Halloween Party 2009

Chie and I headed to Ash for my first Halloween party of the year. I have another one at work this coming Sunday. I chose to be Anpanman this year, he is a famous cartoon character here. You can see the original Anpanman as well. Chie is really talented and helped me create the costume. She did the sewing and such.

We threw the costume together in one day, thus I had to settle on socks for gloves because we couldn't find any gloves. It made drinking my beer difficult. I had to drink with 2 hands like a child...

Apple Marathon Pre-Show

Oh naive Jared, you had no idea that you would be so out of shape...But check out the cool microchip!

Apple Marathon Begins!

This is where it all began...

Apple Marathon In Action

I actually started the race running much faster, but at this point my legs and body could only move at this speed.

Apple Marathon Finish Line

Apple Marathon Complete!

I am almost crying, or maybe dying, but I made it.

Apple Marathon...

Actually, in Japan they say "marathon" for all road races. I only ran the 5 km race. It was a positive and negative experience. First the good news. I ran the whole way and I came in under 27 minutes(that's with only 2 training days which I only ran about 2-4 km each time).  The bad news is that I had a cold and almost threw up, I ran 7 minutes slower than my dad's best time, and I lost to a lot of older people...much older!

When I arrived I almost made Chie drive me home because there were so many people there. Of course, in Japan, when people do activities they wear professional looking clothes. Everyone was decked out in running gear, the nicest shoes, tights, and running shirts. I have to admit that I was really nervous!  There were some 4000 people running this year, luckily only 528 people ran the 5 km. I finished(barely) 171, but 61 in my age group. As you will see in the photos and the videos that follow, I wasn't in very good shape at the finish line. Next year, my dad's time is going to be broken.

Chie joins the 30 club!

On September 27th, we celebrated Chie's 30th birthday at her restaurant with many friends, including a few American workers staying at the hotel. Afterwards, we went out for karaoke. It was a great day in which we practiced cutting the cake!