Long story short, "I did it!" Today was the big day for Running to Help Japan. Today was my 60km run. I completed the entire 60 kilometers in 6:38:55.
This was easily the most difficult thing I have ever done. i have never experienced so much pain or emotion doing something. Now, I have heat rash on my feet, an amazing sunburn (I applied sunscreen several times) and VERY sore legs.
I can't wait to go to bed early tonight.
Tomorrow, I will write a detailed run report and tell you guys all a lot more. Now, I sleep!
Showing posts with label children. Show all posts
Showing posts with label children. Show all posts
Saturday, June 25, 2011
Monday, April 18, 2011
Amazing results and Boston Marathon
Words cannot express how amazed I am by the kindness of so many people all around the world who have been contributing to my Running to Help Japan project. I am humbled and I have to say "Thank You" to everyone!
I'm sure the article that was published in my "hometown" newspaper in Canada, the Cape Breton Post sure helped a lot. I plan to approach some other newspapers as well to see if they would be interested in sharing my story and hopefully attract more sponsors.
I have been thinking about it and with so many amazing running activities planned for the rest of the year for my Running to Help japan project, why stop at my current sponsorship goal. I think it would great to raise the goal to $5000.00! that would go even further in helping so many children in Northern Japan.
Tonight I ran a 7k temp run (faster than normal running speed). I would have run longer, but my schedule didn't allow it. Tomorrow will be my one off day for the week. My overall goal for this week will be 75-80km.
The 115th Boston Marathon will begin in a few minutes and I am more than a little disappointed. I was really looking forward to watching it online here in Japan, but cannot. It won't be shown outside of New England. The Boston Marathon is the "Holy Grail" of marathons. It is a goal that amateur runners seek to achieve. To qualify to run in Boston (often known among runners as getting a BQ) is a tough goal. Myself, at 35 years of age, would have to enter a qualifying race and finish at 3 hours and 15 minutes or less! Someday....maybe! I can dare to dream!
You can sponsor my Running to Help Japan project and Save the Children's relief efforts for the children of Japan by clicking the button below:
I'm sure the article that was published in my "hometown" newspaper in Canada, the Cape Breton Post sure helped a lot. I plan to approach some other newspapers as well to see if they would be interested in sharing my story and hopefully attract more sponsors.
I have been thinking about it and with so many amazing running activities planned for the rest of the year for my Running to Help japan project, why stop at my current sponsorship goal. I think it would great to raise the goal to $5000.00! that would go even further in helping so many children in Northern Japan.
Tonight I ran a 7k temp run (faster than normal running speed). I would have run longer, but my schedule didn't allow it. Tomorrow will be my one off day for the week. My overall goal for this week will be 75-80km.
The 115th Boston Marathon will begin in a few minutes and I am more than a little disappointed. I was really looking forward to watching it online here in Japan, but cannot. It won't be shown outside of New England. The Boston Marathon is the "Holy Grail" of marathons. It is a goal that amateur runners seek to achieve. To qualify to run in Boston (often known among runners as getting a BQ) is a tough goal. Myself, at 35 years of age, would have to enter a qualifying race and finish at 3 hours and 15 minutes or less! Someday....maybe! I can dare to dream!
You can sponsor my Running to Help Japan project and Save the Children's relief efforts for the children of Japan by clicking the button below:
Sunday, April 10, 2011
Running for Japan: Things coming together
It was a busy week last week. Between it being the first week of the new school year at work and trying to get in my km's, I was tired to say the least. While preparing for my Run to Help Japan, I have had to wake up at 4:30 am in order to get the running in. I simply have very little time at the end of the day. I come home from work and spend time with my wife and nine-month old son. Once he goes to sleep I have a little time for a run, but I prefer doing it at the beginning of the day.
Last week I logged 51km and had to contend with a lot of blisters. Basically, my feet are soft and need to be toughened up! My knee is no longer causing me any concern.
I have realized this week that I really need to start planning more for the big day. Last Friday I ran a 10k early in the morning and was surprised by how warm it was. I finished my run at 6:00 am and it was already 15C. I can imagine it will be MUCH hotter in mid-June. I will have to seriously think about my hydration and maybe even buy one of those running hats with the desert flaps in the back!
This week I read an incredible tale of a Canadian English teacher named Michael Luzia, who was living on a small island in northern Japan. He survived the earthquake and tsunami, but half of the population of the town he lived in was wiped out! You can read his story here.
This is an incredible video taken by two journalists who drove their care into the Fukushima exclusion zone around the Fukushima-Daichi Nuclear Plant. They have a geiger counter on the dashboard. It often goes haywire during their trip. It is very eerie seeing what they see. They actually go as close as 1.5 kilometers away from the plant!
I also want to give an incredible THANK YOU for everyone who has sponsored me so far! To this point, I've raised more than $600.00 for Save the Children's Japan Relief Fund.
Remember, you can sponsor me on my 60k run for Japan anytime. Any amount helps!
Last week I logged 51km and had to contend with a lot of blisters. Basically, my feet are soft and need to be toughened up! My knee is no longer causing me any concern.
I have realized this week that I really need to start planning more for the big day. Last Friday I ran a 10k early in the morning and was surprised by how warm it was. I finished my run at 6:00 am and it was already 15C. I can imagine it will be MUCH hotter in mid-June. I will have to seriously think about my hydration and maybe even buy one of those running hats with the desert flaps in the back!
This week I read an incredible tale of a Canadian English teacher named Michael Luzia, who was living on a small island in northern Japan. He survived the earthquake and tsunami, but half of the population of the town he lived in was wiped out! You can read his story here.
This is an incredible video taken by two journalists who drove their care into the Fukushima exclusion zone around the Fukushima-Daichi Nuclear Plant. They have a geiger counter on the dashboard. It often goes haywire during their trip. It is very eerie seeing what they see. They actually go as close as 1.5 kilometers away from the plant!
I also want to give an incredible THANK YOU for everyone who has sponsored me so far! To this point, I've raised more than $600.00 for Save the Children's Japan Relief Fund.
Remember, you can sponsor me on my 60k run for Japan anytime. Any amount helps!
Tuesday, April 5, 2011
Pre-Dawn Running to Help Japan
I'm officially back to work which means, with family and work obligations, the only time I can train for my Running to Help Japan Ultra Marathon is before work. I commute to work everyday and normally (pre-running) woke up at 6:00am. Now, I have to wake up at 4:30am in order to get the necessary kilometers in! I'm of course not complaining about this at all. Runners across the world do this sort of thing on a regular basis.
Today I ran downtown to Meriken Koen in Kobe, along the waterfront. it was a stunning morning. My knee injury seems to be behind me and now I'm just battling blisters (I minor inconvenience compared to the knee thing).
last week I ran 48km and this week I'm hoping to run about 58km.
To be honest, knowing that I am running this to raise money for the people in northern Japan who are so in need of ALL of our help, makes it pretty damn easy to get out of bed in the morning and run!
Here is a video blog of today's run (training for Running to Help Japan):
Misplaced trust: 30-foot tsunami wall didn't save Japanese village
Defiant Japanese boat captain rode out tsunami
Today I ran downtown to Meriken Koen in Kobe, along the waterfront. it was a stunning morning. My knee injury seems to be behind me and now I'm just battling blisters (I minor inconvenience compared to the knee thing).
last week I ran 48km and this week I'm hoping to run about 58km.
To be honest, knowing that I am running this to raise money for the people in northern Japan who are so in need of ALL of our help, makes it pretty damn easy to get out of bed in the morning and run!
Here is a video blog of today's run (training for Running to Help Japan):
Misplaced trust: 30-foot tsunami wall didn't save Japanese village
Defiant Japanese boat captain rode out tsunami
Saturday, April 2, 2011
My Running Week in Review
Of course, if you are reading this blog post you probably know that I am currently training to run a 60km ultra marathon in order to raise funds for Save the Children's Disaster Relief Fund.
Here is my week in running in review. Over the following weeks my mileage will increase:
This image is from my training log over on Daily Mile.
Here is my week in running in review. Over the following weeks my mileage will increase:
This image is from my training log over on Daily Mile.
Running to Help Japan Training Continues and Black Water
Today was a day filled with a picnic, a sick son and a run. I went to the Hanami party like I mentioned yesterday, but didn't drink since I wanted to get a training run in afterwards. I initially planned to run this morning, but my son woke up around the same time as me and was feeling miserable with a cold. I decided it was better to hang out with him in the morning and run later on.
I had a decent run downtown and by some of the waterfront in Kobe. It was a slow pace, but my knee felt stronger than any other run in the previous two weeks.
You can see a map of my run this evening (recorded with Runkeeper, the app I will use to document my 60k run in a few months):
The game plan for tomorrow is an early rise and 10-11k before breakfast. I also plan to go to sleep earlier than normal tonight. The more I sleep, the faster my knee heals!
I wanted to share a great song with you all today. this was written and performed by a Canadian musician who lives in Nagoya, Japan. Check it out and share it:
You can sponsor me when I run my 60k ultrarun to Help Japan:
I had a decent run downtown and by some of the waterfront in Kobe. It was a slow pace, but my knee felt stronger than any other run in the previous two weeks.
You can see a map of my run this evening (recorded with Runkeeper, the app I will use to document my 60k run in a few months):
The game plan for tomorrow is an early rise and 10-11k before breakfast. I also plan to go to sleep earlier than normal tonight. The more I sleep, the faster my knee heals!
I wanted to share a great song with you all today. this was written and performed by a Canadian musician who lives in Nagoya, Japan. Check it out and share it:
You can sponsor me when I run my 60k ultrarun to Help Japan:
Saturday, March 26, 2011
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
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
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