Running the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Marathon Course

Tomorrow is two years to the day until the 2020 Tokyo Olympics women's marathon. On July 18 the IOC signed off on the Organizing Committee's proposal to start both the women's and men's marathons at 7:00 a.m. With Japan experiencing a record-breaking heatwave this summer this has caused a lot of concern in both the public and the media about the health and safety of the athletes, officials, volunteers and spectators during the marathons and other long outdoor events. As a 20-year+ resident of Tokyo and 14-year resident runner in the central area of the city I'd have to agree with the concerns, but since the IOC and other powers that be seem to think it'll be fine let's put my money where their mouth is.

Tomorrow I'll go out to run the Olympic marathon course at the actual time the women's race is scheduled to take place and report on the weather conditions throughout the run. A week later I'll do it again at the time the men's race will happen. I'd expect most of the women in the Olympic marathon to run more or less in the 2:30 to 3-hour range and the men in the 2:15 to 2:45 range. Needless to say I won't be running as fast as them, so to keep it within the same time frame tomorrow I'll run the first 20 km of the course, cut out the middle 8 km and go straight into the last 14 km. Next week I'll do the first 10 km then go from the 20 km to the finish, probably cutting out the turnaround leg between 31 and 35 km.

The forecast for tomorrow is for cloudless skies, around 60% humidity, almost no wind, and temperatures of 28˚C at the start climbing to around 33˚C by the time I plan to finish. Actual temperatures in the sun are likely to be quite a bit higher. NHK may be coming down to shoot some footage and talk to me about the experience, but either way I'll be live tweeting video and pics during the run so be sure to get in on the fun. If you do, feel free to buy me a sports drink and/or contribute to my hospital bills after the run via the link below. See you in the morning.