The Monthly Milestone (September 2023)

Thank you to my most generous supporters

Greetings to my readers and a special thanks to my most generous supporters

I started this Substack on August 24th this year. Now that September is over I’m starting to get to grips with how this site works and the best time to make my uploads.

I’m now in a regular rhythm of making uploads on a weekly basis, (Wednesdays at 17:00 JST), with the occasional additional post that I will upload on a whim.

The bulk of my articles on Substack are free (with the exception of these detailed monthly updates right now), but I really appreciate the fact that I have subscribers who are able to provide some financial support to help me keep doing what I’m doing.

Paid subscribers are able to fund future adventures that will become articles. I have my eye on an interesting looking ultramarathon next year. But I appreciate that times are hard and it’s difficult for people to provide financial support. For people who want to support with a one off donation I have a Buy Me a Coffee page where you can send a one-off tip.

But it also helps me a lot of people are able to hit the share button on articles they enjoy so other people are able to discover my page.

My paid subscribers will have full access to these monthly milestone reports and will also have more influence on my writing if there are any specific topics they would like me to cover. (Comments on the Monthly Milestones are only open to paid subscribers).

In this Monthly Milestone I’m going to be covering the following:

• Important October Events

• Substack Stats

• Monthly Training Stats

• Race/Event Results

• Reading List (what I’m currently reading)

• Unexpected Results

• Game Changing Strategy Update

• Final Thoughts and Hopes for October

Everything beyond the Important October Events section will be for paid subscribers only. The information will be nicely set out in one place for them but if anyone has any burning questions please feel free to shoot me an email.

Important October Events

There are two important events happening for me in October:

• October 7th - Iaido grading (4th dan)

• October 29th - Yokohama Marathon

I will give my iaido test my best effort but 4th dan has a pretty low passing percentage. This will be my 3rd attempt at this grading. Whatever happens (as previously discussed), I will “accept everything just the way it is.”

As for the Yokohama Marathon, the weather is getting cooler so it’s much more pleasant to run. I’m looking forward to this one. My aim is to run the marathon in under 3 hours 30 minutes. Anything could happen on the day so let’s see.