[First Trail Run] A new employee's struggle diary to beat his boss who has been a trail runner for 5 years①

February 3, 2025

Hello. I'm Hiroki, a new staff member at OLENO.

The "Gekokujo Project" was a self-indulgent project that received a lot of attention as a short video on Instagram. Since I was only able to show a small part of it in the video, I would like to share more of it on the blog. Please continue to follow me, as it will be a great encouragement for our new employees.

The video can be seen on Instagram's reels .

Smooth sailing never lasts

In October 2024, I joined a company that sells socks for trail running, marathons, and outdoor activities.

I was 30 years old, and although it may offend some people when I say this, I was the type of person who was able to succeed to a certain extent no matter what I did.

Go to the national athletics championships
I was accepted into my first choice university.
Dating the cutest girlfriend in college (in my opinion)
He has many qualifications, but he passed them all on the first try.

I joined OLENO in a sort of arrogant state, but in the "world of manufacturing, where you make something from nothing, and where craftsmen thrive," an amateur is no match for the company, and I simply spent my days unable to do anything.

I was annoyed that my boss was looking at me with a look that seemed to say "that's all there is to it" (my own persecution complex), so I came up with this plan.

"I'm going to win the trail running event that my boss has been doing for five years. And in just three months."

Although it was simply a project to boost self-esteem, it kicked off the new employees' challenge.

I've never been a trail runner before, or rather, I've completely given up on the lifestyle.

What excites me about this project is that rather than starting from zero, we're starting from almost negative .

I hardly did any exercise since I became a working adult, I drank alcohol every day, and on weekends I would drink until the morning and finish off with ramen. Even when I was at home I ate a lot of sweets. I was in my 30s and living such a boring life.

Even in that situation, I thought I might be able to win, perhaps because I realized that I was crazy and that I had room to grow .

Earning a ticket to the national athletics championships

In fact, I was a serious athlete for 10 years, from junior high school to my third year of university, and was a strong athlete who qualified to compete in the national championships at university (specializing in the 400m and 400mH).

Same birthday as the prince of the trail running club

Another thing I feel I have the potential to improve on is that I share the same birthday as Ueda Rui , who is a top candidate to become the strongest runner in the trail running club.

Rui Ueda October 3, 1993
New Employee October 3, 1994

With this as motivation, it's time to start practicing.

Before that, I had forgotten that I didn't have any equipment to run with.

I threw away all of the shoes and clothing I used when I was running track and field, vowing never to run again.

So I thought about going to a sporting goods store in Aeon or somewhere similar, but I thought I might as well go to a store that only sells trail running equipment and talk to a pro among pros. So I drove there as fast as I could.

I don't have much money, so I only buy the bare necessities.

Our next destination was Sotoaso , a famous restaurant located in Katano City, Osaka, in the Kansai region.

(There is a famous trail course nearby, so it's a great location to buy your equipment and try it out right away. The equipment is also specialized for trail running, so it's a shop that can be used by anyone, from beginners to veterans.)

When I went in, I saw that there were a lot of different types. I was window shopping, not knowing which brand to choose or what features I needed, when a store clerk came up to me and explained everything from scratch.

However, to be honest, I had almost no savings after I started working and spent too much time having fun, so it was difficult for me to buy all the necessary equipment, so I told him that I just wanted the bare minimum to be able to go riding , and he was happy to give me advice on various things.

I have written a separate article detailing what I purchased, so please take a look.

[30-something with no savings] What equipment to buy for your first trail run

After spending about an hour with us and getting all the necessary equipment, the new employee said, "Let's go for a run!" and decided to complete his first trail run that day.

However, something unexpected happened on my first trail run...

I'll write more about it next time.

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