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.
So, I guess I will add a little bit here. The marathon starts at 3 pm as you may know so it is not your early morning cool start. Although, it was pretty ideal conditions for a pretty race. When I passed Tracey and the kids at that first water stop I had just hit 10 K and I was chasing this small little japanese woman. At the water stop I was still doing fine but she pulled ahead of me and then as we continued on we hit some steady climbs and I got passed up by another guy. I looked down at my legs and they seemed so big. I just could not get them to move faster. I was only like 7 miles in and I had 19 to go, how was I going to achieve my goal. Well, I made a deal with myself that I would not walk at anytime except the water stops. I convinced myself that if I did this I would be under 4 hours. This was true. If I had walked once it would have opened to door and option to my body to rest. So, for the next 13 miles or so I just trucked along. I was tired but it was seriously so beautiful that it helped quite a bit. We will but some more pictures of the island but you just run along the coast for 90 percent of the race and it is at sunset. I was really excited to get to the very end of the island and start back toward the finish line. At this point it was dark and I had enough time to get to the finish line if I stayed steady. There were large crabs that were all over the road as I ran. Apparently night time is when they come out. The other runners were all so nice and supportive. Most of them just go to have a good time and run. I guess I should learn from them.
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!!!