May 21, 2013

Posts Comments

You are here: Home / Archives for Running

The Brooks Brighton 10K 2011

November 20, 2011 by Leave a Comment

Brighton 10k 2011

My third consecutive appearance at the Brooks Brighton 10k and once again it would be following a period of reduced training caused by minor strains. My yearly schedule seems to peak in late spring and summer and then gradually decreases until I finish my race diary in Brighton. This year I had organised a challenge for current and former work  colleagues who have either taken part in this race before or are themselves runners. To keep things interesting we based our mini-race on a first past the post system rather than looking to see who recorded the fastest chip time.

The early morning rise and drive down to Brighton did not go well for me as I made the rookie mistake of not checking that the car had enough petrol for the journey. I was due down by the start line early to check all our our team in and organise everyone into a group in the start area so we all started in a couple of lines. Instead I was busy motoring around the countryside as my satnav directed me to the nearest petrol garage while I kept my fingers crossed that I had enough fuel to make it. This added a good 30 minutes to my journey so ended up parking a lot further from the start than planned and I only just made it to the meeting point in time to herd everyone ready for the start.

We were soon off and I had to grin and watch my fellow competitors slowly moving ahead of me as I knew that I was well off in terms of fitness and race preparation. The Brighton 10k still retains the 3k out and back to the start / finish area so it gets quite cramped for space but I was prepared for this and just went with the flow of people until the path widened as we ran past the pier. Thankfully the organisers have improved the km markers over the years and there is plenty of help on the way to gauge distance. This year even saw bright sunshine and I was chuffed that I had gone for my summer running outfit and my sunglasses because I was soon very hot.

My lack of recent training contributed to not enjoying the run that much as I struggled with the pace and it’s always difficult when you know that there is no chance of matching you normal times (let along best times!). We all met up at the finish in time to hold our little award ceremony with a small trophy given to the winner. Unfortunately I know that I cannot run the 2012 Brooks Brighton 10k so won’t be there to try and take the title.

  • Category: Senior Men
  • Category Position: 515/ 656
  • Gender Position: 1125 / 1478
  • Gun Time: 57m08s
  • Chip Time: 54m37s
  • Chip Position: 1536 / 2680

 

Filed Under: Blog, Dynamic, Featured Tagged With: , ,

Moor Park 10K & Junior Fun Run

September 25, 2011 by Leave a Comment

Moor Park 10k & Junior Fun Run

The 2011 Moor Park 10k and Junior Fun Run was a late addition to my race calendar following the recommendation of a family friend and also had the dubious honour of being my first race following a lapse in my normal training. I always seem to have a period of minor injuries around August where my training suffers and this year was no exception. However, I was fit enough to enter and use the event as a normal training run while MiniMe was more than willing to take part in the Junior Fun Run. We arrived at the venue reasonably early and took some time to look around the small amount of stalls and also watch the start of the Under 12  2.6km race so MiniMe could then see the route that he would then have to run. He seemed a little shocked at first as he thought that his race would be 2.6km but he was much happier after we explained that his race was only one lap and 1.3km in distance.

After stressing to MiniMe that he needed to pace himself and not try to sprint the entire race, like he tried previously at the Crouch End Junior Fun Run, he was soon lined up on the start line. There was plenty of gentle pushing and shoving from the kids as they jostled for the front spaces and the line of kids kept moving forwards while the race marshals had to keep asking them to move back so that they were back on the actual start line. Finally the boys were off and running and we watched them circle around the playing field and eventually the front runners were crossing the finish line. MiniMe looked exhausted as he ran the final bend but he did manage a final sprint across the line to make sure that no-one overtook him and then managed to collapse onto the floor clutching his bottle of water after his medal had been draped around his neck. Thankfully his tiredness was soon solved by a quick visit to the cup cake stall and MiniMe was soon eyeing the big bouncy castle style slide.

Cup Cake Win

There was quite a gap until the start of the 10k so we amused ourselves by watching some of the morris dancing in-between MiniMe snacking on some more cupcakes and a hot dog. I believe that in previous years the 10k would be run in the morning followed by the junior races in the afternoon but this had been swapped, possibly to encourage more to watch and cheer the junior races. However, it did mean that we were hanging around until the start of the 10k so it was a little boring for MiniMe and Mrs danyul. If the weather had been warmer then we would have probably taken a picnic but it was a bit cloudy and overcast so we did not really have that option. If I did consider running this even again in 2012 then I would probably just enter the 10k and then arrive in the afternoon by myself rather than asking my family to wait around for several hours with little to do.

Finally the runners were bunching up near the start line but again there was a delay as the start time was put back by 10 minutes to allow for all the people still trying to drive into the parking area. There was plenty of parking space on a large field and it was well marshalled but it seemed like a lot of people all tried to arrive near to the start time and the weight of cars started to block up the entrance.

The 10k was soon under-way with the same lap of the playing field that MiniMe completed earlier for his race and as we circled back past the start line there were still latecomers sprinting to the start to begin their race. The course then headed out to the private estate at the far side of the school and it was interesting to run through such an affluent area and take a look at the large houses. The flat part of the race seemed to be over soon as we turned into the golf course and tackled two long and somewhat arduous climbs. I am not sure what all the golfers made of the runners stopping their play but was I was too focused on beating the first hill than to worry about interrupting their round. The first hill levelled out at the old manor house and I thought that would be the end of the hills but around the next bend there was another equally arduous climb that I was determined to make sure I ran up rather than resorting to walking. Thankfully the climb was soon over and there was a lovely downward section that allowed me to catch my breath again. The rest of the course continued through the private housing estate and then back to the school grounds for a final lap of the fields and then through the finish arch. One of the runners just behind me managed to lose the route through the final bend of cones and started to run through the spectator area until people started to shout and get him back to the finish line.

MiniMe Race Start

There was no chip timing for this event so my timing is based on my Garmin watch and the race timers.

u10 boys

MiniMe – 5 mins 49 seconds (23rd out of 105 finishers)

10k Results

danyul – 52 mins 8 seconds (235th out of 691 finishers)

Garmin time: 52 minutes 3 seconds

One of the regular runners was unable to race this year due to an injury so instead filmed this great video of the day:

 

Filed Under: Blog, Dynamic, Featured Tagged With: , , ,

British 10K London Run

July 10, 2011 by Leave a Comment

British 10K London Run

The British 10K London Run is bit of a strange race in that it is a large scale, well advertised, and well attended event, but suffers from a poor approval rating from the community on the Runners World Forum. I was debating whether to enter this race, mainly because of the high entry fee, but equally I wanted to take part in a run through some of the major streets of London so decided to give this one a go. I paid for my entry although for the first time I did not go for an official timing chip since it was not included within the entry fee and I did not feel it was worth the extra charge given I could time myself with my watch.

I was wary of being stuck in a large crowd at the start and the prevailing advice on various running forums was to arrive early and endure some standing still waiting time to try and get as close to the front as possible. This event is well known for attracting a large number of first time runners or non-runners participating on behalf of various charities, which is an admirable thing, but with no staggered starts or starts based on predicated finish times it does mean that frustrated runners are trying to weave around frustrated walkers who are unhappy about being jostled. So I was on an early train from West Acton into London and I joined other keen runners heading to the same run as I noticed a lot of British 10K timing chips attached to laces and race numbers stuck to bags.

I quickly found my baggage drop area and went for a gentle jog around the nearby streets along with a toilet break. Again, the entrant magazine highlighted the high numbers of runners and the ratio of toilets provided so I wanted to get ready before any large queues formed. With a steady stream of people heading towards the start area I decided to carry on with my warm-up by jogging up to the start line. The waiting runners were initially being held at the top of St Jame’s Street where it meets Piccadilly so it was a case of trying to keep warm while being stuck in a crowd for a good 45 minutes before the marshals led the runners along Piccadilly to the start line at the top of the slope by the Piccadilly Arcade loop. I did notice that there was a fair number of runners warming up in Green Park who then slipped out into the moving start line to ensure that they were nearer the front (so if you did reach this blog entry to try and seek some advice on running this race then you could take the tip to avoid the crowded wait area and just perform your warm-up in Green Park alongside the road and then slide onto into the walking crowd as they are led towards the start line… although debating the ethics of this I shall leave to you).

Unfortunately we were kept waiting again following the move to the start line and eventually a marching band made its way along the opposite side where they then proceeded to play the national anthem before the race was allowed to start. I probably would have felt this was a nice touch for a race billed as the ‘British 10k’ but I would have much rather started the race on time than have to wait even further. Finally the elite runners were under-way and I snaked around and was running under the start arch and then along to Piccadilly Circus. At this point I appreciated just how many people were taking part in the race as thousands were still waiting to shuffle up until the start. It was still a little crowded as the route turned into Trafalgar Square but it was nice to have lots of cheering people on the paths encouraging all the runners. With the road widening as we turned into Embankment I was finally able to hit my stride and it was nice to see a water station because it was a hot day and I needed something to cool down a little. However, I did start to wonder whether the water station had enough helpers to hand out the bottles as I pictures the thousands of runners and walkers who I knew would be making their way down over the next 20-30 minutes.

British 10K London Run

The elite runners were soon passing us on the opposite side as we descended through the Blackfriars Underpass, where a lot of runners made use of the tunnel acoustics to shout out and make echoes, before we looped up and around back onto the Embankment but now on the opposite side. Thousands were now streaming along the route we have already passed through and my fears about the early water station were correct as runners were having to stop and force a way to grab their own water bottle through a crowd. I generally do not need to take on any liquids for a 10k but this was a hot day and there were a lot of non-runners who probably needed water to keep them going and, although there was plenty of water bottles, there just wasn’t enough people staffing the first station to keep up with the demand to hand them out and keep people running.

I made sure to enjoy the view as I passed opposite the London Eye and then lopped across Westminster Bridge and through to Parliament Square where I was able to give a quick wave to the protesters manning the centre section of the square. A final burst saw the finish line in site just past Downing Street and I was able to sprint through for a reasonable time given the heat and the amount of runners lining the course.

I enjoyed my run through a sunny central London and it was nice to run past so many famous landmarks but it’s not an event that I will enter again. The entry fee was staggeringly high and the organisers have raised this cost even further for 2012 in some a very tenuous attempt to associate the event with the Olympics just because they are going to be in the same city in the same year. The event literature has to be very careful to not impinge on the Olympic trademark but with ’2012′ plastered all over the t-shirts and adverts, the organisers are certainly trying their best to skirt the legal association. I would also avoid the race because it clearly needs to implement some sort of mechanism to either implement wave starts or at a minimum attempt to get starters into blocks based on their projected finish times. I read through the forums after the race and found plenty of runners unhappy about having to force their way through blockades of charity walkers stretched across the width of the road and equally complaints from charity walkers / runners upset about people jostling and barging past them.

Due to the high cost of entry I did not pay extra for a timing chip so can only provide my time based on my own Garmin watch, which is only going to be a few seconds out anyway.

  •  Garmin time: 49 minutes 31 seconds

 

Filed Under: Blog, Dynamic, Featured Tagged With: , ,

Gunnersbury Park 10K

July 3, 2011 by Leave a Comment

Gunnersbury 10K 2011

I caught a passing post on the Runners World Forum for a fast approaching local 10K to be held at Gunnersbury Park so entered online to continue my recent  run of races. The event had taken place before but this was the first outing to be supported and promoted by my local running club Ealing Eagles. I had checked out their web site previously while looking for local running clubs and I was impressed by the information presented on their web site but unfortunately family and work commitments stop me from going along to join them. I quickly signed up for the race and then headed down to Gunnersbury Park on a very sunny Sunday morning to collect my race number.

There was a reasonably large group hanging around the start area but with plenty of time until the start I went for a gentle job around the park. I was soon back waiting at the start area and listening to the instructions for the course. The sub 40 minute runners were asked to move to the front, prompting a step back from most of the field, and then we were soon off under starters orders. With the wide open spaces of the park ahead I parked myself reasonably far back and there was no need to weave in and out of crowds as I hit my target pace from the off and found myself passing groups of runners. I have a weekend long route that includes Gunnersbury Park  so I was familiar with the route although there were plenty of friendly marshals from Ealing Eagles lining the key points to ensure everyone knew the correct directions.

With the sun beating down I found a small group of runners who were set at my target pace so I latched onto them and enjoyed the run around the park, particularly enjoying the shaded areas as a respite from the hot weather. We were soon hitting a second loop, following a fast pit stop to grab a drink at the water station, of the park and I decided to up my pace a little and selected a runner slightly further ahead to gradually catch and eventually pass. Unfortunately I had misjudged the location of the finish line (I expected it to be where the start had been… must remember to check) so missed an opportunity to sprint the final 100 metres and suddenly found myself rounding a hedge to see the finish just a few metres in front of me.

The race was very well organised so thanks for all those involved, especially the marshals from Ealing Eagles whose cheers for the final 1K helped me tackle the final part of the race, and congratulations to all those who took part. Ealing Eagles posted the race results on their web site.

 

  • Gun position: 65th out of 179
  • Gun time: 48 minutes 53 seconds
  • Class: male
  • Class position: 58th out of 113
  • Garmin time: 48 minutes 45 seconds

 

Filed Under: Blog, Featured Tagged With: , ,

Crouch End 10K and Children’s Fun Run 2011

May 22, 2011 by 1 Comment

2011 Crouch End 10K

We were sent details of this event and race by a friend and his family so I signed up for the 10k, MiniMe for his age group 1 mile run, and Mrs danyul to look after MiniMe while I was running and also to generally walk around the festival. MiniMe was looking forward to his race in the weeks leading up to the event and he came with me to the park several times to train with me.

We arrived nice and early to make sure that we secured a parking space near the park since we knew that there was no on-site parking. There were plenty of runners making their way into the park so, after getting changed into my kit, we followed the crowds through the park onto the staging area where most of the stalls were setting up and getting ready for the day. After finding our friends it was soon time for the aerobic warm-up that was let by a very energetic lady standing on the stage area and MiniMe joined in with me near the front with great enthusiasm.

I didn’t throw myself into the warm-up too much but I enjoyed it and made sure that I was ready for the race. All the 10K runners were called over to te start area, where I found myself quite far back once again, and the race was soon underway. The start wound through the park and was quite narrow so I had to slow myself down as there was little chance to pass through the crowds but as the route left the park onto the open roads there was plenty of room to hit my preferred pace due to the roads being closed off to traffic.

With runners now streaming down roads, along some footpaths, and on some pavements where traffic was still allowed to run, the field soon spread out and I was on my just below 5 mins per kilometre pace. The route included a second loop of part of the course and on the first pass I skipped taking a drink and unfortunately on the second pass of the drink station the person holding out the sponge I was aiming for moved slightly am I missed out. The lady was very apologetic as I passed but thankfully it was not a hot day and I did not really need a drink. The final stretch led downhill back to the park and I picked up for a near sprint through the park and onto the finish line where MiniMe and Mrs danyul were ready to cheer me through with a preliminary gun time on the overhead counter of 50 minutes 6 seconds.

I made my way through the finish area to grab a bottle of water but steering clear of the free donut stall and had a look around the festival area while waiting for the kids races to start. Eventually it was time for the kids races to start so we stood near the start line to watch the start and finish of the younger kids so that MiniMe could see how things worked. We were quickly surprised to see just how competitive some of these races were and as the age groups got higher, the start area became more and more crowded with quite a few kids falling due to clipped heels as the mass of runners increased.

MiniMe was due up next for his category and given some of the mayhem and tears from a few kids accidentally tripping in previous races, we urged him to get as close to the start as possible just to make sure he didn’t suffer a fall. This turned out to be a good idea as there were close to two hundred kits and they all sprinted off at the start and we did see a couple of kids trip and fall due to some accidental heel clipping. We stayed near the start / finish line and waited for MiniMe to come sprinting around the final bend so that we could cheer him on. MiniMe was soon sprinting down the home straight and we made sure to give him as much encouragement as possible. All the finishers were presented with a medal, which MiniMe was very proud of, and all had the option to take a free donut as provided by a local bakery (see above picture for MiniMe enjoying his finishing food).

We all had a great day out and wish to pass on our thanks to all involved in the organisation of the Crouch End 10k and Children’s Fun Run 2011. We will definitely be back in 2012, good health permitting, and will be recommending the event to our friends.

 
MiniMe results:

  • Gun position: 64th out of 177
  • Gun time: 6 minutes 49 seconds
  • Class: Under 10 boys
  • Class position: 64th out of 177
  • Chip time: 6 minutes 49 seconds
  • Chip position: 64th out of 177

danyul results:

  • Gun position: 277th out of 1018
  • Gun time: 50 minutes 6 seconds
  • Class: male
  • Class position: 107th out of 216
  • Chip time: 49 minutes 28 seconds
  • Chip position: 268th out of 1018
  • Garmin time: 49 minutes 26 seconds

Filed Under: Blog, Dynamic, Featured Tagged With: ,

Farnham Bluebell Run 10K

May 15, 2011 by Leave a Comment

Farnham Bluebell 10k

My first race of the year took place on Sunday 15th May 2011 starting on the Hampton Estate for the Farnham Bluebell Run as organised by the 2nd Farnham (Hale) Scouts. The route was mostly trail based and started on the Hampton Estate before passing through nearby woodland with some road crossing along the way (on-line route map). There were 2 road crossings and the police had advised that the roads could not be closed and marshals had no authority to stop traffic but the marshals did a great job in making sure runners crossed safely while drivers did stop to let the clustered runners pass.

However, I am getting ahead of myself by discussing the route before I talk about the events leading up to the race. I didn’t have this race on my calendar for 2011 and I had never participated in a trail based race before but joined this one since a work colleague was running and asked if I wanted to join. I checked out the location, which was within driving distance, and entered the 10k to confirm my place for what was the first running of this event. The organisers also offered a 5k race and a ‘walkers’ event for the non-runners to enjoy the woodland route.

My satnav directed me near to the starting point although I was very thankful for the written directions I had printed off the web site and also the clear signs directing everyone along the country lanes to the car park. There was plenty of parking on-site and with marshals armed with large foam hands, the route into the parking area was clear and easy. Race numbers were to be collected on the day so I walked up to the staging area and found my name / details on the entrants table then took my number sheet to be pinned onto my top. My colleague hadn’t arrived yet (we have the same first name and last initial so easy to check) so I took a walk around the staging area that was being run by the Scouts and must admit that I nearly drooled as I watched the bacon & sausages being cooked on the grill.

With time to kill I walked back to my car to pin my race number onto my top and to get changed into my running kit. Jogging back to and around the staging area as a warm-up I found my colleague and we hung around waiting for the start. Everyone was soon corralled together by the race starter and led down to the start line. This was a small event so there was no chip timing and, if I remember correctly, the race was started by the ringing of a large hand bell. I wasn’t quite sure where to place myself at the start (clearly not on the start line!) so placed myself quite far back. The race was soon under way with the runners setting off first, followed by the walkers, and I found myself weaving through the crowed as I had clearly started too far back. Thankfully the pathway was reasonably wide and I was soon running past the stump of a giant beanstalk that was part of a closed off film set. The course then took in a fairly hefty hill before crossing a road and onto a trail running alongside a field.

After some fun through narrow trails in the woodland, where I was stuck for a while behind a slower runner with nowhere to overtake, and an extremely welcome long downhill section led to the finish line for the 5k runners. The 10k runners were ushered to the right and we carried on until eventually we performed another loop through the field and into the woodland trails but now with the added fun of dodging the walkers. I have to tip my hat to the walkers because they were more than alert for runners and moved to one side to allow me to pass. With only 1K to go I was busy struggling up the last hill when a stray tree root shot up and looped around my ankle as though the Womping Willow was attacking me (well, either that or I was tired and tripped on a tree root). A nearby runner was kind enough to stop and make sure I was ok before she ran off again so with nothing hurt but my pride I sprinted down the much needed downhill section and crossed the line. I stretched myself out at the finish line to wait for my friend to finished before we both walked back to the staging area to collect our finishers information.

Many thanks to the organisers for putting on such a well organised début event, which provided an introduction to trail running to me. I really enjoyed the run and particularly the hilly sections, which I want to tackle again next year just to prove who is the boss.

The all important race information (not chip timed):

  • Position: 25th out of 60
  • Race organiser time: 55 minutes 1 second
  • Garmin time: 54 minutes 51 seconds

Filed Under: Blog, Featured Tagged With: ,

Grand Union Canal

April 17, 2011 by Leave a Comment
Grand Union Canal

We’ve been living in Ealing for nearly six years yet we had no idea that a branch of the Grand Union Canal passed nearby. Our first walk along the canal was from the Sudbury Hill area through to Alperton. I then started to use Alperton as a starting point for some of my weekend runs and would run along the tow path either going east along to the Paddington direction or west, which would eventually lead to Birmingham (not that I would run that far!).

We have since expanded our walk to include the canal area near to Denham country park and next on our list is to invest in some bikes for me and Mrs danyul, a bike rack for the car, and a new bigger bike for MiniMe so that we can explore the tow paths in a leisurely fashion.

Filed Under: Blog, Featured Tagged With: , , ,

Japan 2010/11 (part two)

January 6, 2011 by Leave a Comment

Kuru Kuru Sushi at Shimonoseki Fish Market

Our annual visit to Shimonoseki was soon over and we drove home more than satisfied by the food and stocked up with gifts for the family back in the UK and a good selection of books for Mrs danyul to read. We spent several days at ‘home’  preparing for the arrival of Mrs danyul’s brother and his family. MiniMe looks forward to this as it means his slightly elder cousin and slightly younger cousin arrive to play with him. Each come armed with their Nintendo DS and Nintendo Wii games. The 3 of them become inseparable for the next few days and are busy running around the house, eating together, and playing all sorts of games. It’s always a shame to say goodbye to them each visit and MiniMe is always especially sad to see his play friends leave.

danyul and MiniMe Visiting a Shrine

A visit to Japan has to include a stop at a shrine or three and this trip proved no exception. It is traditional visit a shrine on new years day and this has come to be one of our customary trips. However, our first shrine visit was slightly further away as we spent a day at a fantastic onsen (hot spring baths) relaxing. I remember my first visit to Japan when I was not exactly very comfortable at the onsen since it involves full nudity (men separated from women of course) but these days I don’t think anything of it. It’s also a lot easier now that MiniMe is old / big enough to keep his head above water in all the baths so I am having to continually chase him as he throws himself around like the baths are a private swimming pool just for him.

MiniMe Carefully Counting 8 Dropping Beads

The nearby shrine is very picturesque and draws many visitors from the surrounding area. I cannot profess to know much or understand much of the religion followed but the shrine is a very welcoming place and we always make sure to stop at the small shrine within the building that is devoted to children. We are always thankful to have a healthy young MiniMe but realise that there are lots of people who are not as lucky so we will all say a little prayer and make a donation at the children section.

Each year MiniMe will carefully make sure to drop and count 8 large beads strung out in front of another section of the shrine. I have no idea of the significance of why 8 beads and why this would bring good luck and Mrs danyul is unable to provide much guidance as she was never big on Japanese religion.

After having several very warm days we then had a rain storm hit the area on New Years Day so we were not able to go kite flying as usual. There was still plenty to do and MiniMe made sure to spend his New Years money well at the local shopping mall. This year he wanted to buy himself a new game for the Wii and was determined to get Wii Sports Resort after his cousins brought along their copy and the trio then spent several days playing against each other. However, it seemed that Wii Sports Resort was a very popular choice for all the kids now rich with gifts of money from their family. Thankfully the very last electronics shop we visited had a single copy left and was offering a 20% discount on all Wii games so MiniMe even had some cash leftover. Being the Japanese version of the game it meant that MiniMe couldn’t take it home to the UK but he was quite happy to have it for the rest of the stay and to leave it behind ready for the 2011/12 trip.

Japanese Shrine

I have to admit that one of my favourite reasons to visit to Japan is to sample the wide range of divine food. Not only is the choice of food fantastic, it is nearly always reasonably priced compared the same food type that you would find in the UK. You can guarantee that we will visit the ANA Hotel Ube several times just to eat from their lunchtime Viking (buffet) lunch. The price is cheap compared to anything comparable back home and the selection is extremely wide and tasty.

For a little extra you can include all you can eat desert as part of the buffet but we tend to just stick to the main meal and then move ourselves into the cafe area if we want any desert. There is a whole selection of different cakes at the cafe and you can sit in relative peace and quiet although you do have to watch out for the smokers since Japan has not yet banned smoking in public places and you can guarantee that there will still be smoking only tables in most places.

During this visit we went to a new canteen style restaurant that I had never seen before and was absolutely amazed at. The layout is very simple in that it resembles a school canteen and you simply walk along with your tray and help yourself so the small dishes before someone rings up the total at the end. The food on offer was a very high standard and I was very cheap and I was stunned to find out that this is considered a ‘working persons’ restaurant where most of the local office workers will get their food. We visited twice and I can understand why my mother-in-law rates this as her favourite local place to eat. On both occasions we stood out, primarily because I was the only non-Japanese guest, because everyone else was either dressed for office work or was some sort of construction worker taking their lunch break.

Canteen Style Restaurant

Our 2010/11 visit to Japan was once again approaching its end and we would soon be making our way home. I did manage to fit in some runs while we were there so I didn’t lose all my fitness by being away. MiniMe had a great time with his Japanese family and improved his language skills while I caught up with a lot of reading and just relaxing by being away from work. Mrs danyul was glad to see her family and seemed to stock up on the contents of each and every Japanese book store we passed while still finding room in suitcase to get as much Japanese food product as possible stuffed inside.

Japanese Canteen Style Lunch

Unfortunately our return journey home did not go as smoothly as anticipated. The plane ticket prices to Japan were extremely high in 2010 so we left booking until the last possible moment in the hope of being able to get a slightly cheaper price. Sadly the prices didn’t fall at all and the flights we originally wanted were all full by the time we went to book our flights. This meant that we had to leave a day earlier than planned, which meant we just escaped a huge snowfall that would have kept us stuck in the UK for several days, and also that we could not book a direct flight home. We flew from Ube to Tokyo as normal but then had to take an ANA flight to Frankfurt. This leg of our return journey was heavenly as the flight was mostly empty, which meant we could spread out to take a row of 4 seats each. However, the change at Frankfurt did not go well as it took an age to clear German immigration, who especially did not seem to like my Kindle so proceeded to escort me to a separate room so that it could be fully scanned. We eventually made it onto our Lufthansa flight to London but sadly the majority of our luggage didn’t. It seems that everyone who transferred onto this flight at Germany also had their luggage left behind so we wasted a good hour queuing at Heathrow to register our lost luggage. Bizarrely my suitcase did make in onto the plane so a very tired danyul family found their taxi driver and arrived home. I had to then work from home for the next few days to make sure someone was home to accept delivery of the lost luggage once it made it back to London.

MiniMe Ringing Shrine Bell on New Years Day

Filed Under: Blog, Dynamic, Featured Tagged With: , , , , , , ,

Japan 2010/11 (part one)

January 2, 2011 by Leave a Comment

MiniMe Cooking Lunch

Our annual Japan trip took place once more in December 2010 although we were extremely lucky to make it this year due to the snow storms that covered the UK and blanketed Heathrow for several days. We were especially lucky because we delayed booking the flights so much, due to us hoping the prices might drop (they didn’t), and we could not get seats on our preferred date. We ended up having to book flights a day earlier and so the first snow started to fall at Heathrow just as we were waiting to board our flight at the boarding date. We were delayed for 30 minutes as de-icer was sprayed across the aircraft but that was nothing compared to the mayhem that followed in the following hours as the runways were closed and no flights arrived or departed. Our original flight of choice was cancelled and so were all the subsequent flights for the next week so we would probably not have made it to Japan in 2010/11 if we had booked our flights early. As I said; we were very lucky this time.

Our outbound flight from Heathrow to Heathrow to Narita International went very smoothly and MiniMe was kept well entertained by the movies and TV shows on offer. This time around we were arriving earlier in December so we avoided the scrum that is everyone in Japan trying to reach their family for the New Year celebrations. Our journey from Tokyo to Ube involves a bus service from Narita International to Haneda Airport and then a flight from Haneda down to Ube. This becomes quite a tortuous journey in the New Year period due to entire Japanese population seemingly trying to move themselves from one part of Japan to another.

As usual the parents-in-law were there to meet us at Ube airport and were there usual excellent hosts throughout our stay. Of course they were delighted to see MiniMe again and he was just as happy to be visiting his grandparents once more. One of our first excursions was for lunch at a local restaurant where a cousin of MiniMe was the head chef. The restaurant was of a Korean style where various meat and vegetables were provided for self cooking on a stove built into the table. The meal also included some Japanese style raw fish dishes and MiniMe loved acting as our chef and cooked all the food for us. MiniMe would continue to pursue his new found love for cooking dinner for everyone and so we had a whole series of meals cooking by MiniMe throughout the stay.

MiniMe at Tokiwa Park

A visit to Ube would not be complete for MiniMe without a trip to the rides at Tokiwa Park. Unfortunately our first attempt was accompanied by a big bag of fail because we arrived in the morning to find all the rides were closed until the afternoon, when we already had commitments. MiniMe was just a little grumpy but he did get to visit again a few days later when everything was actually open. However, it was sad to see that a number of rides had been retired, removed, and not replaced since we visited in 2009/10. Most notably the log flume ride was completely gone and MiniMe was a little disappointed since this was one of his favourite rides and was also a ride I had to accompany him on each year due to age / height restrictions. His grandmother did go on the ride with him once but then vowed to never repeat the experience following the terrifying drop down into the water.

MiniMe Cooking Dinner

Being away for the Christmas meant that Santa san had to be told of our whereabouts and extra care given to make sure that an appropriate bag was left out for Santa to leave presents. Also, we had to make a special trip to the local shops so that MiniMe could select the perfect carrots to leave out for the reindeer and some suitable cookies for Santa himself. MiniMe is still erring on the side of caution by making sure to write a nice letter to Santa but equally he has become quite persistent in asking us about whether Santa exists. We suspect that next year we move into non-believer territory but we’ve had a fun time over the years. This year Santa san brought nearly all the items requested by MiniMe but his favourite gift was a remote control car that he then spent hours with outside. An elaborate track was made at the front of the house using  various gardening items and MiniMe would send the car racing around.

Proud Owner of Remote Control Car from Santa san

Japan hasn’t quite dived into a full Christmas loving nation, with New Year being the prime holiday period of the year, and it doesn’t really fully fit since the normal Western Christmas holiday means time off work while the 25th December is a normal working day in Japan. However, I have noticed more and more Christmas related items sneaking into Japanese culture each year and this time around I really noticed the use of Christmas Carols and related songs in the local shopping malls. Christmas cards are available and so are Christmas themed cakes so it is becoming more common for gifts to be exchanged and some activities to take place.

Christmas Cakes

We again travelled to the nearby Shimonoseki for an overnight stay to use the onsen (hot spring baths) and to go shopping at the large shopping mall. For the first time our visit coincided with the Shimonoseki fish market so we made sure to visit and to eat lunch at the karu karu sushi (conveyor belt sushi) situated overlooking the fish market. The market itself is full of people inspecting the freshly caught fish or buying fresh sashimi and sushi from the brightly lit stalls while the stall holders call out for visitors to inspect their fish and to draw everyone in. The sushi looked fantastic although we didn’t buy any, quite a few would buy their lunch from the various stalls and go find somewhere to sit down, and we added our names to the lengthy waiting list for the sushi restaurant. We killed an hour or so walking around the market admiring the weird and wonderful types of fish although I did notice that quite a few stalls were selling whale meat, which I stayed away from based on my Western sensibilities. Finally our names were called for the restaurant although this was only the ‘outside queue’ and we now had to queue again as part of the ‘inside queue’ until a suitable table became available. Following another shortish wait there was a table available (seats had some and gone on the sushi bar but we preferred a table) and we settled down for one of the best sushi meals that I have had the pleasure of eating in Japan.

Shimonoseki Fish Market

We left MineMe with his grandparents and took a walk around the surrounding area. The area is known for its Fugu (puffer fish) catch and during popular seasons there will be a rush of Japanese visitors specifically to buy or eat Fugu. We found a nearby statue (pictured below) that shows how the market traders and fishermen used to trade their catch through various hand movements enclosed by a large glove like object so no-one could see how much each respective catch was being sold for.

Fugu Trading at Shimonoseki

Given the amount of times that we have visited Shimonoseki it is quite surprising that we had never visited the island of Ganryujima that sits between Honshū and Kyūshū via a short ferry ride from Shimonoseki Harbour. The small island is well known in the surrounding area for the duel between Miyamoto Musashi and Sasaki Kojirō and has been setup as a tourist focal point to celebrate the fight. Japan has a rich history and the feudal period of swordsmanship is visited upon across popular media and is celebrated by the Japanese as well as the image visitors have from other parts of the globe.

Ganryujima Island - Musashi Miyamoto Fighting Sasaki Kojirō

Shimonoseki is also known for Buzenda, which is known as the most famous shopping area in Yamaguchi Prefecture. We always make a trip to the shopping mall for Mrs danyul to stock up on books from the very large book store while I wander around picking out some gifts to take back for family in the UK. I used to also look around for clothes for me, since the New Year period is a time where all the retailers hold significant sales, but I always suffer from my larger Western build and I’ve found that most of the clothes for Japanese men are a little on the small size for me. I am not significantly large by UK standards so I always wonder how the larger Japanese built gentlemen get on when they go shopping for clothes.

Our yearly Shimonoseki visit to was coming to a close and all that was left now was the relaxing use of the onsen back at the hotel. If I were able to export some products or services back to the UK then the proliferation of hot spring baths would certainly be in the top 3. I am pretty sure that reasonably priced good quality sushi would also make my top 3 as well, something that Shimonoseki has in abundance.

Filed Under: Blog, Dynamic, Featured Tagged With: , , , , , ,

2010 – danyul.net in review

January 1, 2011 by Leave a Comment

danyul.net

Following on from my review of danyul.net in 2009, I proudly present the 2010 review. However, I have to hold up my hands and admit that my blogging during 2010 wasn’t exactly kept to a timely manner and a lot of posts were not published until January 2011. Bad, bad, danyul; I am determined to make sure that I write and publish during 2011 rather than starting a post but then leaving it as a draft.

My blog theme stayed as Streamline from Studiopress although there were some substantial updates under the hood, although these did not translate to any major changes to the site itself. We saw in the New Year from Japan where we were spending our customary Dec / Jan holiday with Mrs danyul’s parents, which is where I also sit as 2011 hits the world. MiniMe had a wonderful time spending time with his Japanese family, especially with his cousin, and we felt that his Japanese language skills really improved throughout the stay (not that they were too bad in the first place). I love to visit Yamaguchi Safari Land during our stay and once again I had a great time feeding the lions as Mrs danyul looking on shaking her head.

In January 2010 I posted on the Telehouse West build project, which was a location I walked past everyday on my journey to work so I decided to take a photographic diary of how the build progressed. I also posted about Pacific Plaza, a new food court in Wembley loosely based on the food court we previously visited at Oriental City in Colindale. I am glad to say that Pacific Plaza has remained open throughout 2010, despite the the odd food stall closure, and we are still regular visitors at the weekend. February was a landmark month as we replaced our ageing Toyota Corolla with a Toyota Verso Corolla and MiniMe was very happy as the new car included a DVD system so he could be kept entertained on long journeys. The car purchase came smack bang in the middle of a Toyota recall so this allowed us to negotiate a better price and I am happy to report that there were no Toyota related accidents throughout 2010 (nor any danyul related car accidents either). February saw the first karate course of the year as I took MiniMe to Swanley for the JKAE All Grades Kumite Course where we also took time to visit family. I spent the majority of my youth in Kent from initially living in Welling, moving to Bexleyheath, and a large chunk of my family still remain throughout Kent. This was also the first time that a family member came to watch us either training or competing.

March saw my first competitive race of the year as I ran the 2010  adidas Silverstone Half Marathon, which was my first attempt at running the half marathon distance. Although I completed the race, I was not happy with my time and I was not happy with the preparation I put in before the race: I was running a lot of miles but not running far enough on my long run. I hope to run at least one half marathon in 2011 before moving up to a full marathon in 2012. Our karate journey continued as I took MiniMe to the JKAE All Grades course at Bath University and we both had a great day of training and spending time together. Although we did not know it at the time, this would be the last of the JKAE standard courses that we would be able to attend during 2010.

The seasons had turned and spring was in full force as I captured our neighbours tree in full bloom and later in April we headed to Pacific Plaza to celebrate the Thai New Year. Our karate training took a new twist as both attend the inaugural SKCE black and brown belt course at the Queen Elizabeth Boys School in Barnet. Kilburn SKC decided to remove their affiliation with JKAE at the end of 2009 and a new association, Shotokan Karate Centres England (SKCE), was formed along with other former JKAE clubs. The course included training for black and brown belts and also included grading various dan grades. We were not attempting to grade but we did attend the training, which we both enjoyed and learnt from. It wasn’t long until I was back at another karate course, this time for the JKAE International Spring Course at Guildford, but for once I was by myself as MiniMe could not attend. I had been looking forward to this course for sometime since it marked the return of Osaka Sensei to the UK. I also had the pleasure of training under the guidance of Naka Sensei, surely the most photogenic karateka that I have seen in person, and star of the karate movies Hai kikku gâru! (High Kick Girl) and Kuro-obi (Black Belt). The day of training was fantastic and it was a pleasure to go out for lunch with friends afterwards but I did miss MiniMe and I would have traded the nice lunch to have MiniMe alongside me for the training.

With summer fast approaching we took a family day trip to nearby Oxford where we had an enjoyable lunch followed by a walk around the city. The summer then hit in full force and we had a sweltering day at MiniMe’s school fete where the highlight, for MiniMe at least, was the mayhem of a mass water pistol fight at the end. We loved the food on offer, although Mrs danyul had to work on the Japanese foot stall and the Japanese writing stall, and I even joined in for some of the water fight where MiniMe took great enjoyment from emptying a bucket of water over my head. The Japanese nursery school summer festivals were next on our summer festivities and again we enjoyed blazing sun and wonderful food. MiniMe was old enough to now take responsibility for his own money and to walk around the festival with his friends so he enjoyed the freedom to choose his own activities. We even managed to win one of the raffle prizes, a Brent Cross £100 voucher, which was later put to good use as part payment for a replacement DVD / hard disk recorder.

I even managed to sneak in a couple of posts related to my day job as a Tardis appeared at our Chalfont data centre site and I took the opportunity to have my picture taken as the next Doctor. I enjoy working the odd day from Chalfont as the drive is relatively easy, going against the rush hour traffic, and the site itself is very nice.  However, I returned to our London data centre the next day and faced a bunch of marauding cows mooing their way across the London Underground. They certainly brightened up my commute that day and I have been surprised that there has been nothing like this since.

We returned at Cornwall again this year for our summer holiday where MiniMe carried on with his l0ve affair with surfing and I tried (and mostly failed) to do the same without embarrassing myself. MiniMe seems to have a natural balance and being so light he can easily catch any sized wave and then manage an effortless journey to the beach. Meanwhile I fight to stay on my board and I am lucky to fall into the water with any modicum of grace. On this holiday we spent a lot of time cycling, especially along the Camel Trail, so we all enjoyed an active holiday with plenty of excuses to enjoy the nice food on offer. As summer started to crawl to a halt, we returned to Spitalfields Market for the 2010 Japan Matsuri. The 2009 event was heaving with people and although we thoroughly enjoyed the day, it did become difficult to navigate the crowd plus we were unable to buy any food from the stalls. Thankfully the organisers had expanded the space available for the festival and included additional food stalls.

October was a very busy month as I celebrated my birthday (sorry, not going to admit my age!) and MiniMe celebrated his 9th birthday. This year we organised a pool party for MiniMe and his friends at Hillingdon Leisure Centre, where we sometimes attend karate training, and the kids threw themselves on an inflatable obstacle course with wild abandon. Under the excuse of providing safety, in addition to the life guards on duty, I joined the kids in the pool and also lost a lot of races across the inflatable versus MiniMe. The busy period continued as we both successfully passed our shodan grading together under the guidance of SKC England. I am pleased that MiniMe has been able to make it this far with his karate training, especially as more and more academic demands have taken time we would previously have been training together. I continue to train at least twice a week, looking to maintain three sessions if possible, but MiniMe is only able to train once a week due to his extracurricular actives during the week and his attendance at the Japanese school at the weekend. I am sure things will change in the future and MiniMe will increase his attendance in the future.

My final blog post of the year saw me return to Brighton to run the 2010 Brooks Brighton 10K following my first ‘proper’ race at the same event in 2009. I had suffered from a knee injury sustained during our trip to Cornwall so my general training was lacking leading up until the Brighton 10K. However, I did complete in a fairly respectable time but I did then lose out against the majority of my fellow co-workers also running. That was the end of my blogging for 2010 and I managed to finish and publish a chunk of half finished posts while I was in Japan for the Christmas and New Year period.

So as a final look back at 2010 let’s have a look at the most popular parts of danyul.net. I use AWStats and a WordPress Stats plugin to analyse the logs of who visits my site. Here we go…

There were approximately 5,571 unique visitors to danyul.net in 2010 (an increase of 1,621 compared to 2009) which was made up of 9,180 visits (1.6 4visits per visitor). This equates to 43,390 pages visited (4.72 pages per visit) with a total of 113,686 ‘hits’ (12.38 hits per visit). A total of 3.376GB of data was transferred (384.38 KB per visit). June recorded the highest amount of unique visitors (617) and the highest number of visits (1,120) and the highest amount of pages (10,200). The highest amount of hits were recorded in June (18,078) as was the largest amount of bandwidth used in a month (520.19 MB).

The 10 top level visitors were:

  1. Unknown (IP address only)
  2. Commercial (.com)
  3. Network (.net)
  4. Yugoslavia (.yu)
  5. Poland (.pl)
  6. Republic of Serbia (.rs)
  7. Italy (.it)
  8. United Kingdom (.uk)
  9. Russian Federation (.ru)
  10. Israel (.il)
It is worth noting at this point that I exclude my home, work, and ‘other’ personal IP addresses from my stats package so everything recorded reflects actual visitors rather than me updating or checking the site.

The top 10 visiting browsers were:

  1. MS Internet Explorer
  2. Netscape
  3. Firefox
  4. Safari
  5. Google Chrome
  6. Mozilla
  7. Opera
  8. Unknown
  9. GranParadiso (Firefox 3.0 development)
  10. Sony/Ericsson Browser (PDA/Phone browser)

The top visiting operating systems were:

  1. Windows
  2. Unknown
  3. Macintosh
  4. Linux
  5. Sony Playstation
  6. Symbian OS
  7. Java
  8. Java Mobile
  9. Blackberry
  10. Unknown Unix System

Finally, the most interesting stats of 2010 (to me anyway!) were the top 10 search key-phrases used by visitors to find the site via a search engine. I have tinkered with the list a little from its original listing since a few in the top 10 were identical topic searches but the key-phrases were slightly different:

  1. hot 3ex
  2. mohammed salih karate
  3. fatal socket operation on non-socket
  4. pacific plaza
  5. jkae
  6. jka england split
  7. eric pich
  8. danyul
  9. mailman list password
  10. kilburn skc
Filed Under: Blog, Featured Tagged With: , , , , , , ,
«Older Posts