Happy Criff

Solar System Project

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Fri, 09 Mar 2012 05:10:00 +0000

It's March, which means my English classes are wrapping up for the school year. At the end of the 3rd semester, I have my kids do a "final project". I select an interesting, yet arguably non-practical topic, have the kids do a bit of research, then make them give a presentation on it in English. In the past, I've done bugs and dinosaurs, this year I went with the solar system.

What kid doesn't like space? Last week I taught them the names of the planets. This week, they selected a "home planet" and did research (in English) on it.

I first gave them a blank fact sheet and had them make notes in Japanese as to the meaning of each line. Then I gave them a piece of paper with data on it that looked like this:

(data taken from nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov)

The goal was to fill in the appropriate data onto their fact sheet, then draw a picture. It turned into something like this:

The Japanese characters under the drawing describes the Roman deity. So in the case of Venus, this girl wrote "The Goddess of Love, Beauty, and Harvest". Yes, I am an English teacher who also teaches Science and Humanities!

The key to this lesson was the presentation. I had to give out the worksheets and give step-by-step instructions in a way that they wouldn't freak out on me. I think I succeeded because even my "slower" kids were able to complete the lesson.

The class I did today has 18 students, and I gave free reign in the choosing of their own planet. I think what deity each planet represented had a huge influence. Here are the stats:

Mercury - 1 boy, 1 girl
Venus - 8 girls
Jupiter - 3 boys
Saturn - 2 boys
Uranus - 1 boy
Neptune - 1 boy, 1 girl

Nice to see some originality coming from the boys. Not so much with the girls. I did a similar project when I was in 5th grade and I went with Neptune. Why? Because my favorite color was blue.

Next week for the final lesson, each kid will stand in front of the class and give an alien self-introduction along with some facts on their "home planet". For example, if the student's name is "Ryuta", he will reverse his name to create an "alien name". Then he will say things like:

"My name is Taryu."
"I'm from Uranus." (cue immature laughter)
"Uranus is a gas planet."
"Uranus has 27 moons."

I still have to come up with a list of things for them to say, though. I'll work on that next week.

Okinawa Marathon 2012

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Tue, 21 Feb 2012 01:18:00 +0000

I read somewhere that one shouldn't do another marathon until they have forgotten their last one. Well, I had 3 months to forget the Kawaguchiko Marathon, and on Sunday, I joined 13,000 others and ran the Okinawa Marathon in Okinawa City.

(From Ryukyushimpo)

My goal for the race was to run it under 4:30:00, with a back-up goal of just beating my Kawaguchiko time (4:42:39).

The race started at 9, so I woke up at 6:30 to eat breakfast. I usually eat a bag of ramen before a long run, but during the Kawaguchiko marathon, I became ravenous around the 30km mark and ate every orange slice and piece of chocolate that was handed to me. To avoid that, I ate two bags of ramen. That turned out to be the winning formula, because even though I finished around 1:30pm, I wasn't hungry at all.

I arrived at the park where the race began with my sports bag ready to make some final decisions on clothing. I was debating whether or not to wear long sleeves, but then the sun came out and made my decision for me. A lot of people were complaining that it was too cold, but I found it to be the perfect temperature. The clouds came out and I figured I didn't need to apply sunscreen. That turned out to be a mistake, because today my face is red and my kindergartner's laughed at me.

The race began great. I start off faster than most people, so I usually end up running on the sidewalk dodging in and out of spectators while the crowd runs in the road. I did the same here, but the sidewalk was wide with few spectators. I had a whole lane to myself until I caught up with the crowd that was running at my pace.

My strategy for keeping pace was simple: run 5k under 30 minutes. This is easy enough in the beginning, but I knew as I got near the end that my time would start dropping. I tried to think of ways to conserve energy while also taking advantage of the energy I did have early on.

To conserve energy, I decided to walk up the hills I couldn't see the top of. This course had a lot of them, and I think it is one of the main reasons my legs still hurt today. There was a big hill at around the 11km mark, and as I started walking up that, I got passed a lot. It hurt my pride, but I figured it was for the best. Then when I got to the top, I picked up speed and ended up passing a lot of the same people. I excel at downhill running!

(hills)

When I train, I usually give myself a 1.5 to 2 minute walk break every 25 minutes. But because I chose to walk uphill, I decided to do away with those and give myself a walk break for every hill, figuring I should take advantage of the energy I did have early in the race.

I passed the half-way point at around 2:01:00, which gives me hope for running a half marathon in under 2 hours eventually. When I got a similar time at Kawaguchiko, I naively thought I could finish the race in around 4 hours. This time, I knew that wasn't going to happen and instead just focused on keeping my pace of under 30 minutes for every 5k. Since I was at about 2 hours for 21k, I knew I was doing well.

Then I hit the 25k (15.5 mi) mark and I started hurting. This happens every race as my body reaches it's limit and starts to break down. I spent a lot of time thinking about why this was happening. When I train, my long runs gradually climb from 19k to 24k to 27k to 32k, then back down again. I do this, because it's what Hal says. He also says if one trains for 32k, doing the final 10k isn't a big deal.

He's wrong. It's a big deal.

By training for 32k, 32k becomes my limit and I am able to complete that with little struggle. After 32k, I am going past my limit, which in training is a good thing. It makes me stronger. The problem is, I'm not doing this in my training, and it just causes pain and misery the day of the race. I think for future marathons, I'm going to start making my own training schedule with longer distances.

So at the 25k mark, I started walking a bit more. The muscle behind my right knee started tightening up and I kept wanting to stop and stretch it. I would tell myself to run, but it would hurt to start. I would wobble and limp for the first 10 seconds before my legs warmed up again. I could keep a slow pace for several minutes before tiring out and walking again. I intend to google this problem in hopes of fixing it, because it happens every marathon. It's obviously a strained muscle, but I need to figure out how to strengthen it so it doesn't give out in future races.

At the 32k (19.9 mi) mark, I had a time of 3:16:00. It's already obvious I was slowing down. With a 5k-30min pace, I wanted to pass the 35k mark by 3:30:00, and there was no way I was could run 3k in 14 minutes at that point. I can't even do that fresh. I began calculating the pace I would need to get me to the finish line in under 4:30:00. I figured if I could get to 38k before the 4 hour mark, that would give me 30 minutes to do the final 4k.

Typing that sounds easy to do, but having to do that after having ran 32k is really hard. My body was dead. I was reduced to walking at this point, then every now and then I would find a little energy to shuffle my feet for a minute or two. When I say I was reduced to walking, it wasn't like I was the only one. Everyone breaks down. It's kind of interested seeing people around you collapse. A lot of people just sit on the side of the road and stretch or pass out on the grass. As long as I was moving forward, I knew I was making progress.

I passed the 38k (23.6 mi) mark at around 4:05:00. I knew I wasn't going to get under 4:30:00, but I had faith I could get under 4:40:00, which would beat my Kawaguchiko time. Luckily, at around the 39k (24.2 mi) point, there was a huge hill where the race went down hill. As I said, I excel at downhill running, so I picked up my pace and passed a lot of stragglers.

At the 41k (25.5 mi) mark, my time was about 4:30:00. I had 1k to go in under 10 minutes. It was possible, but not guarenteed. I couldn't run, so I tried walking fast, but even that was hard. That's how far gone my body was: it hurt to walk fast. Then, somewhere behind me, I heard chanting. Loud chanting. It was the Japanese equivalent of "Hut, one, two, three, four." As the sound approached me, I saw that people had formed a square, marching troop-like formation around two Japanese military guys. They were singing their way to the finish line, giving me and others a final energy boost, like some kind of deus ex machina.

I joined the group, and even though it hurt, I kept pace. We passed through the giant gate that was the entrance to the park and approached the stadium for the final lap. When we entered the stadium, the finish line was in site, but we still had to run another 400m around the track. At this point, the troop collapsed around the two chanters as eveyrone decided it was too far. Everyone, but me.

I crossed the finish line with two singing military guys with a chip time of 4:36:17.

(The time showed is when the gun went off, not when I crossed the start line)

Even though this marathon is technically no different than any other, it feels like the hardest one I have done yet. Usually, I limp around after the race, but am fine the next morning. As of Day Three, I'm still limping. I blame the hills. Also, I gave myself a difficult goal. In previous races, I knew I would get to the finish line, but this time, I wanted to get to the finish line in under a certain time. That's a lot of mental fatigue when your body is screaming for you to stop.

For future races, I'm going to focus on strength training to avoid strained muscles and longer runs to get my body in true marathon shape. I'm looking forward to the day when I can keep my 5k-30min pace for an entire marathon.

Final Run Log

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Thu, 01 Dec 2011 04:29:00 +0000

Total Distance: 903.3 km
Total Duration: 3 days, 22 hours, 37 minutes, 10 seconds
Total Average Pace: 6:17

Lake Kawaguchiko Marathon 2011

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Thu, 01 Dec 2011 00:23:00 +0000

Going into marathon week, I was worried about my overall fitness. My calf was still hurting, and because of that, I wasn't running that much. The day before my flight, I went to visit my Japanese chiropractor. He's not a chiropractor in the American sense of cracking backs. This guy pokes around, finds sore muscles, then makes them better. After three weeks of walking on a bad leg, my calf was cured in less than an hour.

The next day, Friday, I flew to Tokyo, then took a two hour bus ride to Lake Kawaguchi in Yamanashi Prefecture.

On Saturday, the day before the marathon, I ran a 3k forest trail that conveniently was right next to my hotel. It was nice to test out my leg (fine) and see what it was like running in 45 F weather (awesome).

(view from hotel balcony)

I spent that afternoon playing tourist. I started off with a traditional Yamanashi meal called houtou.

(yummy)

Then I went to visit the Ice Cave (氷穴) and the Wind Cave (風穴). These are caves formed by lava from Mt. Fuji a long, long time ago.

The Wind Cave wasn't very windy...

(entrance to the Wind Cave)

(Wind Cave map)

...and the Ice Cave wasn't very icy.

(entrance to the Ice Cave)

(Ice Cave map)

But both were cold and low-ceilinged.

(the Man in the Yellow Coat made a good size-reference model)

After my little adventure, I went home and fell asleep around 9.

Marathon Day
I woke up at 5 and started my pre-run routine, which consists of eating ramen, checking reddit, and using the bathroom. The start time was 8:00, so I caught a shuttle bus and arrived on the scene around 7:15.

(Wearing my Gator gear. A lot of good that did.)

The first thing I noticed was the lack of portable toilets. I counted about 10, which is not enough for 13,000 people. The start line was parallel to a long tourist road full of souvenir shops which also had restrooms. People were lined up there also, but behind the shops were trees, so I started searching for an area that would allow me to climb into there. I found one, and as soon as I had scrambled up to the top, a couple of other people apparently liked my idea and joined me.

Then it was time for the race. I changed, stretched, and ran it in 4:42:39. The course went around Lake Kawaguchi twice. I thought that I would get bored having to run the same roads twice, but I didn't at all. The course was beautiful, the weather was perfect, and overall it was a lot of fun. Way better than Naha.

The Race
My goal was to finish under 5 hours. I kept my pace in check by trying to run every 5k in under 30 minutes. I remember passing the half-way point with a time of 2:06:00, which is a PR for me. Then, I think around the 27k mark, I started slowing down. No cramping, but my body was hurting, mainly the joints (knees, hips, ankles). I hit the 32k mark at around 3:15:00 (another PR), which is about 30 minutes faster than I ran in training. I think the cold weather had a lot to do with it. After that, my body started giving out, so I would run as far as I could (usually about 5-10 min) then walk and stretch for another 5-10 min. I knew I was going to get under 5 hours, but I kept pushing to see how close to the 4:30:00 mark I could get.

Last year at the Naha Marathon, I cramped before I even hit the half-way point. This year, I cramped at the 40k mark, and I know exactly why. My body was hungering for sugar and at some table around 38k, there was a station with tables loaded with chocolates. I couldn't resist and I grabbed a whole handful thinking it wouldn't do anything in the last few km. Well, I was wrong, but I was still able to finish the race at a run.

(the ネットタイム is the important one)

(Sweat salt. Notice my watch time exactly matches my recorded time.)

What I liked about this race was noticing the difference between this year and last year. I am obviously in a lot better shape, and I hope when I do this training again, I will be in even better shape and get to the point where I can keep a 30 min/5k pace the entire time.

Week of Nov. 21 - Nov. 27
11/22: 5k, 27:09
11/26: 3k, 16:47
11/27: 42.2k, 4:42:39 (pace - 6:41)

Total: 50.2k, 5:26:35
Average Pace: 06:30

Running Log: Week 17

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Fri, 18 Nov 2011 07:46:00 +0000

My left calf has been bugging me since my 32k run three weeks ago. Even when I walk on it, as my heel comes up, there is a sharp pain that had me limping for the first couple of days. When I run on it now, the first 5k or so is weird, but then the pain numbs away. I don't think it is anything serious, but with my running schedule, it certainly hasn't had time to heal.

As a result, I took off a couple of days in an effort to heal the muscle as much as I could. When I ran 5k last Saturday, the pain was not there at all. Then it came back after my 13k run the following day.

Even though I ran three days instead of five this week, my body feels like it isn't running and I have this voice in the back of my head telling me I'm not going to be in shape come marathon day. I sure hope I am.

This is the part where I say, 1 week to marathon, but as I am posting late, I will instead say:

2 days to marathon.

Week of Nov. 14 - Nov. 20
11/15: 6.5k, 36:45
11/19: 5k, 27:36
11/20: 13k, 1:17:14 (pace - 5:56)

Total: 24k, 2:21:35
Average Pace: 05:54

Running Log: Week 16

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Fri, 18 Nov 2011 07:31:00 +0000

On the 9th, 3 days after running 32k, I decided to see how fast I could run 10k. 3 years ago I struggled and failed to finish under an hour. Progress!

2 weeks to marathon.

Week of Nov. 7 - Nov. 13
11/8: 8k, 44:49
11/9: 10k, 53:40
11/10: 8k, 48:58
11/12: 6.5k, 36:03
11/13: 19.5k, 2:03:33 (pace - 6:20)

Total: 52k, 5:07:03
Average Pace: 05:54

Running Log: Week 15

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sun, 06 Nov 2011 08:28:00 +0000

I ran the first 19k at around 2:03:00 (pace 6:28). At around the 24k mark, my body was just exhausted and I ended up walking more than I wanted to. Ended up doing the final 13k in about 1:40:00 (pace 7:41)

It is safe to assume I will run the first 32k at Kawaguchiko in 3:40:00. My goal for this year is to run a sub 5 hour marathon, which means I will need to find the energy to run the final 10k in less than 1:20:00. This sounds easy, but I really surprised myself with that final 13k this morning, so we'll see.

Fun stat: this week's run was the same as Week 13, which had a total time of 7:20:23. This week was only 4 seconds slower.

3 weeks to marathon.

Week of Oct. 31 - Nov. 6
11/01: 8k, 44:44
11/02: 13k, 1:19:57
11/03: 8k, 47:18
11/05: 8k, 45:47
11/06: 32k, 3:42:41 (pace - 6:57)

Total: 69k, 7:20:27
Average Pace: 06:23

Running Log: Week 14

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sat, 29 Oct 2011 09:34:00 +0000

With a long run of 'only' 19.5k this week, I had somewhat of an easy run week. Next week, it jumps back up to 32k before finally tapering off.

I checked out the bottom of my shoes this morning and noticed considerable wear and tear on the outside of the shoe. It's kind of interesting what 3 months of marathon training will do.

4 weeks to marathon.

Week of Oct. 23 - Oct. 29
10/24: 8k, 45:59
10/25: 8k, 43:56
10/26: 8k, 44:42
10/28: 13k, 1:16:01
10/29: 19.5k, 2:05:05 (pace - 6:24)

Total: 56.5k, 5:35:43
Average Pace: 05:56

Running Log: Week 13

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Tue, 25 Oct 2011 09:20:00 +0000

Hell Week: Part 1 is over and done with. I ran 32k on Saturday and had one simple goal: beat last year's time of 3:49:49. I was confident I could do it, but to be honest, I wish I had run a bit faster. I'll try to speed things up when I do it again in 2 weeks.

5 weeks to marathon.

Week of Oct. 16 - Oct. 22
10/17: 8k, 45:55
10/18: 13k, 1:19:11
10/19: 8k, 47:14
10/21: 8k, 47:44
10/22: 32k, 3:40:19 (pace - 6:53)

Total: 69k, 7:20:23
Average Pace: 06:22

Running Log: Week 12

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Wed, 19 Oct 2011 03:34:00 +0000

I caught a ferry on Saturday to Iheya for my first race of my running season. It was pouring rain in the morning but let up before the race started. Poseidon must have been pleased with my goat sacrifice.

The race went great. I got a PR out of it, and it's weird to think that a couple of weeks ago I wanted to quit. Looking over last year's logs I realized I experienced the same thing last year. I guess my body has hit a second wind. I hope it lasts until Kawaguchiko. We'll see how my 32k run this coming Saturday goes.

In other news, I've been accepted to run the Tokyo Marathon next February. I have until Oct. 31 to decide whether or not I want to do it.

6 weeks to marathon.

Week of Oct. 9 - Oct. 15
10/10: 8k, 49:23
10/11: 8k, 46:02
10/12: 8k, 47:24
10/14: 13k, 1:18:45
10/15: Iheya Moonlight Marathon, 21.1k, 2:11:45 (pace - 6:14)

Total: 58.1k, 5:53:17
Average Pace: 06:04

Running Log: Week 11

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sat, 08 Oct 2011 10:24:00 +0000

My short runs this year have not been as fast as last years. But by slowing down just a little bit, I am staying consistent and I hope to have a sub 5 hour marathon in November. This week, I finally outperformed a run from last year, the 29k. Last years time: 3:34:14.

A weird phenomenon I have been experiencing recently is during the first 8k or so, I feel as if I have weights around my ankles. Then that feeling slowly dissolves and I end up picking up speed. That is why the pace of my 8ks is slower than that of my 13ks.

Also of note, in terms of total distance, I think this week will be my longest running week.

Next week: Iheya Moonlight Marathon (21.1k)

Week of Oct. 2 - Oct. 8
10/3: 8k, 48:45
10/4: 13k, 1:16:45
10/5: 8k, 51:47
10/7: 13k, 1:16:11
10/8: 29k, 3:22:02 (pace - 6:58)

Total: 71k, 7:35:30
Average Pace: 06:24

Running Log: Week 10

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sat, 01 Oct 2011 10:26:00 +0000

I had a great running week. Not in terms of time (last year I ran 26k in 2:44:20), but in terms of lack of fatigue. Two weeks ago I felt like quitting. Last week, I felt a bit better, but this week I feel great. That's one reason why I like running, it makes me feel awesome. I hit a barrier and crossed over it. Accomplishment.

I read a quote a few days ago that I liked: Sweat is fat crying.

Week of Sept. 25 - Oct. 1
9/26: 6.5k, 40:36
9/27: 13k, 1:21:47
9/28: 6.5k, 40:21
9/30: 13k, 1:20:05
10/1: 27k, 3:03:07 (pace - 6:46)

Total: 66k, 7:05:56
Average Pace: 06:27

Running Log: Week 9

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Wed, 28 Sep 2011 14:51:00 +0000

Week 9. Half-way there.

I only ran 4 days this week with lower mileage (killoage?) than last week, and boy did I need the extra rest. I have a half-marathon race coming up in 3 weeks. This week's run should give me an idea of what I will run it in. Hardly any time improvement compared to last year, but I feel a lot better doing it. (No cramps)

Week of Sept. 18 - Sept. 24

9/19: 6.5k, 39:23

9/20: 8k, 49:07

9/21: 6.5k, 38:36
9/24: 21k, 2:22:28

Total: 42k, 4:29:34

Average Pace: 06:25

Running Log: Week 8

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Fri, 23 Sep 2011 09:24:00 +0000

This week was hard. My fatigue carried over from last week, most notably on my long run. I gave myself a goal of 2:45:00 and I didn't come close. Around the halfway point I kept asking myself, "Why am I training for a marathon again?" I have obviously gotten more out of shape since last year than I thought. 17 pounds to be exact.

Week of Sept. 11 - Sept. 17

9/12: 6.5k, 40:03

9/13: 11k, 1:11:23

9/14: 6.5k, 37:32
9/16: 11k, 1:11:23
9/17: 24k, 2:56:15

Total: 59k, 6:36:40

Average Pace: 06:43

Running Log: Week 7

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Mon, 12 Sep 2011 00:03:00 +0000

This week's long run was my first 21k+ run of the year, and every week until November will be a half marathon or greater. My run on Saturday was a good reminder that I am not in marathon shape yet. The first 11k went well, but my body became exhausted in the second half and I walked quite a bit.

Next week's long run is 24k. Last year during training I ran that in 2:45:58. My goal for this week is to do better.

Week of Sept. 4 - Sept. 10

9/5: 6k, 35:14

9/6: 11k, 1:08:08

9/7: 6.5k, 37:36
9/9: 11k, 1:06:59
9/10: 22.5k, 2:38:30

Total: 57k, 6:06:27

Average Pace: 06:25

Running Log: Week 6

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Wed, 07 Sep 2011 00:08:00 +0000

Week of Aug. 28 - Sept. 3

8/29: 5k, 28:42

8/30: 8k, 47:14

8/31: 5k, 28:02
9/02: 9.5k, 58:10
8/03: 14.5k, 1:34:26

Total: 42k, 4:16:34

Average Pace: 06:06

Running Log: Week 5

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Tue, 30 Aug 2011 00:13:00 +0000

I missed a couple days of running last week because I spent 5 days in Tokyo. I had planned on running while I was there, but because my days were so busy, I was just too tired to do so. I do regret it a little because the weather was so awesome. Afternoons in the mid-70s...*sigh*

Week of Aug. 21 - Aug. 27

8/25: 5k, 28:31

8/26: 9.5k, 59:31

8/27: 19k, 2:13:39

Total: 33.5k, 3:41:41

Average Pace: 06:37

Running Log: Week 4

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Thu, 25 Aug 2011 01:55:00 +0000

My running strategy until now has been to run as far as I can until I get tired, walk a bit, then run again as far as I can. Gradually, the amount of time I walk gets longer and the amount of time I run gets shorter.

Last Saturday I tried a different tactic: run 20 min, walk 2 min, repeat.

Every 20 min I would take a water break, and every 40 min I would take a gel. My long run last week was not stellar, but was pretty good compared to this time last year when I ran 19k in 2:20. For the record, stellar for me would be a pace where I can run a half-marathon in under 2 hours.

Week of Aug. 14 - Aug. 20

8/14: 5k, 27:38

8/16: 9.5k, 58:49

8/17: 5k, 28:30

8/18: 9.5k, 1:01:39
8/20: 17.5k, 1:52:10

Total: 46.5k, 4:48:46

Average Pace: 06:12

Ogimi Matsuri

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Wed, 17 Aug 2011 02:27:00 +0000

Due to a typhoon, the Ogimi festival was pushed back a week to last Friday and Saturday. This also happened to coincided with the obon weekend, so the crowd was bigger than usual.

The best day to go is always on the final day. There is a tug-of-war tournament where the winning team gets a goat.

(1st prize)

There are also a variety hari races with teams of adults as well as elementary school teams competing against each other.

But the best part of the evening is the fireworks and the eisa that follows:

(I love being tall)

Running Log: Week 3

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Mon, 15 Aug 2011 02:55:00 +0000

Because most races are on a Sunday, I keep my logs where the first day of my running week begins on a Monday. Since the Iheya Marathon is on a Saturday, I am going to temporarily change to a Sun-Sat format. After Iheya, I will go back to the Mon-Sun one.

Week of Aug. 7 - Aug. 13

8/08: 5k, 29:40

8/09: 8k, 45:10

8/10: 5k, 27:45

8/12: 8k, 47:45
8/13: 9.5k, 59:58

Total: 35.5k, 3:30:18

Average Pace: 05:55

Level Up (Brown Belt)

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Mon, 15 Aug 2011 02:47:00 +0000

I recently had a belt test, and last month I got a certificate...and a new brown belt. I hope to have a black belt this time next year. Here is where I currently stand:

初段

準初段 (black) 

１級 

２級 (brown)  <-- ME 

３級

 ４級 (green)

５級 

６級 (yellow) 

７級 

８級 (orange)

 ９級 

１０級 (blue)

初級 (white)

Running Log: Week 2

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Wed, 10 Aug 2011 07:13:00 +0000

We had a typhoon that hit and then just sat on Okinawa for more than two days last week. Because of that, I missed a scheduled 8k run.

Week of Aug. 1 - Aug. 7

8/01: 5k, 27:58

8/03: 8k, 50:16

8/04: 5k, 29:41

8/06: 14.5k, 1:24:44

Total: 32.5k, 3:12:39

Average Pace: 05:55

My 5k runs are still not at the level they were at the end of training last year (24:03), but I was happy with my long run last Saturday. I ran a 14k in the beginning of training last year in 1:42:20, so it's good to see some improvement.

Also, knock on wood, I have yet to experience the side cramping that plagued me last year.

Running Log: Week 1

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Wed, 10 Aug 2011 07:06:00 +0000

This year, I have self-promoted myself to Hal Higdon's Intermediate I training guide. I will be running five times a week instead of four. Also, there are two Hell Week's (Week 13 and 15) instead of just one.

Week of Jul. 25 - Jul. 31

7/25: 5k, 29:21

7/26: 8k, 51:15

7/27: 5k, 28:43

7/29: 8k, 50:36
7/30: 13k, 1:28:07

Total: 39k, 4:08:02

Average Pace: 06:22

Running Prep

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Wed, 10 Aug 2011 06:52:00 +0000

Well, it's that time of year of again.

Last month, I started getting ready for this year's running season by buying new attire, selecting what races I want to run, and scheduling my runs for the next 4 months accordingly.

Attire shopping started with running shoes. I always have trouble finding shoes in Japan, so this year I e-mailed Asics, which is a Japanese company, and asked them if they had size 14 (31cm) in stock somewhere, anywhere, in Japan. Their answer was no. It would be easy if I could just order a pair from some store in America and have them ship it to me, but for some reason, all the running shoe sites I could find would not ship out of the country. I thought I would have to mail them to my mom and have her ship them to me again...until I had an idea. Instead of searching online for a store in America, I decided to find an online store based in the UK.

This led me to wiggle, which not only had my size in running shoes, but also offered free shipping to Japan!

(too hot for me)

Next I started looking for a new pair of shorts. I have one pair, but since my running schedule has me running 5 times a week this year, I figured I could do with two. The problem with running attire in Japan, however, is that most runners are afraid of showing some leg. The majority of people I see always seem to be wearing some sort of long or short spandex.

The sports companies must have caught on, because I have yet to find a simple pair of running shorts with an inner lining. One has to either buys shorts without lining ($40) plus tights ($40), or buy shorts with mini tights sewn in, like this:

(no thanks)

In protest, I am now shopping for the shortest pair of shorts I can find. It is worth noting that all the fast runners (excluding me) wear real running shorts.

Finally, I wanted a pair of awesome sunglasses. Check.

With my shopping out of the way, I decided on what races I wanted to run. To date, I have applied for the following:

Iheya Moonlight Marathon (21.1k) - Oct 15

Kawaguchiko Marathon (42.2 k) - Nov 27

and...

(looks cold)

The Kawaguchiko Marathon is in view of Mt. Fuji, so I'm really looking forward to that run. The Tokyo Marathon is a lottery, so I won't find out if I can actually apply for it until mid-October.

Next up, running logs.

A Dance With Dragons and E-book Piracy

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Thu, 14 Jul 2011 06:55:00 +0000

On Tuesday, after 6 long years, the 5th book in the A Song of Ice and Fire series was finally released.

(revel in its awesomeness)

When I was a lad, I would enjoy purchasing a new book, holding it in my hands, hearing the crack of the spine as I opened it for the first time, and having the smell of the pages drift up to my nose. But most of all, I enjoyed adding a book to my collection where I could admire the display and pat myself on the back for having such excellent taste.

Moving to Japan changed me. Knowing my time in Ogimi was limited, I learned to live lightly. Having a book collection is an inconvenience for someone who has to move around a lot. When I moved here, I literally had two suitcases filled with books. After that endeavor, my book collection that I had been so proud of began to seem like an unnecessary luxury.

I decided to part with my books. As I finished a book, I would either give it to another JET or mail it to someone who had requested it on BookMooch. This was a fine system because I was able to get rid of the books I had brought with me one by one.

Then, two Christmases ago, I visited the US and bought Stephen King's Under the Dome. Coming in at over 1000 pages, it was a beast of a book. Not only did it take up all the space in my carry-on, but trying to snuggle up with it, on an airplane no less, proved to be impossible. After I finished, I listed it on BookMooch. That left a bad taste in my mouth because I had bought a $30 book, read it in a month, and then paid the shipping fee to give it away.

Fast forward to earlier this year, and the release date for A Dance With Dragons was announced. I knew I was in trouble. After waiting 6 years since the last book, there was no way I was going to wait another year for it to come out in paperback. Like Under the Dome, the book is a door-stopper at over 1000 pages.

I knew it was time to buy an e-book reader.

I went with the new Nook for a couple of reasons: it has touch screen, has no physical keyboard, and it fits in my pocket. Also, it is built on Android and supports the ePub format. The ePub format seems to be what the standard for e-books is heading towards. There are many arguments for a standardized format, which I won't get into here, but think of it this way: when I buy a music CD, it will play in any CD player I put it in. When I buy an e-book, I want it to do the same and work on any device, whether it is a Nook, iPad, or Kobo.

If I had gone with a Kindle, it would have been like buying a CD that will only play in, say, Sony CD players. I don't want to be forced to use a platform, and with the Nook, I thought that not only would my money be going to supporting the ePub format, but I would also be able to read my books on other devices should I ever choose to upgrade to something new.

Oh, how ignorant I was...

As the release date for ADwD approached, I pre-ordered it at Barnes & Noble...only to have my order cancelled. After e-mailing a customer service representative, I was informed that even though I was using a US debit card with a US billing address, I was not physically in the US, and therefore I could not buy the book. Purchased e-books can be downloaded anywhere in the world, but if one tries to buy a new one with a non-USA IP address, they will be denied.

Because I couldn't use the B&N store, I had to come up with some other ideas.

1. Download the book through the iBookstore.

The iBookstore on iTunes uses ePub, and all ePub books are the same, right?

No.

After some intense Google-ing, I discovered that Amazon was not the only company to lock its e-books to a specific device. I came to the following scientific conclusion:

If I could not put an e-book purchased from a different store onto my Nook, surely I could...

2. Convert with Calibre.

Calibre is a nice little program that organizes my books on the computer and transfers them to and from my Nook. It can also convert between many various formats. I figured I could download a Kindle or iPad version of a book and just convert it to ePub with this program.

It turns out I can't do that either. E-books purchased from Amazon, Apple, and B&N have a DRM lock on them, and Calibre can only convert non-DRM'd books.

I found methods for stripping the DRM from e-books, but the process seemed like way too much trouble for something as simple as buying a book. In the end, I decided that I would just...

3. Pirate it.

I didn't want to do this. I have been a fan of this series for a long time, and I wanted to give Mr. Martin my money. I tried searching several 3rd party e-book sites, but none of them were selling the book. At this point, I was fed up. I had done a lot of work to find a way to give the book publishers my money, but the system would not let me. It was like I had bought a CD player, only to be told I was not allowed to purchase the CD I wanted to play on it.

A friend suggested that if I pirate the book, I should send Mr. Martin a check. I thought that was a good idea...but I don't own any checks, and I don't know how he would feel about Japanese Yen.

Then I had one final idea...I found a friend online who lives in the US and asked her to log into my B&N account and purchase the book for me. She did and it worked. It took all of two minutes, and when it struck midnight on the east coast, I logged in and download the book.

Success!

I understand that e-book technology is new and the book companies might be a little confused as to what the best business model might be, but I'm sorry, the current one sucks.

One would think that they would not be so obtuse as to copy the old music industry business model, but that appears to be exactly what they are doing. CD sales plummeted until iTunes made their music DRM-free. Now we are seeing 1,000,000+ digital album sales for the first time.

So, to the book companies, if you don't want my money, I'm not going to go through the trouble of giving it to you again. Until there are DRM-free books, or unless an author has a Paypal link on their home page, I will pirate at will.

Well, at least until The Winds of Winter comes out...