So long 2008, Hello 2009!

As Ewen says, I was an absent blogger in 2008. There are many and varied reasons for this. To sum it up, it was a year of change for me that made it more difficult to blog, both practically and motivationally (is that a word?). I changed jobs in January, entering duty the day after returning from a 3-week visit back to Australia with the family. We celebrated my parents' 60th wedding anniversary on Jan 10, then poignantly said goodbye with a feeling of foreboding about my dad's health. Within a few days of arriving back in Japan it was confirmed that he had cancer of the liver; he had refused chemotherapy. He passed away aged 86 on the 3rd of March and I was suddenly back in Australia for a brief visit under the worst possible circumstances. Of course I wrote about this at length on this blog at the time, so there is not much point going into details other than to say that this event has been a shadow for me over the entire year of 2008.

My running, which is ostensibly the reason for this blog, experienced highs and lows. I managed to run a sub 3-hour at Tokyo marathon in February despite suffering constant pain from a chronic Achilles injury. Following Tokyo I resolved to do whatever was required to get the Achilles right, even if it meant giving up running forever. It was mentally so hard to cut back from the level of fitness I had to adopt the almost sedentary lifestyle required to get the Achilles right. I went to the gym, I swam, and eventually I did very little before taking up walking a few mornings a week. Soon the walks turned into walk-jogs, as the Achilles allowed, and by late August it seemed the Achilles was improving under this regime of light bipedal exercise. So from there I have ever so gradually increased the workload, always conscious of not over-stressing the Achilles. The Achilles was soon behaving itself nicely and I got back to fairly regular aerobic training runs in September and built into October, eventually running a hard 40:00 10k at Ohtawara in November. Since then I have built the mileage a little more and just kept at it as the Achilles continues to remain pain free, even though I still feel a slight nodule in the middle of it. The next race is Ome 30 k on February 15. Maybe that will be my next post :)

Work was interesting. The new job was shaky until our company, which was mostly domestic, miraculously absorbed Japan's largest international engineering consulting firm. This propelled me from a position of floundering for a role to suddenly having more things to do than I could handle. I honestly can't imagine how the year would have turned out if this merger hadn't taken place. It is almost as though it was destined to be. Still, economic times have been tough and we face challenges into the new year, so don't expect the blogging to start back too frequently.

I was fortunate to have been able to help guide the launch of a new web site for my running club. Later in the year we launched a forum and that has also gone well, though I'd like to see our 100+ members make more use of it.

It was also a good year in brewing for me. I used to keep my equipment at a friend's place and brew with him, but for one reason and another we abandoned that arrangement and I brought my pots and pans back home early in 2008. I have progressively added a lot of new equipment through the year and have been brewing more and more regularly and enjoying communing with a bunch of like-minded gaijin and Japanese home brewers in the Tokyo area. I was fortunate to win the best-of-show prize at the main (only?) home brewing comp in Japan with a Belgian Tripel (similar to this beer) and that led to commercial-sized brewing of the recipe on December 23rd. The beer is still fermenting as I write this post. It will be released to the Tokyo beer-consuming public in a couple of months.

Of course 2008 brought other events of note for me and my family, but I think that sums up the main things.

I will close by saying a happy new year to one and all who happen to stumble upon and read this post to this point. If you actually do, for some perverse reason, happen to have an interest in the doings of my life, I am sorry for the infrequency of posts of late. I will try to be a little more consistent in 2009, though no promises!!

Take care all!

Steve

Sunday 31st December: New Years Eve 2006

Summary of Distances (km)
Today: 6 (recovery at average pace of 5:29/km & HR of 129; easy, legs relatively good)
Week: 66
Month: 307
Year: 3580

Overview by Month
Jan 309k Shibuya ekiden; Namban Rengo placed 1st & 2nd (my team) in masters
Feb 210k PB'd half at Kanagawa; ran Ome 30k--a joyous race
Mar 340k Oyama mountain climb; very tough and unique 9 km race + Tamako ekiden
Apr 210k Ome Montrail 30k trail run; one word: hard! But fun! Plus Inagi ekiden; my team first masters
May 292k My company's ekiden; I had the 2nd fastest individual time: 5k in 18:12 Plus Arakawa Ekiden 10k leg in rain and mud
Jun 241k NOSH race in Sydney straight off a plane from Japan: A hard trail 15k in 1:12:58
Jul 223k summer drifting
Aug 234k Fujiyoshida Fire Festival. A funny old race, lots of uphill and lots of downhill. 20k in 1:33:20 -- shame about the hangover
Sep 431k Marathon training
Oct 481k Marathon training
Nov 303k Ohtawara marathon: 3:04:01
Dec 307k Recovery from Ohtawara & trying to start re-building for Tokyo

I have never approached my running by setting rigid plans or goals. I tend to just drift and enter races that come along or set bigger goals (like marathons) with a "just-in-time-delivery" approach. I set time goals based on what condition I'm in coming into a race, not by some kind of long-term absolute objectives (though another sub 18-min 5k would be nice!). At the start of this year I realised that this casual approach had led me to start doing the same races each year, and I decided that in 2006 I wanted to try a few different race experiences. I took on the Ome 30k road race at less than race effort (through lovely countryside and cheering crowds) , Oyama mountain climb, the Ome 30k Montrail trail run (a real eye opener), the Great NOSH in Sydney, and the Fujiyoshida fire festival. No flat, fast efforts these. Great settings and/or wonderful support and each with some unique defining character. So I consider the goal of acquiring some new experiences well and truly achieved.

The Ohtawara marathon was probably my main goal race of the year. It was the fourth time I'd run it and my fifth marathon overall. See the problem? This race is dominating my marathon record and I really want to start changing that. I have memorized all the aid stations and toilet stops and am starting to give nicknames to some of the potholes. It will take a lot to get me to do it next year, though the overnight trip to the Shiobara Onsen is very hard to beat. Perhaps I'll do the 10k and pick another fall marathon. Perhaps. The upcoming Tokyo Marathon Festa is going to make a contribution to balancing out the disproportionate representation of Ohtawara in my marathon record, and yet another different marathn later in the year would help a lot more.

After Tokyo I have no specific racing plans for 2007. Throughout 2006 I have, as this blog attests, struggled with minor niggling injuries to my left leg. A tender achilles, drifting, shooting pains in my rear thigh, and more recently, inflammation of some sort around my knee. I have, in the four and a half years since I started running, been a pretty low-maintenance sort of runner. No massages, except what I can do myself, no visits to the physio, no personal trainer or gym-based strengthening programs, no yoga. I don't have any particular pride about this; it is mainly a function of a lack of spare cash and time. In fact, it is really catching up with me and 2007 is the year to start addressing these niggling injuries.

But for now, my aims are to keep beating to windward, torn mainsail and all, and just get through Tokyo as best I can. I want to enjoy the race and the occasion, but also record a respectable time. Sub 3 hours is probably out of the question, but I will take the training one day, one week at a time and see what happens. After that, perhaps some time off or easing right back, some treatment for the legs and lower back, maybe have my biomechanics checked out, and just focus on recovery. If all comes good, I will probably have to go back to a period of base building, then, whether I do another marathon or not, I'm not prepared to say right now. Maybe I'll focus on reducing my 5k and 10k times.

So, that's 2006 in review and 2007 in preview to the extent that I am able. It is 15 minutes to midnight in Japan, so it would seem the only thing left to do is to say thanks to all who have stayed with the blog this year and lent their support, both in comments and through private email. May we all have successful years in 2007, and above all else, let's not forget why we run: because we can!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!