Shibuya Ekiden Race Recap: Running Yoyogi Park with Nanmban Rengo

After what was probably the best Saturday I’ve had in Tokyo so far, I woke up feeling well-rested and ready to race. I’ve written about the day before already, and this felt like a continuation of a really excellent weekend.

Sebby and I arriving late lol

Breakfast was simple. Not my usual oats and eggs because I was racing, just oats with berries and banana.

Sebastian and I headed out early, aiming to get to Yoyogi Park around 7am. From Koenji, it’s honestly so easy - roughly half an hour door-to-door!

When we arrived, Yoyogi Park was already packed. Thousands of people everywhere. Shibuya Ekiden is pretty popular, especially with high school and university teams. So not just runners turn up, entire sports teams and classmates are there together. The energy was high straight away.

The boys :)

The Race Setup and Conditions

This ekiden was very different to the Okutama Ekiden I ran a couple of months earlier.

Okutama is a point-to-point race, meaning one runner starts on the road and runs in a single direction for a set distance, hands over the sash, or tasuki, to the next runner, who then continues further up the same road, and so on. Legs are long and hard. Once a runner passes through, that’s basically it. Spectators only really get to see one leg.

Shibuya Ekiden was the opposite. For the Open Men's race, each runner completes a 2.9 km loop through a section of Yoyogi Park, starting and finishing in the same location. That meant the start line was also the finish line for the first runner handing over the tasuki to the second runner, and so on.

Because parts of the loop were in close proximity to each other, spectators could move from the start, to sections in the middle of the course, and then back to the finish to cheer on their teams. It made a huge difference to the atmosphere!

Instead of seeing runners once and then waiting, people were constantly cheering, moving around, and watching exchanges happen right in front of them. How good :)

After my leg, we cheered on the rest of the boys. (And I ate a PB&J sandwich)

I’ll be honest, I was running a bit late, so my warm-up was only about 10 minutes. Not ideal, especially given how cold it was. (The temp was close to 0 degrees!) On top of that, the week leading up to the race wasn’t light - 70kms in the legs, and the day before we’d just run hill sprints lol. You could say my legs weren’t feeling exactly fresh. But, no that’s not an excuse, just context.

On the Start Line

Because our team was ranked in the top 10, we started right on the front line. Team number 10. There were about 84 or 85 men’s teams in total, with the rest stacked up behind us in a big crowd. I was the first runner for our team.

Standing on the line was actually fun. Chatting with the boys around me, cracking a few jokes in Japanese, keeping things loose. I was saying dumb shit like asking if it was too late to go to the toilet for a nervous poop, or pretending I hadn’t run in three or four years and wasn’t sure I could handle a 2.9 km loop. The lads were loving it, and it helped keep our nerves down.

Then the gun went.

And we're off.

My Leg and the Team Result

The plan was to run the rouhgly 3km loop in 9 minutes. Go out quick but controlled for the first 500 metres, settle in through the middle two kilometres, then push hard over the last 500m.

What I really should've done was rock up earlier to do a proper warm-up and scout the course, but there we were having not done that. No worries.

The first 500 felt easy. The middle two kilometres were hard. The last 500, I tried to empty the tank, but my legs felt exactly like legs that had done hill sprints the day before and a full week of training. Not dead, just heavy.

Doing my best lol

I crossed the line in 9 minutes 20 seconds and all things considered, I was happy with that.

The boys all raced well. We finished 7th overall, with a combined time of 38 minutes 57 seconds for the four legs. Solid result, good execution, and everyone did their job. We even got a little certificate at the end, which was a nice touch.

After the Race and Wrapping Up the Day

After our race, Sebastian and I ran an easy 10km around Yoyogi Park. Partly as a cool-down, partly to keep moving, and partly to support the rest of the Namban teams racing later on. Women’s teams, mixed teams, senior teams. Lots of cheering, familiar faces, and good energy all morning.

That afternoon, we went wandering through a nearby area because I wanted to check out a farmers' market I’d been told about. Turns out it wasn’t really a thing, just an extension of up-market grocery store lol. But no big deal, I was happy to be out and about.

We found a pizza place instead and grabbed a couple of slices. Japanese pizza is genuinely very good. I think it was New York-style, and it absolutely hit the spot. After a cold morning of racing, running, and hanging around Yoyogi Park, it was a pretty perfect way to finish the day.

I was lost for words.

Overall, Shibuya Ekiden was simple and good. A fun and well-run event. Everyone was happy with themselves and their teams' performance. Another great Sunday in Tokyo :)