A massive thank you to Now on Earth for granting me a sum of money to cover a significant proportion of the costs of the 5 summits challenge.

Having planned on doing a half marathon twice in recent months, it seems unlikely that I haven't run since mid-December. As soon as my knee injury had heeled, I twisted my ankle bouldering which has kept me off the track since.

Since the 17th of December I haven't run or played any sports. Last week I got back into the gym for the first time to lift weights.

I hate running. Especially for no reason other than to run.

Japan has 4 main islands; Honshu, Hokkaido, Kyushu and Shikoku. Additionally, the 5th biggest island is Okinawa Island. Together they make up the majority of Japan. The 5 summits challenge will be a challenge to summit the tallest mountain on each of these islands within 5 days. As a start, it is best to identify the different mountains I will climb during this challenge.