Oxfam Trailwalker Japan - Fuji crew!

Well as I mentioned a month or so back, on April 23-25 I am participating in a team-challenge to raise money for Oxfam International. The event is a 100 kilometer hike that takes place over 48 hours through the forests, hills, and mountains of Japan. It is called Oxfam Trailwalker.

Oxfam Trailwalker takes place in 12 countries around the world, and it is said that the Japan Trailwalker is the most challenging of all. Take a look at the site to read all about the trail and information on the hike.

So you may be thinking, "What does a 100km hike have to do with rasing money for charity?" I'm glad you asked. Each team of four that competes in the challenge is responsible for raising a minimum of 120,000 yen which is roughly equivalent to $1,346. The money that is raised goes to help people in need in places like Congo, the Philippines, Cambodia, Laos, India, Mogambique, and South Africa. To read more about how the money is used, look here. Last year, Oxfam Trailwalker Japan raised 49,246,830 yen.

My team is made up of Ashley Janssen from Minnesota, John Land from Alabama, Linton Rathgen from Christchurch, New Zealand and myself. We are called Fuji Crew.

So how can you help? You can go to our Just Giving site where you will find more information about our team as well as some pictures and information about how to make a donation. The donation on the site will be in Euros so your money will be transferred from Dollars to Euros to Yen. But no matter what, it'll go straight to Oxfam and help us to reach our goal of 120,000 yen by April 9. Anything above that amount would be great too.

If you have any questions about the event or anything else, let me know. As we do more practice hikes, I'll start to post some pictures on here and we'll continue to update pictures on the Just Giving site. You can see some of Ashley's below.

Thanks for reading and please help us out.

よし！

Well I did it! I successfully completed the 10K. I came in 125th place out of around 190 boys. Or at least the boy who I raced the final 50 meters or so to the finish line came in 125th place. I wasn't given an actual number. I don't know my exact time yet. I'll find that out tomorrow at school when we get a packet with everybody's times. I'll look up #125 and count that as my time since we finished at almost exactly the same time. But I added up the minutes and seconds of the songs I listened to while I ran and came up with something around 45 minutes! Which is unbelievable! I guess my natural pace is much faster than the 11kph I run on the treadmill at the gym.

So needless to say I was very pleased. And I'm very tired. The unexpected hills really took it out of me. I took the rest of the day off and came home (making a stop to eat a huge lunch at Katsu-ya on the way.) One very bad thing about having this postponed from Friday to today is we have school tomorrow. I even have a 1st period class. So I'm going to rest up for the rest of the day.

Emily took some pictures of me while I ran that I'll post as soon as she sends them to me.

おつかれさまです！

Let's try this again

So as of now, everything is a go for tomorrow. We're going to try this one again, drier but much colder. Here is a picture from my Accuweather app to show you exactly what the weather might be like when I'm running tomorrow.



Or for those metrically challenged...



I've come to like Celsius because it makes things look more exciting. So I'll probably be running sometime around 11. I'll be wearing shorts although Kelly keeps telling me I shouldn't, but I always run in shorts so that's what I'm comfortable in. I probably will forgo a t-shirt however for something with long sleeves. We'll see.

iPod is charged and ready. Here's hoping this thing happens this time!

Another chapter in a long book of February blah

Well Marathon Day got cancelled today. I was just getting up to get ready when I got a phone call saying that it was cancelled because of rain and that I should come to school because we would be having a regular class day today. So after weeks of looking forward to and preparing for this day, I'm feeling pretty let down and unhappy. It hasn't been cancelled completely, only postponed until next Wednesday. Next Wednesday will be the last chance to do it. Unfortunately the weather report I looked at this morning predicts rain on Wednesday too, so it's likely that it'll be cancelled altogether. I guess I have to keep my hopes up though.

Have I mentioned lately how much I despise the month of February? It seems like February is always full of bad things. There have been a few decent ones mixed in, but for the most part, I have been having bad Februarys for as long as I can remember. And this day and this weather just add to the long list of things I can't stand about this month. Sometimes I wish I was a bear so I could hibernate through February. Just go to sleep on the night of January 31 and wake up on the morning of March 1. Oh well.

Sorry to be a downer this morning. I'm just going to have to go to the gym after school today and run another 9K and keep my preparation going. Hopefully that'll make me feel better.

The clock is ticking...

Well tomorrow is the day. It's currently pouring down rain in Fuji and has been all day, but if the rain stops during the night as it's supposed to, 200 high school boys and I will be running a 10K tomorrow. I know it seems silly to be getting all worked up about 10K. It's not like it's a real marathon or anything. But considering that I have never done anything like this before, it'll be a big accomplishment if I complete it. And if I start, believe me, I will complete it.

I'll also be making good on the promise I made to some students last year.

Well today was a holiday, National Foundation Day. No idea what it celebrates. We spent the entire day indoors, Kelly reading her book, me playing Playstation, while it rained outside. You can't do much more with a Thursday holiday anyway.

Wish me luck tomorrow! If I survive, I'll tell you all about it!

Thinking about the old days...

Exciting day here at school today. Today was the last day of exams for our third year students, so they officially have the time from now until graduation (March 1) off. The time in between is used for students to make up classes or tests that they need to graduate. So today there were about 250 giddy third year students cleaning out their homerooms for the last time and packing up their stuff. They were very excited.

It reminded me of when I graduated from high school coming up on 12 years ago. I remember the day pretty clearly. It was a Friday. I had been exempt from all of my exams except one which I requested to take on that day during 7th period so I wouldn't have to come back the next week and take it. I took the exam, which I bombed (don't tell my dad,) and when I finished, my teacher let me leave. I remember walking down almost every hallway relishing the fact that I was finished. I knew I would likely never see those hallways again (which would have been true no matter what since the school has been completely remodeled.) Then I made the way out to my car and headed home. It's hard to believe that I have not entered the main part of that school building, old or remodeled, since that day. I think the last time I went on campus at all was about 8 years ago right after I graduated from college when I went up to give Mrs. Childress her Tommy Act II score back. She was retiring and had just left for the last time so I missed her. A bit anticlimactic I guess.

Well enough reminiscing. I had my last classes with the few third year students that I teach last week. I handled myself pretty well although I think if I had said any more I might have choked up a bit. I don't think I'll handle myself quite as well when I'm leaving in July. These students that are graduating have been a great class, but I don't have quite as strong a connection with them as with many of the students who I will be leaving behind when I go. It's going to be tough. But no thinking about that now.

Well as you may have heard, Kelly and I both passed our JLPT. For those who are unaware, that's the Japanese Language Proficiency Test. There are currently 4 levels and we passed level 4 which is the beginner level. But that by no means takes away from the accomplishment. It was tough. Surprisingly, I had my highest percentage on the listening section which is what I was most worried about going in. My lowest was grammar - no surprise. I plan to keep studying even after we leave, and depending on where we end up I may consider trying for level 3 next year. We'll see.

Well, one week until the 10K. I'm getting nervous, but I'm ready to get it overwith. I'm shooting for a time somewhere from 56 minutes to 1 hour. The pace I usually run at puts me in that range, but I usually run on a treadmill that sets the pace for me. It's going to be much different running on my own. I'm hoping the gameday adrenaline kicks in though. I've said from the very beginning that I absolutely do not want to finish last. Last year, the last student finished at about 1 hour and 5 minutes, so I think shooting for 56-60 minutes should be okay. I saw some students doing running practice in P.E. today and I think I can take 'em. Today after school I'm going to the gym to do my last long distance practice run. I'll do a couple of shorter ones next week. Today I plan to run 9km. So by the time most of you read this, my legs will be jello.

Kelly just put up some pictures on Flickr. Some old, some new. Go check 'em out!