My Notes September 2026 Week 1

Shizo Kanakuri holds the record for the longest time to complete a marathon. 

His finish time was 54 years 246 days 5 hours 32 minutes 20.3 seconds.

Sprinter Mishima Yahiko and Kanakuri were Japan’s team in the Stockholm 1912 Olympics.

He trained by running around train stations on the 10-day train ride.

He didn’t drink enough water; it was 32 degrees Celsius and he dropped out of the race.

He started the Ekiden races in 1920 to prepare college students to become marathon runners.

He was invited back to Stockholm in 1967 to finish the marathon.

September is Wild Rice Month.

After rice is harvested, its inedible hull must be removed, resulting in a whole grain rice.

If the bran and germ are removed you get white rice, with lower levels of nutrients.

In China, instead of saying, “How are you?” they say, “Have you had your rice today?”

Rice is a symbol of life and fertility, so we got the tradition of throwing rice at weddings.

Americans eat about 11 kg of rice per person each year and Asians about 136 kg.

“Pitch in” means “to help with work or to pay for something.”

If we all pitch in, we can finish the job quickly.

“Going on” means “happening.”

Do you have anything going on this weekend?