Tim's First 5k

Since William truly enjoys running and I need to get in the habit of regular exercise, I've taken up running in the last month. Something I haven't done in decades. My goal was to work up to a decent showing in all the 5k runs they have in Yokosuka. I figured I had the two months while I'm back in the States to work up to that goal, but, then I got talked into a 5k run being run in the local neighborhood. It didn't hurt that William and Caroline were going to be here and William had such a great time at the last fun-run he attended. I ramped up my fitness plan to address running a 5k earlier than planned and paid the registration fee.

The morning was drizzly and cool. Especially for those of us used to warmer rainy days that we have in Japan. It was great seeing familiar faces, though, and it was a good social event. As we lined up at the start line, the announcer stated that only those people capable of finishing the first mile in 6 minutes should be on the first line. I joined a large group who moved to the back of the crowd... :-) ... and we were off. Those people dashing off at the front of the line finished the 5k in 18 minutes or so... Impressive! I'm a bit farther back... not really even in the picture at this point...


To keep me interested and motivated in running, I've loaded up on geeky running tech stuff. I bought a Garmin GPS watch that has a heart rate monitoring strap so it keeps track of my heart rate while it tracks where I've run, how fast I was running, elevation, and cadence. Cadence is tracked by a foot pod that is attached to the laces of my shoe. It is mainly a method to use the watch when I'm on a tread-mill, but it provides good info on when I'm jogging, stop, walk, or sprint (the latter being pretty rare...) Click on the "View-Details" to see all the gritty details on how slow I ran the race.

As we came down the hill to the park, I took muster of the small energy reserves I had and started to pick up the pace to sprint to the finish line with the last of my energy. That worked fairly well until the course didn't turn toward the finish line, but rather continued past it and around a portion of the park before coming back to the finish line. I'm surprised there wasn't a pile of bodies on that little extra loop, I certainly felt like collapsing there... :-) But, as I came back around, William was waiting there for me to cheer me on as he ran with me for the last few yards. Feeling that it would be poor form to collapse in front of my son just yards from the finish, I found some even deeper reserves to finish.

Finished in 32:02. Nothing like those first finishers in the 18 minute range, but respectable for me this early in my training.


William borrowed my Garmin Watch so he could run around and see how fast he was running. Nothing like having your own speedometer... (Click "Satellite" to see that he didn't really go for a swim...)

They did offer up "Kiddy Runs". We were hoping for half mile race complete with place tracking and prizes like they had for the 6 and 7 year olds in the Fun-Run in Yokosuka, but with the smaller number of kids, it probably wasn't worth all that work. William's race was a 75 yard dash with just him and one other. He'd already scoped out the race and his competition. He came up to me after I'd finished my race and told me, "OK, the GOOD news is that the race is only 75 yards long. The BAD news is that my competition is 7 years old (1 year older than him).... But, the GOOD news is that she is pretty slow..." It was indeed a two person race and William won handily. He got a "Kid's Dash Finisher" ribbon for his efforts. In retrospect, I probably should have entered him in the 1 mile run/walk that started at the same time as the 5k.

He is anxious to join me on my regular runs. We'll see what he is capable of and see if we can do the next 5k together.

As we had mentioned, it was a great opportunity to see many good friends from home. Early on the trail, I found Pat Kern while Caroline met his girlfriend Jennifer waiting for us to finish.

All in all, it was a good day!

The Big Brag Theory

Tim says these blogs are just brag forums. Okay, accepted. This is William, at Christmas, reading 'The Mad Scientist Club' book he got from Mummi Kay and Eno Brad. When the American teacher tested him in March, she had to find a different class for him to go to for reading. Apparently, it is important for peers to share books, and talk about them. She said he whizzed through first, second, and third was no problem, he is at a fourth grade reading level.
William loves his globe. He also loves his atlas. Although he called it an altas for a long time. He reads better than his knowledge, so we get fun pronunciations sometimes.
He also loves to play games. Cards, Mille Bourne, here it is Monopoly.
At one point, he had almost all the flags of the world done and on his bed with tape. Then, he took them down to put the country's name on them. Well, paper, tape, tangling... disaster to his self-motivated project. He just loves to read facts and look at the flags. He did get Thailand and Yugoslavia mixed up once. I sure wouldn't bet against him. I wouldn't go on that 'Are you smarter than a 5th grader' show, either!
He loves lists, and loves making them for me. Here, he is helping Tim pack up with his list.
William always has paper and colored pencils, crayons and markers. I have no idea where he got the idea from, but here's what's left of 'the cockpit.' Mom making the bed... okay, DAD making the bed (it's at height, and my arms aren't long enough) tore some of them down. Actually, I got a few TRYING to straighten his bed.
Oil gauge.
Direction and speed, I think.
Fuel gauge.
William at one point became obsessed with making money. He wanted to teach English to Japanese, just like me, so he could make money. I told him he had to teach things he knew.
ABCs, word class...
He even posted his prices!

He wants to go to all the countries in the world.

I suppose some of the brightness is mitigated by the fact that he would watch TOP GEAR non-stop if I let him. He's a bit obsessive.

To put this in perspective, let me tell you a story. A friend didn't want her children watching Sponge Bob at our house (that was William's last TV obsession) because she felt it was a bad influence. There's nothing like being told your taste in TV is sub-par. I've never minded Sponge Bob. I find him a pretty good friend and silly. A little lame, I'll admit, but I deemed it harmless. So, we spoke to him about cutting back on Sponge Bob. Then, William started popping up with French sayings, and words I'd never heard him use before. I wasn't sure where he was getting them from. This was before he was in American school, so I knew he wasn't getting them from Japanese school. I asked him, "Where did you learn that?" He said, "Sponge Bob, mom! I like watching Sponge Bob because I get new vocabulary from it!"

Now, I wasn't sure if that were true, or he is just smart enough to realize that we would trade new words for brain-dead TV.

Authors Reading

It seems I'm at the school a lot. This time it was to hear authors read.
Ms. Prior introduced them.
This one is William! He got to read S and W from his ABC book he wrote.
S is for Soup. I like Soup. Miso soup is my favorite. W is for writers workshop. I like writers workshop." (this is a result of writer's workshop.)
To celebrate, I let him play a long time at the school. He got really dirty. To celebrate more, we went to sushi. I tried to clean him up, but he still looks wonky with that dirty eye. To celebrate the best, icecream!

Autographed copies are available. I'll only charge $1.000 since it's a limited printing!

Hiromi Baby Shower

Ah... life is a beach. We got together at an Indian restaurant on Kamakura beach. The view was stellar. The sun was bright. The wind was light, yet cooling. Perfect day. Jun-yi and I met Hiromi when our sons were in the same preschool class. Now Jun-yi and I take lessons from Hiromi's best friend.
She was totally surprised. She was just going to lunch with a friend, or so she thought! The friend saw our van, knew Hiromi would recognize it, and stopped at a convenience store to let us get there ahead of them, and park and hide the car. Fast thinking!
Reina is the one on the right, right next to Hiromi. Everyone kept speaking Japanese to us, even though they all spoke excellent English. We struggled as much as they wanted to annoy themselves with.
You know it's all about the food. The top is a chicken and vegetable, the bottom left a seafood (didn't care for it, too clammy), and the right was chicken. Pretty good, although I always pay for eating curry in the end. :)
Jun-yi's nan.
I went to take a pic of the gifts. I saw a beer bottle there. I thought, "Cool! Something for after the baby's born!"
This was such a beautiful cake. I found out that they make them at a restaurant near my place. Can't wait to host a dinner, so I can buy one for dessert! I know what my birthday cake will be this year!
And the name of the bag it came in? A HAPPY MEAL bag! Now, that's a true happy meal for chocolate-starved women!
I ate all of mine. As we were leaving, I noticed someone left half of theirs. That's crazy! Okay, that's skinny... Oh, I'll add this: There's a very nice Japanese lady I met here named Saeko. Her husband (American) says sometimes that's pronounced, 'Psycho.' :)

ZOO Fieldtrip

Kanagawa Zoo is in Yokohama, and a very nice one, too! Not overcrowded, as we have heard some are here in Japan. The circuit around was long, but the boys were enjoying running in our group, so it didn't take long!
Pierce, Shelby, William and Caleb.
I love giraffes! And baby ones are just special!
Ah! We got to say, 'ass.' And we didn't get in trouble!
The boys wanted to eat by the elephant pens.
She was pretty good size.
Look at the tusks on this guy! He's reaching over the fence for some fresh tidbits, I'm sure.
Rhino cellulite.
Monkeys in the cage!
Monkeys out of the cage!
My favorite monkey.

Soleil no Oka May 31, 2010

I took the toll roads. It was 15 minutes back to my house from here, it's that close! You can find out how to get there on the Oakleaf website. It's basically Sunny Hill Farm. It is free to get in, but costs ¥1,000 to park.
It was Memorial Day, and William was off of school, so we made a day of it. I listened to my iTouch while William played and played and played at this playground. We didn't even try to find what vegetable or fruit they were harvesting that day. It's kinda like a run-down Disneyland with a small farm theme.
I just loved this 'ride.' For ¥300, you get 20 minutes on different styles of bikes.
¥300 for 20 minutes on this fake grass hill. William loved the blue sled.
It was a hoot. And he was using up all that energy!
He even asked to ride a horse. One lead around the ring was ¥700.
But, he absolutely loved it!
Feeding the horses set me back ¥200. This horse would paw his foot to get attention and therefore more carrots.
These are the 'cowboys' by the stables. I had to laugh. I am in Japan, right?
This little tiny Thomas was ¥200, but William loved it. He has finally outgrown Thomas, but it's still a bit of fun.
The suspension bridge went over some ponds...
...where you could wade!
William went under that bridge. If you double-click, you can see him!
The train is ¥300 and totally not worth it. I guess there needs to be one tractor on a farm like this!
Go carts were ¥600. In order to drive, you have to be 140 cm.
William loved this bike. You jump up and down, and it makes it go.
He FINALLY tried another 'bike.' This one had 4 wheels. The reason he chose these ones? They were TWO wheel drive. The rest were only 1 wheel drives!
And no fun day is complete in Japan without icecream!