Kobe Marathon 2011 神戸マラソン2011

Tonight I downloaded some thumbnail pictures that were taken of me while I ran the Kobe Marathon On November 20th, 2011. It was one of 3 major running events for me in 2011. Kobe Marathon meant a lot to me because it was the first time the race had been held and the course was made up of many areas where I normally train. Simply put, it was on my turf!

Enjoy the pictures!

Tonight I was also doing a lot of research to find out which races I will take on this year. I came across a 70km race in Osaka in May that looks very promising! We'll have to see. My Japanese isn't very strong and since the website is only in Japanese, I will have to get my wife to take a look at it.

Remember, the Running to Help Japan fundraiser page is LIVE and you can donate at any time. Every dollar helps!

Looking Back at 60km for the Kids

Last Saturday I ran 60 km (37.5 miles) to raise money for Save the Children Japan and their efforts to help the kids affected by the March 11th, 2011 earthquake and tsunami.

It was a rough run. It was 18 km longer than any run I had done before. it was also in much hotter conditions than I had ever run before. Did I almost quit? No I didn't, but there were many moments along the route that I wish I didn't have to run. There were many times that I wish I had been somewhere else. the distance was long, but the heat is what made things so miserable. It was about 30C by 8:00am and he humidity was very high.

Luckily, my recovery was very fast and within a few days, I was back out on the road and running again.

Here are some maps of my 3 lap route around Port Island and the Harborland area in Kobe, Japan:






Here is a video blog I made while running. The original plan was to take a lot more footage, but it became such a painful and difficult run that shooting with my camera became the last thing on my mind. i had to focus completely on just getting the run done!


For anyone interested, I'm adding all of the running data collected by my Runmeter iPhone ap. That's how I tracked this homemade ultra marathon!


"Running to Help Japan 60km" Splits


Kilometer 01 - Average 6:41 /km
Kilometer 02 - Average 6:14 /km
Kilometer 03 - Average 6:01 /km
Kilometer 04 - Average 6:20 /km
Kilometer 05 - Average 6:22 /km
Kilometer 06 - Average 6:12 /km
Kilometer 07 - Average 7:15 /km
Kilometer 08 - Average 6:23 /km
Kilometer 09 - Average 5:45 /km
Kilometer 10 - Average 6:37 /km
Kilometer 11 - Average 6:15 /km
Kilometer 12 - Average 6:27 /km
Kilometer 13 - Average 6:25 /km
Kilometer 14 - Average 5:23 /km
Kilometer 15 - Average 5:51 /km
Kilometer 16 - Average 6:17 /km
Kilometer 17 - Average 6:25 /km
Kilometer 18 - Average 6:02 /km
Kilometer 19 - Average 5:58 /km
Kilometer 20 - Average 7:31 /km
Kilometer 21 - Average 6:36 /km
Kilometer 22 - Average 6:07 /km
Kilometer 23 - Average 8:19 /km
Kilometer 24 - Average 6:56 /km
Kilometer 25 - Average 7:10 /km
Kilometer 26 - Average 6:48 /km
Kilometer 27 - Average 7:39 /km
Kilometer 28 - Average 5:46 /km
Kilometer 29 - Average 6:05 /km
Kilometer 30 - Average 6:19 /km
Kilometer 31 - Average 5:48 /km
Kilometer 32 - Average 6:37 /km
Kilometer 33 - Average 5:15 /km
Kilometer 34 - Average 8:24 /km
Kilometer 35 - Average 6:06 /km
Kilometer 36 - Average 6:46 /km
Kilometer 37 - Average 5:34 /km
Kilometer 38 - Average 6:15 /km
Kilometer 39 - Average 6:10 /km
Kilometer 40 - Average 6:21 /km
Kilometer 41 - Average 7:19 /km
Kilometer 42 - Average 6:13 /km
Kilometer 43 - Average 10:46 /km
Kilometer 44 - Average 6:45 /km
Kilometer 45 - Average 6:19 /km
Kilometer 46 - Average 7:54 /km
Kilometer 47 - Average 7:04 /km
Kilometer 48 - Average 5:53 /km
Kilometer 49 - Average 10:25 /km
Kilometer 50 - Average 6:20 /km
Kilometer 51 - Average 7:49 /km
Kilometer 52 - Average 6:18 /km
Kilometer 53 - Average 6:49 /km
Kilometer 54 - Average 5:29 /km
Kilometer 55 - Average 6:13 /km
Kilometer 56 - Average 7:09 /km
Kilometer 57 - Average 5:43 /km
Kilometer 58 - Average 7:45 /km
Kilometer 59 - Average 6:49 /km
Kilometer 60 - Average 6:04 /km

Next stop, Osaka Marathon....then Kobe Marathon!

Brooks Trance and Karl Meltzer

I went to Sportsword in Kobe yesterday with full intentions of buying another pair of ASICS GT 2160s. They are a decent stablity shoe that served me fairly well. I used to wear the ASICS Gel Kayanos, but after a few years needed a change. The 2160s were good and offered me the stability I needed (I have low arches), but I had a lot of blister issues with them.

While at SportsWorld, I saw something I've never seen in Japan. I saw Brooks running shoes for sale. They had all the latest and some of last year's models for sale. I did a quick search on Google (on my phone) and read that the Brooks Trance were a highly rated stability shoe.


I picked up the Brooks Trance 9's for 7,000Yen. the sticker price was 13,000. A nice bargain. I was excited to try them this morning for my 12k run. After one run, they felt quite nice. They were relatively light, felt supportive and after the run, no sign of rubbing that might lead to blisters. So far so good!

WEATHER UPDATE....looks like the June 25th Running to Help Japan 60k will be done in the rain. It is supposed to rain everyday for the next week or more. Rainy season is alive and well in Japan. I suppose I have to look at the bright side. Running in the rain is far better than running in the blistering heat!


Recently I have ben hearing more and more about a pretty inspiring athlete. Karl Meltzer is an incredible ultra runner from the United States. I have been watching a lot of videos about him recently. He is an inspiratation for sure!

Last year, to celebrate the 150th anniversary of the Pony Express, he ran the entire length of it. he ran 2,064 miles (3,302 kilometers) in 42 days! Amazing!






A video blog I made today:



Donate to Running to Help Japan here:



Follow me on Twitter: @jlandkev

I'm training again!

I have indeed begun running again! You may have noticed the numbers on my Daily Mile widget have started changing.

Game on!

More to come soon ...

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