Minimalism - Online Income - ESL - Japan
When I finished teaching at kindergarten, something I had done for nearly 20 years, I found myself needing to replace the lost income. I had assumed that I could get some private students, but living 5 kilometers from the nearest train station, and only being available on weekday mornings really limits the potential for that. So I looked online. I was surprised to see how little the big companies pay […]
For anyone who has been patient enough to wait 7 years for a new blog post, thank you! Blogging used to be cool. We built whole communities around it. Very few of us were experts on anything. We just enjoyed writing about our experiences – mine being in Japan, where I still am – and shared comments of support. Somewhere along the way, big social media sites took off and […]
Last weekend I took part in my first 100km race, the OSJ Ontake Ultra Trail. It came a bit too soon after the Utsukushigahara 80K, and I wasn’t particularly up for it, especially as it started on the stroke of midnight when I’d usually be fast asleep in bed! I opted to start at the very back of the 1,000 runners, intending to follow a very conservative race plan that […]
This weekend I went up to Nagano prefecture to take part in the Utsukushigahara 80K trail race. This is the same race I DNF’d last year, except this time they increased the distance by 10K and added only one hour to the course time limit! (Course map and elevation chart) The top runners on the final climb – photo from Utsukushigahara Trail Run’s official Facebook page. Before the race I […]
This week I’ll head back up to Nagano prefecture for a second crack at the Utsukushigahara trail race. There are a couple of differences this year. Firstly, the race has been moved from the end of August to early July, which should make things a touch cooler. Secondly, for the sake of calling it a “50-miler”, they’ve extended the course by 10K, but with only an hour tacked on to […]
The only time prior to yesterday that I attempted the Kakamigahara Alps 50K trail run course by myself was in October. On that occasion I DNF’d at 44km after 11 and a half hours. Since then I’ve done it twice with a group, finishing both times in about 13 hours, but failing to meet the course time limit of 12 hours. And so yesterday I set off by myself with […]
Hey Keith, so great to hear you’ve signed up for your first trail race. I thought I’d share some experiences from my first race so that you can avoid the mistakes I made. Last August, I took part in the “Utsukushigahara Trail Run & Walk”, a 70km trail race in Nagano. A few months earlier, I ran the Kakegawa Marathon and unnecessarily injured myself to the point where I only […]
I’ve been trying hard this year to avoid posting boasting about my training on social media, instead leaving my workouts where they belong, on RunKeeper and Strava. But please let me indulge myself a little on my blog. 🙂 Three big races I have some big goals this year and am doing some big runs to prepare for them. The three big races I’ve set my sights on are: 1. […]