I Ran A Marathon in Japan | Osaka Marathon 2023 Race Recap 

Japan, Kenya, USA: Ben is travelling!

Incredible race, Ben. Congrats! I started running last august and did my third half-marathon today and got a new pb at 1:41:10, quite proud of that :D

I have literally never reached 3:30/km in my running, never mind doing it for 42km. It's amazing how the marathon is such a different race for a huge range of runners. Congrats on the PB! I really think it would have been more PB without the travel stress, jet lag, Mizuno event stress. But not much you can do about those things. It looks like you ran a really smart race. Really happy for you. So excited for you for BOSTON!!! Have a great time in Kenya. Dude. All these experiences are incredible.

Ben: “I find it easier to run downhill than uphill…” 🤔🤣 I know you meant ‘relatively speaking’ but that sentence did make me laugh. Well done on a brilliant marathon time. 👏🏼

Kipchoge be aware. Ben is racing Boston 🔥🔥 Loved this series Ben. Massive congratulations on your PB and looking forward to seeing the Kenya videos and of course the Boston Marathon new PB video recap 😃

What an experience and a race in Osaka, and with more things coming along the way. Gonna be an epic year! you deserve it Ben, working hard towards your goals and making dreams come true. Cheers!

Congratulations Ben, great running! Looking forward to seeing your Kenyan running camp videos . I’m a huge Mizuno fan, I’ve been wearing them since 2011, I have the Wave Rebellions but not the Pros!

Excellent running! Great tips and nice to hear your experience!

Great insight Ben, thanks for sharing. I'm running my first marathon in Brighton on 2 April and hoping to get as close to 3h30mins as possible. 🤞

Amazing Race Ben. Happy for you. I saw you and your lady on the streets after valencia and even though your race did not go well , you guys were so nice to me. Im usually always 500 meters more at the end of marathons. I've just learned to deal with it and usually need a few seconds faster with pace. I'm also doing my first boston this year. So good luck

Thanks for sharing, Ben, really insightful!! Fueling strategy is crucial, just didn’t quite get it if you took gel on a starting line as well, before the 3 you took during the race.

Ben is our role model 🎉

Hi Ben. Don't get mislead by the Coros watch. Their Threshold HR is 171 for everyone as a default. Take a max HR test and Threshold HR will automatically update. Check your HR overall at HM, mine is 173 and after the maxHR test (194) my LT HR changed to 174. Closer to reality.

Well done great run and experience. On the shoes am a bit puzzled. Mizuno say they are for sub 2:30 marathoners and you are of course but if only such runners bought them they would not sell more than a few pairs and a commercial waste of time. So interesting that the likes of Sarah from The Running Channel was also asked by Mizuno to run in them and also did a PB despite of course somewhat off that standard. So are Mizuno kind of shooting themselves in the foot here?

You've really developed tremendously Ben. It's impressive, and I look forward to sub 2:20!

I’m running my 2nd Boston in April. Get training on the hills Ben! The whole course is rolling hills and then you have big hills in Newton around miles 18-21. It’s a tough course. Hopefully see you out there 😊😊

お疲れ様です。Thanks for the update. Well done. またおいでね

Welcome to Kenya..as a recreational runner have learnt alot from your experience as I prepare to run in Tcs Amsterdam Marathon later in the year.

Still amazed by your performance. Thanks for the breakdown of your race. Think you've earned a starting place with the elites. Huge respect Ben.

You could use more lighting in your video! Congratulations on your pb! Cheers!

Congratulations for your PB! I think that this shoe is suitable for a wider variety of runners than they claim. Personally, I think this is more usable for a middle of the age group runner like me than Saucony Endorphin Elite. I have run my last two marathons in Alphafly 1 and I think this might be my next marathon shoe. BTW, Nick from The Run Testers who is a heel striker didn't have any issues using this shoe. It is very hard to heel strike in this shoe, a heel striker is actually going to be striking more towards the midfoot and quickly pushed forward. FYI, Your cramping could be due to insufficient replacement of salts lost to sweating. If your fuel does not have sufficient salts, you might need to supplement additional salts/electrolytes.

Boston is a fantastic marathon and city but I would say get some hills in your long runs especially near the end. Oh and take gear for all weather situations. I still have nightmares about 2018

See you in Boston!

I really liked the Japan series with the build up, race vlog, travel vlog and recap. I think you could expand on the travel vlog aspect too as you are going to some interesting places and from a runner’s perspective it would be good to see where to stay, eat and train and interesting places to visit / run. Keep it up Ben. Good work 👏

Well done on the PB, hope training goes well for Boston, must be great to travel to all these amazing places!

I am looking forward to seeing the altitude camping training content!! best wishes!

Wow, amazing ben. Always love your insight and also tips.

One thing I took from this whole video. QUAD ZIPS ARE BAD! £10 for every second on those £100 half tights Ben 😂

Incredible stuff Ben, congratulations on the PB too! I'm really temped to pick up the Wave Rebellion Pro. I currently use the Alphafly v1 as my marathon shoe, but I do sometimes get a hotspot which can blister on my arch if my form starts to go.

Incredible effort Ben, very inspiring!

Great video. Have a great time in Kenya, I bet you'll find it inspiring and exactly what you need to prep for Boston!

Congrats on the PB that is awesome. Kenya training and the USA. Well wishes for Boston.

Great work on the PB Ben and really exciting news with Kenya 👍

Congratulations !👍

Great recap Ben. As usual saying it as it was. Congratulations again. Good luck for Boston.

Great job and enjoyed the recap

Thanks for a great video once again, well done Ben.

Love watching this Chanel. PB’ing in Boston seems crazy to me, but good on ya

Great video and congrats on the new PB Ben, awesome yet again. I picked up the Wave Rebellion Pro and had a few strides in the gym and just over a mile on the treadmill in them last night. Definitely going in my rotation and can see them maybe outshining the Endorphin Elite that I am still awaiting delivery on. Really excited about the Rebellion Pro and how it feels.

Gps is always 26.6 miles approx. My stryd footpod is more accurate but 26.35 is the best, corner cutting, distance I have managed. Now I calculate a 'watch pace' that I need to follow in order to achieve the 'real pace' I want. eg Goal time / 26.6 miles (not 26.2). Works well and I do not have to worry about screwing up the manual lap button. Napa, CA marathon, for me, starts in 16 hours! I will NOT be running your pace. Congrats on the PB.

great stuff.., awesome breakdown

Nice work! Congrats on the PB

Thanks for the recap. Beautiful running, I have to get the shoes for my 10K. I love the design.

Inspired by your story’s as always. Great run Ben and good luck in the next one will be keeping a close eye. New PB 👀

Good job Ben! 🎉

Well done Ben! 👏

Well done!!!🎉🎉🎉🚀🚀🚀

See you on the start line in Boston Ben. You’ll be a good 30 minutes ahead of me by the end but maybe I’ll glimpse you at the start

I wonder if you can get ‘Race Screen’ on the Coros. On the Garmin, it’s amazing. It rounds up (or down) your distance to the nearest km (or mile) when you manually lap.

Just beat my PB at Paris Half with the Rebellion Pro!

Amazing race and vlog Ben!👏🏼👏🏼 Enjoy your altitude training in Kenya. Is it your first time in an altitude camp??

Racing Kipchoge in Bosten!

Amazing Ben, was interesting at the end of the race they wouldnt let u just lay dow there.. for a min.. seems lil rough haha

Parfait, à part mon désaccord sur vos voyages, mais qui n'engagent que vous bien sûr. A l'ère où il faut faire attention à son empreinte carbone... Je suppose que vous prenez l'avion pour vos courses. Cela ne retire en rien à mon admiration pour vos chronos et vos vidéos bien faites

Certainly an interesting marketing strategy to link a shoe to a specific marathon finish time. Don't know what to think of it to be honest :D

🎉 🏃🏾

Massive congratulations bud so happy for you. Need your opinion what arm sleeves do you recommend? .

Welcome to kenya Ben!!

Hi Ben. Excellent breakdown and review, so thanks for giving me some things to think about. Sounds like lots of fun and hard work in Kenya. If you’re in Iten then are you joining Luis Orta’s training program?

Great running Ben!! Although I’m not sure how a shoe which puts you onto your mid foot/front foot takes load/stress away from calfs as they are more engaged in that position 🧐🧐

Hi Ben. Have you experienced any differences in accuracy between the HR monitor on your watch and the HR monitor you use on the arm? I can’t find any tests that compare these methods - only comparisons between chest vs wrist OR arm

Hi Ben, when u say u will manually lap at 5k in your next marathon, how do you set up the watch, data fields etc, Thanks Kevin 42.65 in Seville !

Congrats on your PB! Would you recommend this race to someone who is trying to BQ? Or do you think it’s too hilly and congested and would suggest some other races? Thanks

nice haircut and hairline dawg

Nice 1 Ben. Do you think your race and time would have been better with more sleep?

Just wondering what those blue Nike's are 🤔

Really insightful video; thanks a lot! Just have one question regarding your gels. How many carbs did you plan to consume during the marathon through gels and chews?

Is running a marathon this hard a good idea 6 weeks out from another goal marathon?

Nice video, thank you for sharing the experience. How did you manage the water/energy drink? did you take a glass (or two) at every aid station? how much do you drink before the race?

What are those blue shoes below the mizunos? React Vaporstreet ? Maybe use the coros pod or a stryd the next time?

Hi Ben. Well done. Did you notice the 4 mm drop ? Maybe you r more into AlphaFly, vaporfly and adidas pro most runners stil use is 8 to 10 mm. How did the insta360 go 2 behave? You turned it off because of the limitid time it records? I m thinking of buying one

Talking as someone who has never trained for or raced a marathon (longest race ever was 8 miles) so you can tell me that I haven't a clue what I am talking about, aren't you trying to run too many marathons at the cost of not racing any other distances? Don't you think that your marathon PB would come down if you were considerably quicker at 10K, 10 miles (or even 5K)? Remember, before he became probably the greatest ever over 42K, Kipchoge was a world champion over 5K!

Well done Ben💪💪💪thanks for the gel tip🫡

did you travel with sarah hartley form the running channel? she was also 'sponsored' by the mizuno's

Hi Ben, my name is Norbert, I am 69 years old and I still love to run, my goal is 5m a km, right now i am running 5. 25m per km so you think that very cushion shoes it's not recommended, I run on asics novablast 3 and superblast, I am buying hoka mach 5 next. Any ideas, suggestions from you what shoes should I wear because I want to run half marathon in a 3 month time. thanks in advance and good job on your Japan marathon.

i have a question regarding fuelling. you took gels only, no liquids at the stations? sorry if i missed it in the video. thanks.

Have you planned yet on what shoes to wear for Boston?

Use the watch a guide, not as the rule. If you energy to kick past were you thought the finish was you miss judged your effort.

If you were paying your own money which super shoe would you choose?

What parts of your body are still asleep before the start of an earlier timed race?

What's that in your laces? Keycard?

Great recap. Is taking a gel at 36km a bit redundant? I would have thought it wouldnt have any effect by the time you're finishing at that point 🤔🤷‍♂️

what is your maxHR?

Is it true you couldn't wear a hydration vest in Osaka?

A, B, C, D, E, F! Lol!😂

Hey Ben have you ever been injured? X

What armband did you use ?

Whada hugly shoe..

Like

Question - I know it was a sponsored race so you used the Mizuno. But do you think that you would have done better in a Vaporfly or Alphafly or Endorphin Elite?

Early

This feels to much like an ad. Be carful Ben don’t sellout

First

I must be Japanese.. I run much better uphill than downhill 🙄

When did you decide to go for the mario moustache look