Yuki Kawauchi nicknamed the "Citizen Runner" because in Japan he is a highly successful amateur athlete although his main rivals are professionals admits being disappointed after failing to gain Olympic Games selection.
However Kawauchi having pushed that dream appearance in London to the back of his mind is already focusing his attention of gaining a place in the Japanese side for a second successive time at next year's IAAF World Championships in Moscow.
That ambition will begin at the 10th staging of the Metro Group Marathon Duesseldorf on Sunday which has attracted 14,000 runners and he will become the first ever Japanese elite athlete to compete in the IAAF Bronze Medal event.
Kawauchi relished the opportunity to compete at the World Championships in Daegu last year where with in particular Kenyan athletes controlling the pace he fell away and eventually finished 18th.
Now the 25-year-old following his Olympic demise is gearing himself to get himself into shape to again make the World Championships team and he believes his first ever trip to Europe will be a valuable stepping stone in increasing his knowledge of tactical awareness.
"I decided to run in Dusseldorf as a warm up for London before I failed to make the Olympic team which was very disappointing for me," he said through interpreters on Friday.
"I wanted to prepare myself on a route which is very similar to that in London, with many up and down sections and would give me a good test," added Kawauchi whose fastest time of two hours eight minutes 37 seconds earned him third place at the 2011 Tokyo Marathon.
"Although not picked for the Olympics this will still be a very good competition for me particularly as there are many African runners also taking part.
"In Daegu I learned from them when they constantly shifted the pace and put in surges before making a big move where I just did not have the experience to stay with them.
"Now I want to learn more of their tactics before I prepare myself for my next marathon in Fukuoka.
It is there in November that I intend achieving the World Championships qualifying standard."
Kawauchi on Sunday will not be clashing with any rivals matching the quality of the big hitters who this month have claimed victories at the recent World Marathon Major (WMM) meets in Boston and London and the Dutch venue of Rotterdam.
But he could make inroads into his personal best against Ethiopia's Seboka Diriba Tola who ran 2:06:17 making him the fastest man in the field in January, while defending champion Nahashon Kimaiyo from| Kenya will be eager to score another win.
Whatever happens the result will not change his lifestyle. Kawauchi on Monday will fly back to Tokyo and arriving early the next morning, travel straight to his office to recommence a five days, 60 hours working week.
The host nation's interest will focus on Jan Fitschen, a former European 10,000m champion, who is planning to gain the German Olympic qualifying standard of 2:12:00.
In the women's event Ethiopia's Kebebush Haile last year's Shanghai champion with a personal best time of 2:24:09, is being tipped to smash the eight year-old women's course record of 2:26:44 belonging to Germany’s Luminita Zaituc.
Anna Hahner of Germany on her marathon debut will have pacemakers hoping to assist the 22-year-old achieve the Olympic qualifier of 2:30:00.
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