders and hands (it was warm inside so I took off my down jacket, plus the Mernard race pack, the Nike and my own bag) was getting to me and I cant wait to finally check into the hotel to get a good bath. It was almost 1pm and I figured I can head back to the hotel soon after lunch. With loads of stuff on my hands and the two bowls, I was glad that I could find a seat at the food area instead of going up to the spectators stand. 

Honestly, the fare tasted so so even when I was really hungry

The grilled lobster was too dried and the noodles was nothing to shout about, but at least it filled my stomach. I finished off my lunch with a nice dessert, a icy cream puff (short queue as well) and headed back to collect my keychain. There was nothing much left to see at the expo so I made my way back to Sakae area. 

I will be back soon to cross that Finish Line! 

The cream puff was not too bad

On my way back to the station, fatigue really got to me and I felt that the walk along the bridge away from the Nagoya Dome was really far. When I was leaving, it was about 1pm and more people were heading towards the expo, many with their luggages and stuff. I was really glad that I was done with the expo as it was going to be chaotic and stuff already ran out by now. 

Finally found the Nike store

When I was back in Sakae, I still had not given up on looking for Nike. After some helpful directions from the peeps on Facebook, I realised that I had missed out the store earlier as it was in the corner of the Mitsukoshi Departmental store. In fact, I had passed it a few times earlier that day. I looked at the available Tshirts they had and the biggest size was M, so I concluded that I was already lucky enough to get the last few L at the expo earlier. 

The bed looked so inviting! 

Just a small area for me to move around but good enough

The TV and the fridge 

The entrance and the 'wardrobe' 

Japanese style hotel toilet with door opening outwards

After I finally checked into the room and enjoyed a really good hot shower bathe, I realised that having the freedom to travel on my own is quite enjoyable. In the hotel room, my stuff are just strewn across the bed and the floor as I did not have to consider about the living space of another person. It felt like a long time since I got my tired body on a real bed and I did not want to get out again. I decided to go and get a early dinner at 5pm before I got too lazy.

All the famous eateries here

I had also done my homework and listed down some of the best food in Nagoya. I googled Matsuzakaya as they have both the Atsuta Horaiken (grilled eel rice) and Yabaton (Miso Katsu) outlets there. To my delight, the mall is just across the street from my hotel and a short walk away. I headed there quite early, thinking that the queue should not be too bad at 5pm but there was already a winding queue forming up at Atsuta Horaiken, they even had a few staff and signage system to direct people where to queue. 

The winding queue for the famous grilled eel rice

The giant pig is the mascot of Yabaton

I joined the short queue and got into the restaurant shortly

I could see that many of those in queue headed there from the race expo as they had their Mernard bags with them, some also had their luggage in tow. I decided to go for Yabaton as the queue is much shorter (less than 10 people) and I just wanted a quick dinner and head back to pack my stuff for the marathon. As a major franchise, they have an English menu and I ordered a half and half (Waraji Tonkatsu), trying out the katsu with the thick hot miso sauce and another more watery version of it. As what everyone said, the pork was juicy and the miso tasted good with it. The portion was really big so I could not finish it, I also refilled the free-flow cold green tea a few times as I dont really eat fried food, so I needed the green tea to wash down all the oil and savoury stuff. I could not finish everything but felt that it was a really good meal and good way to carbo load before my race the next day. Yummy!

Very nice Waraji Tonkatsu

The two restaurants were on the 8th floor of Matsuzakaya and I assumed that was also the highest floor. I went to the other storeys in search of the electronics department as my travel adaptor had fallen apart after reaching Nagoya and I needed a new one to charge my things. 

The extensive selection just for batteries 

I found what I was looking for after scanning a few floors. When I walked past the food hall at the basement, I came across quite a few famous (and atas) dessert counters and I was delighted that HARBS was one of those. HARBS cakes are on my to-eat list and they look really delicious. I decided to get the fruity crepe and have it for dessert later that night. :)

The HARBS counter, I could not make up my mind as they looked so good! 

Lucky to find one at the departmental store

Dropped by at Lawson to get my breakfast for the next morning

There was a Lawson below the hotel so I dropped by on the way back to get my breakfast for the next day.  I wanted to get the yummy onigiri but it was already sold out at 7pm. I got myself some bananas, a hot spring egg (which I did not eat till the last day) and miso instant noodles instead. I yearned to climb into bed immediately, but I had to get my stuff ready for the next day. Fortunately, the race flag off at 9am so there was no need to wake up too early.

My gear and the stuff I'll bring along to deposit

I was glad that I had gotten a tee and windbreaker in matching colour with the rest of my attire. Other stuff that I'll specially wear for the race to combat the cold weather included 2XU compression sleeves (bought for this race), Daiso $2 gloves (cheap Daiso gloves are good enough as gloves can easily drop along the race route), my buff (only equipment out of the colour scheme but it was essential) and some heat packs (didnt use them in the end). After reading tips from some marathoners, I also brought along some painkillers, but thankfully I did not encounter the need to use them during the race.

Things in the race pack, all of these are of good quality

The race bib and the sticker for the deposit bag, plus the cute keychain