So… this week I had my first running photoshoot. I’m neither interested nor suitable for doing artificially posed photos. The idea was I would be running around while getting my picture taken. Unfortunately, the photographer didn’t have a bicycle, which meant I had to keep running backwards and forwards looping around so that she could get the right shots.

Not being able to just get out and run was extremely frustrating, making this probably the least enjoyable aspect of documenting the experience so far. At least once I'm in Japan, if I'm being filmed, they get one take as I run past, and that’s it. I’m not going to have to turn around for them to try again.

As much as it was frustrating, it was also worth it for the results. There are a couple of nice photos which should appear on Instagram later in the week. And it was also a welcome change from trying to juggle everything by myself.

🚂 Training Summary

Training has continued. I've completed my first long run. I say long, it was only 28 km but it took three and a half hours, so I’m counting it. I also ended the week with a fast 10 km, or at least faster than usual.

I feel confident and comfortable doing 100-kilometre weeks. As long as I can find the time to run, the running itself isn’t terribly difficult. 10 or 11 hours of running this week will turn into 11 or 12 hours of running next week. I’m going to have to try and organise some morning runs as well, to split up the mileage. Soon I’m going to have plenty of double-run days to look forward to. Hooray.

☀️ Photo from the Road

🧠 Running Through My Head

This week I’ve been considering running the length of Japan solo. It might mean there’s a bit of a delay until all the videos are edited and published, but it does make the journey much simpler. All I'll need to do each day is run, and occasionally shoot some footage with my action camera. It won’t quite be as cool with drone footage and slick b-roll, but there will definitely be more adventure to the story.

I’ll then look at getting a crew together for my Italy run. Then that one can have all the slick cinematography as my difficult second album.

🗓️ This Week I Have Mostly Been…

🎵 Listening to: The Sound of Silence - Disturbed and House Of The Rising Sun - Erik Grönwall (Both epic covers, highly recommended)
📚 Reading: The Marathon Monks of Mount Hiei - John Stevens (for Buddhist nerds only)
🎥 Watching: Filmmaking Lessons from a Youtube Misfit - Beau Miles & Digital Spaghetti (I’d love to get a team together to produce videos as well as some of Beau’s)

📺 In Case You Missed It…

I finally managed to at least get an Instagram reel up:

🚀 Next Up

Aside from keeping up with the training, I need to decide whether I want to try to build a team for the next adventure or attempt a solo run... because September is coming, and that sounds like a fine month to get started.

🏁 Finish Line

So there we have it, I may have let slip that I’m planning to start the Japan run in September if I can get organised… I’d then be hoping to switch to running the length of Italy next spring. Two countries each year sounds doable, right?

Let me know what you think, and as always, thank you for reading and for all your support.

Take it easy,

Phill