Mukogawa Half Marathon

As some of you may know, I am a fun runner. I am by no means a natural athlete. I didn't grow up in an athletic environment, but later in life I discovered that I enjoy running. I have run four half marathons, three full marathons and about a dozen 10k races. As a fun runner, I find running fun. After running my first sub-four hour marathon in November, I signed up for the Mukogawa Road race half marathon. Today was the day to run.


The Mukogawa (Muko River) is located between Nishinomiya and Amagasaki in Japan.


Unfortunately, going into this race I was somewhat injured. After my full marathon in November, something weird happened with my knee. I suspect it was a new pair of shoes. Something different about the ASICS Gel Kayanos that I have been wearing for years changed with the new model. I ran many times during my Winter vacation, but my knee got worse. I rested for the week before this half marathon hoping my knee would be fine. Going into today's run, I planned to just take it easy, run slowly and have fun. I didn't even turn on my stop watch.








When all was said and done, I finished the half marathon in 1hour 56minutes 27seconds. It was about 9 minutes slower than my PB (personal best), but far faster than I expected. At the end of the day I finished 183 out of 1347 runners.


It was especially cool for me since my son was able to come out for the very first time and see his father at a race. Mind you, he was sleeping when I finished and just plain confused when he woke up, but it was great for me!


Here are a few videos I hot during and after the run with my iPhone:




One of the things I thought was really funny about this race was the fact that there was no bag check. Normally there is a secure area where you can leave your belongings. This race was so small that there was no such thing. At first I was surprised, but then I just found a tree to leave my bag under. The great thing about Japan is the fact that I knew my bag would be safe. No one would ever think to steal from it. I like that about living in this neck of the woods.

Sunday Half-Marathon

Last Sunday I ran the Kobe Valentines Love Run Half Marathon for the second time. It was supposed to rain on Sunday, but ended up being a beautiful sunny day. I bested last years' effort by several minutes. I ran the half in 1 hour 45 minutes and 39 seconds. I'm feeling pretty confident leading up to the Tokyo Marathon. The only thing that makes me a little worried is that I haven't had the chance to put in some serious long runs. I have only had a few of 25 kilometers or more.


The shirt was given for participating in the run. This year it was a technical fabric shirt which is cool because I can use it for running, but I suppose I really won't feel very masculine while doing so!



I've been following the story about director Kevin Smith being kicked off a Southwest Airlines flight for "being too fat" for the last few days. I'm a huge Smith fan and love listening to his SModcast podcast. Yesterday in an "emergency" SModcast, he railed about the whole situation. Very entertaining to say the least. I hope Kevin Smith gets a few heads rolling within their organization!

Director Kevin Smith told he was 'too big' to fly
Clerks director Kevin Smith has revealed he was asked to get off a plane in the US because he was too big for the seats.
The 39-year-old claimed a pilot ejected him from the Southwest Airlines flight from Oakland to Burbank, California, saying he did not fit in a single seat.

Smith complained about the incident on his Twitter account saying: "I'm way fat, but I'm not there just yet."
Southwest issued an apology to the director via Twitter and its website.

In a statement titled Not So Silent Bob - a jovial jab at the Silent Bob character Smith plays in several of his films - the airline said: "We would like to echo our tweets and again offer our heartfelt apologies to you."

The statement continued: "Our pilots are responsible for the safety and comfort of all customers on the aircraft and therefore, made the determination that Mr Smith needed more than one seat to complete his flight." Read more at BBC

Do Monsters Like Poo?

Quick excerpt from a conversation yesterday between myself and one of my students:

Student: "Mr. O'Shea."
Me: "Yes."
Student: "Do monsters like poo?"
Me: "I don't know. I think some might, but most probably don't."
Student: "Do monsters drink poo?"
Me: "No, I don't think monsters do that."



Yep. It's too weird for even my creative brain to make up! Previous to this discussion, my class was watching the movie Monsters Inc. In one scene in the movie, a monster was drinking a cup of coffee. Some students argued that it was coffee, while others thought it was feces! Kids can have a warped way of looking at things sometimes!


On another note, I posted a video this morning on You Tube showing some of the problems I've faced over the years that I've been abroad when it comes to speaking on the telephone. It's amazing how much we rely on nonverbal cues when speaking to someone who doesn't use English.


Culture Shock: The Telephone

Here's the original.


Ah....tomorrow morning I'm running in the Kobe Valentine's Love Run. That's right!! I didn't make that name up either. That's the name of the race I'm entered in. I'll be running the half-marathon starting at 10:30am.