The exciting news for the week is that we have found two charities to support. We’re in the process of setting up donation links for each of them, and working out how best to raise some awareness about them as we run through Japan.

The two charities we’ve chosen are: Mirai no Mori, which provides year-round programs that foster essential life skills for youth in care homes, and Animal Refuge Kansai (donation link coming soon), which rescues animals, provides them with the care they need, and searches for a home for them.

It was important for us to support charities that are based in Japan. We hope that in years to come our adventures will take us to other countries, and we’ll support local charities there as well. Our way of giving back to the place we’re travelling through.

I’ve said previously that I never intended to make this a “charity run,” so I’ve written this short article about why I changed my mind.

🚂 Training Summary

The less exciting news for the week (or perhaps in terms of the story, it is exciting) is that this has been one of my shortest training weeks since starting the ultramarathon.life project. Monday and Tuesday were once again rest days, and on Wednesday, I took myself out for a nice half. 20 kilometres in, and on the last stretch home, my hamstring started to tighten up. A bit of a sore one, but not the end of the world, just a case of smacking some ice on and stretching once I got home. After that, some rest on Thursday, and I'd be all good by Friday, right?

Friday’s run started well. The first 10 km felt smooth and I was aiming for 25-30 km, before everything went a bit pear-shaped at 13 km. My legs felt heavy, and my hamstring advised me to slow down. I was halfway around Ho Tay, so I had no option but to carry on, jog-walking all the way home.

The rest of the weekend has been active recovery and asking my running friends for advice. I don’t think the problem is too bad, I just don’t want to make it worse. The most important thing now is not to aggravate the muscle and get myself to the start-line as physically recovered as possible.

I’ll test the hamstring out with a short jog tomorrow, but instead of keeping up with the usual mileage, tapering for the run has started already.

☀️ Photo from the Road

🧠 Running Through My Head

This week I’ve been struggling with filming. I’ve tried doing one of those YouTube, sat in a studio, talking at the camera type videos. It has not worked. We still haven’t finished that video, and frankly, we’re going back to the drawing board with it.

It would be good to improve the videos we make, so I’ll keep trying that format, but I do find running and talking much easier.

🗓️ This Week I Have Mostly Been…

🎵 Listening to: Wherever You Are - Kodaline
📚 Reading: Every article about muscle cramping and hamstring injuries I can find.
🎥 Watching: No Stone Left Unturned - Tom Evans YouTube videos documenting his UTMB training.

📺 In Case You Missed It…

🚀 Next Up

Next week should see us release a 1-2 minute introductory video for our YouTube channel, a short video to properly introduce our new support vehicle, and perhaps one showing off our home for much of the run, too.

🏁 Finish Line

I’m recovering. It’s been a hectic week and I’m knackered. Everything is going in the right direction, though. We’re finally reaching the stage where tasks are marked as done, rather than in progress.

Only two more weeks to go!

Thank you for reading and for all your support.

Take it easy,

Phill