Pacesetters member Kris Roloff traveled to Japan to run the Tokyo Marathon on March 1, 2026. This was a big step on the ladder she is actively climbing, with an eventual goal of completing all the major world marathons.

Kris felt a bit underprepared for this one. She had no injuries and felt pretty good going into it, just had not trained to the point of feeling like she would be able to register a speedy time. Training in WI over the winter is challenging. She had been logging some 10-18 mile runs, and maybe reached 20 miles once on a treadmill. But that was ok, as she wanted to simply enjoy the hugeness of the event and the Japanese culture, with 39,000 participants running alongside her.

Kris travelled with her son and his friend/partner and enjoyed seeing some of the area sites with them, and having them around for support. The 13 hour flight there went pretty well, and she was able to quickly rest up and recover from that (the flight home was a different story .... jet lag!!). She saw how clean things are around Tokyo, noticing a woman scrubbing sidewalks with a sponge mop. The language barrier was huge but Google Translator proved to be helpful. She used a marathon tour group to help her prepare and hold her hand along the way. And that was a good thing as this event has some very particular, detailed requirements. There were cutoff times for entering your designated race corral. Another woman's morning train was delayed leaving her 2 minutes late arriving at her corral. She was sent away and was not allowed to participate in the race ... oh no!! There were no exceptions made for anything.

On Saturday, the day before the marathon, Kris and her son ran the untimed Friendship Run 5k. They found it enjoyable, with flags on hand for the countries of all participants.

Early morning on race day was chilly with temps in the 30's, but warming to the 40's by the start. Kris shed her throwaway shirt before starting, and then her arm sleeves by mile 3, when temps climbed to 50. There was not much humidity but no shade from the overhead sun, which reached high above with the later start. Temps climbed into the 60's but it felt much warmer with that sunshine. By about mile 16 or 17, she was feeling hot so started mixing in some walk breaks. Since she set no time goal, she was able to mentally accept her slowing pace, and that lack of self pressure helped her enjoy the event (as much as one can enjoy being out in the beating sun completing a marathon!).

Another local Pacesetters member, Sue Erdmann, who you might remember us spotlighting in the October 2025 Pacesetters newsletter, also traveled and completed this year's Tokyo Marathon. She is also climbing that World Majors Marathon ladder. They had separate flights and accommodations and were unable to connect in Tokyo until after the race.

Tokyo was Kris' 29th full marathon. Soon after returning home, she did the Dick Lytie Half Marathon in Green Bay, and then the next step of her ladder was to be her first Boston Marathon this past month. This would be her 30th marathon, which nicely coincided with the 130th running of Boston. However, sometimes things don't go as planned. While in Boston doing a shakeout run, she rolled her ankle, so was unable to run it. How unfortunate! Rather than moping about it, Kris quickly adjusted her mindset saying that her time at the Indy marathon last November can be used for Boston in 2027.

So now Kris' majors scorecard has check marks for Chicago (twice), London, and Tokyo, which means she has completed 3 of the 7 majors. Her plan is to do Sydney this August, followed by Berlin and Boston in 2027, which will leave only New York City. She has entered for this year's Abbott lottery for the NYC Marathon and will find out later this month if she is lucky enough to get drawn. If not she will likely do her 31st full in New Orleans in November instead. How ambitious is that?!?! Pretty impressive for someone who didn't start running races until age 40 when her neighbor talked her into doing a 5k. Keep going Kris, you are well on your way!!

As a follow up to last month, on April 12th, Pacesetter Jordan Crawford competed in the World Race Walking Championships in Brazil. One of 5 U.S. male athletes to qualify at the half marathon, he went the distance amongst the best in the world, posting a 1:39:39, a 7:36/mi pace. Under very warm sunny conditions, with temps in the mid-70's, and at an altitude of 3,000', he finished 52nd out of 85 elite international entrants. Well done Jordan!!

Marathon running evolved from a survival-based human ability to travel long distances for the purpose of hunting prey. Did you know, as humans evolved, one of the key anatomical adaptations was the Achilles tendon for energy storage. Another key human adaptation was the ability to sweat to thermoregulate their bodies, an ability only shared by horses as a primary method of cooling down.

If you are unclear of the strange length that is used for every official certified marathon today, here is a little history for you. The idea of a marathon came from an ancient Greek legend dating back to the 5th century BC. The Greeks were in the midst of a 50 year battle vs. the Persian army. A foot carrier named Philippides was sent from Athens to Sparta to ask for assistance in this war. After the Greeks were victorious in their battle, he was then tasked with running from the battlefield of Marathon back to Athens to proclaim their victory. Perhaps the cell coverage was poor in that area and he was unable to simply send a text. You can tell from the picture below that running events were not a thing yet back then, as he was not wearing a running bib or a timing chip, perhaps because it was too difficult to pin it to all that armor.

Then it was a Frenchman named Michael Bréal who suggested a revival of Philippides fabled journey, and that tradition started as part of the first Olympic Games held in Athens in 1896. The original 40 km distance varied over the next couple of decades, until the 42.195 km standard (or 26 miles, 385 yards) became the official distance in 1921, which was adopted from the course used for the1908 Olympics, held in London. Jolly good! The first sub-2:30 marathon came in 1925.

Fast forward a century all the way to April 2026. Kenyan Sebastian Sowe breaks the unfathomable 2 hour barrier, completing the London Marathon in 1:59:30!! Shoe technology using lightweight fiber has been a key advancement. Sebastian was using an Adidas shoe which weighs just 3.4 ozs. That explains why I can't run that fast.

Pacesetters President Cyndi provides us with our May recipe, Protein Packed Energy Balls. Mix these ingredients:

• 1 cup oats
• 1/2 cup protein powder, vanilla or chocolate
• 1/2 cup peanut butter
• 1/4 cup honey
• 1 Tbsp chia seeds
• 2 Tbsp milk (or almond milk)

Form into balls, chill if desired, and serve ... no baking!!