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

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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.