littleforeigner.com life in hiroshima and beyond

My longest 5 Finger run so far

Yesterday, I completed my longest run so far in a pair of Vibram Five Finger shoes; 28km run mostly over local trails in Treksports.

After the previous day’s 36km sakura run over much of the same ground in my more orthodox Montrail Streaks, my feet felt like they were in heaven. At about twice the distance I had hitherto run in minimal shoes, I was worried that I would have problems over the last few kilometers, but apart from a little chaffing of my smallest little piggies, I finished feeling great. My calves don’t seem any more sore than usual, which I guess is a sign that I was ready for the distance.

I would like to try them out in next weekend’s Haigamine-Yasumiyama race in Kure, but I’m not sure that I’m ready to go minimal over the final 5-6km steep, winding asphalt descent.

Sakura Run

The sakura cherry blossoms were in full bloom throughout Hiroshima on a beautiful spring day today. After a late start I spent most of the day (5hrs 30min) on a long (37km) trail run. It was lovely to running in such perfect conditions, but I was quite jealous of all the groups enjoying hanami parties that I ran past. I did, however, take the time to stop and snap a few photos with my iPhone 3GS. Here are some of them (though, they do look a lot better on black like here). Details of the run are at the bottom of the post.

Hiroshima Peace Pagoda

Sakura in Ushita Sogo Koen Park

Sakura in a Mitaki drainage ditch

Sakura at Mitaki Temple

OK, the last photo isn’t of sakura blossom, but I was very happy to find my way to the string of mountains behind Mitaki-yama and to get to the top of Maru-yama. Despite there being a giant white board erected off which to bounce TV signals, there is a fantastic view over Mitaki-yama of Hiroshima and the surrounding area. The iPhone couldn’t capture the great view, so I settled for a photo of two of the many magnolia flowers in bloom up there.

Also, I have feeling that finding the link to this trail has finally taken me to the “Hiroshima Alps” trail, which could open up the possibility of local 50km+ runs on trails without having to touch much road. Looking forward to getting back over there to explore more.

日本語

Signs of spring

Walking down through the torii gates on Futaba-yama on another unseasonably warm February afternoon, I noticed some flashes of pink off to the side of the forest path.

Ocho Mikan

I was back in the Akinada islands for the second time in as many weeks, doing more research for a new map project on which GetHiroshima is doing some consulting. I had a great mooch around the little port town of Ocho (大長) which is best known for its delicious mikan oranges.

I took nearly 400 photos throughout the day and though I haven’t looked through them all, I’m pretty sure this will by my favorite.

This lovely old couple were not only happy for me to take their photo, but the guy even went and got a fresh crate to pour into the sorting tray. I didn’t want to disappoint them by saying I’d come from Hiroshima when they asked, so I said I was from England and I’d heard about how tasty Ocho mikan are (both technically true).


More pics and words coming once I wade through the editing process…

Hiroshima Jin Daigaku Trail Run

Today’s Hiroshima Jin University trail run class was a great success. The weather was beautiful (I got a bit of a sunburn) and the autumn colors at Mitaki were stunning. Thanks to class leader Eiko Nishida for coming all the way down from Tokyo to inspire a group of 9 trail novices.

We had a real range of participants; one complete beginner, a couple who had just run their first 5km at the Peace Marathon earlier this month, a few who run a few times a week, all the way up to a guy who had posted a very good time in his first full marathon recently. Most of the runners were forsaking the road for a trail for the first time, and in spite of the wide range of abilities the group worked very well together.

Back in the UK, back with the kids. And the sun is shining!

The Orangerie

Went to The Orangerie to see Monet’s giant water lilly canvases bathed in natural light, just as the artist intended.

Went to the Orangerie to see Monet’s giant water lilly canvases bathed in natural light, just as the artist intended

In France. One more step on the path to conquering my fear of seafood.

Still going at Sundance. Firstvloluce visit done. How long have we got left?