I made it!

Just a quick note to say I finished the Teganuma Eco-Marathon in one piece. My somewhat ambitious target time for the 21km was 2 hours and I finished only 22 seconds over. I owe a lot of thanks for that time to the British-like overcast weather, Nick and the folks at the NEC running club who took me under their wing and showed me how to warm up properly for the race, Taiko who waved a homemade Union Jack at me, my neighbours who ran alongside me for at least 10m, Sabri and family who cheered me on in far distant Kohoku, and my own family who hung around to cheer me and later let me nap through the afternoon. A final word of thanks goes to all the people who have donated some cash in these hard times for books for poor folk in sub-Saharan Africa. So far, you all have helped me raise 170 pounds - about ¥30,000 - but there is still time to donate if you haven't done so already. The target is 250 pounds - about ¥50,000 - which would buy 200 books. Right, cheers all. Where did I put my Suntory?