jim snyder's Staging Area

BOA Chicago 13.1 has entered the crowded area half marathon field. The team that produces the World Major, Chicago Marathon has put together a half that shows a side of town that many visitors never see.

This course was fantastic: All of it through the historic boulevards and Olmstead parks of the city’s West Side. Beautiful leafy parks. There was a flat part, and then another flat part, and then it was flat some more.

Only 2,700 in this first year, but it was full of the seamless professionalism, conscious sustainability and clever branding you find at the marathon.

The day was full of people saying either, “Welcome to the West Side” or “Gosh, I have never been in this neighborhood before”. The most racially diverse running crowd that I have ever seen – the whole running community. It made me proud to see our city and people. The newest half marathon in Chicago might have just taken 1st Place.

https://www.chicago13point1.com/

Running the Tokyo Marathon is like being launched into a pachinko game. 30,000 runners shoot up from beneath the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building into sunshine and a block-long confetti shower. Bouncing through tight streets, flashy sites and cheering spectators they land at the bottom of the city, the docks of Tokyo Bay. It’s World Major run through a true World City.

Application for 2017 run is open from August 1 – August 31, 2016.
https://www.marathon.tokyo/en/

A runner trying to smash a P.R. will face some challenges. The course is tight and the crowds of runners are dense. Some aspects of a Japanese style run will be unfamiliar to some runners. No one wants a surprise when focused on a challenging time goal; Such as, a sugary clear drink at the aid stations that can be mistaken for water. Cherry tomatoes are a fantastic aid station offering, but we all know that Mile 19 is not the time to experiment with a new running food. If you want deep details on race conditions, feel free to contact me.

See as much of Japan as your time and budget allows. It’s fascinating and people are very helpful to tourists. In Kyoto you can visit historic temples and shrines, and one week you run Tokyo you can cheer the runners in the smaller Kyoto Marathon. https://www.kyoto-marathon.com/en/

Shinjuku is the perfect home-base neighborhood for exploring Tokyo. You can walk to the marathon Starting Line from Shinjuku Station, the world’s busiest train station. You can get to anywhere in Tokyo or Japan from there, including Narita International Airport.

The marathon is a point-to-point course. You’ll run 26.2 miles from Shinjuku to the Tokyo Big Sight exposition center. The Expo is also at Tokyo Big Sight and you can get there from Shinjuku by train in about half-an-hour.

The Expo is large, crowded and exciting. Runner check-in and packet pick-up are like a shinkansen bullet train; smooth, fast and the model of Japanese polite efficiency. They make things very easy foreign runners and everywhere you look you will see someone holding a sign saying, “I speak English”, “Hablo Español”, you name it. The vendor area was not the greatest in my eyes. But I don’t really shop at Expos anyway.

I strongly recommend the International Friendship Run 5km, held the day before the marathon. Traveling with companions who are not running the marathon? If they can run a 5km, they can part of the fun. Runners from all over the world meet for a 5km with a finish-line located at the Expo.

This wacky event lets you meet other runners, participate in silly stretching exercises lead by adorable local school kids and meet marathon royalty (the Race Directors of all six World Majors are there, hanging out with runners). It sells out fast, is limited to 1,500 runners and costs ¥ 3000 ($29).

The starting area of the marathon is as crowded and hectic as any other big run. The main waiting area is below ground level, beneath what an American would call “City Hall”. Most of the port-a-johns are Western-Style toilets but some are traditional Asian-Style squat-toilets. Choose your line accordingly! Getting to correct coral can be crazy so leave plenty of time.

The course in entirely urban and very dense. The route is shaped like a four-pointed star and has two long out-and-backs sections. There are few changes in elevation. The first 5 km has a gradual descent along the Kanda River, which is really more of a concrete canal.

At approximately 7 – 10 km the course runs along the steep walls and moat of the Japanese Imperial Palace. It is a great sight and crowds line the palace walls. In fact the crowds through-out Tokyo are some of the very largest and most enthusiastic you will ever see. There were an estimated 1.5 million spectators in 2016.

There is a hair-pin turn at 15 km in Shinagara and runners head back toward the palace. You’ll be able to see other runners across the road street, both out and back. The route continues through the packed streets through the high society and shopping of Ginza at 20 km.

There is another hair-pin turn at Asakusa; about 27 km. Runners pass the historic Buddhist temple and Shinto shrine complex here. Normally quiet and reverent, it is a madness of drums, bells and cheering crowds.

At 35 km the run goes past Tsukiji-Hongan-ji, the world’s largest fish market. Hopefully you have already been there and had the freshest sushi you can imagine. Following Tsukiji the course heads into the docklands to the Finish Line at Big Sight.

For this westerner the Tokyo Marathon was a chance to visit Japan and to run a World Major. I loved the run and the wonderful people, sights and food of Japan. Arigato gozaimsau Tokyo!

To the strains of the silly 80’s hit “I Love LA”. you’ll start From Dodger’s Stadium in a great arch over the north of LA to Santa Monica. Along the way you pass through a dozen neighborhoods and towns. It’s the closest LA ever gets to feeling like a single city. It’s a So-Cal laid back and friendly run in a town that doesn’t get too worked – up about anything, including this race.

Spread out and low-height L.A. doesn’t feel like the big cities of the East and Midwest and the AISICS L.A. Marathon doesn’t feel like a big city marathon. But it does have charm and spirit.

Check out seedy hung-over Hollywood, lots of truly friendly free-lance neighborhood rests stops and snacks, and the Mile 20 run through the giant V.A Hospital campus. You’re feeling tired? Be sure to cheer for the Vets in that hospital who be glad to run at all! After you run past a few Brentwood mansions and see people in bathrobes waive from their front lawns, turn on to Ocean Drive and the Finish Line. “I Love LA”.