we did it!!! and i would do it again

its now been a week since kokoda and i cant believe its been, achieved and now gone. i must admit to some slight depression as the past few months have been very exciting and completely filled my life, now i feel abit empty. last weekend started with the boys (alan, brad and rodney) coming over on the friday to pick me up and all our gear to go down to mudgeeraba. it was a tight squeeze and we only just managed to get it all into rodneys four wheel drive. got down to the wallaby hotel (about a 2 star) to check in and have lunch, the rooms are clean but very basic the best thing about them is thats its only about 50M from the start line. went out for a beautiful dinner at the woodchoppers inn (the boys had tbone steaks and i had lovely duck and lychee salad and calamari) it was lovely, then off to bed for an early night, my next door neighbour (also kokoda entrant) couldnt sleep so had the TV on at 3am and i decided to get up as well. majella and james came down in the morning (due to family illness, majella decided to walk the first section and then withdraw, this decision was done with such generosity of spirit to allow us to compete as a team, and i will always be grateful for her consideration during this difficult time). we then all set off to the check in, only to find so many people and it took awhile (note for next time go down at 5am to register) we got our numbers (team 26) and our gps tags (to monitor us on the track using google earth and to swipe in and out of each check points). i finally found mum and dad, fred and rachel who had come down very early for the start, photos and music and everyone lining up nervously. we were honest and went to the 30+ sign and met our mentors the weary wanderers (we had been watching their youtube video from last year at least a dozen times to get lots of hints). we had photos with them and heaps of laughter and excitement. there was the last post, the kokoda poem by one of the veterans, sang "true blue" and then we were off at 7.30am, okay very slowly as there was so many (about 1600).
SECTION 1: MUDGEERABA TO HARDY'S RD CP1 8.40am 3km - this check point was in surburbia and was at the end of a cul da sac (quite steep roads to get there). then we headed into the forest on the way to mt nimmel lodge - due to going through private property this was a section we had never done before and there were a few small hills with more of a goat trail so alot of bottlenecks, but gave time to chat to other teams and hear their stories.
SECTION 2: HARDY'S RD TO MT NIMMEL LODGE CP2 10.36am 12.5km - we arrived at the back of the lodge and swipped in and found rachel, thank goodness for portaloos but i almost fainted as their is no air in those things!! we changed socks, ate a little, and said a sad farewell to majella. we tried to go quick but still took almost 30mins.
SECTION 3: MT NIMMEL LODGE TO AUSTINVILLE RD TO MT NIMMEL RD CP3 3.46PM 28.5KM - this is a very long section and takes in two steep mountains (Mt Nimmel and Mt Fairview) both are about 1-1.5km but straight up and very rough, i took it very slowly as to not send my heart rate into the red zone and found it okay at that pace, though the alan and brad had to keep waiting for me, it didnt seem to take too long. it was the road section down to CP3 (see video) that seemed to take forever and hard bitumen to walk on.
SECTION 4: MT NIMMEL RD TO HINZE DAM 4.57PM 33.5KM - this was a bit of a twist, we were 20M from pollys kitchen with the support crew when we were directed to turn right and do an extra 5km to cp4, it was starting to get dark and i thought we were then going to be quite late to the support crew and their phones werent in range, so off we went across a creek and of course they put the checkpoint right on top of a hill then back down and round into pollys, we were looking forward to something hot and change of clothes.
SECTION 5: HINZE DAM TO POLLY'S KITCHEN 5.41PM 36.5KM - this was a longer time at the check point as brad had some chaffing and needed rodney to do some firstaid, amazing what brother's will do for each other. rachel and rodney were very organised and we took abit longer about 45mins to head out. your always hungry when you get to the support crew but after a few mouthfuls your full, so i found the porridge cups the best to eat with lots of hot chocolate.
SECTION 6: POLLY'S KITCHEN TO ENVIRONMENTAL CENTRE 9.27pm 43.5km - this section took us up pages pinnacle or pollys hill, which is the third of the mountains to climb, it was dark and so had on our head lamps, by the bottom of the mountain i felt a stinging feeling on might left heel, so sat down to check it out and removed some of the strapping to find a large deroofed blister, put some moleskin, and large padded dressing on it and lucky it was above my shoe line and so only minor stinging rather than stopping me from walking. the environmental centre was warm and cosy but we only stayed about 5 mins and headed to do the water circuit, on the way out there were heaps of fast teams coming back through, so we were at least 3-4 hrs behind most teams.
SECTION 7: ENVIRONMENTAL CENTRE TO NUMIMBAH HALL 12.20AM 50.7KM - the water circuit was lovely at night and no one fell in, but we met two men coming the wrong way and they were a bit pissed as they had taken the wrong turn and had to go back adding about another 4km to their distance. we chatted to some teams as we headed up a steep hill and then it was lovely to see the numinbah hall all foggy and eery in the hollow. it was absolutely freezing!!!! when we got in our poor support crew looked so cold, rachel was shaking and she had a huge coat and my dressing gown on. she said that one of the support teams had a mobile home and she was so jealous as they were inside with the lights on watching TV all nice and warm. we tried to get out of there as soon as possible and dressed up with jackets, beanie, gloves and off we set for the next half of the track. SECTION 8: NUMIMBAH HALL TO ENVIRONMENTAL CENTRE 2.59AM 56.5KM - we had to head up a steep hill before the downhill to the environmental centre. at the top of the hill i noticed a young guy sitting in the middle of the track and when his team stood him up i realised it was zac. zac had been on the news, he is blind and 17yrs old and was training with his friends, i said hello and said that he had been my inspiration to keep going, he then set off at a fast pace with his team just holding onto the back of someones backpack down this steep hill, he is amazing. along the way, alan started to have lower back pain and had to walk bent forward and to the left, he didnt complain once, but when we got back to the environmental centre, brad carried his backpack and i had a stick on hot pack, he was brave and wanted to keep going even though knowing this next section is the worst.
SECTION 9: ENVIRONMENTAL CENTRE TO BLACK SHOOT GULLY 6.47AM 63KM - this section is one of the worst as it is just all uphill for about 5km, it also is on a small track which is hard to get any speed up, when we hit the gully there was a safety check point with four volunteers standing in the freezing cold checking that we were okay. it was very slow going but made it up to the next check point, by then my feet were bad and just wanted to rip my shoes off to let my arches rest.
SECTION 10: BLACK SHOOT TO SYD DUNCAN PARK 7.54AM 66KM - i had hoped we would reach syd duncan by about 6am but we were way behind, alan's back seemed to have improved alittle and he was now walking up right. i sat down to have some breakfast and the tiredness washed over and i had a little cry and then felt better. we ran into the weary wanderers not realising they had been behind us, they had decided to pull out as a team and it was a shame as i would have liked to finish with them, they had knee issues, illness and just plain shagged. as a team we had always said that to finish you just have to push yourself out of this checkpoint but if you stop your done for!!!
SECTION 11: SYD DUNCAN PARK TO BELLIS RD 11.34AM 73.5KM - this section is also tough as it is down hell fire pass, which just goes down for about 1.5hrs, this is hell on your knees and was very difficult. we were very happy to reach the bottom, knowing we only had one mountain and the last section to go.
SECTION 12: BELLIS RD TO BEAUDESERT NERANG RD 1.32PM 78.5KM - Mt Nathan is short but eroded and steep, by then i had to really push myself one step at a time to get up it, the grassy section and long road section to the next checkpoint seemed to take a while, we met two teams and got chatting (eenie meenie minee mo)
SECTION 13: BEAUDESERT NERANG RD TO NERANG STATE FOREST 4.07PM 85.6KM - we were glad to get to this section as it was the last one to worry about, there was lots of steep undulations which sucked the energy out of your legs with the checkpoint at a top of a steep hill (of course). i was concerned that we were now quite behind our hoped finish of 3-4pm with still another 10km to go. SECTION 14: NERANG STATE FOREST TO FINISH 7.37PM 96KM - this was the hardest of them all, by now i was so fed up with walking (bored!!!) and my feet and hips were killing me, alan was rock solid as always but maybe even for him he was suffering as he put on his ipod which was the first time ever. brad was walking like a cowboy with really painful chaffing. it was getting dark and had put our head lamps back on, the last section didnt have much signage and there was times when a little panic set in as we were worried we missed a turn, finally we came on signs counting the km's down but it seemed to take so long to get from 8km to 6km to 4km, eventually we heard the cheering and new we were getting closer. the last 2km just seemed to end, but we were jubilant when we saw our families waiting for us in the dark and cold. we smiled and waved our sticks and bounced into the arena, and swiped in and went onto the stage (its touch after 96km to go up 3 steps) got our certificate and dog tags. it was all worth it, i said a little speech thanking my two team mates for getting me through it. then it was photos and hugs with all our fans, a quick glass of champagne, and then into the cars and home. i think for the future it would be wonderful to get in earlier to enjoy the sunshine, entertainment, seeing other teams come in and also to celebrate with family and friends. so thats my goal for the future to do it in under 28 hrs. so i have already started training, losing weight and having physio to improve my feet all to be better for 2011. thanks again to rodney and rachel, brad, alan and majella, family and friends and those you sponsored us. it was an amazing achievement and i will miss it terribly, so if anyone is interested in a 2011 team, let me know training starts in jan 2011. see you then dee

last blog before the big day (6 sleeps)

this will be the last blog before next weekend, cant believe how quick the time has gone, i will miss the training and fun we had as a team. this is what i believe brings people back to do the challenge is the lead up camaraderie with the team. i have truly enjoyed spending time with brad, alan and majella and consider them all special friends. our support crew (rodney, rach and james) have also played a very important role as well as all my friends who have listened endlessly to me going on about every detail of the training. thank you all!!

this week is to rest and organise all the small details to hopefully ensure that things run as smoothly as possible. i have bagged all my clothes, food, drinks etc for rachel in numbered doggy bags,to hopefully make things easier.

have two massages, and a two physio appts this week, cortisone last week yeah what fun having 4 injections into your feet, but you do what you have to do to get across the line.

even surgically removing my 2ND toenail, yuck, but better to come off now then during the event, didn't know what it looks like without a toenail, not so bad, just the thought is off putting.

hope you all follow us (team 26) via the web page www.kokodachallenge.com.au on the virtual spectator and wish us well, we have done as much as we can and now its time to work together to cross an incredible finish line.

see you next sunday!!!

dee

broken down but not out yet!!!

last weekend was huge!! on saturday we headed to do binna burra to o'reillys and back which is about 43km, it was boggy from the rain and slippery tree roots and rocks made it very tricky.

the day before alan and myself went to the physio to have some knee and ankle strapping done. seemed like a good idea but boy did it turn out to be disasterous, alan had an allergic reaction to the tape and by the half way point we had to take some tape off the back of his leg and his skin came with it.

i dont know how he managed to go on but on he did without a murmur (he is sturdy stock). brad got some blisters, and i got one on my second toe, but instead of taking off my tape i ignored it and just added more over the top, BIG MISTAKE.

the next day with sore muscles we set off to do heartbreak hill which is only 4km but sucks the life out of you as it goes on for ever, then we headed down hell fire pass and with it our knees started to give us some problems.

we have all suffered with skin, blisters and knee issues when we pushed it past 60km, nervous of how i will feel a further 36km after that, PAIN WILL BE MY BEST FRIEND. so if the rain can stay away then i can at least get it in my head of how to deal with the difficulties of the event.