Having just found out I got a place in the Tokyo Marathon in February I thought it was time to start some serious training. I kicked off my new regime with a weekend in Akigokubo, Saitama with Oshman's Sports Retailer for a Trail Run and Trekking event.
The event was open to 50 people plus Oshman's suppliers who had small stalls set up with previews of next years products including North Face, Columbia, Keen, Merrell, and...
I shared a log cabin with Tomoko-san and her friends Iki-san and Tomi-san in the mountain resort. Trail running was such a good buzz - hard work going up the mountain but fun running back down trying to control your speed whilst curving round bends and jumping rocks.
The technique was actually a bit like snowboarding. The trail run was about 2 hours long and we had a professional guide as well as Oshman's staff guiding us.
In the evening we had a cooking show to demo outdoor BBQ's etc, followed by food, free alcohol and a raffle for the suppliers products. There was some really good prizes - Tomoko-san got Merrell trail shoes, Tomi-san got 2 packs and a hoody, Iki-chan got premium organic coffee......and I got a HUGE tent! It was so heavy one of the guys from Columbia brand kindly offered to have it delivered to my house.
By 10pm I had managed to drink enough wine to forget most of the people I spoke to that night and thankfully was escorted back to the cabin by Tomoko and Co.
Sunday morning the girls went to Yoga whilst I opted for a lay in to recover from the trail run before a day of trekking ahead.
I thought trekking would be more like the hiking I had done in Nagano but it was actually really hard and took us through some really tough courses.
After 2 days of hardcore outdoor activities my legs are still aching but I am now converted to trail running!
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