I’m always in awe at people’s creativity. I loved this. Proud of you.

Surely after seeing the bombed out hell hole that is Ukraine they’d be happy to return to North Korea.

I’ve also seen that Ted talk

It took a while to get the tightness of the running shoes right. Not too tight, just slightly loose. I can just about slip them on without undoing the laces. This helps with blisters. Too loose and you will get a lot of blisters from rubbing.

As for the running without injury, at the beginning I was constantly hurting my feet, hips, knees and had really bad shin splints. I was running too often and too far and my posture was terrible. It took me about three months to learn how to run properly, and the value of recovery time. I could have learned all this in a week if I wasn’t so lazy and stubborn and simply refusing to look it up. Also stretching is vitally important before and after a run. All these things will come together in time to turn you into a running machine. Your body will amaze you.

Other things that help, run with water, and for 15k+ runs, invest in some running gels that you can consume on the run to keep your energy levels up.

Finally, on the days you aren’t running, do some other exercises to keep your core and arms strong. I do 50 crunches in the morning and 50 before bed. As well as 20 pushups in the morning, 20 before bed.

Eat properly too. Make sure you get protein after exercising but ensure you get lots of carbs on the day before a big run.

This is a lazy man’s guide, this is based on no plan, this is just what I’ve learned to do by doing everything wrong first. So if you are really serious I would suggest doing some research and spare yourself the agony I’ve been through to get here.

I’m really sorry but these are not issues I’ve had. I’ve been very lucky that in China I’ve always had floodlit running tracks so I can run late at night and don’t need to worry about sun screen or hitting potholes. In Japan this has been an issue and I’ve had to run alongside well lit roads which has it’s own issues with exhaust fumes, road crossings and uneven running surfaces. My nipple’s have not been an issue so far, I think I am lucky with their placement.

The one time I did run with sun screen I nearly blinded myself when it dripped into my eyes.

I’d suggest a brimmed hat to protect the head and eyes from sunlight and then cream up your face and neck. Wear light breathable long sleeved shirt to protect the arms

Yeah they are all from that one run. Thanks though. The consistency has only come on recently since I properly learned running posture

China is so fucking great. Japan is so uptight by comparison. I want to go back to China…

Nice. I’m hoping 40km per week will become my norm. Currently it’s about 25-30km. I see no reason why not, I just need to ensure I don’t wreck myself by over doing it (which happened early on in my running).

Eventually years down the line I would love to be able to do some ultras. I met a woman in Kunming, China who had just completed a 127km marathon. 15 hours! She was very encouraging. Older than me and had only been running for 6 years. So it gave me inspiration to keep at it.

This is Strava. I record on a Garmin watch and the activity syncs to the strava app from the Garmin connect app.

As for location, Japan has been pretty shit for running. China is ten times more accommodating to runners, with every major town having at least a small park, to full on multi-kilometer running paths.

This run was along roadsides and involved a lot of crossings which was less than ideal.

Keep it up!

They will farm it out to private entities and give them a license for slavery

I doubt they could

They absolutely do not. It’s provided vast quantities of harmless joy.

I really need to rewatch this stuff

Japan is so bleak…

On what level does any of this work? Is there an angle here or are the investors really that stupid.

Having been there, the ones that know about the western narrative find it pretty insulting. They are very quick to mention it to set the record straight, too. I never once had to ask.

I think we should fund this expedition

Two handsome cats

The quotation marks around “brave” are hilarious.