Chase Your Next Star at Tokyo Marathon: Your Essential Guide

[@JohnRitland-bh5wl]

I'm 72 years old now, and my last 2 marathons (October 2023) were both just under 5 hours. The information and advice here is SO helpful . Thank you. This will be my Sixth Star. If I finish Tokyo, I will have run ALL SIX MAJORS after my total knee replacement in January 2020. I have no idea how many runners -- if any??? have done this.

[@themegmethod]

Wow!!! What a legend you are, John! Huge congratulations on your mega achievements so far. And wishing you the best race day for tokyo. Not long now. Are you starting to get excited? How epic will that finish line be getting your final star?! 💛🌟

[@JohnRitland-bh5wl]

Of course I'm excited, as I'm sure you are too. You can add anxious, nervous, worried.... 🙂 I hope you have a wonderful race! @@themegmethod

[@themegmethod]

@@JohnRitland-bh5wl Haha all of the emotions!! Very excited for you! Thank you lovely - and you! Hopefully see you there 😃

[@nataliepassmore]

Thank you SO much for this!! I have also listened on Apple Podcasts (more than likely will listen at least ten more times prior to departure). You two have definitely put me at ease for this marathon! It is my first international marathon and second star. Good luck Meg! Hope to see you out there!

[@themegmethod]

Thank you so much, Natalie! I really appreciate you not only taking the time and energy to listen but to also send such sweet feedback. The feedback is appreciated and massively helpful as it helps us know what you all want to hear more about in the future. I'm thrilled to hear that the episode has helped put you at ease (thats exactly why we do it). MASSIVE congrats on already getting your first start and how exciting to have this as your first international marathon and 2nd star experience. We hope after this episode you can now focus on your excitement! Thanks again for watching, please do send me a message @themegmethod on socials if you need anything. And definitely looking forward to seeing you there! We'll have to organise a pre-start line meet up or something. Big love, Meg 💛

[@ordinaryuser4985]

This is extremely helpful. Been doing a lot of reading/watching Tokyo experiences for the past months. So few out there that talks about the expo and the race. Cutoff times made me worry. Good to know that my assumption on running a sub6 has been validated and will allow me not to see those cutoff ropes. I hope the expo lines disappears this year. See you there!

[@themegmethod]

Aww thank you so much for taking the time to listen to this episode and give such lovely feedback. We're thrilled to learn that its been helpful to you and that we could ease some of that cutoff time anxiety. It sounds like you'll be finishing comfortably within the time limit. Haha you and me both hope that the expo lines are within our favour! And yes, hope to see you at the start line! Best of luck for your training and have a safe flight! Please do let us know how you get on :)

[@slugwalkerlcw]

all the best to Class 2024 Tokyo Marathon especially those who are chasing for "sixth" star or "first" star . Run safe and enjoy !

[@themegmethod]

And you! Thanks so much for listening and taking the time to message. Wishing you the best experience!! 💛

[@TheRetrobek]

Running tomorrow, thanks so much for the info!🎉🎉🎉

[@themegmethod]

You are so welcome! Sorry to only just see this. How was your race?

[@ludwickeclemente9749]

Love the video! Informative and made me more excited to run my first star in Tokyo 2025. Cheers!

[@themegmethod]

So happy to hear its been helpful! Thank you for the kind feedback. Wow - Tokyo for your first star is epic! How is training going?

[@Ben.StevenswithaV]

Love these. Better get David down to Sydney for 2024 to give an Abbott preview!

[@themegmethod]

Thanks so much for the kind feedback Ben! We're glad its been valuable. Haha I think i'd join him! Would love to run down under! 💛

[@Ben.StevenswithaV]

Apparently running in 2024 guarantees entry for 2025, @@themegmethod . 😉

[@davidyim7744]

Thanks Ben. I would love to run Sydney - I’m hearing it’s almost a dead cert to be a major in 2025. Sadly I don’t think I’ll have enough time to get back from Sydney this year to run Berlin….! I have 8 marathons in my race roster already so it might have to be 2025!

[@themegmethod]

@@davidyim7744 I may join you buddy!!!

[@Ben.StevenswithaV]

@@davidyim7744 LOL! I have one....

[@emmanueloloko2612]

This is incredibly helpful. I’m doing Tokyo Marathon 2025, can’t wait for the silent disco 🎉

[@themegmethod]

Thank you for the kind message! We so appreciate you giving the episode a watch and to hear its helpful. We recorded this just before I ran Tokyo 2024 and I have to say that I had a completely different experience from Yimmy. It was far from the silent disco, the crowds were incredible and I had the best day. We will be recording a top up episode to release in February to talk about it. So make sure you are subscribed to the podcast so you see when its released. I also did a few solo episodes about my experience on the audio podcast (you can find it on your favourite podcast streaming platforms) as well as an episode all about my travelling tips for Japan. I covered everything I could think of. Have the absolute best time! I'm really excited for you as I really did have the best trip. Just send a message if you have any questions :) Yimmy will be running it again this year, so you may well see him around the event!

[@andrewhammonds4907]

Glad this came up in my feed! I’m running at Tokyo for my 2nd star and can’t wait. Some great tips in here, thank you!

[@themegmethod]

I'm glad too, Andrew! Thank you so much for listening and taking the time to leave a kind comment. Yimmy and I make these major episodes in the hope it can help make the journey as stress free as possible for others. Congrats your first star - thats epic! What was your first major? And incredible that you've got Tokyo locked in as your 2nd! Its a hard one to get into and often people's last. Are you feeling excited?! Hopefully I can bump into some listeners in the starting area!

[@ronoftroy]

THANK YOU so much for this in-depth video. Now I feel fully prepared to navigate and enjoy the Tokyo 2024 Marathon experience!!!

[@themegmethod]

You are so welcome! Thank you for taking the time to listen and write such lovely feedback. Yimmy and I love making the episodes and its all worth it if it can make some one else's experience even better! Are you excited for the big day?! Not long now!

[@KARLTOFFELTV]

I'm running my first ever marathon in Tokyo. First try in the ballot and it worked. Really excited for it.

[@themegmethod]

Oh wow! What an incredible first marathon experience you are going to have. Congrats on the lucky 1st ballot and have THE BEST first marathon experience 🤩 thanks for taking the time to listen and comment!

[@seffibejarano]

Another great Majors video Meg and David! I was waiting for this video as I am running Tokyo too in 7 weeks. Thanks for all the info and tips. I also hope David makes peace with NYC Marathon later this year 😂

[@themegmethod]

Thank you so much Seffi for taking the time and energy to listen and give such lovely feedback! Wahoo see you at the start line! Are you starting to feel excited? I have high hopes that Yimmy will make his peace in the big apple this year! 🍎🤣

[@sabrinanicolai9170]

Thank you so much for that amazing video! Really helpful. I am feeling a bit less nervous now! 😄 Going there for my 5th star! 🤞🏽See you there!

[@themegmethod]

Thank you so much for listening and sending such lovely feedback, Sabrina. Yimmy and I always hope they can be helpful to other runners. Its our way of giving back to the incredible running community. It will be 5 star too so hopefully see you there 🤩 Nerves are good - they are your body's way of telling you it means something! And the flip side of nerves is excitement. They look and feel almost identical - so does this mean you are also starting to feel excited?!! 💛

[@StellaGardner-ni6cc]

I’m so excited! I’m also running Tokyo in 5 weeks, and it will be my 5th star as well! 💕💕💕💕

[@themegmethod]

Ahh congratulations on the 5 star club, Stella! I'm so excited for you 🤩 hopefully I can bump into you at the start line!

[@andrewhammonds4907]

I’m so excited. Lucked out first time in the lottery for Tokyo although have missed out on the London and Berlin ones. I did Boston last year which was of course amazing. I’ll say hi if I see you for sure.

[@themegmethod]

Wahoo! So happy to hear that Andrew and what a race to luck out on as often people's hardest one to get into besides Boston. So you've ticked off the hardest two for sure! I've never got London in 9 ballot entries but ran it 3x for Charity and worth every second. Wishing you luck with the other steps! And amazing! Look forward to hopefully bumping into you and saying that you in person, Yimmy and I really appreciate you taking the time to listen and message! Happy Taper 💛

[@lucdelauzun]

Very helpful guide! This has got me extra excited about the upcoming race. Thanks Meg.

[@themegmethod]

You are so welcome! Thank you for taking the time to send such a lovely message. And thrilled to hear its been helpful and gotten you excited! See you at the start line 🤩

[@thewizardsstaff-amtgedhpod7780]

Loved the video! Thank you for this information and it was fun to hear you two exchanges stories, I’ll definitely be listening to more content. I’m running this year, I was curious though if there are any pace groups?

[@themegmethod]

Thank you so much for taking the time to listen and send such lovely feedback. We're really glad its been helpful. Huge congrats on getting a place! Are you getting excited?! Yes, there will be pacers for the marathon but please remember that the waves are organised by gun time. So the pacers in your wave will be positioned accordingly 👍

[@rych7852]

I listened to this in February. And by chance it just played again on my mp3 player this week on a run. So fun to revisit after returned home Everything said by David and yourself was right for this years event. Only the Asics stand at the expo was even worse! just a total bunfight and when we FINALLY got our bibs after an hour long queue, there's was nothing left in any size below Large! And from what I gather Large was really XL and everyone was trying to swap for smaller sizes. That was Thursday afternoon! Expo aside, (def the worst part of the trip!) I adored my trip to Tokyo and I need to go back to Japan at some stage (without a marathon) as I missed so much of the country. Particularly going out West towards Hiroshima Very true on the Western faces thing. Lots of chatting. Chatted to some German guys, met a couple French, some Irish, the ever present Swiss and some Italians. I "think" I saw Meg herself, but couldn't be sure so decided against storming up to a random lady on the street and telling her I loved her pod. Just in case it wasn't her!! 😂😂

[@themegmethod]

Hi! Thank you so much for taking the time to listen and provide feedback. How was your Tokyo Marathon? Are you training for any future events? I'm delighted you could relate to a lot of what we shared on the podcast (although not so great to hear the Asics experience was worse🥴). I'm thrilled to hear you adored your trip in Tokyo - I already can't wait to go back. I have a solo podcast episode coming out tomorrow (the youtube version will be in a few weeks) all about my trip to Japan including the other cities we visited including Hiroshima - hopefully the episode can bring you some nostalgia from your trip and also give you some tips for visiting places like Hiroshima in the future. Aww I would have loved to have said hey to you but totally respect your apprehension in not wanting to storm up to a random lady (although would have been a great story haha!) Hopefully I'll have an opportunity to say thanks for listening in person in the near future! Big love 💛

[@r3con23]

Thank you for this, really helpful. 😊

[@themegmethod]

You are so welcome! Thank you for taking the time to listen and send such lovely feedback. Yimmy and I love to make the episodes and really happy to hear it can be helpful! Are you excited for the race? Also, I see from your youtube that you are a cyclist! Thats amazing. Do you just do long cycles or are you intro triathlons too? 😃

[@MrAkhe83]

What’s with the clothes rules & regulations in Tokyo? Is it ok to run with a singlet with name of your country? Like the classic singlet

[@zakensalomo9420]

Tokyo gonna be my 1st Star. Wish me luck 😁

[@themegmethod]

Good luck!! What an incredible event to have as your first star 🤩 Are you excited?!

[@yoonchun6945]

Where do you recommend for runners to stay?.

[@themegmethod]

Most runners will stay either near the start line in Shinjuku or the finish line in Ginza. Both are very accessible by train. I personally stayed near Shinjuku and a lot of the sport tours company book their hotels in that area also. Its just up to preference whether you want to have quicker access to the start line or be closer to your accommodation when you finish. If you have any further questions, feel free to send them my way. I'm easily accessible on instagram @themegmethod

[@StellaGardner-ni6cc]

Sooo stressed about the time limit

[@themegmethod]

Sorry to hear you are stressed. Hopefully what we had to share in the episode regarding the time limits can be more reassuring. Feel free to send me a message using the contact details in the show notes if you want to explain further and i'll see if I can be helpful 💛

[@sracine10]

I’m stressed out too- luckily my pacing is better than what it was in my last marathon.

[@themegmethod]

@@sracine10 Massive congrats on improving your pacing. That's no easy thing and shows how far you've progressed! You've got this!!💛

[@sracine10]

@@themegmethod thank you so much. Losing 60lbs helped but I’m still so nervous about the cutoffs. Gotta trust my training at this stage. The advice in the video is super helpful! I may listen to it again when I fly to Tokyo.

[@themegmethod]

@@sracine10 Wow! What a superstar. That takes so much work and consistently showing up - huge respect for that! Trust in the progress you've already made - history tells you that you show up. You've gotten things done. And absolutely trust in your training. That's why we put in the hours. Back yourself! Trust in your training and what you've already achieved💪And don't forget to enjoy the day. It's easy to focus on the finish line but don't miss out celebrating and appreciating what its taken for you to get to the start line. You're awesome and you've got this 💛

[@yoonchun6945]

Tokyo Marathon doesn’t sound that impressive compare to Boston or London , and I wonder why runners like to run this race so badly?..

[@themegmethod]

I must say that Tokyo wasn't really on my radar when I first started Marathon running. I did a lot of the majors by accident as wanted to run in those cities anyway. Then as I only had 2 stars left, decided be more intentional and to chance the Tokyo ballot and was fortunate to get in. Im so glad I did because Tokyo Marathon completely blew me away. It's now one of my favourite majors i've done. I had a completely different race experience to Yimmy's (his Tokyo experience was the first one they'd done pre-covid and still had a lot of restrictions). The local crowds were fantastic, the marathon itself was extremely well organised and Japan was an incredible country to visit. I thoroughly enjoyed the marathon and travelling experience. Everyone will of course have their own experience and these can differ wildly, it may not be for everyone but I honestly couldn't recommend it more highly. Very grateful for the experience and can now totally see why so many runners favour it!

[@yoonchun6945]

Thanks for sharing ! Well I got in for 2025 , just found out, and planning on running it ! So your video is very helpful!!! I’m trying to get all the tips before I leave for Tokyo … Wondering about hotels.. there isn’t much info out there for hotels… just book somewhere near the start line in metropolitan government building??? Thanks