Juergen wittstock's Blog (302)

Dear all,

charity runs are taking place in Kyoto and HK, organised by members of this website, and in Tokyo, organised by our friends. First one will be on Saturday afternoon, see events section!

Please join, or create your own event, wherever you are!

For Tokyo: Congratulations to raising 520000 Yen on March 19., keep up the good work!

For HK, contact: Kevin

For Kyoto, contact: …

Members collected more than 15000 Yen running in Kyoto today, yours truly ran the longest distance, 25k. We also distributed a lot of leaflets with our bank connection and received pledges, so more should come in from Monday. Charity runs in Kyoto will take place on a daily base from now, on Tuesday we will be interviewed by Kyoto Shinbun (it would be nice to have a few…

Place: Hitomachikouryukan, 5-jo/Kawaramachi

Time: Saturday, 2pm (possibly also on Sunday)

We will run at Kamo River, distribute leaflets and collect money for the

earthquake victims. Donations will go to the Kyoto Disaster Volunteer

Center.

http://fu-saigai-v.jp/  (Kyoto prefecture)…

The biodegradable Brooks Green Silence, the first environmentally-friendly running shoe, and my 30-year-old opinion-button in matching colors on a green background!

A new edition of the button with Japanese added will be available through Kyoto Volunteer Kyoukai against donation, 100% of the proceeds will go to earthquake victims. Contact me for…

On the road to Western Japan, not on my Leopard, changed to a sturdier bike with  a shopping basket and only three gears because I carry more than 20kg of luggage.

The winds are coming from the West, and they are extremely strong, so, it's hard to pedal, but we can feel safe about the radiation - I have never been so happy about cycling against the wind.

On the…

Masako-san (Eco.Marron) still plans to run in Yoyogi and collect money for the earthquake victims, I will rally my friends in Kyoto and do the same.

Please contact Masako for the Tokyo run! http://runningintokyo.com/profile/Marronchan

I will move to my second house in Ogawamachi tonight, as my car is there and it's fairly easy to get across the Chichibu mountains to relative safety.

If anybody from…

The German Embassy recommends all Germans, especially those with small kids, to leave the Tokyo/Yokohama area:

Die Botschaft empfiehlt, die japanischen Medien aufmerksam zu verfolgen. Sie empfiehlt ferner allen Deutschen im Krisengebiet und im Großraum Tokyo/Yokohama zu prüfen, ob ihre Anwesenheit in Japan derzeit erforderlich ist, und, wenn dies nicht der Fall sein sollte, ihre Ausreise aus dem Land in Erwägung zu ziehen. Dies gilt insbesondere für Familien mit kleinen…

 Tetsuya Kato, runner and artist, provided these great medals for the winners of the Saiko Eco 5k!…

African Runners dominated this year's race at Lake Biwa. 28-year-old Kenyan Wilson Kipsang, owner of the eighth-fastest marathon time in history, finished in a course record of 2:06:13, ahead of Ethiopian Deriba Merga in 2:09:13 and Japanese Horibata of Asahi Kasei (2:09:25). Hiroyuki Horibata qualified for the Japanese National Team for the next World Championships, omedetto! Next up was Japanese Kentaro Nakamoto, who missed it by one second in 2:09:31!

Did any of our members…

The organizers of the Lake Saiko 5k running in the hills near Ogawamachi.…

The Cherry Blossom Season is approaching! Again, people will be celebrating on blue sheets under pink blossoms, and they will be in a merry mood. This is the time to ask them to donate some of their change for the poor. As you know, this site fields two teams in the OXFAM Trailwalker. One of our members had the great…

Among members of this site, Chikara Omine was the star in 2:33:37, Kevin Tither ran 3:05 and Adrian Ringin 5:26, all were happy with their performances.

And our member Joseph Tame is all over the internet with his I-PHONE-run, hope he wil let us know in person how he did! 

Ethiopia’s Hailu Mekonnen won in a personal best of 2:07:35, followed by Kenya’s Paul Biwott in 2:08:17 and Japan’s Yuki Kawaguchi in 2:08:37.　

Well, great job, Hailu, but we still hope to see Haile…

Yesterday, I spent a few exciting hours in freezing cold Osaka, cheering for the participants of the Osaka Ladies Marathon. I was at the 17k/28k mark, near Osaka castle, so I could see everybody twice. As I wanted to cheer for the slower runners as well, I did not go to Nagai Stadium to see the finish of the winners.…

Today's Shibuya Ekiden saw many podium-finishes, but no first place by the Namban teams. Our ladies were beaten on the last leg by a former pro, giving the win to the Chudai Ladies (BTW, that's our Ecomarron's team!), so, sad for Namban, but congrats to the winners!

In the veterans, well, age counts, and our teams average age - 48, was a bit high to go for first place,…

Chan Ka Ho of the Hong Kong National team beat runningintokyo.com member Thomas Kiprotich to finish in 1:10:11! Thomas was four seconds behind, a great performance given the windy conditions and hilly course. Hope he can work on his kick, so he wins the next time out!

This race concluded our…

Today's hilly 10k on Cheung Chau island saw a Kenian sweep in both age-groups. runningintokyo's Francis Kemei easily won the senior division, but could not keep up with Thomas, a 24-year-old Kenian resident of Hong Kong who happens to be from Francis' hometown of Eldoret!

I was happy…

Francis Kimeli Kemei, our guest from Kenia, won today's Boxing Day Run in Hong Kong, Juergen Wittstock placed 12th over-all and second in the Master's division.

Francis, who is 53 years old and the gardener of Moi University in Eldoret, had arrived in HK on Friday, and,…

Juergen and Francis on beautiful Lamma Island! Off for a run in a minute!

Daniiel (thanks for posting, see below), Masako and Juergen ran in today's race at Ota-ku. I had my new Brooks racing flats, and yes, ran an age-graded PB of  37:58, not bad considering the Garmin showed the course as 100m long, and I had run a half-marathon the week before! Splits were 3:35 (!) for the first kilometer, and 18:40 for 5k!

Masako finished under…