Juergen wittstock's Blog (302)

Yesterday, I ran the Ome-Nippara 36.8k trail run. I finished in 7:12, not bad for an old man, but too long for team-mate Yoshi to wait for me! He had come in in fourth position in 4:48! Great effort on a course where the downhills partly had ropes because they were to step to descend without them! Well, it definitely was not my kind of course, as I prefer gentle…

Tension is building, I'm sure Yoshi is ready to roll, but yours truly still battling summer heat and hardly got over the German jet-lag.

Next Saturday, we will run 36.8k in the mountains near Okutama, from Ome to Nippara. Over all elevation is 1471m, the highest point 1651m.

If you should be somewhere out there, come along to support us, or if you have been mad enough to apply, see you at the…

Yesterday, I ran the Darmstadt Marathon in Darmstadt south of Frankfurt. I came off a business trip and not much preparation, felt over-all tired, and had to settle for a sub-par 3:51:56. The course was also hillier than expected, and weather was pretty hot.

In spite of these conditions, my friends Andreas Gerrits (left) and Benedikt - Haile - Heil obviously…

Some friends and myself ran a 10k in Karben near Frankfurt in Germany, we came away with three age-group victories. I was not too happy with my 40:26, but hope to improve next week!…

Time flies, yes, our beloved WIRED<>FIT is already one year old! And yes, the runners were flying, too, this time around the track on Oda Field, split in three teams, with yours truly unable to overtake any of the other runners and ending up with the bronze medal! It was fun, and more fun is ahead!…

Today we ran the first "Embassy Run" from WIRED<>FIT! Eiko Nishida (upper right) lead us through the back streets of Shibuya, past bakeries, cosy cafes, and, of course, embassies - in today's case, the Royal Danish Embassy and the Bulgarian Embassy! She asked questions about the country at every embassy, but they were a bit difficult for yours…

The winning Team!

The picture shows this years winners, James, Ko-san, Yoshi and Juergen! Great teamwork, we ran almost the time we predicted, 16:44/16:30, we lost a few minutes because we got off course once, and had to return to a check-point because we forgot to "Check Out". As we are new to this race, it…

Through the love of running, and the love that runners have to help others in need, on April 30th, Waves of Hope for Japan run/walk held at Ormond Beach, Florida raised over $27000 for earthquake victims. 233 adults and 54 kids attended the event!

Ho Tsai, the organizer, who had been in Japan when the quake struck, said she had been inspired by our charity at Saiko Eco 5k. Of course, we would have been happy if she had come, but as her absence gave her the chance to organize such a…

Yoshi, James and Juergen checked out the course of the OXFAM TRAILWALKER yesterday, with navigation prooving more of a challenge than expected. We started at Odawara, running up the course to Lake Ashi, James and Yoshi took the bus back to Hakone Yumoto, running about 35k, yours truly ran down another 19k to…

Today we had beautiful weather, but web-sources told of high radiation. Still, people had a wonderful time at our second event at Lake Saiko, the Spring 5k! Thank you very much for coming out, and many thanks to all the people who helped!

Hope to run with everybody again…

Running hero and inspiration Ed Whitlock set another world record! He became the fastest 80-year-old ever, running the Rotterdam Marathon in 3:25:40!

The picture shows Ed a few years ago with our member, fellow Canadian David Deubelbeiss, himself a former World-record holder -…

In spite of some navigation problems due to the fact that team leader James (Yorkshire Madman) Midgley forgot his maps we finished in just under 4:30h, achieving our target for the 40k around Yamanote Line in spite of running a full marathon (42:22 according to my Garmin).

Thanks to all of the people who watched us on Ustream - check out the videos (link above) if you…

A beautiful day at the Path of Philosophy, and a lot of good people who donated for the earthquake victims. A young couple of runners who I had handed my flyer came running after me to hand me a 1000Yen note, and a group of foreigners celebrating under the cherry trees donated 500Yen each.

May go for a second run later…

Today, I ran 6.3k in under 52 minutes, collecting 6059Yen in the process. This amounts to roughly 1000Yen per kilometer at an 8min pace! Who can beat me?

GPS here

As a hint, if you want to improve on this, try to run at at high pace - sweat makes you more credible - approach the potential donors at preferably 4min./k or faster, come to a sudden stop, hand over your flyer, and tell your story!

Good…

A story longer than my usual ones...

On Saturday, w ran along Philosophers Path collecting money for earthquake victims. We met Paul from the UK, who told us that he was going to run a half-marathon on Sunday. So we decided to go there to continue our fund-raising efforts.

After collecting a considerable amount, Christiane made friends with some of the…