The Amazing Organisation behind the Tokyo Marathon

I mentioned to Shudo-san, a Japanese friend, that the Tokyo marathon was the best organised from start to finish. In true Japanese humility, he told me that things were not always this way. He revealed that in earlier years, there were complaints about insufficient toilets along the way, as well as issues in managing the event during rainy days. What was amazing was not the machine like efficiency that the Japanese are famed for, but the behavioural insights they had in in executing the event. The following are just some examples: 1) The runners kit had everything except the runners' T shirt. This had to be picked up separately in the runners fair in the next hall even though it was logistically far easier to include this in the kit. This ensured ALL runners visited the fair and inevitably left some Yen behind. 2) Bag deposit was dispersed. Runners were directed to deposit their bags in designated trucks which was assigned by number tags. Find your truck and you are close or at least on your way to your starting block. Many other marathons have centralised bag drop points which can be a crowd control nightmare. 3) During the race, there is no chance of mixing water and isotonic drinks at water points. They are clearly demarcated by the colour of the volunteer clothes - orange for isotonic, blue for water. The water points are laid out for at least 100m - thus ensuring no crush which is common in most marathons. This also allows multiple pick ups even while running. 4) Serving size was clearly thought through. The quantity of fluid in each cup was all one mouthful. This allowed runners to pick, swallow and run - not trying to balance a full cup (most marathons) or choke on a full bottle (Bali marathon) while running. All food - buns, bananas (peeled) are cut to bite size allowing runners again to pick, swallow and move. This is done consistently from start to finish. 5) To disperse runners at the finish point, a number of stations were placed at a distance from one another, but within clear sight of the runners crossing the finish line. The stations were also placed in logical sequence. Fluids (first station), towel to keep warm (second station) food (third station), and lastly the finishers medal. By the fourth station, you are 200m away from the finish line. 6) To manage the massive crowd, the entire convention centre at the Big Sight is used. Gone was the fair the previous day. In its place - in Hall 1 : all the bags deposited in Shinjuku nicely laid out on the floor by truck and runners number. Hall 2 : zones for runners to change out of their running gear - by tag number. Hall 3 : Meeting point, again in numbered zones. No overcrowding and exceptionally well thought out flow. 7) And if that attention to detail has not gotten you, what about having a Doctor to run with the runners!?

The 2013 Tokyo Marathon

Running a marathon is like childbirth. One has to commit to the event, undergo months of preparation, have a little apprehension prior to the event; lots of huffing and puffing in the midst and swearing that you'll never do it again, and then deciding after its all over that it wasn't so bad. So let's try it again? Tokyo was my 13th childbirth. Those responsible were Erik who ran a PB (qualified for Boston!) with me, Karl for telling me how great the event was last year even though it rained, and Donna who registered me. [Clarification: None of the above impregnated me.] The Tokyo Marathon is now one of the world's six major marathons. The event attracts an incredible number of people - both runners and volunteers - in this once a year extravaganza. When registrations closed for the 2013 Tokyo marathon 303,450 people had applied for the full marathon. Eventually, only 35,000 were permitted to run. 10000 volunteers were recruited for the event. The theme was "the day we unite" and Tokyoites of all ages descended on Shinjuku to pound the streets of Tokyo. For me, there were several firsts. First, the flag off time was 0910. Usually, one can end the run before lunch. Here, you run through lunch. Second, it was run in the midst of winter. The day started at -2 deg at dawn, was 4 deg at the start time and never rose above 7 deg all day, under windy conditions. But at least this year, the marathon was run in complete sunshine. The 2011 marathon was the only other Tokyo Marathon which wasn't rainy. I dressed in a sweater and gloves and when the wind blew, I was glad that I kept them on. [Note: Dress warm.] Thirdly, this was a crowded run. In most marathons, runners thin out after 5km. In Tokyo, it never did, so trying to overtake can be strenuous. [Note: If you want to clock a PB, declare a time that is half an hour faster than your actual time. You'll get to a block in front with less runners.] With the cold temperature, I made a mistake on fluids. For the first time in 13 marathons, I felt the need to go to the toilet! On the course, there were many toilets, but the queues were long. So I kept postponing the visit until I reached the 16km when the effort to contain was at least equal if not greater to the effort to run. So I queued. And the queues were still looooooonnng. [Note: there is no need to hydrate in Tokyo before the race. There is so much water on the course that you can hydrate almost anytime. Moreover, the winter cold means water loss is small. Ultimate aim: avoid the toilet queues disrupting the run.] But otherwise, it was a most pleasant run through the streets of Tokyo with total road closures in midday. Runners were bathed in bright sunshine. Stunning crowds, band performances and cheerleaders lined the street literally from start to finish. They made the kms fly by. The fancy dress were both ways - runners and spectators. Erik was disappointed that we needed to loop the same road twice - to Shinagawa and to Asakusa. I was sad we didn't get to run through pretty areas like Omotesando and Roppongi. But the cries of "Ganbatte", "Haito" (It took me a while to figure out what "Haito" was. Then I realised that its the Japanese version of the English word "Fight" - "Fighto"), the unbelievable enthusiasm of the volunteers (you can high five all of them at the water stations), the offer of free snacks by the public (ranging from sweets to, yes miso soup ) and the warm Japanese smiles motivated runners all the way through. Training paid off. I usually enforce a walk every 10km, and then every 5km after 20km. This time, I ran the first half so slow - too crowded to overtake, admiring the sights, deciding to lose jacket or not, photos, toilet break, eating - my slowest 21km ever, that I did not walk until 26km - at Asakusa. And then I only enforced another walk at 35km, after which I ran all the way home. I recorded my fastest back 21km, not quite a negative split but close. No cramp, and at the finish, I could have continued. Gun time of 4:57. Personal time of 4:41. A last note - Tokyo was amazingly well organised and deserves to be considered for the 2020 Olympics. But that is for another blog.

Thinking about Happiness

During a golf game, the Deputy Minister for Finance Indonesia, Mahendra Siregar, turned and half jokingly asked me, "Do you know the difference between Singapore and Indonesia?". He explained, "Both our people love to complain, but in Indonesia they remain happy." We laughed. Given the politics in Singapore, we both realised there was much truth in what he said.

Singaporeans are an unhappy lot. In spite of topping the world in a series of league tables - including being one of Asia's wealthiest countries - in December 2012, Singapore attained the dubious honour of being Gallup's most unhappy country in the world. In contrast, Indonesians by and large are a happy lot, far happier than the average Singaporean, even though materially they have much less and the problems they face are potentially much more severe. Optimism and consumer confidence amongst the Indonesians are at a record high.

It is clear. There is little correlation between the general happiness of the population and material prosperity. Why? People often cite cultural reasons. Singapore is clearly more stressful. Confucian societies emphasise education excellence through hours spent on rote learning, hyper competition to walk a career path that society narrowly defines as success (become a scholar, government official, lawyer, doctor), hard work at the expense of leisure, and obedience to authority. Non-Confucian societies, like Indonesia, emphasise more of the community, of having quality family time, of being satisfied with enough rather than more, of savouring life rather than moving at 100 miles per hour. What is unsaid are social attitudes that accompany this. In many of the latter societies, people have time to smile and banter in chatter. I am always taken by how easy it is to strike up a conversation with a stranger in Indonesia as compared to Singapore, and how everyone seems to be polite and make time for each other. More recently, many have come to cite other macro factors to explain the growing unhappiness. After all Singapore was not always like this. Increasing inequality, a feature that has been made more pronounced since the onset of globalisation, is one reason. Singapore's gini coefficient is one of the highest in the world while median salaries have stagnated for over a decade. (Relative wealth rather than absolute wealth is what really matters.) Skyrocketing housing prices and the high cost of living have put the aspirations of the average citizen out of reach. The lack of social mobility - the ability of the lower class to break out of their lot - is a deep problem.

Added to this is the physical sense of overcrowding, something that clearly alters the sense of calm. One has to rush, queue, ballot, squeeze and share when they previously did not have to. The backlash against immigration is not unique to Singapore. In Hong Kong, another overcrowded territory, there is resentment against Chinese mainlanders - for their lack of sophistication, their contempt for sanitary regulations, the stampeding inflow of mainland mothers seeking to give birth in Hong Kong, thus swamping hospitals largely to secure residency permits for their offspring, and for driving up property prices. The backlash is clearly a symptom and not a cause. At the final reckoning, there is truth in both as to the cause of unhappiness. But to me the bigger lesson is that we need to look way beyond GDP/Capita as an indicator of how well we are doing as a nation.