英米　２年
I was impressed with today’s topic. Mr. Chris encouraged me just now. I appreciate him and my teachers who invited him to this English seminar. He is falling in love with running and he said, “It allows him to escape from the stress of work and noise of life.” Like him, I love moving and I have been training my muscles since just last March though. And I also haven’t finished doing what I started personally, so I felt a common point between him and me. However, there is one thing that I want to do, but I can’t start it because I am afraid of quitting it even if I begin it: it is studying English for some examinations. It is very difficult for me to do something new because I don’t like to finish it sometimes as I mentioned above. This is my personal issue, but it hurts my pride. But through today’s presentation, I found I should think positively and control my mind even if I feel hard. Also, I should know that people around me, like my family, friends, and teachers are supporting me and giving me some advice. These are the key points for keeping going. In short, I got energy to keep going further and try what I want to do from him.

英米　２年
Chris Pickering gave us a presentation about running. He said he liked running because it let him run away from not only the stress of working but also the noise of his life. In other words, he can stay alone when doing it. Nevertheless, the challenge he tried was very hard for him. He taught us various lessons through his presentation. One of the things I think is particularly important is we have to have people who support us in order to accomplish something difficult. After the COVID-19 crisis began, I started staying at home. I often felt lonely and depressed. Because of the situation, I realized I couldn’t live alone. It didn’t allow me to concentrate on studies or pastimes. Therefore I tried to communicate with my friends and my girlfriend as much as possible. It improved my mental health. Even if the crisis ends soon, I would never forget the importance of my supporters.

英米　２年
My first impression of Chris Pickering’s speech is that it was amazing. I was surprised by the distance he runs and his enthusiasm for running. It is unbelievable that he runs about 100km a week. The most amazing point is he does not make a living with marathons, but he runs such a long distance after working. It must be hard. The same is true of joining the UTMF race. Participants run 165km. In addition to that, they climb 7500m. He said he had to finish 3 other races to qualify for it. Also, the heavy snow in Hokkaido made his preparation for UTMF harder. If I were him, I would lose my heart. Although the race was cancelled at 142km due to the bad weather, he made a great record with the support of people around him. I was moved by his words that “You never know what will go wrong on the day.” It reminds of me the examination period for university. I will keep this and his necessary points (prepare, perspire, and persevere) in my mind.

英米　２年
Today’s presentation was wonderful! At the beginning of Mr. Pickering’s speech, I couldn’t understand why he put himself in such a strict situation, for example, he was very busy with his work, and Hokkaido is a very cold place so it’s not suitable for running, however, after his presentation finished, I realized that his strict preparation was necessarily to try to run the race. Thanks to his effort, he could continue to run and believe in himself. I thought that his perseverance was made by his confidence, and his confidence was cultivated by his preparation. Now, I’m busy because there are so many assignments, and I go to a preparatory school for work as a government employee, so I made an excuse that I had no time and gave up the idea of studying English for TOEIC every day. However, thanks to his speech, I realized that I can do it even though I’m busy. I was encouraged by his words, “Never give up”.

英米　３年
First of all, I would like to thank the speaker for his time today. This presentation has taught me how preparation, perspiration, and perseverance can contribute to challenge accomplishment. I myself have found the speaker’s experience quite inspiring as I find myself in almost the same situation that he was during his preparation for the ultra-trail race at the moment. With school-work, two part time jobs and having to think about my future career, I have found myself discouraged to do the things that I love such as cycling and writing. By the end of the day, I tend to give up or procrastinate, telling myself that I do not have the time instead of pushing myself towards the things I truly want to do. However, his experience of pushing himself to the edge and getting himself outside for practice no matter what the circumstances surrounding him are has made me realise that there is always room for the things you love, it is just a matter of how persistent and hard- working you are in order to achieve them.

英米　４年
What should we do to succeed at something? Today’s guest speaker Chris Pickering gave us the answer by talking about his experience of participating in UTMF race. What he did is just preparations without making any excuse. He lives in Niseko-cho in Hokkaido. The area is not a good environment for runners because it is often snowy and freezing every winter. However, he kept running even under such tough conditions. Moreover, he was busy because of his job, but he trained every day, using available time like lunch time. One of things that we can know from these examples is that he did never gave up trying even in bad situations, and he always did his best for his preparation. Due to bad weather, he could not finish the race however, thanks to the all of his preparation full of his power, he could learn a lot of things. Lastly, I want to share the phrase that impressed me the most during today’s class. “If you want to succeed, you should make extra effort about everything.” I will not forget this when I hope for success.

英米　４年
Thank you for your great presentation, Chris. I learned important things to achieve something and face some difficulties in life. Actually, I'm now encountering some difficulty, and struggling to find how to keep motivated. I often feel depressed when I'm thinking of that thing. Sometimes I almost think it will never end, and I want to give up. However, through Chris' presentation, I am able to think that I can be successful if I keep "PREPARE, PERSPIRE, and PRESERVE" in my mind and keep on trying. If I prepare and work hard, I can be satisfied with the result, even if it's not what I wish for. So, I decided to keep working hard thanks to Chris' presentation. In addition, I also think it is very important to change the way of thinking when I train my mind, as Chris said. I will never get motivated if I look at negative side all the time. It's necessary to pretend to think positively even if I feel sad, so that eventually I can change my outlook at positive side.

フランス　１年
I was surprised that you can run such a long distance and continue such a long time. And I agree with your idea that the race was like life - never as you can expected. I think you have a strong heart. I feel the more you run, the more your mental state will be strong. I also fell in love with running, so I like running. I was able to sympathize with your feelings. I was mentally trained by running. When I was child, I was very nervous. But since I started running, my mental state became strong. Now I can’t give up anything easily. Running is essential to my life to live strong and healthy. Thank you for your powerful and excellent presentation. Good luck in your next race.

中国語　２年
Today's speaker talked about how ultrarunning taught him to take on life's challenges. The video he showed was the state of his practice and the day of the UTMF. One of the things that shocked me were the people's expressions lined up at the start line. They were jumping and stomping with lively eyes and faces full of energy. I thought I heard the song "Beat It" or "We Will Rock You" as background music. It is a natural situation at a glance because it is a race. However, in my case, when I stand in front of a starting line, I cannot help thinking negatively and feeling that I want to run away. I learned preparation gave them such confidence. Everyone must have easily imagined how cold and challenging it is to see a man running in the snowy mountain. Running in the hill must have less oxygen, many bumps, and have slippery spots. I wondered what comes up into his mind when it's hard and what motivates him. He kept running, however dark outside it was. Even though his sole got blisters, some ruptures, he carried on. After the class, I closed my eyes and thought for a moment. I noticed that a marathon is close to life. To succeed requires to prepare, perspire, and persevere. Whenever I cross the goal line, though, it is not the end. A thing spread in front of me is just a road where the goal is not in sight. It makes me almost overwhelmed, defeated, and wanting to give up. Though, every time I want to give up, I think of the faces of my family, friends, teachers, and people supporting me. Every time I visualize their expressions, it encourages me and forces me to keep going. He knows the pleasure of challenges, and that's why he does not, cannot give up.

看護　１年
In Chris’s presentation, he said the important things to success are preparation, to work hard and never to give up anytime. I completely agree with his opinion because of my experience. I had belonged to a tennis club for about five years when I was a junior high school student and a high school student. I had never played tennis until joining my club. So, I practiced hard and I participated in one of the biggest competitions in my area for the first time in my life when I was in the third grade of junior high school. But I lost quickly. I was quite frustrated and I decided to challenge again. I started to practice harder then ever. But fate was against me. I got injured a half year before my target competition because I had done too much practicing. I was disappointed. So, I almost gave up on my dream. At that time, surprisingly, my teammates encouraged me to continue practicing, although they were rivals over members of the competition. Then, I tried again and participated in the competition. Furthermore, our team won the competition. Thus, I learned from this experience that preparing, practicing and to continue making an effort are important in my life. So, I will try hard from now on!