Minimalism - Online Income - ESL - Japan
I recently got a 20L WAA MDS Ultrabag. This is the official backpack for the Marathon de Sables, a 6-day, 250km foot race through the Sahara desert. I have no plans to do that race, but do intend to go on some multi-day adventures here in Japan. So far, I have used the bag for a 52km trail run and an 86km road run. I’ll assume that you’ve already researched […]
Over the last few months I’ve been planning a 50K trail run course, clearing trails and posting photos and course updates for the Kakamigahara Alps Trail Run Project on Facebook. All of it, along with a lot of training, was for yesterday’s first full course run. The team What I didn’t expect when I started this project was that I’d be joined by thirteen other enthusiastic runners, all of which […]
This morning I took part in my first cycling race. I’ve done a couple of triathlons before, but was apprehensive about a cycling-only race. After all, I’m not a cyclist, I’m a runner with a bike! The forecast wasn’t good and, sure enough, it was pouring with rain when I arrived at the foot of Mt. Fukube in Mino City, Gifu prefecture. I expected the race to be called off, […]
Update: This project is now live. Join the Facebook group here: Kakamigahara Trail Run Project. After the eye-opening experience of the Utsukushigahara 70K trail run that I didn’t finish last week, my thoughts have been filled with ways to best train for future races. There are plenty of mountains over 1,000m north of where I live in Gifu prefecture, but as we head towards winter, most of them will be […]
You’ve probably already heard that I pulled out of the Utsukushigahara 70K trail race at the 38km point, but a lot happened before that. Restless nights The day we were to drive up to Nagano coincided with my once-a-year duty to set up the crates for our neighborhood “unburnable rubbish” day. With the race on my mind, and knowing I had to get up at 5am to set up those […]
In a little over a week I’ll be on my way to Nagano prefecture for the biggest race of my life, a 70 kilometer trail run across the Utsukushigahara highlands. Since my disappointing performance in April’s Kakegawa Marathon, I’ve been nursing myself back to running health. The Norikura Marathon in June came too soon, but by running slowly and enjoying the experience I was able to finish it without any […]
On Saturday, August 3rd, I headed north again to Shirotori. Last week I hiked over the mountains, this week the plan was to run around them. Why?! Four weeks from now I’ll be taking part in the Utsukushigahara 70km trail race in Nagano prefecture. I’ve been wondering how best to prepare for that given that my longest run was 46km, and the heat of the summer makes any serious attempt […]
With five weeks to go before I take part in my first trail running race – a 70K run across the Utsukushigahara Highlands – I headed north on the expressway to Hakusan National Park. Mt. Haku is one of Japan’s three “holy mountains”, along with Mt. Tate and of course, Mt. Fuji. To get there from Gifu, there’s a long range of mountains to conquer first. My mission was to […]