I Want to go on an Adventure

Have you ever wanted to do something amazing? Have you ever wanted to do something so cool that you could look back on it for years and years and be proud you did it? Have you ever wanted to do something so “off the wall” that would be able to amaze people with the tales for years to come?

I definitely do. My inner adventurer is screaming to be let out. I have been daydreaming and thinking about various adventures I want to go on for years now. Some are here in Japan where I live, but most are not. Many are in Canada and elsewhere.

There are really only two things that don’t allow me to run off and be an adventurer at the moment. The first is the fact that I have two small children. I try to help out as much as I can at home and I love being with my kids. An adventure that takes a few days would be ok. An adventure that would take months or weeks might be another story.

The second thing holding me back from running off into the great outdoors and doing something incredible…money. Big adventures don’t tend to come cheap. You need to pay for transportation, equipment, food and what about lost income. I am the breadwinner in my family and if I am off trudging through a forest, running through a desert or kayaking down a river, how do the bills back home get paid?

Before I talk about overcoming these obstacles, lets take a look at some of my recent “adventure ideas.”

The Arctic Marathon: that’s right! Every year there is a marathon at the North Pole. It seems like a pretty cool event. I have run many full marathons before, but this one would be an amazing race to take on. This would also make for a great story to film (thinking about making documentary about any adventure I make). I’ve researched it a bit and it is REALLY expensive to take on. Even the recommended gear to wear is REALLY expensive.

Les Marathon des Sables: Known as one of the toughest foot races in the world, this is a stage race that takes place over a week in the Moroccan desert. I have been seriously dreaming and planning this one for about four years now.

Hiking the Appalachian Trail: I have been thinking about hiking America’s most famous trail ever since I read the book “A Walk in the Woods” by Bill Bryson when I was in university. Hiking all the way from Springer Mountain in Georgia to Mount Katahdin in Maine would be a dream.

Hiking Ontario’s Waterfront Trail: Hiking from Cornwall to Windsor along the Great Lakes. The Waterfront Trail is almost 1,400km of hiking and exploration goodness. What I like about this trail is the fact that I have family members who live in towns along the route (I can visit them). I also like the fact that I’d be having an adventure in Canada.

Walking Across Japan (or part of it): What an amazing time that would be. It would take months, but the experience would be worthy of a book or documentary or both! There are so many amazing places to see and so much culture to learn about. Taking on a challenge like this and for a good cause would be a pretty cool thing!

Racing the Planet: This is a race series that sees runner doing stage races across 4 of the world’s biggest deserts. It looks amazing. It looks like the adventure of a lifetime.

Some of these adventures I’m dreaming of are more doable than others. A Racing the Planet run as well as the Marathon des Sables would only take a few weeks out of my life. Some of them would involve months.

If I were to take on an adventure I’d have a few solid goals from the get go. First, I would choose a charitable cause and fundraise for it. I would use this adventure as a way of raising my fundraising profile.

Next, I would upgrade my camera equipment and film my adventure. I would record lots of footage as well as my thoughts. I’d later take all the footage and turn it into a documentary style film.

How the heck would I get the money to buy “adventure gear”, travel and take part in the adventure, keep my family financially secure while I was on my adventure and buy the proper equipment to make my documentary?

There are basically two possibilities. First, I could pursue sponsorship. I could approach various companies and ask them to help fund my adventure and in return give them more exposure and advertising. This might be a possibility since I do have some decent social media clout due to my YouTube channels and friends within the YouTube community.

The second way to raise fund is to crowd source it. I would come up with my idea. Map it out and plan it in a very detailed way. I would make budgets and then start getting creative with my filming and editing. I would need to make a “pitch” video and then start a Kickstarter or maybe search for funding on Indiegogo. With my social media reach this might be a possible way to go.

Honestly, I would probably take both approaches. I’d seek sponsorship and the crowd source it as well. In order to make this more appealing to both companies and people (so they will part with some money/equipment) I would need to make my adventure exciting. Something people would find cool. Something people would really get behind and be excited about. I would then have to clearly show folks how I will “bring them along” on my journey and let them share in it. Once my adventure is complete, I’ll need to produce something great. A short documentary and or a book would be ideal. Making sure people know that if they support me they’ll get those cool end products for no additional charge might make the proposition more appealing too!

Time to get serious and start planning my adventure. Are you going to back me up? ;)

You can find me on Twitter: @jlandkev

Making Friends Abroad: Samurai Running

I have been in Japan for 5 years and in Asia since 2002. During my time here, I've met a lot of really amazing people, but I have to admit, it has been difficult to meet fellow foreigners who share my enjoyment of running.  I know they are out there. I see foreign runners from time to time, but I don't feel comfortable stopping them while in mid-run.

I have had the good fortune of meeting some Japanese runners in my time here, but of course would like to met more. I often feel uncomfortable approaching local runners due to the fact that my Japanese language skills aren't very strong.

Last year, my friend Scott Brown, an elite masters runner based in Sakai, a suburb of Osaka suggested forming a running club. He suggested the name "Samurai Runners" and it would be a great way for foreign runners in this part of Japan to network, exchange advice and information about races as well as to socialize. A foreigner running club could give like-minded runners the chance to go for runs together an maybe even organize informal running events. The idea of local Japanese runners joining makes it an even more fun concept.

Earlier this morning I created the "Samurai Runners - Kobe" Facebook Page. Scott is making one for the Osaka area. Hopefully in time, this group can grown into a fun social group.

If you are in the Kansai area or anywhere else in Japan, you are MORE than welcome to join by "Liking" the page. I even plan to set up virtual running events as well as an opportunity for runners in Japan to do charity activities.

So, if you live in the Kansai area and want to join a new running group, LIKE the "Samurai Runners - Kobe." Also, if you are planning to travel to Japan on vacation or for business and want more information about running in the area, become a member.

More information about the Osaka "Samurai Runners" group will come soon!

You can also follow me on Twitter: @jlandkev 

Running Around Kobe

I haven't been running much lately. If you at all follow my blog, you know I am a runner. I suppose lately I've been a non-practicing runner.

I have applied for Osaka Marathon 2013 and tomorrow will apply for Kobe Marathon 2013. Soooooo....I went for a run today!

Japanese Mafia Headquarters...I take a look!

So here’s the deal. I am coming near the end of my training for Osaka Marathon 2012 on November 25^th.  With just a few weeks left I need to make some rather lengthy long runs. Most runners, when preparing for a full marathon run a very long run every weekend. That long run builds stamina and gets your body used to being pushed for several hours. The great thing about long runs is that you can explore large parts of the city you live in. I have been from one end of Kobe to the other, but decided something a little new for this morning’s 31km (20 mile) run. I wanted to make it a “destination” run so to speak.

I decided that I would check out the compound that is the headquarters of the Yamaguchi-gumi. The Yamaguchi-gumi is the largest organized crime syndicate in Japan and is what is known as the yakuza.

Many Japanese people had told me where I could find their compound. I suppose it is pretty common knowledge amongst residents of Kobe. It only took me about five minutes doing Google searches to find the exact location last night. I realized that I had run very close to it on several occasions in the past.

Early this morning I ran to the area it is located and walked down the street it is on, snapped a few pictures and made a quick video.

It was exhilarating walking down that side street in a quiet area of Kobe. I probably won’t go there again, but it was cool to do once.

I then continued with my run.

Didn't want to hang around long, but was able to make a silly face in front of the HQ's entrance!

The compound is surrounded by a high wall and thick trees. There are also cameras all over the place!

Sunrises in Japan

I suppose some of the best things about being a runner in a cool city like Kobe, Japan are the views I get to see. These days, I normally run in the evenings, but yesterday I woke up early. I woke up really early. 

What did I decide to do?

Go for a run and watch the sun rise over the city. 

A good choice I think.

3 Ways To Make Yourself Feel Good

I have been living abroad for a long time now. In the past ten years, I have spent nine of them in Asia. As a Canadian who loves Canada a lot, that is a long time to be away from home. Why do I do it? Well, I am a teacher and I teach in Japan. I also have a family here.

When I was in my 20's and unmarried, I was quite a social butterfly. I would spend my nights and weekends hanging out with groups of other single expats living in Korea (lived there for a few years).

In 2012, I find myself in Japan with a family. I am also a runner. Running was something I truly started when I first came to Japan in 2008. After some time in Canada, getting my teaching certification, I let my self go physically. In Korea, I was a fun runner (short distances) and a gym rat. Once back in Canada, I became a student and pub aficionado. I gained a lot of weight.

When I came to Japan to teach in 2008, I told my wife I was going to run a marathon. It was on the "bucket list" so to speak. Months later, I achieved my goal. I ran the Osaka Yodogawa Marathon in 4 hours 44 minutes. It was slow, painful and amazing at the same time. I couldn't wait to do it again. I was hooked. I became a runner. Two years later, I ran the same race sub-4 hours. This year I hope to run it much faster than that!

Long story short....I was an expat runner in Japan.

If you have been living the life of an expat in any country that has a very different culture or language, for some time, you can become lonely. That definitely has been something I have had to deal with from time to time. You miss being able to understand all the conversations around you. You miss the culture, good and bad of your own country. You can become homesick.

I got into podcasts in a big way years ago. Canadian and American podcasts helped me feel a little grounded while living so far from home. They gave me the feeling of still being connected with my own culture in a way.

Once I became a runner I started to listen to some running podcasts. About a year ago I came across a running podcast that honestly, made me happy in so many ways.

I was listening to a show I had been subscribed to or a long time. Dirt Dawg's Running Diatribe is a great running podcast (a GREAT show) by a host named Mike living in Detroit, USA. He had mentioned a show called the "3 Non Joggers" a few times. Eventually I became curious and went home one morning after a run and subscribed to their show on iTunes.

I was immediately hooked. The 3 Non Joggers Podcast became not just my favorite running podcast, but my favorite podcast period.





Let me give you a rundown of why I LOVE the 3 Non Joggers podcast:


1. They talk about running and I am a runner.

2. They talk about running, but that is only about 30-50% of the show. The rest of the show is three hosts having INCREDIBLY funny banter!

3.  Russ McGarry...host extraordinaire. A former professional comedian, his delivery is witty, interesting and just damn awesome! He is also an ultra marathoner. He is awesomeness and a half!

4. Gary "the Vale" ... the "Rain Man" of running (referred to that by partners in crime on more than one occasion) is a dead-panned funny co-host sort of guy. He is a sub-3 hour marathoner and 100 mile ultra marathoner. This cat LOVES running and really knows his stuff about the topic.

5. Carl The Mailman ...the other host guy who is not a runner in any way. He is a mailman and funny as HELL! He has a wicked mouth and wicked wit as well! His intelligence shines and is only enhanced by his sharp sarcasm. Oh yeah...he's a creative documentary director as well. 

6. The three hosts have an amazing synergy (to use a cliched term from the tech word of the late 90's). Their off the cuff banter leaves me laughing....often in public where the Japanese people stare at me and judge me...judge me harshly.

7. This is a running podcast, but even people who don't run would probably like it. The back and forth between the hosts is enough to leave a smile on the crotchetiest (maybe not a real word) old fart's face!

8. This show got me through some pretty hard long runs while training for one ultra marathon and 2 regular marathons last year (All in order to raise money for tsunami relief here in Japan).

9. The episodes are so funny and fresh that I have been easily able to re-listen to them time and time again.

10. I have learned a lot about ultra running and have almost soiled myself in public on many occasions because the show is so funny!

ah yeah....

11. They like to drink! I like to drink. I am the kind of runner who loves an ice cold beer or three after a 30 km long run. They do too.....yum yum... (well..Carl don't run...or jog....but that's ok).






If you like running and have a sense of humor you should definitely subscribe to the 3 Non Joggers podcast on iTunes. At this point, they have 65 great episodes.


EVEN if you DON'T run...subscribe anyway. They have such a great rapport that you won't even care!

The 3 hosts of the show!

MOI, on my way to complete the first Osaka Marathon. I'm wearing a 3 Non Joggers technical shirt!

Find these cats on TWITTER here:
3 Non Joggers (Russ)
CarlTheMailman
GaryTheVale










Shameless plug for myself....REMEMBER...you can buy my new eBook "Teaching in Asia: Tales and the Real Deal" from Amazon...NOW....SO DO IT!!!!

Vacation in Japan

Hey there everyone! I have been on vacation for the past week and a half and luckily have more left. That is one of the perks of working where I work. I work my backside off, but I get more vacation than the average bear.

So what have I been up to lately?

1. Spending quality time with my wife and 20 month old son.

2. Running, Running, Running. I have found my passion again and am putting on a lot of kilometers.

3. Working on my Running VLOG You Tube channel called "RunCauseItsFun."

4. Wrapping up my eBook, "Teaching in Asia: Tales and the Real Deal." (Hopefully out late next week)

5. Not drinking beer. Decided to give up the suds for a few months to lose weight and become a faster runner!

6. Enjoying the dawn of spring in the Kansai area.

7. Beginning to think about the new school year that starts in two weeks.

8. Daydreaming about running goals for 2012 and beyond!



Here are a few pictures from the past week!

 My Steak and Guinness pie creation Saturday night. Every year for St. Patrick's Day I make this. 

A school bus toy i bought for my son the other day. The little guy is obsessed with vehicles of all shapes and sizes.

In HAT Kobe. This is an area I love to run in. If you look at this picture it is pretty obvious why. I took this while on a run a few days ago.

Beaten By My Wife's Common Sense

This weekend was supposed to involve two really great runs. I have been lazy throughout the week and simply haven't been getting out there early in the morning and putting the kilometres I should be under my feet. I could make many excuses, but laziness is the only true reason.

The plan was to go for a run this afternoon while my son was taking a nap. There's a little problem though. I woke up several times throughout the night coughing and hacking. by 5:00 am this morning I was pretty much completely awake and laying in bed coughing up a lung. I can't remember if it was the right or left one, but it felt like one of those rascally lungs was trying to crawl out of my mouth and scamper away under the bed.

My wife and I took my son to Kobe Women's University later on in the morning. I want him to start chasing women early, so I thought that would be the perfect location! Ok….maybe I lie. We actually took him to the university because they have an early child care program there and once a month they have an open house. They have a great mock classroom facility with tons of cool toys. the student teachers have a chance to interact with children and I had a chance to take a load of cute pictures!

Soon after that we were back home and I continued to cough up a lung. There is a chance I may have been coughing up two lungs.....but definitely not three!

My planned run was snuffed when my wife, using her common sense told me I probably shouldn't. "Kevin, last time you went running with a chest cold, you made it worse." I lowered my head and admitted that her common sense beat my need to run.

So, here I sit, making worksheets for my students for next week's classes and writing a blog post. The coughing is getting worse and I'm wearing a little sad face.

:(

Here are some scenes from Sannomiya in downtown Kobe, Japan. I took these last night on my way home from work.

This is my favourite Starbucks location in downtown Kobe.

This is the Nescafe Cafe close to my favorite Starbucks.

A pile of sad looking teddies. Took this picture of a crane game close to Sannomiya Station.

Cold Turkey from Vlogging!

It’s time to go cold turkey! That’s right. I have to quit. Well, maybe not quite, but at least go on hiatus for a while. Yup, I just can’t get things done if I keep going at the same pace as I am now.

If there is one thing that I am absolutely amazing at, it is spreading myself too thin. Jumping into too many projects all at once is something I’ve always been a little more than proficient at. Let’s see. What are the various projects I have on the go at the moment?

• youtube.com/busankevin – my main video blog (or vlog) channel that I’ve run for more than 5 years. Videos about life in Asia/Canada/food/ranting/ramblings/travel destinations and more. At least one edited video (normally more) posted each week.
• youtube.com/jlandkev –my unedited, usually uploaded directly from my iPhone vlog channel showing snippets of my every day life here in Japan. Normally I upload 2-3 videos a day. Sometimes more, sometimes less.
• Youtube.com/runcauseitsfun – a new vlog channel all about running. More than a dozen videos about running uploaded since Christmas.
• Running – I have run on average, about 40km a week this year and plan to ramp that up to 60-80km a week soon.
• Blogging – I have this blog (not very active and sorry about that) as well as my “Running to Help Japan” blog.
• Hair brained fundraising schemes to help children in need in northern Japan.
• My BOOK! “Teaching in Asia: Tales and the Real Deal.” The first draft is a hair away from completion.
• Wonderful wife and son.
• Full time job as a teacher at an international school.
• Nothing to add here…..just wanted 10 things…

As you can see, there is a reason I average four hours of sleep a night. Seriously, that is all I normally get and some things are starting to bother me (aside from my ever-present dark circles under my eyes).

I NEED to get my book completed. I am so close to being finished and so excited about that fact that I have to wrap it up ASAP! There is nothing ground breaking about my written work, but I know it will be an entertaining read and have a lot of useful and fun information for those out there interested in coming to either Japan or South Korea to teach.

Originally I intended to have it completed by October and ready to hit the Amazon Kindle store before Christmas. That didn’t happen. Why not? Well, I started to get obsessive about my video blogging once again. That’s the issue with me. My You Tube presence gets me so excited that I forget about all of the other important projects I have on the go. Those important projects get put on the back burner and don’t seem to move forward.

I’ve decided there’s only one thing I can do to make sure I get my first draft of “Teaching in Asia: Tales and the Real Deal” finished, proofread and sent off to some other editorial eyes in the next month or two. The only way is to go You Tube cold turkey! That’s right. No You Tube for the entire month of February. I have done this sort of thing in the past when I was feeling “You Tube” burnout, but this time it’s different. At the moment I am having a great deal of fun with You Tube and video blogging, but I am spending too much time focused on that and not enough time writing.

I have to post several planned videos in the next week or so, but come February 1^st, I will not log into You Tube for a month. In that time I will set aside at least an hour or two each day to work on my book and maybe write some blog posts here. I will also remain active on Twitter. I won’t be going into a tech blackout, just a You Tube hiatus.

When I return in March, hopefully, I’ll have a book close to completion and an accompanying website to promote it! I’m looking forward to getting this big (for me) project wrapped up!

Stay tuned for more!

Run Cause It's Fun

Running is something I am passionate about and that is why I created the You Tube channel named "Run CauseItsFun." I have 16 videos on my new channel and this was my first interview with a fellow runner! Hope you enjoy.

Canada and Back Again

It's been awhile folks. Actually, it's been a long while. More than one month has passed since I made my last post. Things have been busy. That is actually an understatement! things have been "gosh darn" busy (my apologies for the harsh language).

I went to Canada for the better part of December with my family. It was a fabulous time. My family in Canada had the chance to see my son for the first time and I have the opportunity to gain some weight. I worked very hard to put on about 3kg and I was happy with the results. the steady intake of Canadian craft beer, pizza and chocolate worked. 3kg heavier, I found myself back in Kobe at the end of the month and ready to rock in the new year! btw...HAPPY 2012 EVERYONE!!!!

Since coming back to Japan I have been focusing a lot on my running again. Last year was a great year for running. I ran a 60km (38 mile) home made ultra marathon and raised almost $4000USD for Save the Children and their work with the young survivors of the March 11th earthquake and tsunami. I also ran both the Osaka and Kobe Marathons. Duing my Xmas break in canada I started a new You Tube channel (just what I need...another project to spread me thinner) all about running. You can check out Run Cause It's Fun and let me know what you think!

In non-running news, I almost completed the first draft of my upcoming self-published (Kindle Store) book, Teaching in Asia:Tales and the Real Deal. It is a mixture of practical advice and stories for those of you out there who are interested in coming to either South Korea or Japan to be a teacher. I'm hoping this project will be finished soon!

Be sure to check out my Running to Help Japan blog of course. I am starting 2012 with some more fundraising ideas for my charity project. I am tossing around the idea of running 8 marathons in 8 weeks to raise money for Save the Children Japan. You can read more about it on the Running to Help Japan blog!

HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE and thank you for reading!

Kobe Marathon Eve

I thought it appropriate to make my "blog writing comeback" on the eve of the first ever Kobe Marathon. This one will be a big deal for the city of Kobe where live. The first marathon in Japan was run here more than 100 years ago and tomorrow morning, 18,000 runners will start running from Sannomiya to the Akashi Kaikyo Bridge and then finish on Port Island. I will be one of those runners.

This will be my second full marathon in 3 weeks. To be honest, until last week was feeling the effects of Osaka Marathon. Although a great marathon itself, Osaka was somewhat of a personal disappointment. I went into that race sick and weak. I was running strong until a few km's past the half and then I fell apart. I finished in a decent time, but nowhere near my goal.

I'm excited about tomorrow for a few reasons. First, it's in Kobe. I love Kobe. This is simply a wonderful city to live and and I'm looking forward to running on the same streets I have spent hundreds of hours on. I've seen most of the route at one time or another on long runs and there are some great sights.

Another great thing is that some of my students plan to come out to cheer me on. I know where some of them will be and I hope I get the chance to see them.

The finish line is on Port Island and a ten minute walk from my house. That is going to be super great. I can stumble home with ease when all is said and done.

If you are a twitter user you can send me a tweet of support tomorrow morning. You can find me here on Twitter. I use the RunMeter running app on my iPhone and when people send me a tweet, a voice reads it out loud to me. It is a lot of fun. The Kobe Marathon kicks off tomorrow morning at 9:00am Japan Standard Time.

Another little piece of great news. I now, after many years without one, have a laptop. This means that once the busy times at work ease up a little, I will be back to "Teaching Asia: Tales and the Real Deal." my book will be wrapped up sooner than later I hope. A lot of great stuff is already complete and I've almost finished proofreading the first draft. Mind you, I have decided to ad some more to it.

Multi-tasked to Death

I’m tired, but I’m happy. Did I mention I am tired? I’m tired in a new way. I’m tired to my very bones.

Things are a little busy for me at the moment. Actually, things are a LOT busy for me at the moment. I am of course working full time as a homeroom teacher and that takes up about 50 hours a week and sometimes more. I’m running two full marathons in the next four weeks and of course I am trying to finish up my first “real” attempt at writing. With the first draft of “Teaching in Asia: Tales and the real deal” near completing I have begun proofreading it on commutes and during my lunch breaks. Did I also mention I have a wife and one year old son at home I try to spend maximum time with?

Things are more than a little busy and to be honest, something’s got to give soon.

Priority number one is my family. Work follows that cause of course, “baby always needs a new pair of shoes!” Then comes running and then the book BUT, there has been a change for me with regards to the last two.

Running has been a major part of my life since I began training for my first full marathon in 2008. It has made me healthier, happy and I have achieved many personal goals doing it. I was also able to raise almost $4000.00 earlier this year for disaster relief in the Tohoku region of Japan through running. Running is good.

The thing that is beginning to wear on me these days is that as I come near the end of my first major writing project, I am beginning to love writing far more than running. There is a serious conflict there because both take up a major portion of my time and to do either one of them well, you need a lot of time.

In recent weeks, as I wake up at 4:30 am to get outside for a training run, I find myself wishing that I was sitting down and working on my book instead. Marathon training has become a chore. Writing has become a joy.

So, here’s the plan. I of course need to prepare for the upcoming Osaka and Kobe marathons, but once they are finished, I’m going to step back from running full marathons in 2012. The training simply takes too much time and once I finish “Teaching in Asia: Tales and the real deal”, I already have another writing project in mind.

I won’t give up running though. It’s simply too much fun. The other night I ran a rather quick (for me) 5k. I was surprised that I was able to run a very hill-filled 5k in a hair less than 23 minutes. What could I do if I seriously trained and even had some racing flats? Can I run a 20-minute 5k in the new year? How about a 45-minute 10k?

In the 2012 I plan to register for several 5 and 10k road races and we’ll see if I can be fast. The training won’t be nearly as time consuming and I can still run a few times a week.

My plan is to focus on my writing once Kobe Marathon is in the bag. My family will be a major focus as well.

You can follow me on Twitter: @jlandkev

Running to Help Others

Many of of you know that after the disaster that took do many lives last March here in Japan, I wanted to do something to help. I decided to create the "Running to Help Japan" project. This was something I could do by myself to help raise money to help the kids in northern Japan. I am a teacher and have made my career caring for and teaching children. I also have a young son and my heart broke to see so many children, so close to me, who no longer had anything.

I did some research and decided I would work to raise money for Save the Children.

This is an organization who works to improve the lives of children throughout the world. They had set up teams here in Japan immediately after the earthquake and tsunami to help the youngest victims. They seemed like the perfect fit for my fundraising goals.

 Although I know I am not a gifted runner, I am a decent one. I am a "mid-pack" marathoner with an incredibly high pain threshold and stuborness. I am also a runner who day dreams often of running distances far beyond that of a regular marathon. This was my chance. This was a chance for me to push my body and mind to a place they had never been before.

At the same time, raising funds for a good cause. On June 25th, 2011, I ran 60km or 37.5 miles in the blistering heat here in Kobe. It took me more than 6 hours, but I did it. In the process I raised $3917.00. It was an amazing experience. I have never felt so many emotions all at once. I felt pain, joy, pain, excitement, pain and did I mention pain?

This was something I never could have done without the support of my You Tube viewers, my Facebook friends, my real-life friends, family, Twitter followers and of course the article written about Running to Help Japan in the Cape Breton Post. I have to give a special thanks to the sports writer, T.J. Colello. His story really got the financial ball rolling for this charity drive and really got the fire lit under me!

I also have to thank several friends of mine in the Japan You Tube community who supported me so much. I have to thank (these are their You Tube names): qiranger, WarmothStrat (Mully and Misses Mully), softpapa, FindMeInKurume, Gimmeabreakman, DimPerrin, Ozzy78, Micknfumi and the many others who helped.

Another special thanks goes out to Edward at the Japan Talk podcast for his amazing support and shout outs for my ultra marathon. It is now September and I am now smack back in the middle of training again.

On October 30th I will run in the first ever Osaka Marathon. 3 weeks later, I will run in the first ever Kobe Marathon.

What will happen after that?  

I am thinking about something big. I am thinking about running to help a new charity and am thinking about something even grander in scale than the last time! 80km? Maybe a multi-day event? Should I walk across part of Japan? It will be something big for sure. I want to push myself more and more. I also want to raise funds for a worthy cause while doing so.

Any suggestions on my next adventure? (leave a comment)



 A little more about why I did what I did. Here is an amazing song by another Canadian living in Japan. "Blackwater" is a song written and performed by John Jenzen who lives in Nagoya, Japan. He wrote it after reading about an entire bus filled with kindergarten children was swept away by the tsunami.


.

Babies, Videos and Writer's Blahhhh...

Hey there folks! I hope you are all doing extremely well and I of course want to thank each and every one of you for simply being so awesome!

I think all my readers are great. All of the fine folks who watch my video blogs are great and in general....hmmm....what was I talking about? Lost my train of though....

The Japanese Obon holiday season is over and I was back to work today. During the past nine days I didn't have to deal with work. It was nice. Don't get me wrong, there's nothing wrong with work, but as we all know, vacation is simply often better than work. I spent a lot of time playing with my son and even more time not working on my book about teaching in Korea and Japan. Now that I am back into my weekly work routine, I will begin writing again. Actually, I already wrote a little today. It felt good.

I'm also struggling to get back into running regularly. The amount of heat we have had this summer has really put me off and family life has also made it difficult to find time to run. Long distance running when you have a baby at home isn't always the easiest thing to juggle.


This past week, I've been focused mostly on this guy. Running and writing will be there anytime, but having the chance to be with my son as he learns to walk will only happen once.


Last Saturday was the day for three small festivals in my neighborhood. Sadly it rained all day, but that didn't kep many of the local kids from having fun!


There was to be dancing in the evening at this festival, but heavy rains closed things up earlier than most would have liked!

Running in Osaka

Today was a lot of fun. This was the first day of my Osaka and Kobe Marathon training cycle. That's right. Two marathons this Fall and they are three weeks apart. That may be too much running for many, not a lot for others, but for me, it's just right (or at least I think it is).

Today I went into Osaka and met a couple of fine gentlemen in Osaka Castle Park. I met @samurairunning and @runlikeustoleit from Twitter for a 6.94km run around the park. It was a hot and sweaty afternoon, but it was a lot of fun to meet two very interesting guys and fellow runners.


Here is an image of the run we made this afternoon in Osaka. Apparently, we ran through the castle moat at one point. I assume the GPS was just a little off.

I also shot a couple of quick video as I went home. This was really my first time walking through the newly rebuilt Osaka Station. It's pretty sweet!

Japanese Stalkers and Japan in Pictures

Another week of Japan in pictures. I take a lot of pictures everyday and many with the iPhone application, Instagram. Here are some images of Japan I captured.















I also wanted to share a little story. Yesterday, while out for a Sunday training run, I passed a young couple riding a bicycle. Shortly after passing them, the young man decided to hop of the bike and chase after me while his girlfriend took over driving. He followed behind me for more than a kilometer before finally stopping. he was by no means dressed for running and I have no idea why he did it. It was pretty weird though. I'm happy something like tat didn't happen at night or I would have had to practice my sprinting skills!

You can watch the story here:

Japan by Photo

Here are some pictures I took during the last week using the iPhone app Instagram. they are random and a lot of fun I think.

Hope you enjoy. Feel free to leave a comment below if you'd like to see more pictures in the future.


Japanese Beer Garden?


A Sunday morning breakfast audience.


Dead beetle. An untimely demise!


Shoes belonging to the men of the house!


Soon people will be celebrating Tanabata in Japan.


Took this shot the other day after an early morning run. The sun was just rising and the flowers looked great.


Follow me on Twitter: @jlandkev

The Hardest Day of my Life

I completed my 60 kilometer ultra marathon to raise money for Save the Children Japan last week. Here is a little more about the run:



Here is some more about the actually running data for the entire run. this was collected by the Runmeter app I used on my iPhone to track the run.



"Running to Help Japan 60km" Splits

Kilometer 01 - Average 6:41 /km
Kilometer 02 - Average 6:14 /km
Kilometer 03 - Average 6:01 /km
Kilometer 04 - Average 6:20 /km
Kilometer 05 - Average 6:22 /km
Kilometer 06 - Average 6:12 /km
Kilometer 07 - Average 7:15 /km
Kilometer 08 - Average 6:23 /km
Kilometer 09 - Average 5:45 /km
Kilometer 10 - Average 6:37 /km
Kilometer 11 - Average 6:15 /km
Kilometer 12 - Average 6:27 /km
Kilometer 13 - Average 6:25 /km
Kilometer 14 - Average 5:23 /km
Kilometer 15 - Average 5:51 /km
Kilometer 16 - Average 6:17 /km
Kilometer 17 - Average 6:25 /km
Kilometer 18 - Average 6:02 /km
Kilometer 19 - Average 5:58 /km
Kilometer 20 - Average 7:31 /km
Kilometer 21 - Average 6:36 /km
Kilometer 22 - Average 6:07 /km
Kilometer 23 - Average 8:19 /km
Kilometer 24 - Average 6:56 /km
Kilometer 25 - Average 7:10 /km
Kilometer 26 - Average 6:48 /km
Kilometer 27 - Average 7:39 /km
Kilometer 28 - Average 5:46 /km
Kilometer 29 - Average 6:05 /km
Kilometer 30 - Average 6:19 /km
Kilometer 31 - Average 5:48 /km
Kilometer 32 - Average 6:37 /km
Kilometer 33 - Average 5:15 /km
Kilometer 34 - Average 8:24 /km
Kilometer 35 - Average 6:06 /km
Kilometer 36 - Average 6:46 /km
Kilometer 37 - Average 5:34 /km
Kilometer 38 - Average 6:15 /km
Kilometer 39 - Average 6:10 /km
Kilometer 40 - Average 6:21 /km
Kilometer 41 - Average 7:19 /km
Kilometer 42 - Average 6:13 /km
Kilometer 43 - Average 10:46 /km
Kilometer 44 - Average 6:45 /km
Kilometer 45 - Average 6:19 /km
Kilometer 46 - Average 7:54 /km
Kilometer 47 - Average 7:04 /km
Kilometer 48 - Average 5:53 /km
Kilometer 49 - Average 10:25 /km
Kilometer 50 - Average 6:20 /km
Kilometer 51 - Average 7:49 /km
Kilometer 52 - Average 6:18 /km
Kilometer 53 - Average 6:49 /km
Kilometer 54 - Average 5:29 /km
Kilometer 55 - Average 6:13 /km
Kilometer 56 - Average 7:09 /km
Kilometer 57 - Average 5:43 /km
Kilometer 58 - Average 7:45 /km
Kilometer 59 - Average 6:49 /km
Kilometer 60 - Average 6:04 /km







Next stop....Osaka Marathon on October 30th. After that, Kobe Marathon on November 20th.

Running to Help Japan: I Did It!

Long story short, "I did it!" Today was the big day for Running to Help Japan. Today was my 60km run. I completed the entire 60 kilometers in 6:38:55.

This was easily the most difficult thing I have ever done. i have never experienced so much pain or emotion doing something. Now, I have heat rash on my feet, an amazing sunburn (I applied sunscreen several times) and VERY sore legs.

I can't wait to go to bed early tonight.

Tomorrow, I will write a detailed run report and tell you guys all a lot more. Now, I sleep!




I dedicate this to everyone who supported me through this journey!

What's next?