Topic: Marathon Mario

[TheYoungerPlumber]

http://www.nintendoworldreport.com/blogArt.cfm?artid=17315

  Sunday was the 24th annual Naha Marathon. Originally inspired by the marathon held by its sister city, Honolulu, the Naha Marathon is now a proud Okinawan tradition that takes place in early December each year. Joggers hail from Okinawa Prefecture's grab-bag of disparate islands, the Japanese mainland, and a plethora of foreign countries. People train all year for its 42.195km tour of southern Okinawa-honto (which, by the way, is the exact same length as the New York and Honolulu marathons).    

That's all well and good. But why is it on a Nintendo-centric website? The answer is simple, really. The Naha Marathon is well-known for its costumed participants. These costumes range from silly hats to complete getups from Halloween.    

   

I saw a guy running in little more than a loincloth. Another was in a Spiderman suit. Heck, I even saw a one-eyed monster (no, not THAT kind) made out of foam. But what really caught my eye was this happy fellow:    

   

Sadly, I did not spot him until after he had finished, so I couldn't watch Mario in action. However, I did spot his less impressive doppelganger.    

   

But what a brilliant costume choice! After all, when you think about it, Mario is essentially running a marathon in his flagship games! Look, the guy even has a REAL moustache! (I'll overlook the happy face buttons.)    

Mario wasn't the only video game icon itching for a run.    

   

That's right! It seems that elusive Pikachu has reprised its role from PokĂ©mon Dash. The rodent must have snuck to the finish while I had my back turned—sorry, I didn't play PokĂ©mon Snap—but fortune smiled upon me during my stroll back home.    

   

   

As far as I can tell, this athlete not only completed the marathon in this costume, but wore it home! Dang!    

Sadly, Sonic was nowhere in sight.

[NWR_Neal]

If only American marathons were that cool.

My sister ran in a half marathon in Virginia Beach that is the "Rock and Roll Half Marathon" and features bands playing at different points during the marathon and bands all throughout the weekend. They usually get some good bands too, or at least interesting ones.

[ShyGuy]

That Pikachu had to be warm. Heat Stroke for the loss.

[Djunknown]

That Pikachu had to be warm. Heat Stroke for the loss.

No doubt.The costumed runners had sweaty balls to run 26.2 miles in that.

[TheYoungerPlumber]

I can't run to save my life, so I have respect for everyone who participated in this marathon, and especially those who finished!

[Pale]

I like the way Mario's pants were done runner style as to not interfere... but seriously, how the hell did someone run a marathon in that Pikachu get-up?

[Ian Sane]

Every year I do the Vancouver Sun Run.  It's only 10k so it's no marathon but it's still a bit of work.  Every year I see people in weird costumes and I can't imagine how they do the run in them.  I'm super picky about what I wear running.  I can't have anything bouncing or flapping around.  I can't have anything too hot.  It has to breathe well.  And in the Sun Run it's only 10k and a lot of people walk it.  So doing this sort of thing in a marathon is nuts.

[mac<censored>]

So doing this sort of thing in a marathon is nuts.

Welcome to Japan!