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No new news

Well there really isn't anything new going on, but as my readers are getting antsy again about having nothing to read but my running logs I figured I'd try and come up with something to blog about. Today I started my crazy plan on running even more than I have been. I signed up for the Portland Marathon. Which simply means that now I have even more reason to step up my training as I now have 9 months to get into fighting shape for a grueling 26.6 miles (well not grueling ... but a guys got to have some artistic license when telling a story right?)
Lets see ... haven't seen Miki since two weeks ago, but she is probably going to be in town next weekend so I'll probably get a chance to meet with her then. I have a 3k lined up for next Sunday morning. My school, Shosha junior high, asked me to participate in the community 3k so I agreed. Should be interesting. I have a snowboarding trip lined up for the weekend after next on Sunday. We have a three day weekend so should be a good time to go. The following weekend (third weekend of Feb.) I intend to run around "naked" (I'll have a fundoshi one ... the diaper like clothes that sumo wrestlers and men at festivals wear) at a shrine in the middle of the night in Okayama. Should be interesting. School is still good. My students are definitely a lot less "tame" than my previous school and I've been being given more latitude in lesson planning so it's been an interesting experience so far. Thats about all I have for right now. Enjoy! :-)

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Today I hit 500 miles! :) However my run was pretty sad a steady downward slope on pace. :(

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10.5 miles until 500 miles ... yes today's run was disgraceful.

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Nearly to 500 miles!

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Nine miles for run 69 :P. Wearing the "slow shoes" this week, meaning these are the shoes that are way off of my actual distance so they show me running slow.

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I need to recalibrate my Nike+ ... this should have said a faster and longer pace.

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Just a quick jog before going to yoga and resting tomorrow. :-)

Running

In case you are wondering. No I didn't run today. Instead because I got back late from my conference I went to the gym and did a BodyStep class, which is good for explosive endurance (e.g. kicks at the end of a tough run). Tomorrow will be the last day I do anything exercise related until 10:30 am on Sunday when I will run my race in Takatsuki. Hope you are all well. Catch you later.

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Bit fast I know, but had to get the juices flowing ^^

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Stepping it down to race day ...

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Kobe and Miki

So yesterday, after my usual Saturday morning lesson, I went to Kobe to meet Miki for lunch. We went to a little Italian cafe that she knows and had a leisurely lunch chatting and getting to know each other more. After lunch we wandered around a little and settled on a little dessert cafe to get some tea and a small cake each. We chatted some more and then went window shopping. It is sale season now over here so there is lot of stuff to see. I ended up buying a "brit cap" just for fun. Around 5:30 Miki had to go meet one of her friends for dinner so we parted at Sanomiya Station and I headed back to Himeji. Overall it was a nice relaxing day. Miki has many interesting things to say and I learned lots about her views. I will most likely meet her again in a few weeks after she does a national conference in Tokyo about speech therapy.

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Shosha

Well today was quite good ^^. I was pleasantly surprised. The teachers are all very friendly, the students were not all that shy and started bantering with me almost right away and the campus is pretty. I still miss Shikama, but I felt very welcome at Shosha and I'm looking forward to working there. The English teachers in first and second grade took me to lunch at a local "sushi" restaurant and were able to convince the owner to make a special meal for me without fish. So look forward to more glowing praises in the next few months ^^.
On a side note the office man at Shosha is a runner. And by runner I mean marathoner. He has competed in the Honolulu marathon 15 times and will be entering his third Boston this Spring. He maintains that he isn't that exceptional a runner and is only able to enter those races because he is an international competitor so the rules and entry guidelines are much easier to qualify for. Still I am impressed by the number of marathons he has completed. I hope to one day have the chance to do so many.

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Shosha

So I visited my new school Shosha Chugako today and was pleasantly surprised. After being spoiled at Shikama Higashi and being disappointed with Ohtsu, I wasn't very hopeful. But! The teachers were all very friendly for the brief time I've met them and thats a good start. Everyone in Himeji says the "sea" side kids are the bad ones (both Shikama and Ohtsu were "sea" side ... or southside) and the "mountain" kids or north kids are the nice angels. I didn't really get to meet many students today, but hopefully this turns out to be the case ... although I kind of liked the little rascals at Shikama. The schools layout is definately more spacious. Anyway I will make an effort to blog tomorrow and let you all know how my first day there goes.

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And there it is the last long run before my half on Jan 20. Interesting graph.

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Sort one today. I hope to do my final long run, before my half marathon race on Jan 20, tomorrow.

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All back to normal ... well graph wise at least. ^^

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I may have killed my ipod with this run ... look at the graph!

Happy New Year

So now it is officially 2008 all over the world! 2007 was a rough year, but it is past now. It had it's ups and downs ... more so in my family, however we can now put that on the shelf of life and start a new. Today I did a bit of New Years shopping and cleaned my apartment. New Years is kind of like Christmas in that the day after/day of is a big shopping day. However, unlike America it isn't just a small amount of post Christmas merchandise that is on sale, but more like the entire store (whatever store that may be). Along with that they have "goodie/grab bags" that range from 1000¥(about $10) to 50000¥(about $500). Depending on where you happen to be it can be anything from food to clothing to electronics. Sometimes you know what will be in the bag(if not always the colors) and sometimes it is a complete surprise with the value only being advertised. For example, there is a clothing store I sometimes go to that this year has bags for 5000¥, 10000¥ and 20000¥. The value of the clothing inside the bag is 7000¥~, 15000¥~, and 30000¥~ with it not being less than, but the possibility it may be a little more than that price if you were to buy everything in the bag separately. Anyway, one of my stops was Sports Authority, where they had many of these "grab bags" ... not always bags, some tins and other containers ... I ended up only getting some UnderArmor after about an hour and a half of carrying around a Nike and Adidas bag each I determined I didn't really need another set of warm ups etc. (warm-ups, socks, jacket and other odd items) I'll fill you guys in more on my other doings later.

Lets all enjoy 2008 ... seriously ... start enjoying ... NOW!

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