Race Report : Way Too Cool (WTC) 50k, March 7, 2015

There are many race reports on one of California's most popular 50ks - Way Too Cool.  I'm not going review the reviews or review all the reasons why folks like the course.  I'm simply going to discuss what worked for this first timer and what I'm going to do differently next year.

Race Report : Part 3 - Running the 6th World Major, Tokyo Marathon, Feb 22, 2015, Three Days in Tokyo/Hakone

This is the third and final part of the 'Running Tokyo' series which will cover post race time activities. 

• Part1 : How to get to the race and reflections on the race itself
• Part2 : The two weeks we spent in Taiwan prior to the race
• (This Post) : The three days we spent after the race in Tokyo/Hakone (Hot Springs Area) 

We only had the rest of race Sunday through Tuesday and were scheduled to leave that Wed night back to the States - so not a lot of time. If we had more time we would have stayed longer in Hakone and toured more of the Lake, Mt Fuji, taken the tram ride, etc.

Those three days can be broker down this way:

• [Saturday] : Tokyo Afternoon Tour
• Sunday : Recovery walk and shopping in Ginza shopping district
• Monday : Train ride to Hokone, tour of Venetian glass museum, hot springs
• Tuesday : Tour of park, stay at local business hotel

Race Report : Part 2 - Running the 6th World Major, Tokyo Marathon, Feb 22, 2015, Two Weeks In Taiwan

This is Part2 (of three total parts) detailing some interesting runs I had the pleasure of doing in Taiwan to prepare for the Tokyo marathon.  The three parts are:

• Part1 : How to got to the race and reflections on the race itself
• (This Part) : The two weeks we spent in Taiwan prior to the race
• Part3 : The three days we spent after the race in Tokyo/Hakone (Hot Springs Area) 

 Knowing that jetlag would be an issue for any traveler crossing the international date line and sleeping in different beds, etc we planned on a couple of weeks first in Taiwan, ROC; which is only 1.5 hours by flight from Japan and only off by 1 hour in timezone.  This excuse also provided us with more vacation abroad, time to visit my wife's family and for me to try some new beers and hookup with hard-core trail runners in Taiwan!

I had the great pleasure of finding the informative blog (Taipei Runner) and connecting with its author Amber.  She also has a Facebook page you can find here.

Here are three fun runs you can do while in Taipei.  I'll provide links to other running groups also in Taipei that I didn't get a chance this time to run with but want to next time I'm in Taiwan.

• Fun Run 1 : Riverside Park (JiLong aka KeeLung River)
• Fun Run 2 : Da-An Forest Park
• Fun Run 3 : YangMing Park:  QiXing Mountain Summit- aka Amber's Run