My Actifit Report Card: 2024/03/03 Volunteering For Tokyo Marathon

So yesterday I had the chance to participate as volunteer in this year’s Tokyo Marathon, thanks to @joanne1221 for inviting me.

Few days prior my volunteer kit was delivered. The kit came in a bag that includes uniform(jacket-made of recycle materials from previous marathon), gloves, towel, trash bag, cap, badge, disinfectant, and manual.

We had an early start and gathered at 8:55 in the morning. The volunteers were grouped and our team was assigned one of the sports drink station at the 35th kilometer of the full course. Since our team consists of returning volunteers and new volunteers, we had introductions first and then a briefing of what we have until the end.

Unfortunately we weren’t allowed to take photos and no mobile phones too when we have our uniform on. It was about the bad image of volunteers or something. But I really didn’t have the time to use it anyway as I was enjoying the moment.

Basically we had to setup our drink station with long tables and pour sports drink in cups. At the same we had to segregate plastic labels/caps/bottles too. It wasn’t so busy in the early morning as we were far from the starting point.

When we were all setup we waited for the top runners. I didn’t read the manual and I was surprised when the first one passed by in a wheelchair, he was really fast. If it’s the olympics it would be the paralympics category? I don’t know what’s it called when it’s a marathon. Anyway people were clapping when he passed so I clapped as well and cheered. We did it for all who passed by.

The top runner was a foreigner and he passed us around 2hrs from the start race with cars, patrols, and media around tailing him. The full marathon is about 42km and our booth is at 35km. When he passed by us he didn’t look tired and has a steady but fast pace, it was amazing to witness it with my own eyes. And there weren’t any other runners close behind him. It was still a couple minutes more before we saw 2nd and third, close to each other.

When I saw another media car with a runner I thought he might be the first Japanese runner faster than the rest. But I don’t know it was just a guess 😆.

Our booth wasn’t really busy as the top runners didn’t reach out from some drinks. It was around 11-12ish when we saw big crowds. People started getting drinks and we started filling more cups again while cheering them on. There were so many funny and amazing people I saw.

• Mario and Luigi costumes and hats
• Beer costumes and hats
• Pineapple hats
• Snow White costumes
• Anpanman
• 2 people in suit and costume
• Inflatable cow
• Frog hats
• Fish hats
• Painted faces
• Traditional costumes
• Old people
• Blind person with his guide
• Lottie costume
  And many more I couldn’t remember. What really amazed me were the old people and the blind person with his guide pushing through the tiredness. Such respect for them. There were so many runners looking so tired and mostly just walking but the volunteers kept cheering for them. It was great that our cheers and good luck wishes made them smile and hope it helped push them through the end as well.

When it was nearing the end, I switched to handle the cup garbage boxes. Little did I know it was a great timing as people suddenly flocked to our drink station. It turned out that only our station was left with lots of drinks as the other stations before us had no more drinks to give out. Our other team members were busy filling up cups while @joanne1221 and I just stood near the garbage boxes waiting for runners to fill it up with used cups. Of course I kept on cheering and clapping for the runners. My most uttered words were “がんばれ” and “頑張ってください”. I didn’t stop cheering unless I had to talk to other volunteers 😆

We thought the last runner already passed and we were given the signal to start cleaning but after a while we saw one last runner just before the cut off bus. It was really amazing to see everyone cheer him on.

So then we continued cleaning, just picking up cups, water bottles, and plastics. I can really say Japanese people are very efficient in their ways. Already garbage trucks were ready when the last runner passed. When the trash were all picked up another truck followed spraying the streets with water. Some runners just poured their leftovers on the ground and most of the times when runners grab cups while running, some cups get toppled over. The water spray was really thought out as the sports drink felt sticky under our shoes.

We had a bit of sharing before we were dismissed. They said we couldn’t take photos even after the even but we took a group photo. We also saw some people taking photos still with their uniforms on so we decided to take some as well 😆 This was after we were dismissed.

The weather was really nice and sunny. It was a bad decision to layer up with a thick winter jacket. I thought since it’s still around winter weather and we will be out the whole day I should wear something warm. But when the sun started hitting our spot, I started sweating too 😆 And I looked so stuffed with my uniform on 😆

We only had lunch from the convenience store and didn’t take a break the whole time but we didn’t feel hungry. So instead of getting dinner we went to a cafe, I got some kind of crepe cake and cocoa au lait, the menu said it’s not chocolate but cocoa - or was it cacao? 😆

I burned so much calories just standing, cheering, and giving out drinks the whole day. I didn’t feel tired but when I got home that’s when I really felt drained lol. The adrenaline rush got washed out 😆

It was a really fun experience and I want to apply as volunteer again next year. And maybe I should start training for a marathon. I got inspired by the people I saw and it got me thinking about it. Maybe someday I’ll be able to run a full marathon.
This report was published via Actifit app (Android | iOS). Check out the original version here on actifit.io

Daily Activity,Walking