One Month Until Project Japan Starts!
Oh Wow. That’s snuck up fast.
Actually, it snuck up really slowly, then we caught sight of it out of the corner of our eyes, and then it snuck up fast, and right now it feels like we’re being mugged.
We fly to Japan on the 18th September, and we’re aiming to get to the tippy-top of Hokkaido to start the run on the 20th September. From there, we just keep heading south.
Do we have a route planned yet? No
Do we have any accommodation booked? No
Do we have all our equipment ready? No
Do I have a body capable of running up to 3500 kilometres? We’ll see.
Right now, we’re in panic mode, and things are starting to get a bit stressful. We still have bits of equipment we need to order; we’re down to the last few bits: a camera tripod, getting my iPhone fixed, some spares for Joy’s bike, and some clothes. It’s all adding up, and this month’s credit card bill is already terrifying, and I still have 2 weeks to add to it!
I’m lucky that I’ve got a bit of IT work to cover that particular bill, but as we don’t have anyone to stay with in Japan, it’s increasingly likely that we’re going to spend a lot of money on accommodation. I think where we can find affordable places to stay will also dictate how far I run. If it’s 50 km and somewhere expensive, or 80 km and somewhere really cheap, it might be that I start doing some long days.
To that end, if you’re reading this and either know someone in Japan who might put us up for a night or have a business that might be interested in sponsoring us, please do get in touch. At the moment, there are no adverts on the site or on my YouTube videos, but being pragmatic about such things, we need all the help we can get.
We’re excited about building a proper community of runners, somewhere we can help others plan their own adventures, and also where they can learn from all our stupid mistakes. That will come after Japan. It’s too big to launch right now. I want to be certain it has the right resources to help people, and some of the knowledge I need for that will come from Japan.
For now, we’re setting up a small supporter community to give something extra back to those who’d like to be part of this journey with us. Think of it as a way to get closer to the run while helping us bring ultramarathon.life to life.
If that sounds like your kind of thing, sign up to the newsletter and you’ll be the first to hear when we open the doors later this month.
