A few Days in...

With just a few days into this project, I am already BLOWN AWAY by the generosity shown. I have already reacher 25% ($490.00) of my $2000.00 fundraising goal. I will continue to train and document it and if the amazing level of kindness continues, I may raise my goal total!

Earlier this eveningI showed my Save the Children fundraising page and my wife, who is Japanese, was floored. She said, "Thank you world for helping Japan."

This evening on my way home from my school I made a video blog mostly about this project and the amazingness of all of you out there!




You can donate to the Running to Help Japan project by clicking on the button below:

Day of rest and recovery

Last night I announced to the world, my little running project to raise money for Save the Children. I have been touched by so many nice comments left on my two You Tube channels. I have also been so pleased at already receiving a couple of donations! THANK YOU!

I'm giving my legs a rest today. I don't want to over train so early into my preparations for June's run. Tomorrow morning I will hit the road in new shoes (ASICS GT-2120 New Yorks). I'm pretty sure that the last pair I had were the direct reason for a knee injury I suffered from and still cope with a little. Since they are new shoes I'll just do a short 5k "test run" in them tomorrow morning to see how they feel.

Remember to check out my fundraising page here!


I came across this very cool video about people in Washington D.C. supporting Japan:

Running to Help Japan....the Beginning

My name is Kevin O’Shea and I am a Canadian teacher, father, runner, husband, and social media junkie. I am known by many on You Tube as "BusanKevin" and "jlandkev." I live with my family, in Kobe, Japan.

I have been living in Japan for three years and have a strong attachment to this country. My wife is Japanese and our son is both a Canadian and Japanese citizen.

The events of March 11, 2011 will be something that Japan will never forget. The massive earthquake and resulting tsunami took thousands of lives and caused hundreds of billions of dollars in damage. The resulting nuclear disaster is still ongoing. Japan is an amazing country that needs help. Japan needs help from everyone of you!



I want to do more though. That’s how I came up with the Running to Help Japan Project. Although I’ve never run an ultra marathon before, I decided that this tragedy was a good reason to start!

On June 12, 2011, I will run 60km in the city of Kobe to raise funds for both Save the Children and the Japanese Red Cross. This will not be an official race. I will map a course in the city of Kobe, where I live, using the GPS iPhone running app Runkeeper. The accurate route map will be posted here on the site in upcoming weeks. (The actual date of the run may be subject to change in case of illness or injury.)

My run will be recorded using the Runkeeper app and people will actually be able to follow me live as I run on Runkeeper live (link will be provided on run-day).

It will be a long run and June in Japan is hot so I will set out very early in the morning (I estimate it may take up to 7 hours for me to finish this run). I hope to start my run at 5:30 - 6:00am on that Sunday. I have no “projected time.” Finishing is my goal!



This blog will be a training dairy, and media center of sorts. There will be video blogs as well as written blogs about my training, fundraising efforts outside of running and events in Japan itself. I will post maps of training routes as well as photos and my Twitter feed.



If you are interested in making a donation to Save the Children, click on the button below!


Contact me by email: kevinkansaischool@gmail.com