Episode Title: "Sakura no Nagai Marathon Taikai" - Sakura's Long Marathon
First Aired: September 15, 1998
Kero-chan ni Omakase!

Cards Captured: Loop

Battle Costume

Rika asks if Tomoyo's foot is alright. Tomoyo responds by saying it is just a sprain. The other girls say it's a shame that she will not be able to run in the marathon but Tomoyo is happy that she will be able to record Sakura even moreso. Speaking of Sakura, the girls comment on how well of a runner Sakura is. Meiling overhears this and says that she will beat Sakura along with Syaoran. At a practice race, Syaoran and Sakura came in 1st and 2nd. When it was time for the 2nd group to run (which had Meiling in it), she wasted all her energy by sprinting within the first couple of laps. Instead of 1st, she came in last and embarassed herself.

When they are washing up, Syaoran tells Meiling that she must run a marathon differently than the way she runs a 100-meter race. Meiling doesn't understand so Syaoran just pats her on the shoulder. In the locker room, Meiling is eavesdropping once again. This time Yamazaki is telling a lie about how to train for marathons properly. Meiling is about to take this advice but Chiharu tells everyone that Yamazaki is once again lying.

Back at Sakura's house, her father asks what time her race starts. Touya is also interested since he only has classes in the morning that day. Sakura gets excited because Yukito will be able to watch also. Sakura explains how long the race is and Touya agrees that it is also long. But he makes fun of her by saying that she trains everyday because every morning she's late she runs with all her strength to catch up to him.

The episode then cuts to Syaoran's house where they have just finished eating dinner. Meiling says she is off to training while Syaoran advises her not to. Wei tells Meiling that if she goes running right after dinner she will have stomache cramps. She does not listen to either of them and goes running anyway. After running, Meiling is very tired and says her stomache hurts. Wei shows up and gives Meiling tips on how to run a marathon properly. She thanks him but Wei gives the credit to Syaoran.

When it's marathon race-day, Meiling finds Sakura to tell her that she will beat her. Sakura just looks at her funny but then Yukito calls her name. She runs over to him and Touya. They wish her good luck and tell her that they will be cheering her on. Syaoran also sees Yukito who then wishes him good luck also.

When Tomoyo is ready to start taping she speaks to someone through a headgear. The camera then zooms up to Kero-chan in the sky who is also watching the race giving Tomoyo details of who's in the lead, etc. When the race starts, Sakura, Syaoran, and Meiling pass mostly everybody. They are running at a steady pace and doing very well until they pass the cherry tree. Tomoyo sees their group run by two times and she gets confused. She asks Kero-chan who is in the lead and he says he should be seeing Sakura in a few seconds, but instead he says Yamazaki and the rest of the students.

Sakura and Syaoran start to wonder what's happening because they do not see any other students either. Meiling believes that they just ran so fast that other students would not be able to catch up with them. She then trips and hurts her leg. While they are stopped, Tomoyo shows up telling them that they passed her twice already and she has not seen the other kids either. She then hands her talking device to Sakura and lets her talk to Kero-chan. He tells her that the reason why they are seeing the same thing over and over again was a Clow Card. He identified the Clow Card as the Loop, who took a segment of the road and looped it. He also tells her that in order for Loop to expose itself she must "cut the barrier".

So Sakura and Tomoyo look for a strange connection and to Sakura's luck, she trips and realizes that the crack she tripped from was artificial. Sakura does not know how she is going to get the Loop to expose itself so that she can capture it, but Syaoran comes up next to her with his sword. She then uses the Sword card to turn her wand into a sword and they both cut the barrier at the same time. Sakura then seals the card and captures it.

After they get the card, Meiling is still hurt so Tomoyo and Sakura offer to stay with her until they can get someone to bring them to the finish line. But Meiling is still complaining about finishing with Syaoran. So Syaoran lets Meiling on his back and the 3 of them finish the race together. She then tells Sakura that she lost to her today only because she was injured but next time she will win.