Books, Alpacas and Marathons

Hubba left for Japan this morning.

He is headed to Oita City for the Oita International Wheelchair Marathon.  It is the largest wheelchair-only marathon in the world.  This is his fourth time competing and the 30th anniversary of the race.

I have been to several races with Hubba and the Oita event is by far the most organized.  There are a huge number of volunteers that help to make the entire trip a wonderful experience.

The importance the Japanese culture places on being a good host comes through...

because of that, we feel it is important to show our gratitude.

We continually say thank you, try to experience the city as much as possible, tell them how much we love being there, and we bring a few gifts that are a small part of who we are or where we are from.

Since this is Hubba's fourth trip to this race, he's gotten to know many of the volunteers.  They know that we have moved to our own farm and raise alpacas.

So I felt it was important to find something that reflects alpacas and/or Colorado... enter Mary King.  She and her husband own and operate AlpacaKing in Fort Collins.

Mary wrote a book about one of her alpacas.  It's a fantastic and uplifting story about believing in something even in the darkest of times and seeing it through to a positive outcome.  The book is guaranteed to bring tears to your eyes... in a good way.  :-)

Alpacas are relatively new to Japan and therefore quite popular... especially with their cute faces.  So one of Mary's good friends, who is from and lives in Japan, had her book translated and published in Japanese.

I thought this was the perfect gift for those volunteers who help so much during the race.  Since I am not making the trip this year, I told Hubba to tell them the book is from me to thank them for taking such good care of my beloved hubba.  ;-)

If you're interested in reading the story of Rocky, you can get the book from Mary directly or email her if you're interested in the Japanese version.

If you would like to watch the race and won't happen to be near Oita City on Sunday, there is a live broadcast, 10:45 am to 2:00 pm, Japan time on Sunday, November 14th... that's Saturday evening if you happen to be State-side.