I hadn’t planned to run the Tokyo Marathon this year.

For the past six years, I’ve entered the lottery and ended up with a rejection. Last year, after my sixth rejection, I got an email from the World Majors organization inviting me to apply for a “second lottery” exclusively for runners who have earned four and five stars toward their six-star medals. At the time, I told Marion, “There’s no way in hell I’m going to get in, but it costs me nothing to try.”

Two months later, though, I got an email from Abbott. I got in! In the meantime, I’d already registered for the Mesa Marathon, which was two weeks before Tokyo. Marion found an airfare deal that required us to spend a week in Hawaii on the way. We suffered the hardship, imposed on our friends Richard Lapenes and Pla, and moved up our wedding day to allow us a glorious morning during which we literally “tied the knot.”

When we arrived in Japan, the forecast for Sunday was cold and rainy. By race day, that had changed considerably. We woke up to a beautiful day, mostly cloudless, 48 degrees. Perfect marathon weather!

The starting area was CRAZY, with lots of arbitrary rules to follow. But follow them, we did. (True to form, the Japanese port-a-potties were possibly the best I’ve ever experienced.) My goal—having run another marathon just two weeks before—was to finish in 3:25.

In the starting corrals, we heard performances from what sounded like Mrs. Tanaka’s third-grade class, followed by some European guy shredding it on an electric guitar.

At EXACTLY 9:10 a.m., the starter’s pistol went off. Confetti, cheers, and chaos. And we headed out.

It was a remarkably subdued crowd, even for Tokyo. Most of the screaming came from people who were clearly out-of-towners. The tall buildings completely juked with my GPS … one minute, my watch would say I was running a 12:50 pace, then it would claim I was going 6:42. Running through any city is fun, though, and I enjoyed the scenery and the odd costumes and the muted crowd support.

I missed Marion the first two times she tried to find me. Either I was on the wrong side of the course or she was, or somebody got in the way. Finally managed to connect in the final mile, and I blew her a kiss and hustled toward the finish line. I knew I was just a bit ahead of my goal time, and I really wanted to finish strong.

Final time: 3:24:20, 40 seconds ahead of my goal. Not bad for an old guy just two weeks out from a solid BQ in Mesa.

The post-finish was weird. The first thing they handed me (after the medal) was a plastic bag. Then it was time to trick-or-treat. We got two bottles (water and electrolyte drink), a pouch of some kind of goo, a “processed cheese cube,” and a banana—sealed in plastic, per Japanese standards. We also got pouches of bath salts, samples of shampoo and conditioner (which will be super helpful for me) and assorted … toiletries, I guess?

After a subway ride home, I had a big meal, a very hot shower, and a well-deserved nap. Next up: SUSHI!