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Theme of the Day: Aaaaaaarrrrrgh !!
Who: Paul W, Khilan & Reza
When: April 20, 2008
Where: Event Start (Odawara) to Checkpoint 1 & 2
Navigator: Paul W
Distance: 21 km (Total To Date: 69.7 km)
Duration: 6:00 (Total To Date: 23:25)
Altitude (Max): 850 m
PHOTOS: Check out all the photos on Flickr.com or RezaK.com
Reference Links:
Oxfam Trail Description (Start – CP1)
Oxfam Trail Description (CP1 – CP2)
The Day Before: All was on schedule and going well … did about 15K on the stationary bike the day before to get the legs ready … packed the backpack … had my reserved seat on the Shinkansen … had a quality dinner & got a good night sleep …
Getting To Odawara: All was going well … got to the station … got on the train … was well on my way … and then I decided to set my Polar watch so that I don’t have the issues I had on Training #3 … and BOOM! Got into the “options” view and the watch froze! Tried everything to “re-boot”, and nothing doing … it was frozen on that screen! Aaaaaaarrrrrgh !! (Part I)
Now I know why as a watch collector, I absolutely hate digital watches. To top it off, as we were planning on doing the first two segments of the actual event, I was really looking forward to gathering some quality/actual metrics. So much for that! Psychologically, I decided that it was going to be a miserable day! :
Getting to the “Start”: Seemed simple enough … met up with Paul W & Khilan, got out of the station, saw the sign to the Shiroyama Track & Field and on we went … and of course, within the first 10 minutes, we were lost ! We haven’t even started the hike and we were lost already! Aaaaaaarrrrrgh !! (Part II) Anyway, after 45 minutes, a miserable hill and a useless 1.5K, we finally got to the Track & Field location.
Off We Go … But Which Way? So we finally got underway at 9:00am sharp from the starting line. Right off the bat, we looking at the Oxfam directions, and realize they are simply terrible. We could not even figure out the first turn! Aaaaaaarrrrrgh !! (Part III) The initial 4-5 turns were very confusing and unclear. Granted that on the actual day, there will be 800 people there, but still, the directions should be much better! The good news is, it seems the organizers have heard from a number of teams on this issue and are now providing more clear directions on their website. Anyway, we finally got on the trail and off we went.
We were well on our way and by now I had started to cool down from the watch fiasco and the misery of finding the start line. Soon after the start, just as we entered the wooded area, Paul found his Holy Grail of hiking sticks! … a perfectly straight, nicely cut, piece of bamboo … the man was happy! 
… but we’ll get to that a bit later!! So we were just finding our groove when Khilan disappeared! Huh, where was he? While Paul took a mini break, I went back and right around the turn, poor Khilan was bent over, stretching his back ! Damn … the news was not good … Khilan had re-aggravated his lower back, which was already tweaked towards the end of Training #3. With some serious vertical climbs ahead of us, he decided to retire for the day and not aggravate it more … and on that note, he started to make his way back 
Aaaaaaarrrrrgh !! (Part IV) … and so, Paul and I moved on …
The more we walked along the first segment, the more we realized the weakness (and I’m being polite!) of the guidance and directions given in the Oxfam Mapbook. The good news is that they have now posted more detailed directions on their website for each of the segments. Needless to say, we did not have the detailed material… and unfortunately we missed a very critical turn from the main road into the wooded trail. Aaaaaaarrrrrgh !! (Part V)
Having gone quite a bit past that point, we had a look at the map and realized we were at least moving in parallel to the trail and so, we decided to continue. We eventually found a path which would get us back onto the the main trail at Mt. Tonomine peak at 566m. Our estimate is that we probably did an extra 1.5k as a result of this snafu. Anyway, from there it was an easy downhill, through some beautiful bamboo and eventually to CP1 at the Amidaji shrine.
We were feeling quite fresh following the downhill to Amidaji and so we decided to move straight onto CP2 … and then suddenly … WAIT A MINUTE … Where’s Paul’s pole???? Aaaaaaarrrrrgh !! (Part Vi) But no worries … it was not far behind … it was just up the small hill back at the shrine where we stopped for some fresh water. So as I devoured a sandwich, Paul went back up to get his beloved bamboo stick With the Holy Walking Stick recovered, we continued down the hill and made our way to the start of the segment towards CP2 … and by the way, here again, the directions were abysmal !! Aaaaaaarrrrrgh !! (Part VII)
OK … so finally, after this very long winded introduction, we were at the foot of what was advertised as a very nasty, miserable uphill … well, I’ll keep it short in my description … it was all of that and more!! They should simply rename CP1-CP2 … and there are so many options : The Gauntlet, The Beast, Climb to Hell, etc.
Even though the overall segment is 10K … At it’s core is a non-stop vertical climb of 700m over a mere 4Km distance … with a variety of terrain: heavy rocks, deep forest roots, painfully vertical steps and your very basic straight up ramp (make sure you check out the photos). In summary, it is a 10K crash course (crash being the operative word) for your ankles, knees, thighs, hamstrings and let’s not forget your lower back.
The classic saying will certainly hold true here… “separating the men from the boys!!”
What a climb! Aaaaaaarrrrrgh !! (Part VIII … IX)
Anyway … I’ll keep it simple from here … we just kept going and going … and the psychological pain here was not seeing the end. On the upside, as we have now done it, it should feel better during the actual event as we will be more familiar with the terrain and the key markers which will give an indication as to when this hellish climb will come to an end !! On the way, we passed Mt. Yusaka … where we crossed about 50 Japanese going the other way … average age 65 !!! Yikes !! … Mt. Sengen at 804m … and eventually Mt. Takanosu at 850m. We even crossed paths with a Japanese team which was also training for the 100K event.
Well, we finally made it to CP2 designated by the Hakone Ashinoyu Flower Center. We were spent! Tired, winded and basically in need of a quality rest. Luckily, the bus stop back to Odawara was right in from of us … and the next bus was only a 10 minute wait … what we did not expect was a 90 minute ride back to the train station !!! The traffic was absolutely crazy … and so, yes, there is still room for a final Aaaaaaarrrrrgh !! (Part X)
So … After a long bus ride back to the Odawara station, we made our way back to Tokyo.
Final note … It was not until a couple of days later that Paul and I realized that given the CP2-CP3 terrain (all downhill) and it’s short distance (5.5 Km), we should have simply continued and done that bit as well … Oh well … Next time !
…. well … sorry for that very long winded summary … but believe me, that CP1-CP2 bit seemed way longer and much more painful With all that said, I’m really glad we did it.
What will remain a question/concern is the volume of participants (800) and how that will impact progress along these two very early and very challenging stages.
See you next week for Training Hike #5 as we plan on doing a 2-day, overnight hike to get familiar with our gear and our night time hiking abilities.
Cheers … Reza
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