From chicken in Lawson to a Tokyo Marathon ticket

At 5pm on 4 October 2025, I was in Lawson buying dog snacks for Jordan and chicken for myself. I’d finished taking part in the marathon relay at Tokyo Rokutai Fes, I was exhausted, and I was going home.

Eleven minutes later, I was on another start line inside Ajinomoto Stadium.

I’ve got the video timestamps to prove it.

The day was supposed to be done. We’d taken on the 42km relay, I’d changed out of my running gear, and food had become the priority. Dog snacks secured. Chicken being eaten. Next stop: home.

Then my friend called.

There was a survival race starting in ten minutes. How far away was I?

I told her I was done. I was going home. I was eating.

Then she mentioned the prize: a Tokyo Marathon 2026 ticket.

OK. Suddenly I was running again.

Back to the stadium

Lawson was roughly 450 metres from the stadium entrance, according to the map. But getting back to the building was only part of it.

My friend met me outside and we ran in together. I still had to put my running shoes back on, get my T-shirt on, put my bib back on and fasten it. Then we had to get down the stadium steps and onto the start line.

At 17:00, my phone had been recording dog treats in a convenience store. At 17:11, another video shows us lined up, ready to race.

Somewhere in those eleven minutes, I’d gone from eating chicken and calling it a day to trying to win a place in the Tokyo Marathon.

A couple of minutes to catch my breath, and the starting gun went off.

I came first. Then I found out there was another round.

I put whatever energy I had left into that first 400 metres.

And I came first!

Which was brilliant, until I realised that meant I’d qualified for another round.

I hadn’t known there was a second round. I’d treated the first one like it was the whole race and spent pretty much everything I had left getting to the finish.

Then they started lining up the runners who had survived.

Me included.

I was confused, absolutely drained, and suddenly very aware that I had to do it all again.

Hanging on for the ticket

The gun went off for round two.

For the first 200 metres, I was still moving. Then I started slowing down. I was putting in the same effort, trying just as hard, but the speed wasn’t there anymore. I’d run out of energy.

The final 200 metres were about hanging on.

I managed to cross the line in second place, which was enough to secure a Tokyo Marathon 2026 ticket.

First in round one. Second in round two. Ticket secured.

Absolutely ridiculous.

Roughly twenty minutes earlier, I’d been eating chicken at Lawson, ready to go home. Now I had a Tokyo Marathon place and was being interviewed by running comedian M Takashi.

You can watch that moment in my original Instagram post.

Watch my original Instagram post ↗

I’m glad my friend called. I’m even more glad she didn’t leave it at my first answer.

Jordan got his snacks. I got my chicken. Somehow, I also got a Tokyo Marathon ticket.