My first stop in Japan was Tokyo, to run the 2015 Tokyo Marathon. Miho and I had originally entered the marathon registration lottery months before, however unfortunately, only I won an entry. I still had a good run without her – although not nearly as much fun or motivation to kick ass!
Running through the streets of Tokyo was an energizing experience. I ran the full marathon without really much training since I was in Antarctica beforehand. However, the energy of the cheering crowd lining all 26 miles of the course kept me going. Here a few pics from the run.
The Tokyo Marathon expo was held at the Tokyo Big Sight event hall – a giant conference hall with lots of spaces. The strucutre itself is quite epic to begin with.
Walking through the registration expo, everybody gets lots of promo items. Although this looks like I was receiving a magical free beer.. it was in fact a nonalcoholic “malt drink”. Hmmm.Lots and lots of vendors at the expo.The next morning at the starting area – there were three snacks to have before the race. Tomatoes, bananas, and an apple flavored energy gel, which came out of a foil “capri-sun”-like packet. I had all three, and then packed up my pre-race gear into my baggage bag, and gave it to the appropriate baggage truck. Typical marathon procedure, almost exaclly the same as before the NYC Marathon.Lots of marathon volunteers were all excited to be there. Japanese people have good energy.Photo courtesy of Photocreate Co.,Ltd at https://tm15eng.allsports.jp/photo/photo_list_tag_search.php?page_id=238626&tag=81479&tag_code=zekkenPhoto courtesy of Photocreate Co.,Ltd at https://tm15eng.allsports.jp/photo/photo_list_tag_search.php?page_id=238626&tag=81479&tag_code=zekkenPhoto courtesy of Photocreate Co.,Ltd at https://tm15eng.allsports.jp/photo/photo_list_tag_search.php?page_id=238626&tag=81479&tag_code=zekkenPhoto courtesy of Photocreate Co.,Ltd at https://tm15eng.allsports.jp/photo/photo_list_tag_search.php?page_id=238626&tag=81479&tag_code=zekkenPhoto courtesy of Photocreate Co.,Ltd at https://tm15eng.allsports.jp/photo/photo_list_tag_search.php?page_id=238626&tag=81479&tag_code=zekkenPhoto courtesy of Photocreate Co.,Ltd at https://tm15eng.allsports.jp/photo/photo_list_tag_search.php?page_id=238626&tag=81479&tag_code=zekkenI finished in 4:31. It wasn’t my best marathon time, but it felt great to run, and was fun to see lots of neighborhoods of Tokyo.Photo courtesy of Photocreate Co.,Ltd at https://tm15eng.allsports.jp/photo/photo_list_tag_search.php?page_id=238626&tag=81479&tag_code=zekkenAfter the race, naturally I sampled lots of street food from the cutest food trucks I’ve ever seen.
After about a month and a half of training, I finally got my chance to run the 26.2 mile South Pole Marathon. Although the main group of runners ran it on new years day, and on a non-traditional course, I unfortunatly was on the kitchen work schedule that day, and so had to wait a few days to run. I ran on Sunday, January 6, 2013, and ran the traditional 5 laps on the south pole skiway. For some background, see a quick video of my training.
Overall, the run felt great. I got up at 04:00 on Sunday morning, put on my running gear, grabbed a thermos of hot apple cider from the galley, grabbed a radio from Comms, and went out to the Pax Terminal next to the skiway. Since I was running unsupported, I used the heated Pax Terminal as my warming and support hut, and left all of my food and gear in there while I ran.
Running felt great, and I completed the 26.2 miles in 05:41:50 – certainly not a PR, but a time I’m very happy with considering I was running in -15 degree F air, on snow, in the middle of the highest, windiest, coldest, and driest desert in the world.
If you’re wondering, here’s what I wore to run:
Salomon XA Pro 3D Ultra2 GTX Trail Runners
Smartwool Expedition Weight Socks
Icebreaker 3/4 length 200 Bodyfit long underwear bottoms
Running here at the south pole is hard. And training to run a marathon on the ice is even harder. Here’s a quick clip I shot while training out on the ski loop…
This weekend I went up to Hunter Mountain with friends Rachel and Jay to compete in the HITS Hunter Mountain Triathlon. Jay and I did the olympic length tri, and Rachel did the sprint length. A bit of media during the weekend:
Hunter Mountain Overall Olympic Results June 9, 2012
Place 54
Bib # 1836
Name Jeffrey Donenfeld
Swim ’00:32:03.718
Swim Rank 55
T1 ’00:04:34.535
Bike ’01:29:49.295
Bike Rank 56
T2 ’00:03:52.133
Run ’00:51:52.998
Time Elapsed ’03:02:12.679
Age 30
Gender M
Last week I took a quick sprint through the NYRR AHA Wall Street Run 3 Mile. This was the shortest race I’ve ever done, and it was actually great. I started in the 2nd row of people on the starting line, so could get up to speed quickly and didn’t have to fight through the masses. Running at an almost full sprint felt good, and finishing on the west side pathway at the North Cove was perfect – I run that pathway in the mornings, so I know it quite well. Met up with Rob and his friend at the end.. and had my “BMI” measured at one of the booths.
Results
American Heart Association Wall Street Run
Distance: 3 miles, 4.8 kilometers
Date/Time: May 31, 2012, 7:00 PM
Location: Downtown Manhattan, NYC
Weather: 76 degrees, 37% humidity, wind 6 mph.
Sponsor: American Heart Association
Last Name Donenfeld
First Name Jeffrey
Sex/Age 30M
Bib 4106
Overall Place 135
Gender Place 126
Age Place 31
Net Time 0:19:05
Pace/ Mile 06:22
AG Time 0:19:03
AG Gender Place 214
AG % 63.92 %
This year, like almost every other year for the past 10 or so years, I ran the Bolder Boulder Memorial Day 10k race. It’s always a great time to get out to Boulder, and I love running this course – a nice tour through bolder, exciting starting waves, and a spectacular finish inside Folsom Field at the University of Colorado at Boulder campus, where I did my undergrad studies. I met
Jeffrey Donenfeld bib number:CA437 overall place:1545 location:New York, NY division:M30 division place:43 out of 455 gender place:1318 out of 21460 mile 1:6:46.41 mile 2:7:09.16 mile 3:7:24.07 mile 4:7:11.66 mile 5:7:06.63 mile 6:7:24.08 net time:44:35.39 pace:07:10
On Saturday I went with my team from Fueled to run the NYRR Brooklyn Half Marathon. This was my 2nd time officially running the race. Last time I ran it, we started on the boardwalk at Coney Island and ran to Prospect Park. This time it was reversed, and at the finish we got a spectacular view out to the ocean.
Overall I was satisfied with my time – did a PR time of 1:34:42, and it felt great.
Walking out to the beach
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On Saturday I completed the Tough Mudder Challenge in Pennsylvania with a kickass group of friends. A bit of background on the challenge:
Tough Mudder events are hardcore 10-12 mile obstacle courses designed by British Special Forces to test your all around strength, stamina, mental grit, and camaraderie. With the most innovative courses, half a million inspiring participants, and more than $2 million dollars raised for the Wounded Warrior Project, Tough Mudder is the premier adventure challenge series in the world.
A few pics from the day, expertly shot by Paul Greenwood and Rachel Pennycuick, and edited by me. SLIDESHOW
Pre-mud, we were all squeaky clean and fresh. Gal brought the Fort Kickass underwear from last summer’s PEX Festival for us to wear for “team unity and kicking ass”.
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After being sick for the entire previous week, it felt great to get the blood flowing!
Teamwork was essential for many of the obstacles.
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That’s a pan of muddy water, with ELECTRIC FENCE WIRES dangling down. Yes they were on, yes they shocked, YES it hurt! A total psych out.
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Rings, one of the many water hazards we had to swing ourselves over. Kevin was a pro.
The final obstacle was simply a mass of shocking electric fence wires, which we had to run through while stepping in pools of water. Yeah.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/jamfan2/7206361550/in/set-72157629747666428
