February 2012
12 posts
My greatest social fear
Running Times – Sun 19th February, 2012
11am. 4C, 2m/sec N wind and dry
21.5km – 1:39:20 – 4:38/km
Ran with Namban club mate Harrisson. 5km warm-up, 10km a bit faster than race-pace (4:15/km) 6km cool-down. Decent session, will be the last hard run until race day next Sunday. Hope to get a bit of an energy boost from the taper as that 4:15 pace is still feeling a bit fast. Just two runs this week for a total of 35km.
1 tag
Running Times – Sun 12th February, 2012
13:49pm. 8C, 4m/sec N wind and dry
21.1km – 1:29:31 – 4:15/km
A good effort today. Half marathon distance in sub- 1:30. Including a 2km warm-up. Didn’t feel too hard which is good on an 80km week. Averaged 4:15/k which is Tokyo target pace. 4m/sec headwind on the way out helped me on the way back. Don’t want to jinx myself, but I am feeling pretty confident in the condition of...
1 tag
Running Times – Sat 11th February, 2012
12:28pm. 8C, light wind and dry
16.94km – 1:18:10 – 4:37/km
Better today. Pace felt comfortable all the way. Forgot to grease the undercarriage — inner thighs pretty sore now.
More fun if you weren't so skinny?
From a third-world Ireland of 1967.
1 tag
Running Times – Fri 10th February, 2012
6:44am. 3C, calm and dry
11.35km – 56:48 – 5:00/km
Legs still feeling heavy. No drop in weight despite being off the drink for 10 days. When I finished I saw a smart dressed businessman looking at the sun and praying.
1 tag
Running Times – Wed 8th February, 2012
6:26am. 7C, 5m/sec wind from north
12.05km – 1:03:20 – 5:16/km
Might try and make a habit of bringing my camera out on my training runs. Today felt much harder than I expected. Wind was really quite strong – wouldn’t fancy Tokyo in these conditions.
New, old shinkansen posters
I really like this recent series of posters promoting a new shinkansen to Tohuku. The Japanese headline simply says “We’re going to Tohoku!”. I’m not too sure how to best describe the style, but it could be as a kind of Showa (1926–1989) style constructivism (?). Anyway it makes a nice change from the slick photography normally used. Wouldn’t mind getting my hand on a...
January 2012
5 posts
1 tag
The chosen pair
I’ll wear these for Tokyo (Feb 26). Had a nice run this morning in them, felt great. They are Adizero Tokyo Haile specials. 225gms of orange goodness.
1 tag
Chiba Marine Half Marathon
The plan from the outset was to run this as a Tokyo race-pace tune up. So I wanted to finish sub 1:30. Came in in 1:29:04. Reasonably happy with how I felt. Much better than in the Namban Half I ran a few weeks before Ohtawara last Nov. I had also ran 21k the afternoon before so my legs should have had a bit of accumulated fatigue for the race. I need two very solid BIG weeks now and see where...
Real World Soup
F*ckin’ good sale
I ignore almost all the bad english I see in Japan these days, but this is just too good/bad. From a shop in Osaka.
Original article here.
A frying start to the new year
Boom boom!
Proper report of the Ireland visit and photos (lots) to follow.
December 2011
2 posts
Home
No better feeling than heading home, before heading home. Last day at the office, magazine gone to the printers, just. As I was walking back to the apartment my iPod served up Home by Depeche Mode. Just before you go on a trip is always the most exciting. Can’t wait. The only good part of not going home frequently is that the trips wouldn’t feel as special. I can still vividly remember...
Say hello to my little friend
After years of debating which “proper” camera I should buy, yesterday I finally ordered the brand new Panasonic Lumix GX1. I suppose purists will say anything that’s not a DSRL isn’t a proper camera, but I think for me it’s close to perfect. The version I got is the Double Lens kit option (I think only an option in Japan). It comes with the 14mm 2.5 pancake prime and...
November 2011
2 posts
Old blog online
Managed to upload my old blog. I made it in that great Apple package iWeb, remember that?
Anyway it’s now here.
Full marathon No.12 coming on Wed. No idea what to expect. Can’t blame tired legs that’s for sure. Best case 2:59:59, worst case 3:15. Forecast looks good. Will be doing it as a day trip so a very early (4am) start. Race starts at 10am. My 5th time at Ohtawara.
Data driven design
A great example of a data driven website for Bloomberg. You can read a bit more about it here.
October 2011
2 posts
1 tag
Suwako Half
The global economic squeeze has meant that I’ve been making race entry decisions based on how easy, and more importantly, cheap it is to get to them. A while ago when considering the Suwako Half I was assured it was a day tripper. I signed up.
On closer inspection it seemed whilst a day trip was technically possible, staying the night before was the right way to do it. Still, I had the alarm...
September 2011
2 posts
A good 5k TT
My Half on Sunday was a bit of a disappointment. Finished in 1:29, was looking good for a low 1:20s until about 15k when my calves simply gave up. Anyway I went into the monthly 5k TT tonight not expecting much but was very happy to finish in 17:45. I felt good till about 3k, then my stomach started to bother me. Managed to keep it together for a decent finish. Very satisfied with the effort...
The Simpsons
It’s now autumn.
There is a day every year in Tokyo, usually towards the end of September, when there is such a distinct change in the air that everyone knows autumn has arrived. That day was yesterday, and the relief it brought me was incredible. It was still quite warm, but with no humidity it was like a different country. Everything changes, the clouds now looks like the opening of...
August 2011
3 posts
Back in the sub 18min 5k club
It’s been a long time since I have run a sub-18 minute 5k. I have been working very hard over this summer, banging out the miles in pretty hot conditions. Tonight I managed a 17:56. Very happy with that, it was warm (28C) and very humid (near 100%). So, looking forward to the few races ahead, especially as things should gradually start to cool down from now. 1km split pace consistency is...
Goodness Gracious, Mamma Mia
Sorry. I have been thinking way too long of a good subject title for this post. This is the small Indian restaurant near our apartment – Pooja. They do fly a small Indian flag outside but recently they also hung an Italian one with words “Indian Food” written on it. Not really sure what the thinking was here. Maybe they just like the colours, or Italy.
A different kind of hot
Summer in Japan is hard. The heat builds from early June and usually lingers until the end of September.
I just saw the weather forecast and tonight it will drop to a low of 29c. Yes, seven or eight hours after the sun has set it will be that hot. And humidity is at a steady 90% – day and night. Today, during the day it was about 33c and humid. In New York it was something similar, but at night...
July 2011
4 posts
A house that could slice you in two
This is a house that we saw on a walk recently. It was actually featured on a TV programme about interesting/odd buildings. It is built on a very small triangular plot of land beside a busy road. I’m not sure exactly how tight the angle of this corner is but if you accidently ran into it, it wouldn’t be pretty. We both remembered the owners are a single man around 40 years old and...
Kamakura summer run
Joined the Namban summer trip to Kamakura yesterday. The weather has been relatively cool over the past few days making it more enjoyable than previous years. Ran about 20km in total. Tripped sloppily with about 2km to go but don’t think I did any serious damage. Post-run beers went down very well and we had tasty food in the Thai village on the beech. So basically a great day out. A few...
A few days in the north
Having a few holidays to use before they expired, I decided to go up to Tohoku (north-east Japan) by myself last week. I took the bus and spent the first night with Eiko’s Aunt and Uncle in Sendai. I had planned to volunteer the following day but due to rain it was cancelled.
So I decided to head up to a town in Iwate pref. call Hiraizumi. It has just been granted World Heritage status,...
At last, a new camera
I’ve been talking, contemplating, debating about buying a proper camera for a long time. Had been thinking about the Nikon D90, then the D7000 came along. I was getting close to going for the D7000 but it’s a pretty pricey camera and I wasn’t sure if bought it would it end up just gathering dust. Then I was looking through my photo library and realised that a lot of the photos...
May 2011
5 posts
Oxfam Trailwalker Japan
What do you think about when you hear the word trailwalk? A scenic amble through the countryside? A gentle forest stroll on soft pine-covered paths? Well think again. The Oxfam Trailwalker Japan is a brutal, punishing, unrelenting 100km trek through the mostly mountainous Hakone National Park. Proper mountains — at least four of them are higher than the highest mountain in Ireland (Carrauntoohil...
Impulsive purchase
Saw this lovely little Nespresso Pixie in BIC camera yesterday. It had a 30% discount (¥10,000 off), and Eiko likes George, so we both decided to get it. Capsules work out at about ¥70 each, which is not that cheap but it makes perfect coffee every time. Got a great milk frother with it too. Learnt the phase 衝動買い (shodokai) yesterday in my Japanese class, means impulsive purchase.
2 tags
Music for Japan poster
I was contacted recently by a Japanese friend who lives in Galway. His name is Yutaka Shimizu. He told me he is organising a musical concert with a Japanese chef in aid of the Japanese Red Cross and would like some help designing a poster. The event is being held in Galway on 11th June so there wasn’t much time.
I gave myself an evening to come up with some ideas. Japan offers a huge...
Being thankful for what you've got
You can skip the report and go straight to the photos here.
From some time ago I had planned to take a week off in early April. It’s purpose was for a final hard training period for Nagano marathon which was due to be held on April 17th.
On March 11th that all changed.
A couple of weeks after the earthquake Nagano marathon was cancelled. Although my training had gone reasonably well,...
1 tag
Better than expected TELL 10k
Having not run 10k in a while, and a recent 5k that I couldn’t even break 20 minutes, I wasn’t feeling too confident going into this race.
It actually went very well. I finished in 38:44 (8th place). All the Nagano training wasn’t a complete waste then. I started fairly steady and was able to gradually increase the intensity as it went on. I gradually reeled in three guys who...
April 2011
3 posts
Back from Ishinomaki
Came back from Ishinomaki late on Saturday. Will be busy with work until the weekend, but in short, it was an incredible experience. Full report to follow …
EURObiZ Japan – April issue
Despite the desperate circumstances, I am very proud of how the most recent issue of the magazine I am the art director of turned out. It was a great group effort, and I’m reminded of how fortunate I am to work with some outstanding people. You can see the full version here.
Peaceboat -> 石巻 (Ishinomaki)
Just heard that I’ll be heading up to Ishinomaki as a volunteer with Peaceboat. Really happy to have got into this group, they’ve had a huge response from people keen to help. Leaving on Friday (15th), returning the following Saturday (23rd).
March 2011
6 posts
761 quakes in two weeks
Even since the big one everyone feels a bit unsteady and that the ground is moving. It is.
To see the main quake go to 14:46 on Friday 11th March.
Japan quake map
Namban Tohoku Disaster Fundraiser
Last Saturday with very little preparation, Steve and Mika from Namban organised a little charity run around the Meiji Memorial Picture Gallery near Sendagaya, Tokyo. About 80 people turned up and more than ¥600,000 was raised. This money will be divided between the Japan Red Cross, Medicins sans Frontiers, and other groups working on the front line to assist survivors. Conditions were beautiful...
Business, not yet as usual
I came back to the office this morning.
Tokyo’s train system is still quite disrupted due mainly to trying to reduce the pressure on the power grid. I thought I wouldn’t take any chances and decided to run in again. The footpaths were pretty quiet, but there was a traffic jam all the way to the office. Long queues for petrol.
Down around Shinagawa stn. things appeared to be pretty...
The Big One?
Around 14:45 on Friday 11th March a powerful earthquake struck about 150km off the north-east coast of Honshu (Japan’s main island). I was in our office in Shinagawa, Tokyo, at the time.
In the six odd years I’ve lived here I have experienced countless moderate earthquakes and tremors. On average you could feel about ten per year. Normally they might last 15–30 seconds. What you feel...
Can I flip it?
Maybe. I haven’t tossed a pancake for a very long time. Seeing as today was Pancake Tuesday, Tony decided to make some batter and have a go. They turned out well. The ceiling survived unscared too. I remember when I was young and our Mum made them we always thought they were so tasty and easy to make we should do it more often. But it was only ever on Pancake Tuesday.
February 2011
2 posts
4 tags
TDR Come Home
On a bitterly cold, wet and grey early February afternoon we visited the Ginza Graphic Gallery (GGG). It is quite a small space but it was used to good effect for it’s current exhibition “Ian Anderson / The Designers Republic Come Home”. The vividness of the artwork on display was a welcome antidote to the conditions outside. The title, I think relates to the fact that Japan and...
A new home for MyNichi
Will try the tumblr service for a while and see how it goes.