MyNichi

Best Technical College Recruitment Ad Ever

Wed, 22 Feb 2012 23:32:23 +0900

Best Technical College Recruitment Ad Ever

My greatest social fear

Wed, 22 Feb 2012 23:01:10 +0900

Running Times – Sun 19th February, 2012

Sun, 19 Feb 2012 14:12:00 +0900

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.

Running Times – Sun 12th February, 2012

Sun, 12 Feb 2012 16:29:00 +0900

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 my legs, just need to be careful over the next two weeks. Good to see the average weekly pace coming down too.

Running Times – Sat 11th February, 2012

Sun, 12 Feb 2012 00:17:00 +0900

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?

Sun, 12 Feb 2012 00:12:58 +0900

From a third-world Ireland of 1967.

Running Times – Fri 10th February, 2012

Fri, 10 Feb 2012 08:26:00 +0900

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.

Ain’t No One F&@ks With LEGO Captain America. Very well...

Wed, 08 Feb 2012 23:29:00 +0900

Ain’t No One F&@ks With LEGO Captain America. Very well done. Not for the squeamish.

Running Times – Wed 8th February, 2012

Wed, 08 Feb 2012 08:21:00 +0900

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.

Bail THIS Out

Tue, 07 Feb 2012 08:38:17 +0900

Bail THIS Out

Social Media explained

Tue, 07 Feb 2012 08:34:19 +0900

Social Media explained

New, old shinkansen posters

Mon, 06 Feb 2012 22:54:00 +0900

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 few when the campaign finishes.

The chosen pair

Tue, 31 Jan 2012 08:47:00 +0900

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.

Chiba Marine Half Marathon

Mon, 23 Jan 2012 07:37:00 +0900

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 that gets me.

Real World Soup

Wed, 11 Jan 2012 08:46:42 +0900

F*ckin’ good sale

Mon, 09 Jan 2012 11:39:01 +0900

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

Sat, 07 Jan 2012 20:52:57 +0900

Boom boom!

Proper report of the Ireland visit and photos (lots) to follow.

Home

Wed, 21 Dec 2011 22:42:51 +0900

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 the night before my first trip home after moving here six years ago. Feels like that tonight.

Say hello to my little friend

Sat, 10 Dec 2011 10:28:29 +0900

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 the 14-42 3.5 zoom. It cost about ¥80,000 (Euro 750) and was delivered yesterday afternoon. Hopefully I’ll use it a lot over the next few years, plenty of interesting lens options that I hope to try too.

Old blog online

Mon, 21 Nov 2011 00:24:00 +0900

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.