Juergen wittstock's Blog (304)

Mt. Fuji seen from Blueberry Lodge.

The lower part of the hiking course near Fuji Sengen Temple, the start of the…

28 March 2010. Four Nambanners enjoyed the pageantry and international diversity of the Jeju Ultramarathon Race in South Korea. The 50k and 100k events followed Jeju’s rugged shoreline. 2 Nambanners ran the 50k and Yoshitaka…

Our team after 12k of this year's trailwalker! Donation target achieved, now they only have to finish the run!

Some food to keep…

A one kilometer long line of people in front of the gate, it took me more than two hours to get on base (from the station, about 500m). Well, maybe it was worth the try to confirm, but I can't recommend running on Sagami Base unless they significantly increase the number of helpers at the gate.

Time was 1:26:05 for 21.53k (according to my Garmin), exactly as planned.…

Thanks to a great personal effort and excellent coaching, Keren Myers came away with the only trophy in today's race. But another three Wednesday regulars, Juergen, Michael and Frank finished top ten in their respective age-groups. Kim-san also did well, coming up strong in the second half. The two members on the right, who content themselves with a virtual presence, Steve M. and Pat still…

A bowl of hot soup was absolutely necessary after the 15k at Ome-Takamizu today. Weather was chilly, and I almost worried to be under-dressed in my Namban singlet and shorts, but as soon as I got going, it was fine. I ran 1:13:22, about five minutes faster than last year, beating team-mate Keren Miers by about one minute. I think the course was different from last years. We worked together on the uphill half, and I settled…

Today's race saw a considerable number of Namban participants, I was on the veterans A-team and was able to witness a valiant effort by the Open-A that lead them to the podium in third position. Our first runner placed 8th in an obviously highly competitive leg, a position that was improved by his team-mates. The second team on the open division placed top-twenty as well, even though…

I stood at the start-line of my first race in Mexico! And I was facing the mountain ahead, just having gotten over two weeks of altitude sickness and cold. Mexco City is about 2100m high, the start of the in Tepotztlan a bit lower, the mountain ahead maybe 3000m (unconfirmed). Even more worries came when I looked at the runners around me, most were smaller than me (and I'm 157cm) – that is the built of the Tarahumara, I…

Running in Tokyo, especially around the Imperial Palace on a week day, or in other big, polluted cities, is usually something I warn people not to do. However, being in Mexico City for an extended period of time forces me to make an exception, and I'm positively surprised, the city is not as bad as its reputation. The government seems to push the use of bicycles, and there is a pretty good subway.…

Today I ran an undulating 10k in Golden Gate Park. The first 5k were mostly uphill, pace fell to close to 5min./k according to my Garmin. Must have been very hard to push a baby-jogger up that hill. After the turnaround I picked up speed, ran the second half in under 18:30 to finish in 38:22, pretty happy with my performance. After the race Arturo took me for a run in another park nearby, with beautiful views of the sea…

Ran across Golden Gate Bridge today. Beautiful view of the bay and islands, but I could do without the cars, quite noisy and smelly - and this is a bicycle-friendly American city!

Placed 5th over-all in a small race near San Francisco today. Still felt a bit stiff and jet-lagged, also slipped and fell once, so I was happy with a 24:28 for the 4 miles. Was recruited for a local running club right away, running definitely connects people!