升の山 山 MAKE OUR KIDS DO A SORTS OF STUFF LIKE RUN A MARATHON

It is chilly in Tokyo as I look out of our hotel room in Shinjuku, which has the view of the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building where the Tokyo Marathon starting line was yesterday, March 3, 2025.

- MARICEL LAXA-PANGILINAN

I am still in awe at what transpired. I had the privilege of witnessing my daughter, Hannah, run the marathon with an astonishing finish that cut her previous Boston Marathon time by an hour!

Hannah asked me why I would fly out to Tokyo on the day of my birthday to come days before the marathon. I told her I couldn't imagine having her take the trip without anyone from her family. We have always done things together. In fact, when they were little, we all made sure everyone came with us to train, race and recover from our races. We even have a tagline after our Team Pangilinan logo on our jerseys which says: "We Tri(athlon) Together."

Besides, the Tokyo Marathon is one of my favorite marathon routes in the world. I love it because I am obsessed with Japanese food! We all know that runners have to eat and carbo-load a lot before the race so why not feast on food you really love, right? At the same time, I love having a run in Tokyo because it is super organized, clean and the course is flat and walks you through the whole city which already gives you a very thorough tour of Tokyo and then it ends just by the Imperial Palace. The only challenge is to get to the Finish Line to cheer the runners because it is a maze going there! However, the fact that this World Marathon Major course is in Asia and so accessible by plane at just around five hours from the Philippines makes it really so practical for Filipino runners. Instead of adding days to the trip in order to recover from jet lag and acclimatize to the weather, you just use up the days to catch up with friends, shop and take a break, really.