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Team's certificate

Just want to share with you our team's certificate for the team's completion of 100km Oxfam Trailwalker 2009.

Eventhough we finished with the walk, we still want to help Oxfam raise funds. Please help us support Oxfam by donating through http://www.justgiving.com/123nboxfamjapan2009. Thank you.

The End

We arrived at finish line after 31hrs 26mins hike after a lot of blisters, hurting knees, legs, ankles and back (probably everywhere). We did it. We may not be the fastest but we did it together as a team of 15 people (only on site and many more that wanted to be us but had other commitments). It's not easy. A lot of emotions but we pulled it together.

When one of us felt really down, others will give the other support. It's like a rollercoaster. Support team played a very important role here. Without them, this hike is going to be so difficult that we may not even make it.

I am grateful to everyone. For hikers, thank you for being strong and finish the hike. For support team, thank you for all you did for our team. You may not walk 100k but I feel that you worked as hard as we walked to make sure that we are comfortable and that we were well fed. I'm sure that other teams are jealous when they saw what we ate, when they saw you all were jumping up and down on the trail, screaming cheering us crossing the line and when you gave us massages.

It's an honor to hike with you all (no matter how long/how many kms). Thank you Thank you and Thank you again and again.

CP8

left CP7 at 8.30 after another morning snack and first aids. We arrived CP8@1313 on May23. Last 7 kms to go. Supporting crews waited for us on the top of Mt. Myojin and walked down with us to the finish line. We changed to our national costume and both support crews and hikers crossed the finish line together.

CP7

arrived CP7@7.33 20km. to go

we are up

We are up at 3 a.m. got ready, had very very early breakfast and left CP6 around 3.50 a.m.

Pei

marker @ 62km same no as team no

Pei

nap time

in tents@CP6 2hrs allowed

CP6

We arrived CP6@00.41. No drama but a lot of negotiation on where, when and how long we were going to rest. I know that my teammates were looking for a long sleep. I know that they were very tired but I think it is best for all of us to take short rest but more often so I planed to press on. Luckily, I don't have to be the one who gave my team bad news. When we arrived, our support team has already decided that we can rest only for 2 hours. Tents were set up for us. It's like a little hotel. 3 tents with pillows, sleeping bags. Nice. Time to go to bed.

CP5

After hiking in the rain from 19.15 p.m., we finally arrived at CP5 @22.22 and covered more than half way. With a lot of slip and fall, we arrived at CP5 with hurting knees, ankles, legs and backs and covered in mud. Lives had to go on so we continued. Of course, after we had before midnight snacks.

Dinner-ramen

ramen on the way before big climb in the dark.

We left CP4 (slightly) behind schedule. But that's ok. Our plan is to meet our support crews at ramen shop on the way. We have been stopping at this ramen shop a few times during our training and we told the owner that we will be back on the day. We knew this place not because it's on the way. During our dry run (the 2nd attempt), we stoped at the parking lot in front of this ramen shop for refiling water, going to restroom, changing for night hike and having bento that our support team bought in advance for us. We ate outside of the ramen shop. T.Y. (one of our support teams) decided to eat ramen and he told the owner that we were training for Oxfam. The owner invited us all for hot tea. Since then, we always stop there.

Today is no difference. We stopped there for hot meals. Before we left, the owner asked us to take group photos with him so he can put it in the shop. Of course, we did. I will definitely go back to check on our team's photos.

19.15 we left ramen shop to continue our hike to CP5 in the rain.

CP4

arrived CP4@17.07 We need to fix Yukiko's back problem.

CP3

arrived CP3@14.38

lunch @ CP1-2

on top of Sengenyama 804m

CP1

arrived CP1@1054

START

started from
CP0@9am

Hey! Raj Here...

I'm on my way to meet the team to take the Shinkansen to Odawara.
Muddy hiking shoes. Check! 1.5L of Pocari Sweat. Check! Onigiri with
some sort of protein although I have no idea what it is. Check! Game
Face. Double Check!! :)
I'll be mostly posting updates on my twitter feed, including Google
Map links of our location and pictures of us getting dirtier and more
exhausted!
Here's the feed: www.twitter.com/raazgupta
Jenny's and my tweets also appear on the sidebar of this blog ----->
Alright so here we go!!

Pei's Count Down (12 hours to go)

This is it. I have been waiting for almost a year for a chance to officially cross the finish line. Just 12 hours to go.

Disappointed from the result last year, I'm determined to finish it this time as a team. With my teammates, my support crews and all supporters of any kinds, I know we can do it. And not just do it but we will do it well. We have been training together as a team among hikers with support crews. We all are waiting for this day.

Many people think that I have been hiking for long. I just started when I moved to Japan (less than 2 years ago) I was hooked. To hike 100km is not easy but I know I can do it. To do it as a team is a big challenge. Luckily I have wonderful teammates and support crews who will stand by me no matter what. That's such as good feeling and honor that I have a chance to know and hike with everyone. I can't believe that we can talk all day long while climbing million (that how I feel) peaks and at night we can even sign along. I don't know the result yet. But I do know we will come out from this stronger than when we started. So let's do it, team 1-2-3.

To end this, I'd like to thank all of you and my team. You got my words. As a team leader, I promise that I will do everything to motivate, to energize and to encourage my team to cross the finish line. No one will be left behind. See you at the finish line!

**I will be posting our team updates on the blog. You can email me at arsrairas-mntwn@ezweb.ne.jp during the hike. I would love to hear from you. Like Jenny, your encouraging words especially during the wee hours of Friday night/Saturday morning will be like energy to keep us going like energizer bunnies.

Jenny's Thoughts Before the 100km Hike

Alright guys, we're down to the home stretch. The Oxfam charity hike will start in about 24 hours. I've been training for this since February, have lost about 10 pounds, have developed all sorts of muscles on my legs (not to mention all sorts of blisters on my feet - disgusting, yeah), AND we've raised about $4,000 for charity. DAMMIT I'm ready to hike for 30 hours straight! We are so ready!

You know the funny thing is I have never really been the sporty, outdoorsy type. As a kid, my Long Jumps were never long, my Long Reach just didn't reach anywhere, I could not - still can't - do a cartwheel (I know!) and I can run (like anybody else) but somehow running feels unnatural to me (on the other hand I think watching tv for 6 hours straight without moving a muscle AND partying all night are both valid olympic categories). I try to do all sorts of sports - swimming, badminton, tennis - but I am just not good at any of those. I'm a geek, which to some is at the opposite end of the spectrum, and I'm good at being a geek. Anyway my point is you don't have to be much of sporty type to be able to do this 100km hike. All you need is a good motivator and energizer (Pei), teammates whom you can talk to (and sing with) for hours (Yukiko and Raj), an awesome, unselfish support crew (you know who you are), friends and family who would support you no matter how far you wanna go, and a boyfriend who wouldn't let you give up even if you throw a tantrum and scream, I wanna give up! I wanna give up!

Much, much love and thanks to you guys, and we promise you, we will not give up! See you at the finish line!

**Btw I will be posting twitter updates and photos on my twitter page http://twitter.com/jennypot27. And you can email me at galang-jnnfr@ezweb.ne.jp during the hike, your encouraging words especially during the wee hours of Friday night/Saturday morning will be much loved by my team :)

Our Team's Fund Raising Night at Sam & Dave

May 8, 2009

We have held our team's fund raising night at Sam & Dave in Akasaka. Although it was raining and it's Friday after the long holiday "Golden Week" in Japan when a lot of our friends are still away for vacation or worse busy working, we had almost 70 people attending the party. Thanks to all of my team members both hikers and support crews for inviting their friends and thanks to all of you who came to show your support to our team. I also want to thank Teresita for gifts for raffles and Joe Bryant, my neighbor and Tokyo Apache Coach for 4 basketball tickets. We raised 71,900 yen tonight. The money will be used to support our team and also donate to Oxfam Japan. We did good deed tonight.

Training #10 Our Team's 100k Dry Run

April 18, 2009

We completed our dry run (93km) in 30 hours. We did have two long breaks but it's worth it. A break at 2 a.m. really gave us some extra energy and learned not to sleep within any covers right after the long walk. On Sat. we did really well. we arrived at CP4 almost 2 hours earlier than planned. But that's when things were turned around. We asked our support team to join us at 6.30 p.m. but we were too early and our support team is very punctual. So we have to wait for them as they carried our clothes for the night hike. As you can guess, it's difficult to get up after we sat down to rest after 8 straight hours walking close to 40 km. So we took our time, ended up close to 3 hours break. Then, we continued to CP5 climbing mountain in the dark. Our Raj wanted to bring fun to the team by suggesting that we talked about scary stuff. Not when I'm the last person in line. So I told him that as long as he stays at the end of the group, I wouldn't mind any scary stories. The trick worked. No scary stories were told on the trail in the dark. We started playing music instead. It was good until we hit midnight and made a couple of wrong turns. Raj and Yukiko were so sleepy that they just dropped themselves on the roadside trying to sleep. Luckily, they listened to me and moved a bit to stay under small shade from the building but that's not enough. 30 mins after we stopped, the coldness from the night hit us real fast. An hour after, Yukiko gave up. I wanted to give up earlier but as a team leader, I can't change my word. I gave my team 2 hours resting time so I waited for someone to give up first. thanks, Yukiko. Then, we just realized that Raj quietly sneaked to sleep in the car without telling us. We only have one extra space in the car and Raj took it. Anyway, our support crews offered us earlier but we didn't feel like taking spaces away from them. Now since we are cold, we don't care. We kicked support crews, Rico and Jan, out of the car and Yukiko and I took their spaces and tried to sleep a bit. Not working for me. 4.30 a.m., finally we are slowly getting ready for the next round. We left around 5 a.m. from CP6 and arrived at CP7 around 9.30 a.m. It was hard for me as I was falling asleep at a second I stopped walking. If you ever walk with me, you will know how much I can keep talking while hiking. I became so quiet since last night (too thirsty to talk from drinking too much energy drink) and in early morning from sleep deprive. My teammates were worried about me and kept asking if I'm still with them. 8 a.m. my internal clock woke me up and I'm ready for the day. It was a very hot day on Sunday. After we arrived at CP7, we all went to change our clothes for day time. I really need shower. But we moved on. CP7 to CP8 is real challenging. A lot of steep climb after an hour walk on up slope gravel (more like road covered with giant gravel) road really drained out our energy. After gravel road is steep hills after hills. Yukiko kept asking if we reached the top and Raj did a good job in turning her down. Finally we were up on the Mt. Yubune. That's it. We decided we had enough and enough to proof that we can do it. We called our support team that we will end our hike at CP8. Come and pick us up and please take us to onsen. We had great time in onsen before hopping on the bus back to Shinjuku. We all slept like babies until we reached Shinjuku close to 3 hours after. At least we did it.

Training #11 CP7-9

April 26, 2009

This is our training #11. Yukiko and I went for the first wave and Jenny and Raza for the second wave. Raj can't make it but he was the one who did complete the whole trail earlier so at least he knew what to expect. T.Y. led OCJ members for the same trail and donated his organizer fees to the team. Thanks, T.Y.

We started our hike around 9.30 a.m. Yukiko and I went out without waiting for T.Y.'s team and learned a good lesson. Don't talk too much. We were so confident that we remembered all the trail so we went without checking the map. We missed the spot where we need to get on the trail. Why?? I guess people at Suruga Oyama are very nice. There were usually 2 similar sign posts and we learned from our prior trainings that we should get on the trail at the second sign post. The thing is the first sign post was removed and we didn't bother to check if the sign post we passed look exactly like in the photo map. And since we left our support team behind, they didn't have a chance to tell us that the sign post looks exactly like in the picture map. That's ok. We walked back and up on the trail.

CP7 is always a challenge but Yukiko and I did well and again left others behind. It was cold when we stoped so we kept going. At the peak of Mt. Yubune, we had lunch and waited for others to catch up with us. Once they arrived, they told us that they will modify their course and we will meet them at Panorama dai. So we left to CP8 and CP9 (finish line).

This is the first for Yukiko and me to conquer CP8 to CP9, the last 7 kms. It is tough with two peaks at the end but we did it. We met other Oxfam teams along the way. At one point, we made a wrong turn downhills as the map gave us incorrect instruction in English. Luckily, Yukiko didn't trust the translation and she checked the Japanese version after we ran downhills for 5-10 mins. It took us a big to climb back up.

On the way down to Panorama Dai, the wind picked up. I thought that I will be blown away so I told Yukiko that I won't wait for her. We just ran as fast as we can downhills. At Panarama Dai, we caught up with T.Y. and the gang and walked to Lake Yamanaka bus station together and headed back to Tokyo 3 hours later.

CP8 the end

arrived CP8@14.05
April 19
completed 93kms in approx 30 hrs. keep the rest for next time. Pei

CP7

After a few hours break (tossed and turned during cold night), we decided to continue our hike to CP7, left CP6@ 5.30 a.m. and arrived CP7@9.16
April 19
20km. to go
Pei

CP6

arrived CP6@2.24
April 19 Pei

CP5

arrived CP5@23.43
April 18 half way Pei

CP4

arrived CP4@17.10
April 18
Pei

CP3

arrived CP3@14.36
April 18
Pei

CP2

arrived CP2@13.23
April 18

lunch @ CP1-2

15min on top of Sengenyama 804m

CP1

arrived CP1@10.42
April 18

START

started from
CP0@8.47am
April 18

It's Party Time, May 8 at Sam & Dave Akasaka 7 p.m. to Midnight

It's boring if we just train. So now it's fun time.

Host: Team 123 (Pei, Jenny, Yukiko, Raj) and Support Crews
Type: Party - Bar Night
Start Time: Friday, May 8, 2009 at 7:00pm
End Time: Friday, May 8, 2009 at midnight (before a coach turns into a pumpkin)
Location: Sam & Dave Akasaka (www.samanddave.jp)
City/Town: Hitotsugi LIP B1 4-3-6, Akasaka, Japan

Cover charge is 1,500 yen per person which includes one free drink :)

This party will help our team raise funds for Oxfam's international development projects. We'll have raffles for some items and other fun stuff. Feel free to bring a lot of your friends.

See you there.

Our Team's T-shirt

Finally, we placed an order for our team T-shirts. Here is the design (after several emails/phone calls in broken Japanese). Quick dry T in Royal Blue with logo and team's name in Lavender. We will get this beautiful (according to the picture) T on April 20.

CP 7-9: Perfect weather for hiking on the toughest part of the Trail

We couldn't really have asked for better weather on our hike this weekend. Not a single cloud covered the sun and what this meant was we got to see Mount Fuji in all its glory at different parts of the trail. CP7 to CP9 truly exemplifies the saying 'No Pain, No Gain', for I think when the stars align just right, it is the most beautiful part of the trail and at the same time deceivingly difficult. But more on that later...

So no Pei, no Jenny and no Yukiko this weekend. Just when I was mentally prepared to sing Karaoke into the wee hours of the Friday night, TY, one of our support crew, sends out an email that he'd like to hike. Feeling guilty as I had done only 2 hikes before, of course I crush all my partying dreams and say that I will come along. Xia, another one of our support crew, jumps in saying that she is interested. Unfortunately TY falls ill right before the day and Xia and I decide to persevere on. When I asked her that day why she still decided to go, she said, "What's our team name again?!" :)

We had no difficulty getting to CP7. And guess who was there to greet us? Good old Fuji-san. Thats when it dawned on me what a beautiful day it was going to be. Xia and I had no difficulty finding our way from CP7-8. We chatted about everything under the sun. I told her about the differences between the different regions in India and she enlightened me on the fact that Canberra is the capital of Australia. Yah, I know you thought it was Sydney :) You should ask her the story of how those people down under choose Canberra. It is rather fascinating.

I'm making this sound like CP7-8 is a walk in the park, but it most definitely isnt. Theres an irritating gravel road in the beginning. Then there are all these confusing signs. When you actually start climbing Mount Furo you realize that the gravel road was ten times better. There are 3 to 4 areas where you go vertically up at an angle of 60-70 degrees. And every time you think you have reached the last one of them, another one shows up just to taunt you. Xia and I didnt say a word through most of the climb up because we were panting hard and concentrating on why we should be taking the next 2 steps. Sounds like fun doesn't it? :) 

Pei, we figured out where we went wrong the last time. It wasn't when Raza called. I know we love to blame Raza for everything but this is the only time that it wasn't his fault ;) When you get close to the top of Mount Furo there a sign that tells you to go down. Don't take it. Keep going up. You will come across another sign in 2-3 minutes. This area has an amazing view of Fuji and has benches to sit down. Thats the point from which you need to go down. Now you know!

Of course when you climb a mountain you goto go down and Xia and I loved going down. At one point we came across a patch of dry grass with another stunning view of Fuji. Of course it was picture time! We also came across a group of fellow Oxfam hikers. Some of their team members seemed to be much older than us and in much better health. 

It's amazing how people in their 40s and 50s can do something like this. I hope that when I am that old, which I will probably never be ;) , I will have the same urge to get out in the wild and hurt some muscle!

I have to talk about how strong and determined Xia can be. She came in thinking this was only going to be a 20km hike and as she had done about 30kms before, a piece of cake (by the way, I found out that she wants to be a baker of Cheesecakes and Cupcakes in the future!). She had only used her walking sticks once before. And she didnt even have hiking shoes. All this didn't prevent her from being chirpy during the entire trail. She didn't complain once and she was determined to keep climbing up even when the top seemed no where in sight. She had all the right qualities of a good hiker. A beaming smile and rock-hard determination!

So we reveled in little victories like climbing a hard stretch or catching a glimpse of Fuji. We ate lunch sitting on a tree trunk with a cool breeze caressing us. We reached CP 8 in good time. There was another stretch from CP8-9 that is a steep climb but it seemed much easier than the one before. We climbed Mt. Myojin and got a stunning view of Lake Yamanaka sprawled at the feet of Fuji. Of course what is the fun of a hike without getting a little lost. So of course we decided to do just that. We didnt find any of the last four or five signs on our way down. However it seems like all roads lead to the Hirano Bus Stop and we eventually arrived there in good time to catch the bus back. After a bit of anxiety due to not having tickets and the bus being full, Xia saved the day by speaking perfect Japanese and convincing the driver that we needed to find our way back to Shinjuku. 

We passed Fujikyu on our way back and I was really tempted to ride those crazy rollercoasters. Someday I will! So that was the end of a very nice hike. We had relatively little issues, burned some calories, built some muscle, sweated up a storm and I bothered Xia with too many questions about this thing they call 'Life' :)

Thanks to our supporters (so far)

I know I love to have choices and I guess others are the same. As such, I decided to give our supporters a lot of options to choose from. I believe this will help my team raise funds for Oxfam. Our options are donation to

1. Justgiving http://www.justgiving.com/123nboxfamjapan2009
2. Oxfam America https://secure.oxfamamerica.org/site/Donation2?idb=1498382872&df_id=1860&1860.donation=form1
3. Oxfam Hong Kong by email twinfo@oxfam.org.hk
4. Oxfam Japan by credit card https://oxfam.jp/forms/sponsor_teams_form.html
5. Oxfam Japan by wire transfer(see detail at http://www.trailwalker.jp/en/fundraising/sponsor_teams/
6. and the simplest way: give cash to us

Only Justgiving lists our donor's names. I would like others to see your support to our team and hope that will inspire more people to do the same. So I decided to create this list. I'd like to take this opportunity to thank all of you for your support. Every cents added gave us more energy to go on. Every name on the list helps us to push our limit. It's very difficult to hike up and down all day all night long. Several time I asked myself (and I'm sure we all did) why I'm doing this. Why don't I just give money? It's the challenge that got me at the beginning but not anymore. Now what kept me and my team going is that we'd like to show our appreciation to your support by completing the hike. And we don't want to just complete the hike but want to do it well in a reasonable amount of time together as a healthy, well bond group who will cross the line with smiling faces. I know I can keep going on and on. It will take me forever to express my feeling. I think you all feel our gratefulness. Let me stop here.

Here is the list of our kind and generous supporters (in order of donation date)

• Yuko Bivins
• Ting Wang
• Corinne
• Julie & Martin
• Henry
• Randy Anstine
• Karen & Mike Modena
• Takeo Watanabe
• Mariko Kimura
• Yuko Nagaoka
• Hillary Hansen
• Ron Genty
• Junko Noda
• Nana Tachiki
• Neng
• Ying
• Ah
• Orm
• Add
• Nin
• Alex Gironde
• Jessie Ortiz
• Renan Galang
• Berna Bagtas
• Ingking Galang
• Jenny's mom and dad
• Renan, Ing, Lanie
• Aunty Letty
• Pei's mom
• Kay & Jerome
• Pam & Kamol
• Uncle Ooy
• Uncle Auy
• Ploy
• Kek
• Piab
• Angela Kuo
• Philip Squires
• Melanie Galang
• Tom Brown
• Gary Schweitzer
• Cynthia Daz
• Anna Marie Dizon
• ...(reserved for all of you)
• ...(reserved for all of you)
• ...(reserved for all of you)

Let's show the world that we can do better than just a bare minimum.

Training #8 no snow but a snake CP5-9 46kms

April 4, 2009

Weekend for our team means training. This week our team planned to hike 46km from CP5-9. From Tokyo, Jenny, Raj and I took Shinkansen to Odawara, changed to Daiyusan Train to Daiyusan and then a bus to Saijoji.

We started our hike at 8.30 a.m. CP5-6 was not as boring as usual. This time we have Raj, our newest team member. So we filled in Raj with our team's strategies for fundraising and training plan while we walked. Time flew and we reached CP6 as planned (1 hrs. 32 mins instead of 1 hrs. 30 mins) but we made a rest room stop at the beginning of the hike without stopping our stop watch.

We have to keep checking our time as we had very tight schedule if we don't want to get stranded at Lake Yamanaka. Last bus is at 7.35 p.m. and we can't really start much earlier due to lack of bus to go to CP5. Based on our plan, we had an hour buffer if we stick with our hiking plan.

Without any breaks, we continued to CP7. Just an hour after CP6, we were hungry. Time for brunch. I forgot to tell you that since we started our training, our metabolism increased. We are hungry all the time. But don't worry. We didn't gain weight. Actually, we are slimmer. (Yeah, I love the by-product). We ate our brunch and enjoyed sakura and view for 15-20 mins before we continued. From there, we had to walk uphills to the first open area. I'm very happy that so far there was no incident. Then, Jenny screamed and jumped. I was about to ask her what's wrong. Then, I screamed and jumped. A live snake crawled on the road. We don't know if it's poisonous. I have to ask Oxfam. Think about what if there're snakes at night when we can't see that well. We will definitely walk around this area close to midnight at our current speed.

We did better for our second round from CP6 to CP7. It took us 3 hrs 55 mins. (plan 3.5 hrs.) for our brunch and my short (10-15 mins) stop at Suruga Oyama Info Center. People in Suruga Oyama town are very friendly to Oxfam participants. I stopped there to get some brochures for nearby hotels in case we need one during our dry run. They immediately made a few calls around to check for hotel availability and wanted to chat with us on our training. I don't have a heart to cut them short. When we were about to leave, a lady at the info center gave us bottled tea to all of us (just a gesture to encourage us). From there, we stopped another stop at a convenient store to buy drinks to refill our CamelBak/Platypus bags and continued to CP7. We had a quick lunch and left CP7 at 2 p.m. We were 30 mins later than plan.

From CP7, we walked uphills for several kilometers on gravel road. I tried to push everyone to walk a little bit faster to make up on our 30 mins lost time. It was tought to walk uphills on this surface and it was a very long walk. We started to show some signs of tiredness when we reached trail entrance. I learned this time that last training I made mistake here but that's because I didn't have picture map. There was similar sign post a few meters earlier. Not a big deal as both trails are connected. From there, we were still climbing up. There were several places that are very steep. Even that, we didn't take any breaks. We all kept going, going and going. Finally, we reached the top where we had to make a turn. Since I made wrong turn here last time, I knew what to look for. We still went up and down. We became so quiet.

Then, Raza called when we reached another downhill. We were so happy that finally we can use different leg muscle. Without checking the map, we made a right turn while I passed my phone to Jenny so she can talk to Raza. For your information, Jenny likes to carry dead phone when we go hiking. Next time I will remind her a day before to charge phone battery. After a few minutes fast speed downhills, I kind of have a second thought about the turn we made so I asked Raj and Jenny what the sign said. Both, without the map, confirmed that we did the right turn so I had no further questions.

We came down to the road like in the picture map. The problem is the sign in the picture map looks completely different. I forgot to mention that we walked in light rain before we reached the top. Besides, we are not sure if we go back to the junction where we got the call, we will go to the right way. I remembered from last time that I cut across the second electric pole and there's one around there so I told them to walk towards the electric pole and see if we will find any sign posts directing us to the right trail. The more we walk, the further away we were from the electric pole. We decided to walk back to where the road was and walked towards the Suruga Oyama station. I didn't want to go back because we will need to move much faster to make up lost time. Otherwise, it will cost us a fortune to hail a cab from Lake Yamanaka to Gotemba as we may miss the last bus back to Tokyo.

No pressure this time. We actually found a nice park along the way. It was a nice find. We took some pictures and headed back towards train station. We discussed whether we should stop at cafe that we ordered yakisoba last week and make it Omori (super size) this time. When we were close to town, I checked train schedule and found that we have 5 mins to catch the train. The next one is 45 mins after. We didn't want to wait so we ran like mad people to train station. After 9 hours and 15 mins, we ran and made it to the station, where it will take us 10 mins by walking.

I'm so proud of our team. We are still strong and have energy. Maybe I should use that trick when we walk on the event that we are about to miss the train/bus, we can sprint and cross the finish line in an impressive time.

Next one, we will make our 2nd attempt for 100k dry run. Hope the weather be on our side this time. Until then, please enjoy spring and sakura (for those who are in Tokyo now).

Who is this 'Raj' Character?

I like to think of myself as a mental hiker. In my head, I'm tarzan swinging from sakura to sakura (Japanese tarzan anyone?), at peace with mother nature, with legs the size of tree trunks. But the fact of the matter is that I just bought my hiking shoes about 4 weeks back, had gone for one difficult hike before this (without hiking shoes, haha!), and spend most of my Friday nights and Saturday mornings deep in the bowels of Roppongi. So sometimes I wonder why Pei and Jenny want me on their team. I guess the answer is that I am a 110% crazy. Just like them :)

Why am I doing this? I think knowing the answer to that is the most critical factor to finishing this gruelling exercise. The primary reason would be that I love challenges and achieving things that other people find impossible. And if putting myself through 100kms of hell is going to feed a starving child somewhere out there in this world, that is reason enough. Oh and I love the camaraderie in our team. I haven't met Yukiko yet, but I couldnt really ask for better hiking partners than Pei and Jenny!

And thank God Pei decided that NB stood for Noooo Backing Out, and not No Boys. Thats would have resulted in some funny/awkward moments at the checkpoints :)

Training #7 it snowed 43.5 kms. CP4-7

March 28, 2009

We plan to go a little further this time, 43.5 kms. A few friends wanted to join Jenny and me this time. Since it's going to be a long day, we decided to leave Tokyo early by Shinkansen. (2,200 yen more so we can trade for an hour sleep) 6.15 a.m. I arrived at Shinagawa Station. I met Xia who was waiting for me outside of the Shinkansen Central Gate. Xia was so nice that she got me a shinkansen ticket. Unfortunately, I bought mine the day before as I didn't want to waste any minutes in the morning (just in case I'm late). Then, Xia and I went to the platform to meet with Jenny and Yukiko. After we boarded the train, I just realized that Xia bought me a ticket. When we arrived at Odawara, we decided to get a refund for the ticket. Result, we got the refund but we missed the bus by a couple of seconds. Based on Oxfam info, I thought we can catch 7.15 a.m. bus if we miss the 7.10 a.m. bus. So we asked several bus drivers and tried to convince them that we should be able to get on their buses. We (mostly I) didn't want to waste 20 mins waiting for the next bus. All bus drivers looked at us like we are crazy that we can't even wait for 15-20 mins. They all so firm to tell us the same thing. "Go and wait for the bus at bus stop#4." No choice, we have to wait. Not too long, the bus arrived. We were so happy to jump in and the bus left in no time. We ride on the bus for 40 mins. 5-10 mins before we reached our destination, I feel that my legs are cold and just realized what I did. I forget to close spout of my Camelbak. I held my Camelbak (hydration integrated backpack full of Amino Vital drink) so tight that I squeezed water out and wet my pants. Look like I just did something on my pants. After we arrived, we headed towards today's starting point, CP4. No time to be wasted at Tougendai as everything was still closed. It was very chilly although the weather forecast said that it will be sunny today. We started our walk towards CP5. About 2 hours after, it started to snow. SNOW. That got us by surprise. We took out our jacket and kept walking. Nothing we can't do. No turning back for us. An hour later we were at the turning point to Saijoji, CP5. Snow subsided. Maybe because we were behind or at the other side of the mountain. When we arrived at CP5, it was bright and sunny. No sign of snow at all. We had a quick lunch and left for CP6.

CP5 to CP6 is the most boring part for the whole trail as we hike most of the time on forestry road (paved road). So we tried to come up with several topics to discuss. Mostly just to entertain ourselves so we won't fall asleep after lunch. When we reached CP6, Xia decided to leave us at 3.06 p.m. I hope it's because of the paved road, not us.

Yukiko, Jenny and I continued our journey to CP7. This was the section where I couldn't complete it two weeks ago as we lost the map. (please read details from our training#5) I really look forwards to complete this section. Nothing was so special until we reached picture#17-18 on the instruction. The instruction says to follow a tree with white paint. Easy, right? Not really. We found a lot of trees with white paint but since we were so sure that there are no other ways to go, we kept going and going. Then, we felt that there were no trails at all. Looking at the map again, we should reach the next point in the instruction by now. It’s getting late. And we want Yukiko to make it back to Tokyo in time for her boyfriend’s birthday party. She is so dedicated herself to the training. Way to go, Yukiko. We didn’t want to go further and got lost so I called Phil, again. Phil didn’t recall any trees with white paint. Now we panicked. Thanks to Jenny. She told us to climb a little hill up to other parallel trail, which has some pink ribbons. In Japan, you will find a lot of ribbons as markers for events. We hope pink ribbons will lead us out of the forest. And yes, we found the wooden bridge. So we are back on track. We had no problems after that following the instruction until we reached Suruga Oyama (almost CP7). We found out that we missed the 6 p.m. something train and next train was almost 45 mins away. Yukiko won’t reach Tokyo until 9.30 p.m. Determined to have Yukiko go to her BF’s party, we called for a cab. It will take a cab 30 mins or so to be there. That’s it, Yukiko decided. We are going for dinner at a café across the street. I think this is the only place in town that still opened at 6.30 p.m. We went in and found a few people there. I’m afraid that I can’t eat so fast and then we will miss the train again so I asked for take-out. People in the café are very nice. They recognize that we are training for Oxfam and started to have conversation with us in Japanese. Of course, it was short (since it’s in Japanese). We will be back again.

After we got our yakisoba (Japanese fried noodle), we went back to the train station and got a ride back safely to Tokyo. FYI, I was the first one who finished yakisoba. It was so delicious. Until next time, Suruga Oyama Café (I hope that is the name), I will be back and order yakisoba, this time for 2.

Training #6: Dry Run With Support Crew March 21-22

First off, this blog has been long overdue but we have much, much to say about this practice hike so I'm going to write it anyway.

We had the dry run scheduled over the weekend of March 21st-22nd. This particular practice hike was important because (yaaaay!) our support crew was there! The walkers were me, Pei, Hanah, and Christine from another team. Our support crew were Tere, Raza, Rico, Jan and T.Y.

We met up at McDonalds at Komazawadaigaku Stn and Tere picked us up with her car at around 730am. Traffic was a bit heavy on the highway, so we got to Odawara at 930ish. We picked up T.Y. at the Odawara station. Rico brought his car too and we met up with him at CP0 (the starting point). We got a bit lost looking for the CP0, so we could only start hiking from a little past 10am.

I just came back then from a week-long holiday in the Philippines (which is why I missed training #5) and I carried with me all the weight of all the Filipino food I ate up to the mountains. LOL it wasn't easy! The weather was pretty warm that morning. I was literally melting, seriously! Took us about 2 hrs to do CP0 to CP1 (9 kms). We met the support crew at CP1 at around noon. We ate some polvoron (sweets from the Philippines) and took a quick break before we headed to CP1.

CP1 to CP2 (9 kms) is one of the steeper parts of the 100km trail and it took us about 2.5 hrs to finish, which was way better than our planned 3.5 hrs. That was the third time for me to do that particular trail. And I think by now we can do it even with our eyes closed. Yeah, haha. We had a very quick onigiri lunch at the trail - it was too cold to stop for too long. Towards CP2, I remember leaving my teammates and running to the end, not because I was so eager to finish- but because I needed to pee! Hahaha. We all got to CP2 at around 3pm and took a quick 10 min break. Anyway at that point it had started to get REALLY cold (about 5 to 7C , I'm guessing) so we had to put on more layers of shirts, jackets and gloves before we started towards CP3.

When we were at the trail from CP2 to CP3 (5.5 kms), which was mostly downhill, Hanah's knee started hurting, as she got injured a few days before from running. We slowed down so as not to put too much pressure on her knees. We got to CP3 at around 430pm, took a couple of pictures with the crew, and left for CP4. We hoped to finish CP4 before it got dark. CP3 to CP4 was just flat, though it was long (13 kms). The trail went around Lake Ashi and was naturally covered by trees. Wasn't too windy on the trail but when we were almost at the CP4 and we got to an open field, we felt how hard (and loud!) the wind was blowing - it was pretty scary. We got to CP4 at half past 7.

At CP4, Hanah said that she had to rest her knees so she can't join the rest of the hike anymore. At that point we were all already considering to end the night there because of the bad weather. It wasn't safe for us to hike up in the mountains where it'll be hard for our support crew to get to us in case anything happens. Anyway at around 830pm we started heading back to Tokyo.

I'm soo glad the support crew came there to, well, support us. We didn't have to carry all our stuff with us - we left our extra clothes in the car. Their smiling faces really encouraged us to go on and go faster (even though thinking about how they kept eating in between checkpoints while we slaved to hike up the mountains made me think about joining the support crew instead, hahaha). T.Y. brought a small stove so they could heat water at CP4 so when we got there, hot yakisoba noodles (with soup!) were waiting for us. Ah, heaven. Tasted pretty damn good! I have to say, having the support crew there with us made the world of a difference, no question about it. Looking forward to the next dry run!

Training #5 OMG I'm tired CP4-6.4-6

March 15, 2009

You may be curious if it's typo or some kinds of coding. (CP4-6.25-6) Not really. Once you read the story, you will know what it means.

I don't know how many times we need to go for training sans incidents. First I overslept. I set my alarm clocks and my watch at 5 a.m. I heard it but didn't feel like getting up. And my extra 5 mins turned to be an hour when I heard my phone telling me that I got an email. I jumped and tried to get ready in 7 mins (including grabbing my lunch, water for day hike and all gears I need) I got in a cab and barely made it in time for the bus. Carolyn, our candidate for the team, was there probably a few mins before me.

We got on the bus, chit chat a bit and parted our way so we both can catch up our sleep. We arrived Tougendai around 8.45 a.m. We need to take care our business (changing clothes and whatever deem necessary) before walking towards the starting point of the day.

9.11 a.m. we started off. Carolyn told me that she was not at her peak. Such a relieve for me as in my mind she is extremely fit. After a few mins walk, Carolyn started to jog. JOG, everyone. I tried to jog side by side with Carolyn but gave up not too long after. I jogged and walked through the first 6 kms. where we hiked on flat terrain. Not bad though. We arrived at the entrance of Kintoki trail in less than an hour. This was where we started during our 2nd training.

10.07 a.m. we walked, ran up and down the hills. Carolyn was fast. A couple of time, I didn't see her back. I kept my stead speed as I would like to show Carolyn team speed so she can decide whether she is comfortable with us. We (more like I) reached the top around 11.25 a.m. We had a quick lunch and continued our way down towards Saijouji Temple. I forgot to mention that the trail was muddier than our last trip due to rain from the day before.

We ran downhills and impressed Obaasan and Ojiisan (old Japanese hikers) as we ran past them. We reached CP5 in about 1.5 hours later. Certainly, Carolyn was there waiting for me. Then, she told me she lost her bag that she tied to her backpack. I was almost behind her but don't recall that I saw any bags. We debated a couple mins and we agreed to walk back as she has a few expensive stuffs in the bag. We went back a bit and met a guy (now I remembered that he was once between us). He immediately looked happy to see us. I knew that he got her bag. I was right and glad that we hiked in Japan. In other countries, forgot about it. You can just say good bye to your stuff.

13.40 p.m. We continued to CP6. It was boring as we walked almost all the way on paved road. We arrived at CP6 about an hour later. From there, we took a quick break to refuel ourselves before heading towards CP7. I started to feel a little tired. I guessed it was from running. I'm not a runner at all.

We kept walking and walking up and down, up and down until we reached an open space, where I realized that I lost the map. I remembered one area on the map so Carolyn and I decided to keep going without a map and at the same time, I will try to call my colleagues who are training in the same area for further instruction. I couldn't reach him so I left him a message. I didn't want to walk back and try to find the map as it means I have to walk down and then back up again without knowing how far back that I dropped it. Lesson learnt: each member must carry maps.

After a while, we came to the dead-end. No more trail and worse no phone signal. I started to get worried. We decided to walk back and try to locate the lost map. It was almost at the bottom of the hill. Probably it was not our day to complete 43.5 kms. We decided we should walk back to CP6. Since we hate to walk on paved road, we always find shortcut to avoid walking on it. Result: We missed the turn and we went wrong way (down hill) and had to walk back up (again).

So from now on, I kept checking the map to make sure we got on the right way. The last bus is at 6.11 p.m. I don't want to miss the bus. We arrived at CP6 two minutes later than the 5.37 p.m. bus so we have to wait. That's fine. We got back to Tokyo safely.

p.s. I hope you can decipher CP4-6.25-6. If not, it means starting from CP4 to CP6 for 6 kms (guessing) and back to CP6. I think we walked approx. 36 kms. today.

Team t-shirts???

To show our unity, I'm thinking of getting ourselves a team t-shirt that we will wear for any team events. I picked two colors: stone blue for women and tan for men and put designs in the front for walkers and at the back from crews. I'm not good at designing. Let me know how I did. I won't be mad even when you tell me it sucks.

Make custom t-shirts at CustomInk.com

First Team Meeting (Walkers and Support Crews)

March 11, 2009 7 p.m. at Jenny's place

Our first team meeting was held at Jenny's place. Participants were Jenny, Tere, Mimi, Jan, Rico, Raza and myself. First we started off with watching dancing with stars and American Idols (I don't know which season we are now) while waiting for everyone. Jenny was cooking croquette and we ordered some pizza. I just got some salads, ice cream, caramel custard and drinks from nearby supermarket.

Once everyone was there, we started eating. How can we brainstorm with empty stomach. After three pizza, we were ready to talk. We planned for our dry run. Walkers will walk and support team will survey roads, checkpoints, rest areas etc. and they will stay with us until we complete the course.

Then, we brought a lot of ideas for fundraising. People got assigned to follow up on certain tasks. We had a lot of fun. Although some of us just met for the first time. I feel that we are going to be a strong team. We may not be the fastest team but surely we will have fun together and finish the race together (literally).

We wrapped up almost 3 hours later with various choices of desserts. We had great evening and a lot of ideas. Too bad a few team members couldn't join us. That's fine. We will have any other team events. And thanks to those who were there.

What the Oxfam Hike is For

I've been asked so many questions about Oxfam that I figured I should just write about it and just tell everyone to read this blog. :P

So let me start with Oxfam. Oxfam International is an NGO focused on alleviating poverty and injustice in more than 100 countries. For example, in the Philippines, Oxfam is involved in different development and relief projects such as setting up water wells in poor communities and also providing relief to typhoon victims. In Thailand, Oxfam has been helping to provide affordable medicine to the masses and building community schools.

The 100km hike to be held in May in Japan is a fundraising event organized by Oxfam. It is also held in other countries such as UK, HK and Australia. The funds raised are intended to help the various development projects in different countries. Find more details on how the money is used here.

On May 22nd to 24th, 250 four-member teams will attempt a 100-km hike in 48 hours. The trails are tough and some hiking has to be done at night. In previous years, some teams chose not to sleep and finished the hike in around 25 hours. Most of the teams slept for about 3-4 hours in campsites or at checkpoints and then finished the hike in 30-40 hours. Last year, only 93 teams out of 200 were able to finish with four members! The winning team though ran all the way through 100 kms and finished in 16 hours. Pretty amazing.

Apart from the physical challenge, each team must also raise at least Y120,000 (in addition to the Y60,000 registration fee). This is no easy feat, especially in this current global economic crisis. In any case, this hiking event is a great opportunity to help others. In whatever form or amount, my team would greatly appreciate everyone's support.

May we all be Oolong Tea

My friend forwarded me a story. She said that it suits our situation and hope that the story will remind us that while we strive for our goal, we will face many obstacles. It's up to us how we will deal with them. Here is the story.

A carrot, an egg, and a cup of Oolong tea
You will never look at a cup of Oolong the same way again.

A young woman went to her mother and told her about her life and how things were so hard for her. She did not know how she was going to make it and wanted to give up. She was tired of fighting and struggling. It seemed as one problem was solved, a new one arose.

Her mother took her to the kitchen. She filled three pots with water and placed each on a high fire. Soon the pots came to boil. In the first she placed carrots, in the second she placed eggs, and in the last she placed Oolong tea. She let them sit and boil; without saying a word.

In about twenty minutes she turned off the burners. She fished the carrots out and placed them in a bowl. She pulled the eggs out and placed them in a bowl. Then she ladled the Oolong out and placed it in a bowl. Turning to her daughter, she asked, "Tell me what you see."

"Carrots, eggs, and Oolong tea," she replied.

Her mother brought her closer and asked her to feel the carrots. She did and noted that they were soft. The mother then asked the daughter to take an egg and break it. After pulling off the shell, she observed the hard boiled egg. Finally, the mother asked the daughter to sip the Oolong. The daughter smiled as she tasted its rich aroma. The daughter then asked, "What does it mean, mother?"

Her mother explained that each of these objects had faced the same adversity: boiling water. Each reacted differently. The carrot went in strong, hard, and unrelenting. However, after being subjected to the boiling water, it softened and became weak. The egg had been fragile. Its thin outer shell had protected its liquid interior, but after sitting through the boiling water, its inside became hardened. The Oolong tea was unique, however. After they were in the boiling water, they had changed the water color and taste.

"Which are you?" she asked her daughter. "When adversity knocks on your door, how do you respond? Are you a carrot, an egg or an Oolong tea?"

Think of this: Which am I?

Am I the carrot that seems strong, but with pain and adversity do I wilt and become soft and lose my strength?

Am I the egg that starts with a malleable heart, but changes with the heat? Did I have a fluid spirit, but after a death, a breakup, a financial hardship or some other trial, have I become hardened and stiff? Does my shell look the same, but on the inside am I bitter and tough with a stiff spirit and hardened heart?

Or am I like the Oolong tea? The tea actually changes the hot water, the very circumstance that brings the pain. When the water gets hot, it releases the fragrance and flavor. If you are like the tea, when things are at their worst, you get better and change the situation around you.

When the hour is the darkest and trials are their greatest, do you elevate yourself to another level? How do you handle adversity? Are you a carrot, an egg or an Oolong tea?

We will be boiled in hot water (100km with no sleep). I hope we all are OOLONG TEA !!!!!!

Thank you Ah for sharing with us the story and many thanks to the author of the story.

What to wear?

Although we do not do trail running, I think the article on what to wear for trail runner may be useful for the team. We can use some advices from the article to choose our clothes and gears wisely.

http://www.ems.com/content/tentips.jsp?FOLDER%3C%3Efolder_id=1408474396003374

For me, I never wear cotton on the trail. Cotton is bad when you sweat. I always wear a cap to protect myself from sun and keep body heat from escaping from my head. My jacket is waterproof, breathable and windproof so I can use it for many reasons. I always compare the weight of hiking shoes I plan to buy and I like to buy waterproof ones. I wear double-layer sock (sock liner and wool sock) The length of socks (ankle or long) depends on temperature. I carry hydration pack and most of my gears (clothes, bag) have reflective tapes so I can be spotted at night. For the safety reason, I always carry headlight (with extra batteries) and some first-aid kit.

So invest in your gears. We don't need to buy expensive brands but good ones can make different.

Training #4

March 7, 2009

Another training day for Team 1-2-3. Only Jenny and I can participate this training. So Jenny invited Raza and Raj to join us. As we plan to hike for 36kms this time, I decided that we should start earlier than usual. We took Tokaido line, leaving 6.42 a.m. from Shinagawa station to Odawara Station. We should have arrived at 7.58 a.m. I intentionally put "should have" because in fact we arrived at 8.30 a.m. No, there was no accidents nor any unpleasant incidents. It's just Raj and I were busy talking and Jenny and Raza tried to catch up with their sleep so we missed the station. Since I usually take Odakyu, I'm more familiar with Odakyu Odawara Station. Luckily, Raza woke up and mentioned that he heard the announcement for Odawara. Then, I looked at the name of next station and realized that we passed Odawara. We ran out from the train just a few seconds before the door closed.

We hopped back on next train and took a cab to Shiroyama Track and Field, CP 0 or starting point of the race. As usual, I couldn't find where the trail starts. Last year, it was easy. I just followed other participants. Oxfam instruction says that we should take a sharp right turn from the front of the car park. It sounds straight forward. The problem is that we don't see the car park. The only car park we saw is inside of the track and I remember it was not that car park. We were about to ask kids around there. Then, we found the carpark and started our hike at 8.50 a.m.

CP0 to CP1 is not so difficult. We only gained about 400 meters of altitude gain and lost it at the end. Raj and Raza did some researches and their impression is that we are going to hike on pavement. I told them to wait to experience the real Oxfam thrill. On the way, we found a scrapped car, stated in the Oxfam instruction. Jenny led the grop this time and she learned to step in my foot by almost leading us downhills on the wrong way. Luckily Raza stopped her before she took a leap. We continued the course without any incidents and reached CP1 at 11.10 a.m. Total time 2hrs 30 mins and total distance 8.5 kms.

We had a short break and continued to CP2. At 11.30 a.m. we reached the beginning of Yusakamichi Trail (#7 in the instruction). We started to climb up right from the beginning of the trail. It's quite challenging for Raza but he kept going. It's really tough climb. Judge by yourself. We let him lead the team so he can set the pace. We met about 2 teams practicing. Although we were tired, we didn't stop until 1.20 p.m. when we reached Mt. Sengen where we stopped for 10 mins lunch break. We continued to climb up for another 100m altitude gain and made our way down to CP2 at 15.20 p.m. At CP2, we refilled our drink from street-side vending machines and took a quick break. Raza had enough. He decided to leave us for Onsen (Yunessan). Raza probably got an idea from our talk on wine onsen and decided to check it out. He hopped on the bus before we had time to convince him to stay. Total time 2hrs 50 mins and total distance 10 kms.

Raj, Jenny and I started our journey to CP3. CP2-3 is quite easy. No big hills to climb. It took us an hour to reach Lake Ashi, CP3. Before we got to Lake Ashi, we walked through Japanese cedar-lined stone streets, which was part of the old Tokaido Road before heading to the Hakone Check Point, the beginning of CP4. Here are some photos from CP2-3.

We left from CP4 at 15.45 p.m. It's about 12.5 kms from CP3 to CP4. Again, not difficult but long. We just kept talking mostly about strategies on how not to fail our supporters and food as we started to feel hungry. We didn't slow down to snack as our plan is to go to Tougendai to catch on the last bus at 6.30 p.m. Tougendai is about 10 mins walk from CP4. It was dark before we reached CP4 so it's time for us to use a headlamp. Jenny was excited but then she realized that her headlamp was in Raza's bag. Not a problem. When we took headlamps out, we saw that CP4 is not so far from us. We led Raj walk in front and I at the back so Jenny can share the light.

When we arrived at CP4, we couldn't find the entrance as stated in the instruction. It took us a couple of minutes to find it. It was 6.10 p.m. when we arrived today's destination. Total time 2hrs 30 mins.

We don't know where the bus stop is and we had only 20 mins to find out. Luckily, there were some people camping at CP4 so we asked for the direction (of course, in Japanese). When we found the bus terminal, I saw the bus going to Shinjuku. I thought the bus is about to leave so I waved at the bus driver and began to beg him to wait a few minutes as we tried to locate Raza. The bus driver told us that he is not leaving for Shinjuku yet but going to the bus stop to pick up other passengers. Then, Raza called and showed up at the same time. We regrouped at the bus stop and hopped on the bus. I think we just had about 1-2 mins before the bus pulled out from the terminal.

There are other later buses from Tougendai if we miss the one we took but we have to go back to Odawara and catch the train. We rather take one bus straight to Shinjuku. We ate our food/snack on the bus and ready to say "Oyasumi - good night". I think I dozed off a bit. We arrived at Shinjuku at 8.45 p.m. before going separate ways home.

Yatta!!! We did it. Until next week (43 kms)

The day before Training #4

March 6, 2009

The weather is so weird this week. A lot of rain. We switched back and forth on training day. By today, it seems that the weather is going to be nicer on Sat so we set our plan for tomorrow, Saturday, March 7.

Only Jenny and I am free this week so it will be just two of us. Hana has to work. Carolyn, Yukiko and Jiyeon are not available. Then, Raza and Raj (another candidate) decided that they will join us. Our goal is to cover CP 0 to CP4, total of 36 kms. this time.

At first, another group from Reuters planned to join us. Since we changed the date, I'm not sure if they will make it.

I stopped at convenient store in my building to buy my lunch for tomorrow. Always salmon onigiri. I often can't find Salmon onigiri in convenient stores in Roppongi, where I live.

To make sure that we will finish the walk before sunset, we will start early (very early). I have to leave home at 6 a.m. to catch on the train at Shinagawa at 6.42 a.m. There will be several connections from Hibiya line, Yamanote and then Tokaido line. It is tempting for me to hop on Shinkansen and gain an hour of sleep.

I have to go packing. I used to do it in the morning but I tend to forget something or need to run to the subway station so I now do it at night. I filled up my passmo (smart card that I can add cash and use to pay for trains, subways and buses) so tomorrow I can move faster tomorrow. I only have a few minutes to switch train in Shinagawa and I don't know how far between the tracks.

Here is my packing list: backpack, 2L camelbak, water 1.5 -2L, lunches, energy bars, waterproof jacket, tracking poles, hat, gloves, sunglasses, money, passmo, camera, first aids kit and maps. This time I told Jenny to bring headlight.

Hope the trail is not too muddy. It rained a lot today. Last time we were so dirty at the end of the day. I'll update tomorrow after the hike how we did.

Team Name

Our team number is 123 (thanks to Pei!) and our team name (for now) is NB - what it actually stands for, we're not quite sure yet. No Boys? No Boundaries? No Backing out?

Any suggestions?

Jenny here :)

Alright! Obligatory introductory post here by yours truly, Jenny :)

When I told my family and friends that I would be doing a 100km hike in May, their reaction was pretty much like: Riiiiiiiiiiight. So what's the catch? People, there's no catch. I'm REALLY doing this. My team's doing this. First of all, it's for a good cause. Who can say no to that? Secondly, I'm not one to say NO to a good challenge. Which is why I'm praying hard - dear GOD - please don't let me quit in the middle of the race! I don't want to disappoint my teammates!

With that said, I know, of course, praying alone ain't gonna cut it, so I'm upping my gym time and doing my weekly hike with the team. I tearfully said goodbye to Roppongi all-nighters last Friday (with, of course, an all-nighter haha) and from now on I'm going to concentrate on getting donations, building my leg muscles, and training with the BEST TEAM EVER! (and studying for my CFA exam in June. LOL)

And yeah, here's a good training soundtrack:

Its a New Day - will.i.am

It's a new day baby! Please support our charity!

http://www.justgiving.com/123nboxfamjapan2009

Third (Spooky )Training - Snow, Deers and Bones???

February 28, 2009

It snowed yesterday. That concerned me. I planned to hike from CP7 to Cp9 today. I was checking weather forecast all day long but felt that we can keep our plan intact as no snow is expected.

I left home for Yoyogi Uehara by Chiyoda line from Nogizaka at 7 a.m. and boarded a 8.27 a.m. Express Odakyu train from Yoyogi Uehara to Shinmatsuda Station. From there, I met Jiyeon, another candidate for the team. We changed to JR Gotemba line from Matsuda station to Suruga Oyama station.

9.40 a.m. we started our hike. We left Fujimi center and followed our one page instruction. The first hour we were walking on pavement or some kinds of dirt road. Then, we found the sign for the trail to Furosan. As usual, there was not much to tell. We just kept walking uphills except on the way, we found a piece of bones. I was a bit scared. I don't want to get up close & personal with bears. I read somewhere that last year there was bear sight at certain part of the trail and I don't remember which part. Here is the picture of the bone.

Finally around noon, we saw the sign that Furosan is 300 meters away. We decided to stop at the peak and have lunch there. About 100 meters from the peak, I saw two deers eating something on the trail. Since I'm very loud (I use my voice instead of bear bell), I scared them away before I had a chance to take photos. They were the same ones that I saw when I hiked in Nikko. We stopped for a quick lunch as it became very cold and continued our hike downhills. Wait a minute. Why were we going downhills? I found out a few minutes later. We missed our turn and headed towards different peak. We had to backtrack. Because of that, we lost about 30-40 mins to the point where we were supposed to turn.

We continued to Yozuku pass and up again to Minesaka Pass. Based on the Oxfam instruction, it should be 1 km. from Yozuku pass. I felt like we walked for hours before we got to Minesaka Pass. Up to now, the trail was clear from snow. Once we pass Minesaka Pass, the trail was covered in snow and the trail is very narrow. Oxfam put a warning on the instruction that "right shoulder may collapse". I completely agreed. We walked very slowly through the pass. Once we reached Yubune, Jiyeon was very tired but she kept walking until we reached CP8. Just to show how tought the trail is. I found pictures posted by someone who did the trailwalker last year. If you think the trail looks steep from the pictures, I would say they didn't do a very good job presenting the trail condition. The real trail is 10 times worse.

CP8 is in the middle of nowhere. I know that if we continue for another 6 kms., we will reach the destination at Lake Yamanaka, where we can get the bus back to Shinjuku. Since I don't think Jiyeon will make it to Lake Yamanaka if we stick to our plan, I suggested to her that we will walk on the mountain road towards Lake Yamanaka and we can hitchhike any cars heading towards that direction. Unfortunately, it is a walk uphills. Not good for Jiyeon. So she asked if we can walk downhills. Though I don't know how far we had to walk if we choose that option, I don't have a heart to say no to Jiyeon. We walked and walked and tried to stop cars but all cars passed us too fast and couldn't stop in time. As I said it was downhills and I think nobody expected that they will be stopped on the way. I started to get worried as I noticed that there are no street lamps at all and it's close to 5 p.m. If nobody gives us a lift, we are going to walk in the dark. I always have my headlight with me and I checked that Jiyeon has hers.

Anyway, one car that passed us came back and the driver offered to take us to JR Gotemba station. We got on the 5. 37 p.m. train back to Matsuda and retrieved our way back to Tokyo. I was exhausted but happy that we both were safe. So CP7-9 will be off limited until April when the weather is better.

p.s. I showed the picture of the bone to my lovely (know all) husband and he told me that it's lower deer jaw bone. Whew!!!

Show our commitment

Updated March 11, 2009 (additional trainings/revised info in blue)

Just to show how serious we are, I think I should put our training schedule here. Although we may not train together as a team all the time, at least two of us will keep up with this schedule.

Feb. 28 CP 7-9 (updated news: CP7-8 due to trail condition - snow)
Mar. 8 CP 0-4
Mar. 15 CP4-7.5
Mar. 21-22 CP 0-7 or to 9 (dry run day & night)
Mar. 28 CP 4-6 (newly added)
Apr. 4 CP 0-5
Apr. 18 CP 5-7.5 or to 9
Apr. 24 CP 4-9 (night hike after work, newly added)
Apr. 29 CP 6 or 7-9
Golden week (make-up training for those that need it)
May 9 hike our most favorite trail (everyone's choices from CP 0-3, CP4-6 or CP 7-9)

From April, we will also do some easy hikes or arrange for some fun fundraising events like BBQ., Karaoke, Cooking classes etc.

I hope you agree with me that we will do fine if we survive this training schedule. Amen.

We will not back out and we will not let you down.

Support us through Justgiving

February 24, 2009

Training will go in vain if we do not have a chance to show our commitment by hiking on the event. One of the challenges our team will have is fundraising. To help us achieve our goal, today I registered with Justgiving. So I can have Justgiving manage all aspects of my online fundraising. Justgiving was recommended by Oxfam Japan. So if you'd like to pledge for my team, you can do it through http://www.justgiving.com/123nboxfamjapan2009. Donating through Justgiving is quick, easy and totally secure. It’s also the most efficient way to sponsor me: Oxfam Trailwalker Japan gets your money faster. For more options, please see http://www.trailwalker.jp/en/fundraising/sponsor_teams/

Thank you in advance. And now let's go back to my training schedule.

Support Crew Hunting

February 23, 2009

I know how important it is to have support crews. They not only provide the team moral support but also they can help us transport our extra gears, clothes, our favorite foods etc. They will make our hike more pleasant. Usually at each checkpoints, we can get Onigiri (Japanese rice balls) and instant cup noodle. I don't think we want to eat that all day long.

So I started my search for our team's support crew. Xia, my colleague, offered her help but that's not enough. So I turned to my hiking mate, Teresita. And she immediately accepted my offer and told me that she will start recruiting others (from our casual hiking groups, Anne, Mimi and Julie) Now our team is set. We got a car and a few crews.

I only asked for more supports from Thai Temple in Tokyo, Dhammakaya Temple. They allowed me to post my team's poster at the temple. I hope to hear back from some people soon.

Xia was very active. As soon as she found out that I set up the website for donation, she sent out an email to colleagues in her dept. and that's when we got our first donation from Tina Want and Yuko Bivins. Thank you very much for your support.

If you want to know what support crews do, you can find more info from http://www.trailwalker.jp/en/entrant/support_crew/ Interested to become one for our team, just let me know.

Second Training

February 22, 2009 we went for our second training. The members joining the hike are Chika, Hana, Jenny, Raza and myself. We planned to walk from CP4 to CP6, approximately 22 kms. Since I did this part last year, I attempted to cheat the boring part out (flat cycling course running for 4-5 kms.) We changed our starting point to Kintoki Trail Entrance. Basically from flat straight to uphills.

We took the 7.40 a.m. bus from Shinjuku to Sengoku. Actually, we were not sure which bus stop we should get off so we decided to take the further one for the same fare. We got off the bus and again I lost my direction. We asked a man on the street for direction and were pointed to walk to completely opposite direction. Luckily, we found tourist infomation center. So we were back on track and actually backtracked our walk to the trail entrance. The hike started from 10.10 a.m.

I forgot to mention that the weather was very nice. We got a beautiful Mt. Fuji view from the bus. Jenny took a few pictures. Here is one sample.

ok, back to our hike. Raza joined us today to observe how tough we train. So he is not really a hiker. After a few steps, he was calling for a break. I was glad since I can use that opportunity to fix my walking sticks. After that, we just kept walking up and up and up. Then, I heard one said why we kept going up. Today we supposed to train for downhills. Well, how can we go downhills if we don't go up? So keep walking.

We made a few stops to take pictures (actually to rest) but it's ok since the view is so magnificent. I have been in Japan for so many times and lived and have lived here for a while. I have to admit that I never saw Mt. Fuji so beautiful like today. This is a good sign for our team.

We reached the top about 2 hours after. We all were so hungry that we finished our lunch in 15 mins. We took a few pictures and here we go again. This time we are going down. The trail was so muddy. It rained the day before. I think we all slipped except Chika as her pants look clean. Not fair.

At one point, I took a wrong turn. I was so concentrated on going down that I didn't look around. I started to climb up on rocky path and I thought to myself why I went up. Luckily, Jenny caught me. How I can do this by myself. I, alone, might end up my hike in Kyushu.

When we are close to CP5. We got another good sign. We heard some drum sound like in an old Japanese movie when they have some kind of celebration. I guess monks knew that we are approaching and wanted to welcome our team. CP5 is at one of the temple.

Since Raza has an important appointment in Tokyo (to get his BB), he and Jenny had to leave early. Chika, Hana and I continued. CP5 to CP6 was very boring. We just walked on the forest road (pavement) for 8 kms. It took us an hour 40 mins to reach CP6. At the end towards CP6, there are a lot of tea plantation. It looks nice but I'm too lazy to take my camera out. I made a mental note to myself that I need to buy a camera bag that I can hang my camera outside so I can grab it anytime I want to. I always carry my camera like weight. It will just sit in my backpack all day long. Interestingly, I still change my camera every one-two years. I don't know why.

altogether today we hiked around 20 something kms for 6.5 hours. Next time we will do it better. Even that, I am quite happy with the time we walked. Until next training.

Shopping

Now I have a reason to shop. I got a team. I need something new this year so I got my new Camelbak in vista blue/silver. I'm ready to walk.

Oh no, I lost my pedometer. I need another one. This was my second one that is gone. So this time, no more belt clipping type. I got my pedometer watch instead. It's Tech 4 O Women's Accelerator Hiker Watch.

Since I bought them from US, I'm gonna have to wait until my lovely hubby mail them to me. Poor him.

Training Tip - A Cool New Way to Run

http://www.shape.com/workouts/articles/A_Cool_New_Way_to_Run.html?newsletter022409=true

Posted using ShareThis

First Training

February 15, 2009

Jenny and I decided to go hiking together on February 14, 2009. I know, it's Valentines' Day. I'm alone and Jenny got a green light from her BF. Unfortunately, Jenny had to work on that Saturday. So we switched it to February 15, 2009 when we planned to hike from CP1 to CP3. CP1 to CP2 is notorious for steep climbing from 200 meters to 850 meters for 10 kms.

Jenny and I started our journey from Tokyo to Odawara by Odakyu Train and then hopped on the bus to Tonosawa to start our walk. From the bus stop (around 10.10 a.m.), we lost our orientation. As girls, we are not afraid of asking for directions but the answer was so intimidating. Based on Oxfam, CP1 should be within 10 mins walk from the bus stop. The answer we got was 45 mins and walked uphills. OK, I thought. Just 35 mins more than we expected. Jenny and I then climbed stairs towards CP1. A few mins later, another confusion. Which way to go. Luckily, Jenny recognized some pictures from walking instruction and found out that we can just walk down to continue our hike to CP2. We probably missed about 1 km. or so from the CP. Who cares?

Now we are back on tracks. Everything looks so far so good until we saw a trail uphills. We kept walking up and up and up for several hours with a lot of stops. Boys, it's tough. We were passed by a couple. (The girl evern hiked in jeans, can you believe that?) I saw worse. Some girls hike in high heel. It's in Japan.

We kept going until 1 p.m., we reached (almost) the top where we stoped for lunch. We sat next to the jeans couple. We had nigiri (stuffed japanese riceball) and the couple had instant cup noodle. Smell so good. We felt like to trade our food.

We continued our way down towards CP2 and reached our first CP around 2 p.m. Not bad, 10 kms with 800 meter altitude gain for 4 hours. We stoped for refreshing ourselves, bought some mroe water and continued our walk to CP3. This time it was easy. We reached CP3 at Lake Ashi, Hakone in an hour for 5.5 km.

We hopped back on the bus to Odawara to catch a train home to Tokyo. At least we did it.

Search for Team members

February 9, 2009

I have been planning to participate in Oxfam 2009. For me, the difficult part is not the hike but finding team members who dare to trek through several mountains ranging from 100 meters to 1,200 meters for 100km. with minimum stops. I remembered some of my colleagues mentioned that they would love to try so I sent out an email. Jenny responded to me with her conditional yes. She doesn't want to slow me down. Who am I? I'm not a superwomen. I'm short, 5"1' but I'm never afraid of doing it. So I welcomed Jenny, my first team mate, happily.

Then, I posted my message on my outdoor club, Outdoor Club Japan, for more members. Amazingly, the responses were good. I got three more members, Chika, Hana and Jiyeon. What an international team as we came from different countries from Thailand, Philippines, Japan and Korea.

That's when Team #123 NB was official registered with Oxfam Japan on February 20, 2009. I know we are not four team members but we will sort that out later. What's more important is TRAINING and COMMITMENT.