Ferry tickets for a car and 5 people: 22,000 yen
Campsite for 3 nights: 3,000 yen (but free for runners)
Food and camping supplies: $150
Marathon Entrance Fee: 5,500 yen
Watching Tom cross the finish line in under four hours: Priceless
Tom is amazing. Truly amazing. I have watched him for the last several months just plow along following a very grueling marathon training schedule. We’d get the kids in bed after a long day and he’d lace up his shoes and head out the door. Every Saturday morning while we all slept he would run, and run and run. It was truly incredible (and exhausting) to watch! He had decided to run the same marathon that we did last year. For many reasons I decided not to it this year which meant we could bring the kids and make a weekend of it!
The race was on Iheya Island, the northern most island in the Okinawa chain. The course covers the perimeter of the entire island, then you cross a bridge and run out a few miles onto a smaller neighboring island. I have looked everywhere to get an online version of the race course but have had no luck. I suppose given that I only saw 5 Americans, two of them being Tom and his friend Scott, I shouldn’t have expected to find much in English! The race course is breathtaking, the weather was cooperative, not too hot or windy, and Tom was great!! His good friend Scott also ran the race. Scott just returned from a 7 month deployemnt to Afghanistan. It was great to spent the weekend with their family. Before the race they have a fitness instructor get up on stage and lead everyone in these great stretches. You can see the whole group behind them.
Here he is at the start of the race- easy to spot since he’s much taller than everyone else! 
Then we followed the runners to a spot on the course were they actually circle back and cross again at mile 7 so we set up camp cheered on all the runners! We got so excited as we saw Tom approaching, right on schedule. (Again, he looks like a giant next to all the Japanese runners!). 
The kids gave him a high five and he plowed ahead to the nearby water station. After high fiving all the other runners and the 1,200 who ran by for the half marathon we hurried back to the finish line to eat dinner and wait for the runners.
This is the part where you need to know what Tom was going through as he was running, and running and running! He was well prepared but there are still always the race day jitters and he said that by the time he was climbing a big hill at mile 10 he was getting worried. He said he kept looking down at his legs wondering when they got so big and heavy! But he made a deal with himself that he wouldn’t walk except at the water stations (which is what Hal Higdon says to do). He argued with himself and just kept going. He was so happy to finally cross the bridge, reach the end of the little island and then head back toward the finish line! At this point it was finally starting to get dark, he was 20 miles into the race. The sidelines were covered in blue lights to mark the path and the full moon finally came out from behind the clouds. Checking his time he knew he could make his goal if he just kept it up.
Back at the finish line the kids and I were getting excited and I was getting nervous and the minutes ticked toward the 4 hour mark. But then around the corner we saw him coming up the hill! The kids started yelling and trying to give high fives!
I was excited and I was trying to take pictures (sadly without the flash on so they are all blurry) and shouting at him at the same time! Here he is just about to cross the ribbon at the finish line: 3:56:20.
It was fantastic to see him do!!! We couldn’t be more proud! He was hot, sweaty and tired but happy! He took off his shoes, laid on the grass and ate the rice and stew they gave the runners. In the end, he said it was truly a beautiful race and one that he is so glad he did!!!
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