As I was about to start my second lap, I felt something weird and remembered I forgot to do something before walking out my apartment, something so important it can ruin anyone’s run... to poop. I was so frustrated, how could I forget to do that? So I go to the toilet and take care of business. However, right before walking in, both knees started to feel tingly. I felt weird and thought maybe I didn’t stretched enough or maybe it is because it’s a bit cold and they need to get warm “but how can that be if I already ran over 4K?” I didn’t stop (big mistake) and decided to keep going until the pain goes away.

Of course, the pain continued to grow until the point I thought “maybe I made a mistake with the tape?” So I took it off, stretched my knees for a bit more and continued my run. I was able to do four rounds (12.2K) before having to give up and call it a day. I was so frustrated since it was a beautiful day, I wasn’t tired at all nor my legs were giving in or whatever excuse I could come up with... the reason was my knees. December 22nd was the day my training for the Shizuoka marathon got halted and here I am, almost a month later not being able to run.

The next two days were awful. I went to visit my girlfriends family in Hiroshima and couldn’t walk properly at all. Couldn’t go up the stairs, and didn’t want to think about walking down them. Lucklily, my right knee was able to take the hits and heal pretty quickly but my left knee was my problem... A problem I am still dealing with.

I was angry, very angry. I couldn’t believe that I still needed to wait, especially with the Osaka Half-Marathon coming up next week. So I started jumping, stationary running if you will. I was able to do so for around 13 minutes straight with some tiny little tingly sensation. I don’t know if I should call this a win but, I am for sure desperate for some answers...

Let’s see what happens between now and January 27th.

​Q

          We are currently at the peak of festivals/matsuri in Japan. It's summer time, weather hitting the 35 C, humidity of 80% but this doesn't stop the Japanese from having a great time by showing their skills in traditional dances. You listen from miles away the chants and the sound of taiko (Japanese drum). Like if they were calling you. As you get closer, you realize something great is about to start.  You see people wearing traditional Japanese clothing, following the rhythm of the taiko. 

I had the opportunity to experience yet another beautiful festival. This time in Higashi Rinkan. There were different groups from different sectors in Sagamihara, showing us what they've been practicing for a long time.

Violence, including bullying and other types of behaviors, has seen increased political and scientific attention over the past years. However, this behavior among younglings and schools has declined over the past decade; the abuse of children by other children in school settings remains as one of the major issues of concern among adults and communities. In response, a number of intervention programs have been developed to help reduce the amount of bullying and violence in schools. Results suggested a significant effect for anti-bullying programs. However, as expected, some of the results seemed to fall under some sort of publication bias and did not meet the necessary objectives for practical significance. Publication bias (or the “file drawer effect”) occurs when articles with statistical significance are selected for publication more often than are articles that do not obtain significance (Rosenthal & Rosnow, 1991).