Participating for the 5th Consecutive Time! For “Bloomberg Square Mile Relay Tokyo” 2024, We Held a Serious Training Session One Week Prior and Created Original T-shirts

Hello, everyone. I am Fujimura, the head of the SUNNY SIDE UP GROUP Running Club. (I somehow ended up succeeding the position as head. LOL)

Walking the fine line of what might be considered “Run-hara” (running harassment), I have once again assembled the members for our annual running event this year.

The “Bloomberg Square Mile Relay Tokyo” is an event for which SUNNY SIDE UP has handled production, management, and PR since its inaugural edition. It is a corporate relay-style running event held in 13 cities worldwide, with the first Tokyo event held in 2017.

It has become a tradition for the SUNNY SIDE UP GROUP to participate every year, and we were pleased to take part again this year!

For our fifth participation, we were highly motivated. One week before the race, we held a (fairly serious) training session that also served as a kick-off meeting for this year’s participants. We even had a staff member design original SUNNY SIDE UP GROUP Running Club T-shirts.

With that, here is a report on our preparations leading up to the main event!

An Adult Footrace Showdown at Yoyogi Park After Work

Rumors spread that “if we win this year, President Tsugihara might grant us a prize,” so we scheduled a training session one week before the race. (LOL) In addition to a 5km run, we all competed in a 1-mile (1.6km) dash, which is the actual distance for the race day.

After finishing work and closing our laptops, we changed into our running gear and gathered. We transformed into a group that stood out slightly in the office environment.

While being cheered on by members heading home (and receiving a few cold stares; LOL), we formed a circle in the office building lobby to warm up. We stretched thoroughly to loosen up bodies stiffened by office work.

Once warmed up, the run began! We headed toward Yoyogi Park via Harajuku, passing by “Harakado,” for which SUNNY SIDE UP handled the opening PR.

Upon arrival, we immediately checked the course and mentally prepared ourselves. (LOL)

As the photo on the right illustrates, there is no need to describe the footrace in detail, so I will omit it. Everyone successfully exhausted all the energy they had that day. (LOL)

We ran back to the office and returned safely! Our preparations for the race were complete.

Boosting Morale with Matching Running Gear! We Created Original T-shirts

With new first-year employees joining and the roster being refreshed, we decided to redesign the Running Club’s original T-shirts this year.

We commissioned the design from Ueno, SUNNY SIDE UP’s resident fashion expert!

When the design proposal came in, I thought it was adorable, but at the same time, I felt like the running form looked familiar…

It turns out the design was inspired by a running video I posted on my Instagram and incorporated into the T-shirt. (LOL) I felt a bit embarrassed, but I was also very happy. (LOL)

Thank you so much for creating such a sophisticated running T-shirt that truly represents us!

Here we are wearing them on the day of the event 👕

The matching running gear boosted our spirits, and we thoroughly enjoyed the race! We will be publishing a race report from the day of the event, so please stay tuned.

Past #clubsunny activity reports are available here.