Osaka Marathon 2019- The Race Day (1st December)

My haul from Lawson and Family Mart

On my way back to the hotel after dinner, it is my usual practice to visit Lawson or Family Mart nearby to get my snacks and stuff. I bought food items for my breakfast the next morning and those are gonna be my pre-race food. It was already 10pm when I lay out these items and I hit the bed without packing for the race or preparing anything.

My drop bag for this year

I was lazing on bed till past 6am and quickly got up to get ready, I cant remember what I ate but I think i had the instant noodles and banana. I only left the hotel after 7am and it was not that far from the osaka castle though some change of trains were needed. Once I reached the park, I quickly joined the queue for the public toilet as the queue formed outside was not too long yet and I really thanked myself for that,  as I realised it was really difficult to find the portaloos this year.

Dropped our bags into these cages

The enthusiastic volunteers waving us off

I was so lazy to take photos and the above two were the only photos I took the whole morning. This time round, there was a change in race route and its something new and we would start and end the race at Osaka castle. Instead of dropping our bags at the huge lorries like the previous two years, there were just mobile cages instead. There was a long long walk to the start line after that and it took me some time to finally find my corral. I actually panicked a little as I was worried about that long walk around the park and I might not reach the corral in time. That was the only part I didnt really like as compared to previous years. The remaining photos for the race were taken by the race photographers. In 2018 I bought the official photos but not 2019. No particular reason why, it was a memorable experience but I doubt I'll be back again, doing a hat trick is quite enough at this point.

Photos of the start line released by the organiser

I think this is namba or dontoburi area

The glico man, we passed this the first half of the race

A photo of me running

Another picture

I walked quite a lot

I struggled on

Checking my watch

The weather was quite warm for 2019 edition although it was not unbearable. Okay, I heard about SCMS which was on the same day as Osaka and it was really bad and humid for running, so I was much more fortunate. I guess I was not really doing my best for the first 30km as I stopped and walked a lot. One reason I'm thinking I'm not repeating Osaka was because I realised I should be feeling bored and I was getting slower and slower. I thought 2018 was bad as I was having very bad pain for 2/3 of the race, but my timing for 2019 got worse even with no injuries. Anyway, at the 30km point I looked at my watch and I was shocked that it was already 2pm, I was not really paying attention to the timing as previous year I cleared the race with injury. But I did a quick calculation and realised I have exactly 2h for the remaining 12km. At my current walk run pace of 9-10min, I'll barely made it. 

Me against the Osaka castle backdrop, honestly the autumn leaves were awesome

I was practically running for my life to clear the last cut off

Nice autumn colours as it was very near 4pm

It was rather emotional when I finally made it at exactly 4pm

Many people were still rushing in

I was really worried as there's still several cut off points before me and I knew I would barely made it. Miraculously my body was filled with energy and I started jogging or running much much more than previously. It was strange as I swear there were tons of people behind me when I reached those U-turn points and I was wondering if all of them were being cut off eventually? I panicked as I figured I would definitely not make it in time if I suffer any pain like last year, and I'll kill myself if I DNF so near to the finishing line. Unfortunately, there was really a nagging pain at the ball of my left foot and I remembered I forgot to put vaseline on the balls of my feet that morning. Big, big mistake as there was a big blister and it was painful running with it, but I kept on going. After struggling for some distance, there was intense pain when I realised the blister popped. It was really bad and I thought it was the end of the the race for me but as I pushed myself on, the pain became unnoticeable.

The official photo, the view was awesome but I had no time to enjoy it 

The lovely medal of 2019

So happy that I made it, I posed for the photographer

For my first nagoya race, I brought my phone and had the cut off timings as the wallpaper so that I can check my timings throughout the race. But I stopped bringing my phone after I realised I seldom stop for photographs and I really want to run light (and I got complacent). I really regretted not knowing the next few cut off points ahead of me but luckily for Japanese races, the next one is always clearly shown when we get to each checkpoint so I just did endless mental calculations and made sure I clear the next one. I think I barely cleared the cut off points by a few minutes and I pushed on. Even after I entered the grounds of the Osaka Castle I could not stop and walk (most slower runners would do that) as there was another cut off point very close to the end point.

Something memorable happened when I was rushing to the finishing line, everyone was shouting as it was seconds to 4pm and they were all counting down, I actually ran in right on the dot. It was quite emotional for me and I was so happy and relieved that I made it. I turned around, there were still many people coming in and I guess those who cleared the last cut off point were allowed to finish the race. My timing was not exactly 7 hour but 6h 35min as it took us 25min to flag off in the morning. It was again, another personal worst for my overseas races. 

The official photo of the finishing line with Osaka Castle

My 9th marathon done! 

Osaka 2017-2019 really brought back many fond memories

After getting the towel and medal, I had the chance to really marvel at the nice surroundings. Everything was issued on the chilling castle grounds and I guess they must have prayed hard for the nice weather to do that as it was practically all outdoors. The warm towel also shielded me from the wind till I packed up and got ready to leave the grounds. The nice thing about the end point in 2019 was that it's much nearer to town and our hotel area, and we did not have to run up the killer slope or run past the boring port area for the last 1/3 of the race.

Tried a new sushi joint at Dontoburi

Nice sushi but price is steeper so I prefer the other joint

I went back to the hotel and ice bathed my legs and had a good shower. I headed out shortly for a good post race meal to reward myself and I think I was craving for sushi so I stopped at Daikisuisan. There wasnt a queue but this outlet was supposed to be quite popular and full of people most of the times. I took a seat on the upper level and realised there were many foreigners and tourists like me. Comparing the quality of the sushi I ate last year from the joint further down, I concluded that I prefer the other joint as it was cheaper and the sushi was fresh. I could not eat a lot alone here but there was nothing much to shout about.

Matcha ice cream

The melonpan really smelled nice

As I was walking back to the hotel after the dinner, I smelled something nice and decided to get this for dessert, I saw some Youtubers introducing this in their video and there was also a cute old couple getting it when I walked past the small store.