Osaka Marathon Time 大阪マラソン2011

This blog has three basic themes, life as an educator, living in Japan and running. Today’s post is a mix of running and life in Japan.

All right, today the registration for the 1st Osaka Marathon 大阪マラソン opened. It was supposed to start at 10am this morning, but then got bumped up to 11am. Similar to the Tokyo Marathon, registration will be open for one month and it will be a lottery. If you are interested in running in the Kansai Region’s first major international marathon you apply and then sit back with your fingers crossed. At some point in late April they will announce the lucky 28,000 folks who get to run the full marathon.

I’m really hoping I get selected after last fall’s disappointment with the Tokyo Marathon 東京マラソン. I was selected in 2009 to run the 2010 Tokyo Marathon. That run was the time of my life. I was so happy to have done it and I applied to run in this year’s as well. Unfortunately I didn’t make the cut. Although many other folks I know were selected to run again, I wasn’t. To be honest, I think people who apply from outside of Japan have a far better chance (if not guaranteed) to be selected in the race (Tokyo Marathon) than those applying from within Japan!

Last fall, when I ran the Osaka Yodogawa Marathon I ran a sub 4-hour marathon. I have to admit that I trained well for the race, but was a little lazy and could have trained much harder. For the Osaka Marathon I put my “hoped” time as 3hrs 45mins. I think this time will be completely achievable if I add more tempo runs and more sprint training.

The Tokyo Marathon has a relatively short history, but has brought a great deal of attention to the city of Tokyo as well as a huge infusion of money into the Tokyo economy. I suppose Osaka, Kobe and Kyoto are looking for the same financial windfall! That’s why 2011 will see the first Osaka Marathon on October 30, the first Kobe Marathon will be at some point in November and Kyoto will have their first full marathon sometime in early 2012.

It’s shaping up to be a fun running year in this part of Japan!

On a side note, I was really surprised by the most recent poll I placed on my blog. I asked readers to vote on the Japanese city they would most likely want to visit. The results:

Sapporo 28%
Tokyo 21%
Kobe 14%
Osaka 14%
Kyoto 14%
Fukuoka: 8%

That’s right. Most people who voted wanted to see Sapporo. I haven’t been there yet, but I hope I get the chance.

Time Lapse Japan

I thought some of you might be interested to see some pictures from the Tokyo marathon last month. If you ever have the chance to run a 10k/half/full marathon, you may notice loads of very professional cameramen sitting on the sides of the road with high speed cameras. They make these very professional "action" photos. You can later go to their website and choose from about twenty pictures and then purchase them for a very high price. I simply copied and pasted a few of the preview shots (hence the All Sports watermark on the pictures). When I ran my first full marathon a year and a half ago in Osaka, I bought a few, but won't be doing that again for awhile!

Here I am running in the very wet and miserable conditions of Tokyo marathon 2010.


Still running. At the end of the race the sun came out and it ended up being a very beautiful afternoon.



A few days ago I posted my first attempt at time lapse video on You Tube. I was quite happy with the way it turned out, but learned a lot about how to improve on this style of video while editing it.


The final product and positive viewer feedback prompted me to go outside and film a lot more. i took some wonderful footage the other day in and around Kobe. I plan to post some more time lapse videos later on in April.



While standing under the Kobe Bridge (connecting Port Island to the mainland) I snapped this photo. I was filming various boats and ships sailing around Kobe Harbor. The footage I took was pretty good. Again, you can see the results later on in April.


I begin work tomorrow. The new school year officially begins next Monday, but I have been working a lot from home for the past few days preparing. Since I will be busy with work and am making more of an effort to study Japanese, I will take a little leave leave of absence from You Tube. Making videos for You Tube is a wonderful hobby and I really do love it, but it can be extremely time consuming. Creating and editing videos is one thing, but building and maintaining community with my viewers is the truly time consuming part (yet very rewarding). I will however, be back within a few weeks.


I plan to update my food blog Kansai Eats, regularly as well as this one.

Running, Sundays and Fevers

I had a great run yesterday afternoon. It was a sunny and warm day here in Kobe and I went for about 12 km. I was supposed to run again this evening, but the rain, fog and cold were telling me not to go. I was also really tired. It wasn't a normal tired. Sure, I have been running 6 nights a week as well as going to Japanese class twice a week, but this tired felt a little weird. As the afternoon and evening have gone on, I have felt stranger and sure enough, I now have a fever. Hopefully I will feel better in the morning. I really have to get on the road and pound out some kilometers. As of tomorrow it will officially be 28 days until the Tokyo Marathon and I still have a lot of work to do.

Yesterday was a cool day because after my run, my wife checked the mail and I received to very cool running related packages. One was my bib number exchange certificate for the Tokyo Marathon. I will bring that to the race expo the day before the race and get my race number and timing chip. I also received a very cool package from the United States. My friend and fellow runner/You Tuber, John Pham (Phampants) sent me some running gels. I mentioned in a recent You Tube video that I use Power Bar gels and another kind called Carbo Shotz. many commenters recommended using Cliff Shots or GU, but I can't get either of those brands here in japan.


Here is the treasure trove of running goodness sent to me from Chicago. If you are reading this John, you can expect something cool coming your way in the mail later in the week!

I almost forgot to mention that in two weeks from today I will be running in a half-marathon. I did the same one last year and loved it due to the convenience factor. Although not a very scenic run, the Kobe Love Run Valentine's Half Marathon (now there is a mouthful) goes on right outside y door. The start line is literally a 10 minute walk from my apartment. This should be a nice motivator before Tokyo!

More running

Yesterday saw me run about 22 km. It was a long run and next Sunday I plan to do between 25-30 km. Often people ask me what I listen to while I am running. I suppose that I am a fan of podcasts. One of the first things I do every morning is eagerly start iTunes and hit refresh on my podcasts to see what new ones have come down the pipe. At times I choose music, but about %95 of the time while I trudge through the kilometers, I like to listen to shows about current affairs, politics, arts, culture and technology.

My favorite podcasts to listen to are as follows (not listed in any particular order):

1. Stuff You Should Know
2. Diggnation
3. Q
4. DNTO (Definitely Not the Opera)
5. Spark
6. Seoul Podcast
7. Search Engine
8. As it Happens
9. The Current
10. Vinyl Cafe

There are others I listen to of course, but I suppose that these are the main ones I always come back to and enjoy the most.

49 Days Til Tokyo

Only 49 days left and I will be running the Tokyo Marathon. It is on February 28th. This will only be my second full marathon so I am still filled with nerves and butterflies. I finished a 22 km (give or take a kilometer) training run this morning/afternoon and it felt great. I was concerned this week with some leg issues. I was feeling some strange pains in the tendons behind my left knee and sometimes while running downhill, it felt as if my knee would give out. Some ibuprofen and some extra rest and today I felt amazing.

Tomorrow I plan on a 10-12 km training run. Monday is "Coming of Age Day" in Japan, which is a National Holiday.

Speaking of running, there was an interesting yearly event held this morning at Nishinomiya Shrine. That is where I went with my family for New Years' prayers.


Some 6,000 men burst through the gates of Nishinomiya Shrine in Hyogo Prefecture and race 230 meters toward the shrine’s main hall at 6 a.m. on Sunday morning with the frontrunners attempting to capture the title of “fuku-otoko” (Lucky Man). The annual ceremony, which has been held since the Edo period, is associated with Ebisu, a god of prosperous business. The first three participants to reach the main gates are considered Japan’s luckiest men for the year. Japantoday


Yesterday I went into Osaka to meet my wife. She had been in there doing some shopping while I was working. I shot a lot of footage for a video I will begin editing later this evening. I was wanting to capture some of the sights in Umeda, a downtown district in Osaka, at night time. I posted a few little videos about some other random things I saw.