Not Set For Serialization

Well, you learn something new everyday...

We have a couple of applications at work which use Axis to talk to each other, and today I spent the better part of the day working to debug an "issue" which turns out is kind of mentioned in the Axis user guide. D'oh! Turns out that while an object may be serializable in the "usual" java way, but given that this object (which my application receives) didn't have setter methods for a couple of attributes, those attributes aren't serialized by Axis (and therefore not passed over to us).

But hey, that's the first problem we had in the last few days which wasn't actually caused by our new work :-)

And I think I have a winner for the strange and grammatically-incorrect, yet somewhat amusing error message of the week: "There is a problem to make the web booking for XYZ". Yeah... hugely helpful. It also comes with the additional details of an exception toString. All of this, of course, is hugely appropriate for corporate app :-) Suffice to say it's now been "upgraded" to be a little more user-friendly.

Bridge To Brisbane 2008

Sunday morning I headed out bright and early with the rest of Brisbane for the Bridge to Brisbane run run. I didn't particularly sleep well on Saturday night and found myself awake a little before 4am so figured I'd get up anyway seeing as there was no real point in just lying awake for another 20 minutes.

After learning last year that traffic builds up on the Gateway and Wynnum Rd well before the race start time I left home about 5.20am so as to only catch a little of it (which worked well as I only had to slow down to a first-gear-crawl from the Wynnum Rd offramp). Another five or ten minutes later and I'd parked my car and wandered off in a quick shuffle towards the start line about a kilometre away. A few brave individuals jogged there way along, but most people were seemed content with walking pace as it was just shy of 6am and start time wasn't until 6.45. There was still quite a bit of open space around the start areas when I arrived, so found a spot near the front of the green group (given that I was aiming for around the 50 min mark). I've heard comments from other people about seeing walkers lining up in this part of the crowd and can concur with this - I was standing next to a group comprised of people with walker bibs on standing next to their green bib friends who were apparently not concerned about being in the wrong area, let alone at the front of it.

The organisers had attempted to control the start line madness this year with separated starts for the blue/red runners (anyone with a time of about 62min or less from last year's event), the green/yellow "joggers" (anyone else who thought they were going to run and finish in under 60/70 mins, and the walkers. Given that they'd said they were staggering the start, I expected to see the red/blue groups start, then the green group start, then the yellow, then the walkers, perhaps with a few minutes between each to let some of the people-traffic through. What *actually* happened was that about 10 minutes before we started, the entire green group started surging towards the tail end of the red group and "meshing" a little. I'm not sure if this was prompted by any kind of announcement - the ribbon barrier which was "blocking" our start was still in place when we started moving.

So I ended standing pretty much at the top of the ramp leading down to the start line when the gun went off (and had a nice view of the start). As usual, though, it took a little time for the crowd to move, but we were at least jogging as we crossed the start line. Despite being somewhere near the start (although possibly still about as far back as I was last year) I ended up passing quite a few people on both the uphill and downhill sections of the bridge. How do so many people who are obviously *not* running fast manage to start so far near the front of a race (let's put it this way, if I can pass you, you're not a sub-50 min runner over 10k)? I don't get it. There's a common courtesy amongst those who run on a regular basis that you keep left, don't block pathways, and generally give way to those people who are running faster than you are, so I don't know where all these other people come from. Gyms? Treadmills? Have any of you ever run outdoors with other people? It explains a lot about the driving style of people in this city as well, if you really think about it.

I think the most interesting person I ran near all day passed me just after the base of the bridge. A brave lady was out running in a fairy costume (the kind with the past-knee-length skirt) and putting my constant plodding pace to shame :-) I also managed to find one of the Healthwise chicks from FC along this section of road and decided to tail her (and whoever she was running with) - the crazy personal training types are probably decent people to try and follow...

Anyhow, the first main point of chaos after the start was the water station at the 3km mark. I carry a bottle of water with me when I run, partly of of habit, but particularly at events like this where there are herds of people just so I don't have to fight for space at a table. It also means I can strategically move to the other side of the road when I know it's coming up so I don't have to deal with as much of the people-dodging.

A little after the the water station I passed the 55 min pace runner and felt a little annoyed at having been so far back to begin with. I'm not sure where the pacers started (which isn't their fault) - I guess I was expecting to see some of them starting in the green area so I could judge where I was in the starting "order" . But that's a little like last year, really :-)

Kingsford Smith Drive seemed longer to me than last year, and a little more built up, but at least it's pretty much flat. Along the way there were locals waving from the street, locals waving from balconies (at what looked to be especially set up breakfast parties) and musicians, so it's all very festive. There's also some nice views of the city and New Farm once you get past the cruise terminal and Brett's Wharf. Somewhere by the 6km mark I gave up on following the PT-types from work (just not quite as fast as I'd like to be). Will be looking for a rematch next year though :-)

Further along the river by Breakfast Creek is where the course change kicked in. Last year we headed around towards New Farm; this year we all went through a short tunnel and up onto the Inner City Bypass. This was the only other really incline on the course, and coming at 8km in, it's a bit of a doozy. It's one of those nice hills where you think you're all the way up, only to find out there's a second half. Yay! This proved to be a little bit on an undoing for some and I passed a few people who'd succumbed to walking their way up the hill. As it was, I probably only slow-jogged my way up, but once up the top the RBH became fairly prominent, and despite not knowing my way to the Ekka grounds, I knew it was across the road from there so at least I had a landmark to work with.

One of the organisers thought it'd be a good idea to put a big banner-thing up at the 9km mark to jubilantly announce that there was 1km to go. I don't think too many people around me appreciated the sentiment as there were quite a few mutters going around at that point about how it should have read "Congratulations! You're not finished!"

The pace picked up noticeably with about 500m to go, and again there was more muttering when we went under the train line and found another arch announcing another 200m to go. I didn't notice at the time, but the course goes right past the main stage (was too busy watching for people and trying to get to the end). I believe the clock said 51min something when I finished. I'm not sure what the "something" was. And I don't know what the official time is yet, but as long as it's under 51:57 it'll better my existing PB from a different event last year. Most likely didn't quite crack the 50 min mark, but I guess we'll see :-) (Update: my time was 49:55 - woohoo! Turns out I did get both the PB and the sub-50 time!)

The RNA showgrounds is a better venue for the finish - more space, more facilities and easier to get home from. But dragging out the presentations until nearly midday is *not* cool. Especially when at 8am they keep saying it'll be over by 10.30! There's still a few things they perhaps need to work on for next year (?) but it's still reasonably well organised given it's size compared to all the other events on the Brisbane calendar.

Tee-Hee

The things you find online...

While surfing around blogspot during day two of my "three days of unemployment" I happened across "It's Lovely! I'll Take It!". "Strange name," I thought. But clicked on the link anyway.

So funny.

The blog is basically a collection of the strange, bizarre and sometimes just plain gross photos that end up on real estate websites when people are trying to sell their house.

So what else is out there that I've landed on today? Another blog, "Working Girl", is just the chatter of a couple of twenty-something, just-started-working New Yorkers. Harmless, but entertaining enough nonetheless (perhaps, though, it's one of those target-market things).

Oh, and the sugar network. FabSugar (really aimed more at someone like Sarah than myself) is all fashion ans shoes etc. GeekSugar = cool tech stuff (earphones, laptop bags, or Sergey Brin and a new red car, anyone?).

I also managed to upload photos of Brisbane Healthcare's Last Day, most of which, obviously, was spent talking, eating and drinking. And sometimes waving madly at whoever had the camera :-) For the record, I wasn't the last one home, and I left the city around 5.45am the next day... (which is why day one of unemployed-dom was really just me sleeping). Have also been watching whichever episodes of Eureka managed to download (therefore haven't seen most of season 1, but did see the pilot and season finale so at least have some idea of what's going on). Consider it fully recommended if you like your tv about a town full of math-geek types and strange happenings (and don't have pay tv and the sci-fi channel so wouldn't have seen it before...)

Why Does This Feel Familiar?...

It's one week after the 2008 Kokoda Challenge and once again I'm back to running short distances due to injury. Although the injury has changed this time... my knees both pulled up ok after Kokoda (yay!), but I'm having trouble with my left hip now.

I've not done any running all week - was only able to walk properly after about Wednesday due to the same issue - and managed to get out about a kilometre this afternoon before I started noticing the pain gently kick back in. I kept going for about another kilometre, but once the pain started to increase past the point of "slight niggle" I dropped back to a run/jog combination for the rest of the way home.

Ahh, well... back to the tennis ball/pressure point massage for another day or two; Bridge to Brisbane's on in 6 weeks, and I'd like to do a race for once that doesn't involve painkillers ;-)

Kokoda Challenge 2008

Section 1: Mudgeeraba to Hardy's Rd (Distance: 3km, Total: 3km)
Nothing ever happens in this section! Due to the number of competitors this year, a staggered start was introduced so that the 1000+ people could all start without treading on top of each other (plus it hopefully allows for the faster teams -those aiming for under 20 hours - to start before all the teams who are planning on walking). We started off a a shuffle dictated by the crowd speed, but found a little breathing space about one kilometre in. Checkpoint 1 proved to be the bottleneck I'd expected from last year as everyone tried to swipe their RFID tags on the way through.



My race plan had estimated this section as taking 42 minutes (which was based on last years performance). We checked in at 7:38, and with an adjusted start time of 7:04 gave us a time of 34 minutes, putting us marginally ahead of schedule. Feeling at this checkpoint? Upbeat.

Section 2: Hardy's Rd to Mt Nimmel Lodge (Distance: 9.5km, Total: 12.5km)
Almost immediately after turning onto the Hinterland Leisure Trail we find ourselves stuck in a single-file queue with hundreds of other people. For the most part the line moves at a reasonable but comfortable pace, but every so often we find ourselves stopped behind people navigating creek crossings and muddy patches caused by recent rain.

It's not until the first decent uphill (not one of the "big four", but the most significant of the course so far) that teams begin to space out. Many teams made it to the top of this hill and stopped either for a break or to remove warmer clothing layers, however we continued straight on along the ridgeline making up a few places and saving a few minutes in the process.

This year the course changed a little through this section, although not being too clear on where we walked either last year or this year, I don't quite know how! Both had private property sections in this area, however I feel that this year's course was a little easier (or perhaps I was more prepared for it second time around?). At any rate, we still ended up at a clearing a few kilometres out from the Mt Nimmel Lodge checkpoint with a great view over the Gold Coast (not as good as some later sections, but it's all sparkly and pretty this time of the morning).

We sent off a message to our Support Crew indicating that we were about 20 minutes out from the first of the five major checkpoints, and actually rocked up on time 20 minutes later. The schedule had us arriving here at 9:39, and we checked in a few minutes ahead of schedule at 9:35. Again, at this checkpoint, everyone was fairly upbeat despite taping up a few toes etc to try and ward off any blisters later in the day.

Section 3: Mt Nimmel Lodge to Austinville Rd to Mt Nimmel Rd (Distance: ~16km, Total: 28.5km)
After checking out of CP2 we wandered along a short trail and up onto Tallowwood Rd (is it my imagination or was this part easier than last year?) before wandering along the dirt road for around 3km and turning off into another forest/reserve.

Almost immediately we were presented with the first of the "big" hills. In practice this had taken us around 15 minutes to get to the top, and it was much the same again today, the only difference being the broad sunlight and other teams. We all end up finding our own way up these hills: Brock and Shane appearing to be more comfortable with the incline, Wayne a little behind, and me bringing up the rear (and trying not to look like the weak link in the team! Sweat? What sweat?).


After waving the guys on once I'd reached the top we followed the ridgeline for a few kilometres before taking a sharp right and heading down towards Austinville Rd. I don't remember why I've been so freaked out over this descent for the last 12 months - it's really not all that bad - but perhaps seeing as it the ground wasn't bone dry it was less slippery dust than last year. Or I've just built it up to being scary in my own mind :-) We then kept ourselves amused as we followed Austinville Rd south by ridiculing the worst bitumen job I've seen (missing tar... loose stones...).

Last year the climb from Austinville Rd up to the top of Fairview Mountain was after checkpoint 3, however at the briefing night they told us that the checkpoint had been moved to the top of the hill due to problems with the RFID tags and signals. We decided that it was too early to break for lunch at 11:35, so continued up the hill without stopping for a break.

Around half an hour and a few false peaks later we found ourselves at the top of the second of the four big hills, but couldn't see the checkpoint. Thinking that perhaps it was just around a corner somewhere (as the top of the hill is always busy with resting teams) we continued on, decided to stop for a decent break for lunch when we got to the checkpoint. However, we kept walking and walking after about 30 minutes figured that the checkpoint was probably at the end of the ridgeline (and away from the trees). It was. Finally, after walking for an hour after climbing the hill we saw the checkpoint and the high end of Mt Nimmel Rd, checking in at 12:51.

We stopped for a short lunch break, and tried to work out how much further it was until we reached Polly's Kitchen (the next major checkpoint) as we were around 1 hour ahead of our expected schedule and we would need to warn our Support Crew to arrive early if we continued as such. Lunch revived our spirits after the long walk along the ridge, and while the guys enjoyed hanging out in the shade, I much preferred to sit on the grass in the sun (nothing personal, it's just warmer there).

Section 4: Mt Nimmel Rd to Hinze Dam (Distance: ~5km, Total: 33.5km)
After checking out of CP3, the next few kilometres was along the gently downward sloping Mt Nimmel Rd, which boasts excellent views of the Gold Coast. As was the case last year, teams could be found walking all over the road (luckily it's not busy, although calls of "car!" could be heard occasionally).

The bitumen road didn't prove to be an issue for anyone, but after turning off onto the dirt trails about halfway to the next checkpoint we took the hills a little more slowly because of the dry, powdery surface. After being waved across the main road by one of the SES volunteers, we ignored the arrow pointing to the top of a tree ("perhaps it's one of those hidden checkpoints!") and continued along the trail which winds its way around a few corners and up to the checkpoint four.

At this point we were still ahead of time (checking in at 2:32), and despite a little fatigue beginning to kick in, generally still in good spirits.

Section 5: Hinze Dam to Polly's Kitchen (Distance: 3km, Total: 36.5km)
We didn't stop long at the Hinze Dam checkpoint, instead heading down from the ridgeline at a cruisy pace (with me pointing out the site of the infamous hiking pole javelin throw incident from last year along the way).

Our plan of sending the support crew a message 20 minutes out from Polly's was thwarted by a phone call from said support crew who wanted to know why we hadn't sent a message (we were in the process of typing it up.... impatient!). We did attempt to convince them that we were all out of breath, however I think the concurrent laughing gave that game away fairly early on.

A few minutes later we found ourselves at a creek crossing, along with several other teams. We hadn't encountered a bottleneck for a while, so it was a good chance to catch up with some other teams and find out how they were travelling.

Due to the recent rain, the creek levels were up and most people were queueing to walk across a log to the other side. I know from practice sessions that I have a lack of balance / co-ordination during such tasks, so elected to instead take my shoes and socks off and venture through straight through the creek. Seeing me make quick progress across the creek, the guys wandered over but decided that there looked like enough risk of missing a clump of grass on the far side and getting wet that they'd go back to the line. Well, almost. Wayne attempted a jump and made it mostly cleanly (a little splashing). Shane chose to go back to the line for the log.

Once we'd all made it across we power walked through the "field" (I think it's actually some kind of farm...) until we made it to the causeway and it's ankle height water. Once again I pulled off my shoes and wandered across (the cold water is actually quite refreshing after walking thirty-something kilometres), not bothering to do my laces back up for the short stroll into checkpoint 5.

We checked in at 3:14 - around half an hour ahead of our expected time - and after walking straight past the support crew to get to the RFID swipy-thing, had to find them on the way back. Having not been in place too long, the support crew went to fetch coffee and food from the sausage sizzle while we found our lights/warmer clothing. We also found time to drool over the table of the next car over with it's donuts and cake (not that we really wanted to eat any of it, but it was very impressive looking, as was the microwave hooked up to a generator in their boot).

Section 6: Polly's Kitchen to Environmental Centre (Distance: 7km, Total: 43.5km)
We ended up staying at Polly's long enough to completely eat up our "bonus" time, and ended up leaving back on schedule around 4pm. Each time we'd practiced this section we'd used the bridge (which is part of the road) to get across the creek, however, like last year, we had to cross the creek under the bridge. Like all the other creeks we'd encountered during the day the water level was up due to the recent rain, and we had to navigate across a series of stones and logs.

I briefly contemplated taking off my trail shoes and putting on the shoes I'd brought with me for section 7, however couldn't be bothered to do so seeing as I'd only just changed my shoes. After all, how hard can it be to cross a creek? Everyone else seemed to be able to do it.

Not long after I'd stepped out onto the log behind the guys I had to step off onto a rock. This is pretty much where I came all undone. However, some nice person from the team behind us helped me across onto the next rock, and from there all the hops were smaller and provided less change of me ending up in deep water.

Once across to the other side (yay - dry shoes!) we still had to cross under the road through a storm drain and climb up an embankment. All in all it took us about 5 minutes to do what ordinarily takes 30 seconds on the road. Kind of sums up the whole course, really :-)

We then found ourselves at the foot of Polly's Hill. I'm not actually sure what it's real name is, but it's commonly known in the Kokoda Challenge circles as Polly's Hill because it's one of the "big four", and it's right by the Polly's Kitchen checkpoint. We've taken anywhere from 40 to 60 minutes to get up this hill previously, and despite having already walked over 35 kilometres, we managed to plod our way to the top in about 45 minutes. Not a bad effort :-) After stopping for a quick break at the top (long enough to grab some food, but not too long as it's surprisingly easy to cool down quickly at the top of this hill). We then headed on down towards the Environmental Centre, splitting as per usual into two groups: Brock and I walk-jogging down sections, and Shane and Wayne taking it a little more carefully. I'd put one of my compression bandages on my right knee prior to this, and the extra support seemed to help (although with just one bandage on my left knee felt a little "left out").

By the time we reached the creek at the bottom it was dark, but we all successfully navigated the rocks to get to the other side, and continued on our way discussing what we'd like the support crew to do for food (lamb roast and potatoes seemed popular, although we doubted that we'd want to eat it should it materialise).

There was a little more sludge on the final kilometre leading into the Environmental Centre, but we all got there with minimal issues (except for the one point where I thought I'd seen a tree that looked like Where's Wally). The checkpoint was in the hall (and was heated) so we stopped for a short food/shoe change break. We arrived and left pretty much still on time (around 6pm), but fatigue was beginning to kick in a little at this point and we were beginning to take more time at the checkpoints for simple tasks.

Section 7: Environmental Centre to Numinbah Hall (Distance: 7.2km, Total: 50.7km)
I'd switched shoes at the Enviro Centre checkpoint in anticipation of the eight creek crossings in this section. While it is possible to cross these without getting wet feet (obviously the lower the water height, the easier it is), I generally end up slipping from at least one of the rocks and getting at least one wet foot. During our last practice of this loop two weeks earlier I'd decided it was easier and faster to get to the other side by just walking through the creek - it's also useful for washing mud off shoes - and not wanting to spend the entire second half of the Challenge walking in wet shoes I'd brought a few spares along.

As we left the checkpoint we were followed out by a team with an mp3 player and were entertained by such musical items as "Eye of the Tiger" and the Rocky theme song (Nicey would have been proud of the selection). We found ourselves walking with this team and a few others up until the first creek. At this point, everyone lined up to go across the stepping stones to the other side. Well, all except me. I waded on through, much to the surprise of a few other teams, and once on the other side decided the queue of people (well, headlights actually) made an interesting picture, so pulled out my camera, called out "Heads up!" and received a few mutters for the camera flash.

Once the guys had made it over the creek we found that the trail hadn't dried out properly from the recent rain, and were once again walking around in mud, although not as much as two weeks earlier when we'd been here on the day it rained.

Somewhere after the creeks and before the hill (major undulation?) which is around two-thirds of the way through this section I hit wall. It was dark, I was walking in mud (still!) and I wanted to sit down. And given that it was all muddy, that wasn't a feasible plan. We did stop for a few minutes at the base of the hill to stretch, but this isn't really helpful to flagging spirits, just a reminder to protesting muscles that it is indeed ok to carry on (and that you don't really hate them). This hill, despite not being all that huge in the grand scheme of things, is an annoying feature because it's just steep enough to kill any happy thoughts you may have been holding onto at the bottom. To be fair, it's not as draining if it's not dark and not muddy - neither of which was helpful to me at this point. The only thing I found helping me propel myself up the hill was the fact that there was another team behind us and I prefer people to have to work harder if they want to get past. Hmm... only a little stubborn!

Once at the top of the hill there are about another 30 minutes of undulations, primarily downhill, leading into the checkpoint. This is the section which also corresponds with part of the new Gold Coast Hinterland Great Walk (of which I've only done the "other" end - the Border Track out towards Binna Burra). Again, we take these at a slower pace so as not to kill anyone's knees any earlier than we have to, and to avoid sliding on any muddy patches (which only become larger due to the number of people walking on the day).

Eventually we saw lights, and drag ourselves into the Numinbah Hall checkpoint (after being ushered across the road by the nice SES people who saw us coming and kept the traffic waiting a little longer). As promised, Matt met us in the Hall (because there was no way we were going to be able to find our own way to the support car amongst the other hundred or so vehicles). I decided that I'd rather schedule my bathroom stop on the way to the car (as we walked past the building) so the guys all wandered off, and Matt indicated that he'd come back to find me once they'd made it to the car (which he did). Apparently in the extra few (ten?) minutes there was some kind of commotion about a smelly soup (not mine). The support crew had managed to find us Hungry Jacks, however I lost my appetite somewhere along the last section and managed about a bit of a burger and a mouthful of noodles. There may have also been coffee. I was fairly disorientated at this checkpoint, and managed to lose focus of what I was doing multiple times, getting sidetracked from eating to drinking to changing shoes to repacking food in my bag to refilling water, and then realising I still hadn't eaten anything (and so on).

In the end we were here for nearly 45 minutes and I don't remember doing much. I do remember that it was freezing. At this point I was not happy about keeping going, but having made it to the end last year was not prepared to stop halfway.

Section 8: Numinbah Hall to Environmental Centre (Distance: 5.8km, Total: 56.5km)
We checked out of CP8 at about 8:45pm and headed back across the road to complete the second half of the "loop". While the walk itself isn't too taxing in this section (there's a long uphill at one point and a rough downhill not far from the end) it's a mental struggle because we essentially find ourselves walking back to where we came from a few hours earlier.

There's still a bit of mud around, but for the most part we were able to settle into a comfortable plodding pace which sees us back at the Environmental Centre a little after 10pm (so we're now back behind schedule, but are beginning not to care). We decided that we'd do the bathroom stop before going inside to check in/out, and ended up just swiping on through the checkpoint without stopping, leaving at around 10:20pm decked out in some lovely traffic vests.

Section 9: Environmental Centre to Black Shoot (Distance: ~6.5km, Total: 63km)
Last year, this section was crap. This year, it had been changed, and it wasn't for the better. Section nine sucked. Hugely.

We head out from the Environmental Centre onto the main road (hence the traffic vests) and walk across the road bridge over the edge of the Hinze Dam. We then encountered a person in a car where we had to turn off from the road - turned out to be Doug, the organiser, putting out extra ribbons and signs - and after hanging up a few ribbons on the way, wandered down a small embankment onto an old concrete road by the edge of the dam. While we walked along here I reminded Shane that he was supposed to be teaching me the Universe song (from one of the Monty Python movies) and he launched into an entertaining performance which included both singing and dancing (see... those hiking poles are useful). Did I learn the song? No - too many words. But it did provide us with something to do other than think about walking.

A few kilometres later we climbed our way up towards road level (literally - there was a rope to assist with the climb up) and wandered around a few more trees until we found a crossing manned by more SES folk. These ones had a fire, which we looked at a little jealously, but they insisted it was better to be out walking than sitting there.

Once across the road we found ourselves on what's been described by the organisers as a cow pad. This is fairly apt; I would hesitate to call it a trail.

I've not seen this section in daylight (as we didn't practice it), but there were glowsticks in the trees marking the trail so we could see that the trail went a fair way up. Once we'd climbed to the top of the hill the path meandered along a ridge for a while, however this still required effort and attention as the path was on a slight angle and tilted to the right. I started having a few smal issues with my right hip along here - I think due to the angle of the path - where when I moved my right leg there was an ache and one of the muscles in the inner hip area felt a little strained, but it wasn't serious at this point, just annoying. After a little while of walking on the angled trail we noticed the glowsticks beginning to descend into another gully. "But the checkpoint's at the top of the hill and to the left, not down and right," I protested. And yet the path went down anyway, and once again we were presented with a creek crossing.

And on the other side of the creek? That's right. Another hill. This one was also long and steep, and once again took us back up to the ridgeline before it headed back down to another gully.

This pretty much killed any scraps of morale we'd been clinging to. We stopped for a few moments at the bottom of the gully for a collective whinge session, but had to get back up and move because the night air was cold, and every time we stopped the sweat we'd broken out into during the uphills would cool us down quickly and we'd start shivering.

Once more we headed up the hill. Along the way we got a message from our support crew: "Hey there how u doin?". My reaction was fairly simple. "If I knew where we were I'd be a whole lot better". The hill kept going, and so did we - slowly. Eventually we found the water tank landmark which meant there was a little more hill to go, but we were close to the Black Stump checkpoint. Wayne had a slight energy hit from some jellybeans and powered off in front, followed by Brock who, it seems, will always take up a challenge for the lead, while Shane and I plodded along behind. But eventually we saw lights and the recognisable orange of the SES and wandered into the checkpoint, our spirits bouncing a little now that we were done with "that section". We'd checked in at 12:35am, about 90 minutes behind our planned schedule, but had pretty much given up following that by this point.

Section 10: Black Shoot to Syd Duncan Park (Distance: ~3km, Total: 66km)
We didn't stick around at the checkpoint long - it's notoriously cold through this part of the course as it's on the top of a hill, and despite the clear conditions meaning we had full benefit of the just-past-full-moon it's too cold to stop anywhere and appreciate the view.

As we walked out of the checkpoint, my phone rang (an unknown number).
"Hello?"
"Hello. What are you doing answering your phone?" Mum asked.
"Well, what are you doing ringing it?"
"I was trying to find you on the map."
"We're just left checkpoint... " I looked around, " checkpoint nine? Black Shoot. Hold on, I'll put you on speaker phone." Which I did.
"Hello!" Mum repeated.
There was a general chorus of "hello" from the guys as we walked along Mirani St, plus a call of "Do you know where your daughter is?"
Apparently it didn't matter - she didn't sound concerned :-) And, no, she didn't know where we were; the kml website hadn't been updated in a while. The conversation wrapped up quickly seeing as we were still walking and she was at work.

A little while later down the road we came across the grassy avenue (which despite being well signposted I still didn't recognise) and another few teams worth of people (it's hard to tell if groups of people are one or multiple teams at this point seeing as people start dropping out at a fairly high rate after about halfway). We wandered through the grass and the mud, around houses and trees, and eventually came out onto a road again where some wonderful locals were sitting out in the freezing cold (albeit with a fire and lanterns) handing out food to those of us crazy enough to be walking past. We picked up pieces of a caramel mud cake and they were thanked profusely for their efforts.

The cake revived our spirits a little, but there were a few more inclines on the way to Syd Duncan Park, and the pain in my hip was becoming more defined as we continued. The stairs, which I remember from last year, were a little bit of a challenge, but being about one kilometre from the checkpoint I just kept repeating that I could take something for the pain once I'd checked in.

Syd Duncan Park is situated on the top of a hill (isn't everything in this course?) and for anyone not competing in Kokoda would provide a nice view of the Gold Coast. Those of us dragging ourselves up the smallish hill from the main road are (a) facing the wrong way for the view, (b) too focused on the cars and happy, happy lights on the hill, and (c) too tired to care anyway. I'm not sure whether we found our support crew or they found us, but at this point I was uber-cranky and in need of some ibuprofen and managed to just blurt out "I need the swipy tent. Where's the swipy tent?". Being the good support crew they are, they just pointed and said "Through there". We checked in at 1:18am, around an hour and a half later than the original plan, but from this point it's only 30 kilometres to the end. (And if "it's only 30 kilometres to the end" doesn't sum up the mental place you need to be in to do this event, then I don't know what does.)

Section 11: Syd Duncan Park to Belliss Rd (Distance: 7.5km, Total: 73.5km)
We stopped at Syd Duncan Park until nearly 2am before dragging ourselves out of the chairs and shuffling towards the checkpoint tent to check out, and it was a long enough break to make our muscles begin to freeze up. The two ibuprofen I'd taken hadn't quite begun to kick in yet and I felt like I was forcing my right leg to move (so hopefully those painkillers would start working while we warmed back up).

The first half of this section is reasonable simple - just follow the bitumen road along the ridge until you reach the Hellfire Pass (it's an actual street up there). Once the bitumen stop, follow the trail. Sounds simple enough, but when your tired and it's dark, and your legs/knees/ankles/whatever are already hurting then the steep downhill requires a fair whack of concentration.

The painkillers had kicked in by then, and my knees were feeling better than they had been when we left Syd Duncan Park. My hip muscle didn't seem to benefit much at all. I found that walking slightly sideways with my left leg in front of my right kept my joints marginally happier, and we made reasonable time on the downhill despite being passed by a few teams on the way. All in all, walking down here wasn't as tough as I'd expected it to be (having never walked this section in the dark before).

We eventually found ourselves down the bottom of the hill, and a short wander along the dirt road later walked into the Belliss Rd checkpoint at around 3:42am (getting fairly close to 2 hours behind our estimated arrival time). We didn't stay long; it was too cold to stop. Deliberately stopping away from the fire setup by the checkpoint volunteers, we grabbed some food and continued on our way.

Section 12: Belliss Rd to Beaudesert Nerang Rd (Distance: 5km, Total: 78.5km)
Taking a right off Belliss Rd, we immediately came across Mt Nathan, the last real obstacle between us and the finish line. The trail leading up Mt Nathan is very eroded, and in order to walk up it we need to continually jump around from one stretch of dirt to another. We split up on the ascent: Brock and Wayne bounding along in front, me slowly trudging up behind, and Shane (who had stopped to take off a jumper) a little behind that.

It was on this hill that my right hip muscle started protesting loudly about lifting my leg, and I found myself changing my walking behaviour to use my left leg as the dominant leg: stepping up with the left first and pulling my right leg up behind. This made my left leg more tired and my the time I'd made it to the top of the hill Shane had well and truly caught back up. We found Brock and Wayne sitting in some bushes waiting for us, and then continued along the fence line and through the grassy area towards Nathan Valley Rd. As we walked along we figured we should call and let the support crew that we were on our way (perhaps 30 minutes out?). We apparently woke them up with a very cheery "Good morning! This is your 4:30am wake up call." (Don't know where all the happy spirits came from, nor where they went).

Nathan Valley Rd is sealed, and after walking for so long this is not a welcome thing. When your feet are sore, bitumen suddenly feels so much harder than dirt/grass to walk on. We walked for about one kilometre along the road, pretty much all downhill, some sloping and some steeper sections. At one point we, and the other half-dozen teams around us all scattered to the side of the road for a car that didn't appear to slow down at all, but it was otherwise uneventful. We found the checkpoint on the corner of the main road, which is where it was last year, however the support crew were parked another 700-800m up the road. We checked in at 5:07am and continued along the road towards the support crew. It felt longer than 800m, and once we stopped complaining about the distance to the cars, we noticed that the other teams were saying pretty much the same thing. But mapmyrun tells me it's no more than 900m, so perhaps we all have misguided senses of distance after walking nearly 80 kilometres!

Matt found us as we approached the cars (of which there were many) and walked with us the rest of the way to the support crew car where we sat until close to 6am. As usual, I changed my socks, but the guys, with their feet in various states of disrepair, chose not to.

Section 13: Beaudesert Nerang Rd to Nerang State Forest (Distance: 7.1km, Total: 85.6km)
Right before we left the checkpoint we were asked by a South African guy if he could walk with us as the rest of his team had pulled out (although, if you ask me, it doesn't matter how much pain you're in, if you can get to this checkpoint, you can get to the end). We didn't have any objections having him walks with us, so we left the last major checkpoint with five instead of four.

The sky began to lighten as we headed into Nerang State Forest, but for the time being it was still dark enough that the headlights weren't out of place. Our add-on walker began to tell us a story of when his team were walking around the loop at Numinbah earlier when some crazy girl went walking straight through the creek.

"Yeah.... that was me," I said. "I always end up with wet feet anyway. Was just saving the trouble of falling in first."
"So, was your team the one with the Rocky music?" Shane asked.
"That was us," he replied.

For a while we walked along the trail but realised that it was different to where we usually walk through Nerang - it was flatter and aiming a little more east than usual - but eventually we came across a marker which indicated that we were still going the right way. The trail eventually merged with the one we were familiar with about 20 minutes worth of undulations before the last uphill. It'd been a little over four hours since I last took any ibuprofen and it was just beginning to wear off so I took two more tablets hoping they'd get back to working before we got to the hill.

As far as hills go on this course, this is isn't really all that bad. It's really only a few minutes worth of uphill, but at this stage it's big enough. Still not being able to lift my right leg properly, I told the guys I'd see them at the checkpoint which was at the top, and they all wandered up at their own pace. Continuing on with my somewhat successful plan of leading with my left leg, I managed to get to the top of the hill about a minute after the guys did (although was a little bit teary when I got to the top - partly because my leg hurt and partly because I knew that was the last hill I'd need to get up). After checking in - at 7:07am, 24 hours and 3 minutes after we'd started - I sat down long enough to grab my banana from my backpack before we continued on.

Section 14: Nerang State Forest to Finish (Distance: 10.4km, Total: 96km)
Most of this, the last section, is simply walking along the ridgeline. Sure, it undulates a little, but it's mostly flat. Just as well, because I was still doing that one-leg-shuffle-walk.

Along the way I worked out that if I lean over to my left side far enough, my right leg lifts a little further off the ground. And by swinging left-right-left I could get both feet to lift off the ground. Leaning forward a little helps move my feet forward (this is easier to do on a downward slope... gravity being what it is) and presto - minimal effort "walking".

Or so I thought. After a while this becomes a tiring as everything else (not to mention amusing for everyone else - apparently I look like a waddling duck) but it's still less painful than attempting to use my right hip.

This section is not particularly interesting, and as such just drags on. But despite feeling slower than when I did this in 2007, it turns out we were walking at much the same pace as I did last year.

We found ourselves looking for landmarks: the stupid, hard-to-spot corner we turn down on practices, the steepish downhill, the powerlines and the quarry. The quarry is perhaps 2-3 kilometres from the end, but this still seems to drag on an on. A little after the quarry I begin to feel things seizing up again, and have a bit of an argument with myself about resting or continuing. I took advantage of a few seconds break to wait for Wayne to catch up by stopping and trying to bend down into a squat: not a good idea. But eventually we all caught up about 500m from the end and kept together as a group.

Our last obstacle was a bunch of kids riding around on their bikes behind us to called out "coming through!". I don't think any of us had the ability or reaction time to move anywhere so the kids just rode around and through us.

The finish line, as always, had people everywhere, and being as tired as we were, having someone direct us to the checkin people was a good idea. As they did last year, they asked us to sign something, and once again, my hands are not capable of signing anything after all that. Not that they care. It also turns out our support crew were standing behind us while we were doing this and the only one who'd noticed them was Wayne. Sorry guys!

We checked in at 9:33am, 26 hours and 29 minutes after we started and were the 46th team to finish with all four team members.

Once the support crew had pointed out where they had left the car, I immediately went over and collapsed on the grass. Shane, Brock and Wayne all took their shoes off and all had horribly puffy, blistered feet (think also that white puffy skin you get if you walk around in sweaty socks too long...). This reminded me that I hadn't taken my shoes off either, but my feet were fine. Sore, but fine. I guess that sock changing routine isn't just superstition at all.

Most of us ended up droopy or sleeping in the car - some before we'd left Nerang. But our support crew managed to get us (and themselves) home in one piece and with minimal gear mixups when unpacking the car.

I have to give a huuuge thanks to Matt, Dennis and Jenesse who picked us up early on Saturday, put up with all our whining and complaining, heated up water and food, cleaned up after us when we left the checkpoints in a chaotic state, and then drove us all home again afterwards, all on very little sleep. Thanks also to the rest of Team Insanity - Shane, Brock and Wayne - who seemed determine to finish despite sore knees, blistered feet and tired everythng else, and who made for excellent conversation along the way (if any of it was repeated I wouldn't have noticed).

Thanks also to everyone who sponsored our entry. I think we ended up raising around $1300 for the youth program which is more than I was expecting we'd get to. The Kokoda Kids started out with a headcount of 35 and finished with 32 in a time of 34 hours 15 minutes.

Epilogue
Now that it's all over (again), would I go back a third time? Absolutely. I have a score to settle with this course: I do believe that it's possible (for me) to get to the end in under 24 hours, I just haven't done it yet. So I'll be out there training within the next few months with that aim in mind. After two years of mostly walking it, I think I've come to accept that I'm going to have to run parts of it next year so finding teammates who are prepared to commit to that same goal may prove a little more difficult than asking people "would you like to walk 96km?".

It is third time lucky, right? :-)

Yay, I Have A Decision...

It's taken four days of thought, analysis, talking to myself and seesawing from one choice to the other, but I've finally made a decision on the job front.

I've been trying to work out whether I want to take the job in Brisbane which I was offered last week (and consequently the redundancy), or whether I was prepared to hand in the redundancy and take a transfer to base myself in California and continue working on the product suite I've been associated with now for the last five years. Both have their merits, and they're different enough offers that it wasn't as easy a decision as perhaps I would have liked, but I've chosen to take the job in Brisbane and have been much happier since I decided that.

Plus, it makes for a good story when I say I've turned down a six figure salary... :-)

What Employment Slowdown?

Brisbane really is a small town.

It hasn't taken long for word to start to spread that we're all looking for work. There are messages on forums and lists, emails and phone calls from recruiters and referees, and just anyone who knows of someone looking for staff.

I've never seen anything like it.

The really cool thing is that everyone's been very sharing with the job details. We look concurrently through seek and mention anything that sounds interesting whether we're thinking of applying or not. We've been printing out resumes and offering comments and ideas. And we've been passing each others details around from time to time.

One of my referees rang me on Wednesday morning looking for my resume for a job over at Flight Centre. Another friend of mine IM'd me about the same job around about the same time. After passing my details along I'd lined up an interview by lunchtime on Wednesday, barely 24 hours after the redundancy news officially broke. I've been for two interviews in the last 24 hours and have one concrete job offer and the offer of a transfer rather than a redundancy.

It's all very crazy.

Day Of Reckoning

There's been a lot of talk around the office for a while about how long those of us working on Healthcare in Brisbane would still have our jobs. Today all the rumours and theories were proved correct: all eleven of us are being made redundant.

After receiving an email yesterday afternoon advising us all of a meeting with HR and a visiting US manager we all assumed the worst and packed everything up. So it was a bit of a surprise when they told us that the redundancy was effective August 5 rather than immediately. Or at least it was a surprise to me - I've never been through a redundancy that didn't walk people out the door on the same day.

The package is good; one month per year of service. And I think this is the push towards the door I've probably needed for a while (5+ years in the one place is a long time in my line of work).

Mini Kokoda 2008

Team Insanity left Brisbane on Sunday at the not-so-bright and early time of 4.45am to head to Numinbah Valley for the 2008 Mini Kododa. The course had been modified since the 2007 event; relocated to include Polly's hill and the creek loop from the Kokoda Challenge course, and lengthened from 25 km to 29 km. Despite Google Maps insisting the drive would take almost 90 mins, we found ourselves at the Numinbah Hall an hour later, well before the 7am start time (in fact, well before sunrise). It felt considerably colder outside at Numinbah that it was when we left Brisbane, and the landscape was covered by a fog which became more dense the closer it got to sunrise. (Note for next time: when it's that cold, thongs are NOT appropriate footwear!)

When we signed in we were presented with our race bibs and four timing chips (a new feature for this year's event) which would need to be scanned at each of the checkpoints and the finish line. Apparently these will be in use at this year's Kokoda Challenge as well so that our progress can be tracked electronically. We had enough time wander around trying to keep warm before one of the volunteers mentioned there was a sausage sizzle and tea/coffee outside; a split second later we'd relocated out to where the BBQ was, and Shane, Brock and Wayne were all making quick work of the food (Nicole still maintains it was too early for a sausage sizzle!).

Despite an expected 7am start time, the event didn't start until closer to 720am (hardly surprising given the number of people including all the on-the-day entries), and once we did start it took close to five minutes for the crowd of people in front of us to make their way through the narrow tail (read: one to two person widths) at the beginning. Oddly, the team closest to us as we walked through this part was actually a team we'd encountered during our last training session out at Polly's hill, and I spent the first 600m or so until we reached Chesters Rd chatting.

Once we reached Chesters Rd we noticed the crowd had spread out significanty, although the first hill of the day leading up onto the ridgeline in Numinbah Forest Reserve did see a lot of groups bunch back together due to the inevitable trudging. While a large number of teams seemed to take an opportunity to stop and remove some of their warmer clothing at the top of the hill, we continued on along the ridgeline, removing jackets while walking as necessary.

As we'd never managed to find the offshoot trail which is part of the course as we come off the ridgeline it was good that the course was marked and we had other teams to follow on Sunday. But at least we've all see the turnoff in daylight so hopefully we'll have some chance of finding it in the dark for the Kokoda Challenge in another month. The narrow path which leads back down towards the "entrance" end of the loop was less steep and more defined than I remember from last year, but this may also be that I've never seen it in daylight. We followed another team across the road and around the back of the Environmental Centre to the checkpoint.

A new feature this year is that while we still have race numbers attached to shirts/bags, we were carrying a timing chip which is scanned at the checkpoint to register our arrival (thankfully with no accuracy required on our part). I had mine tied to the very top of my backpack (as it's out of the way) but this meant I had to remove the bag and tip it upside-down to scan the chip which will get more than a little annoying during Kokoda if they do the same thing. Will need to find a better place to tie the chip so that it's accessible and I won't lose it. The official times show we checked in after 1 hour 9 mins (1:09:33 - 1:09:40 to be precise). We stopped for around 10 minutes for a bathroom/snack break before heading on our way.

The challenging part of the Mini Kokoda is what's known to most competitors as Polly's Hill. I'm sure it has a real name, but with Polly's Kitchen (a local cafe/restaurant) being both a landmark on the road and a major checkpoint for the Kokoda Challenge and being situated at the foot of the hill the name seems to fit. This part of the section is around 7 kms, and from the wnvironmental centre around 4 - 5 kms of this was to be uphill. The section starts with a short stroll on flattish terrain before skirting along the edge of Pine Creek Rd and down towards the creek at the base of the western side of the hill. There must have been rain through during the last week or so because the re was quite a bit of mud around, and having around 140 people in front of us at this point it had been churned up a little. This creek crossing, like those in the waterfall loop, can be done by standing on a series of stones, and we all made it across with dry feet.

Once across the creek, the trail leads almost unrelentingly up the hill. It's not as steep an incline as from the eastern side, but it's longer and just as draining. As per usual, Brock seemed to bound up the hill (seriously... what is he eating and where do the rest of us find it??) with Shane generally managing to stay just behind. Wayne and I just plodded our way along (although we did manage to pass people on the way which is always good for the mental space.

Around 55 minutes after leaving the Environmental Centre we found ourselves at the summit of Polly's Hill and stopped for a food break for a few minutes before tackling the downhill. We again split up for most of the hill wi th Brock and I being the most comfortable skirting down the hill and Shane and Wayne finding it a little more difficult on their knees (although Shane managed to point out that the hiking poles are better than the tree branches he used last time we attempted this descent). I spent a large chunk of the downhill talking to someone from another team (surprise, surprise) about the gels which Brock seems to be extolling the virtues of. Apparently GU Espresso Love and Tri Berry both come recommended. (And good luck to whoever you are with the marathon on the Gold Coast). Once at the base of the hill it was only a short stroll along the road to the back of Polly's Kitchen and our second checkpoint. We clocked in at 2 hrs 44 min (and persons number 104 to 107) which means it took around 95 mins to get from the Enviro Centre to Polly's which is considerable faster than either Wayne or I (the two KC veterans) have done previously.

We elected not to stop for a break at the checkpoint, instead heading back towards the hill to get the ascent over with. This side of the hill is the steeper ascent, and we found ourselves just plodding up slowly but continuously, and 45 minutes later we found ourselves at the summit. Having not stopped earlier at Polly's we decided to break for 5 minutes to eat food / change socks, and Shane and Brock spent a few minutes chatting with an ex-colleague who was also participating in the event. But once we'd been stopped long enough to begin to cool down it was deemed time to head back towards the Environmental Centre. We again split up a little, with Shane and Wayne walking slower down the hill (both had already taken some form of painkiller by this point to try and pre-empt any further knee issues).

Trying not to get too far in front, Brock and I ended up walking just behind a couple of high school kids (from I-don't-know-where) who were entered into the Kokoda Challenge but today was their first time out on the course. Given their age (or lack thereof), we suspect they'll bounce through it fine.

We eventually made it back down to the creek which signalled it was about another 10 minutes to the Enviro Centre. I always like this last little bit because it's mostly flat and it's always a nice psychological boost to know you're that close to the Checkpoint. We made it back without any issues and checked in at 4 hrs 23 min (and persons 98 - 101), stopping for a short 7 minute break (the usual bathroom and locating of food routine) before heading off on the last 7.2km.

The wander out of the Environmental Centre felt tougher than it did walking in, perhaps it was more uphill than on the way, but more likely we were just tired. By the time we made it to the road crossing we'd begun to splinter a little and found ourselves stopping and starting a little to keep the group together. This last section is predominately flat but is punctuated with eight creek crossings during the first four or five kilometres. The last time we did this loop in practice (after the Border Track) I'd landed in the water in two of the crossings, and today was no different. Managing to clear the first with no issues, it took me until the 3rd and 5th crossings to get both my feet wet, and at some point hesitating enough on the next step forward that Shane and I ended up balancing on the same rock... Perhaps I need to travel further to the back of the group during this section!

We found along the way that we had different paces on the flat parts between the crossings; Brock still bounding along in front, Wayne suggesting his "cruise control" setting wasn't as fast as everyone else, and Shane and I somewhere in between. But once we hit the hill at the sharp right heading towards Chesters Road, it all evened out again. Mostly. Brock still appeared unfazed and distinctly not tired (which after 5 - 6 hours can just be annoying!) :)

Once at the top of the hill we had around 2.5km left to the finish, mostly downhill, but I believe "undulating" is the term commonly used. This section is new for this year, and is also part of the new Gold Coast Hinterland Great Walk that opened recently. There's not too much of distinction here - plenty of downhill coming off Chesters Rd, and a small creek crossing along the way, but it seemed to drag out because we were so close to the end. Eventually we came across the clearing a few hundred metres from the end and could see the hall, and both Brock and I bounced forward (because a finish line is always exciting!). Shane and Wayne, however, could not be prodded into walking any faster than they already were (which was a decent pace) and the four of us met up (properly) at the finish line, stopping for a photo before swiping out timing chips and checking in.

The official time? 6 hrs 15 min (or 6:15:01 - 6:15:13 to be precise). All in all, a really good time seeing as we went in with the expectation of around 8 hours :)

Ouchy!

It's been a long weekend.

After doing the usual house errands/tidying stuff on Saturday, I went to Greg and Lisa's for dinner for Greg's birthday (which was on Sunday). Only I did what was essentially an "eat and run" because I had to be up early on Sunday morning and needed to get to sleep.

Sunday was Mt Barney. We hiked up Logan's Ridge, which is one of the most difficult routes up the mountain, and there probably could have been better conditions given the early morning drizzle and high winds. The "trail", which is not very defined, consists of narrow trails through bushland and some exposed rock scrambling and climbing. Given the weather conditions we had, rope and / or climbing shoes would have been a benefit, and would hopefully have helped us avoid the crazy stunts we had to pull to get to the summit (I, for example, had to be pulled onto three different ledges, and I'm pretty sure I owe Shane, Dennis and Brock a beer :) ) Why, you may ask, would someone who doesn't like heights, and most definitely doesn't like being sitting next to a 1000m+ cliff drop keep going? Simple. There was NO way I was going to get down the same way we'd come up. And it was either keep going or become one of those people who get plucked from a cliff ledge by the SES. And I guess now we know just how those people manage to get stuff in stupid places on big mountains ;) It took us about 7.5 hours to get to the summit, and about 5 hours to get back down (via the Peasants Ridge which is much easier in comparison), so yes, we started walking in the dark, and we finished walking in the dark.

On Sunday Brock, Shane and I backed up our hiking with a walk around Daisy Hill and Venmans. We were all a little sore in the morning, proceeded to get rained on a few times and a tad muddy as a result, but managed a 24.5km walk in about 4 hours and 15 min which wasn't too shabby. Sure, there's no big hills, but that was pretty much our plan seeing as we need to make sure everyone's knee's are still operational.

After all that, I'm glad I get to go to work and sit down tomorrow :)

New Shoes

I was out shopping at lunch on Friday and ended up buying a pair of trail shoes:


They're the Adidas Response Trail (they're actually the mens version as the largest women's size I found was 9.5 and it was just too small... plus these have the added benefit of not having copious amounts of highlighter pink all over them) and are actually the cheapest running shoes I've bought in the last decade. I have no idea how much trail shoes usually cost because I've never really looked for them, but it's exciting that I got to spend less than I usually do on shoes :)

I'm climbing Mt Barney tomorrow, so will try these out then. But they're grippier than my usual shoes, and waaay more comfortable than my boots. Very cool!

All Hills, All The Way

There are four truly big hills on the Kokoda Challenge course: in Mudgeeraba Forest, Fairview Mountain, "Polly's" hill, and the hill at Beechmont (up through Black Shoot and down via the Hellfire Pass). So what did Team Insanity do on the weekend? Tackle two of them.

The KC summary describes the Hellfire Pass as "the steepest and longest descent of the course".

We started our morning by parking at Belliss Rd and noting that the carpark was full (although not a full as it could have been had some people learned how to park!). But off we went, walking down the dirt road that lead from the Belliss Rd checkpoint towards the Hellfire Pass, and no sooner had we reached the concrete causeway a few hundred metres along the road than we encountered our first team of the day jogging down the last part of the hill. We exchanged good morning's and turned onto the grassy trail which lead towards the hill.

It didn't take long for us to leave the nice sloping foothill and hit the "proper" hill, and it only took five to ten minutes for everyone to have removed their jackets.

Aside from a small flatter section around halfway up the hill, the Hellfire Pass is about 3 to 4 kilometres of hill. And it you're walking it in the anti-KC direction, it's all uphill. It took us a little under an hour to reach the top of the Hellfire Pass, and this was where we saw our second team for the day, once again, heading in the downhill direction. "It's busy out here this morning," they commented on the way past to which we merely nodded while trying not to look like the uphill had hurt.

After turning the corner onto Freemans Rd we understood their comment more; a few hundred metres in from of us were yet another team, this time heading in the same direction as us, along with some locals out for a walk. "Quick, let's pass them!" Brock decided, picking up speed. And so we did, about a kilometre later - after the house which looks like it was pulled from an episode of The Flintstones - as we walked past the cow paddock. A few hundred metres later we passed by yet another team heading in the other direction, and continued following the road until we came to a junction only to choose the wrong direction by reading the directions without looking at the map itself and ending up in a cul-de-sac, adding about 800m to our walk and once again putting us behind the team we'd just overtaken, and with a little under a kilometre to our destination of Syd Duncan Park, we never quite made up the gap a second time. Even with our wrong turn, it had taken 1hr 36 minutes to travel the 8.3 km between checkpoints.

Syd Duncan Park, situated on the top of a hill, overlooks the Gold Coast tourist strip and a corner of the Hinze Dam and even though it was bright and sunny it was clear that it would be cold here at night. We stayed long enough to grab food from our bags and take a few photos before heading back towards the Hellfire Pass.

Our return leg of this section means that we were travelling it in the same direction, the only differences being that we had only walked 8.3km instead of 66 to get to this point, and that it was currently the middle of the day (whereas we are expecting to be walking this section in the middle of the night). The road section is fairly uneventful as it slopes it's way up towards the top of the Hellfire Pass, and we get one more view of the coast before ending up back on the trail.

In broad daylight it's a manageable task to jog down the Hellfire Pass as long as you're careful with your footing and your knees are holding up. We're all a little sceptical of just how possible that's going to be in the middle of the night. We made it down the hill with only a few occurrences of sliding or balance issues and again got to enjoy (a word which really is a relative term on these treks) the flatter section in the middle, even if only for the smaller amount of concentration required. There was a slight moment of "anything you can do I can do better" when Shane and Brock attempted to out-sprint each other along a flat section and up an incline (I have no idea who won - I wasn't stupid enough to join in!) but we shortly encountered the remainder of the downhill and once again jogged a large portion of it, slowing back to a walk once we reached the concrete causeway at the foot of the hill. After a short stroll back to the Belliss Rd checkpoint we had completed the 7.5km return journey 1hr 13min.

We sat by the side of the road for lunch and were watched by one of the local horses (which was less threatening than last week's encounter with the magpies) and discussed where we should head for the afternoon. We had several maps with us: the Mt Nathan section which we had practiced last week; Polly's Hill and the stretch from the Environmental Centre to Syd Duncan Park. After a short dicussion we settled on Polly's Hill and headed towards Neranwood and Polly's Country Kitchen via Mudgeeraba where we got to see the start line, the Hardy's Rd turnoff (section 1) and Austinville Rd (section 3).

Again, there seemed to be a large number of vehicles parked on the side of the road, and we figured there must be other teams out on this section of the course as well. It didn't take us long to find one of them. We'd barely walked past Polly's when we crossed paths with a team heading the other way along the road. Rather than follow the part of the section which leads under the bridge and over the creek we elected to follow the road but had an excellent aerial view of where the course actually runs.

The start of the fire trail was met with the usual "Is that all there is?" comment from Brock and much muttering from me. This particular hill, similarly to the Hellfire Pass, is around 3km of almost continuous inclines, the only difference being is that the spot height of this hill was 446m as opposed to around 500m. After being passed by yet another team heading in the opposite direction (who told us that we were about halfway when in reality we had perhaps 75% of the climb to go) we made it to the top in about 45 minutes, where we encountered a pair of hikers who informed us that at least when we came back on our return journey that it would only take 20 minutes to get back down.

Shane was starting to struggle with some pain in his right knee but was happy to keep going for a little while "to see if it sorts itself out" so we started on the descent towards the Environmental Centre. We hadn't ventured very far down the hill before Shane was seeking out tree branches to use as walking sticks (although next time he should be able to try out hiking poles instead!). Around 15 minutes later we'd made it down the first part of the descent, walked over the short, flatter section, and were walking the second descent when around 2.5km out from the Environmental Centre checkpoint Shane was having enough trouble with the descent that we agreed to turn around and head back. This helped for a while, as we had to make our way back to the top of the hill, however once there (even with a very short rest break - it was unreasonably cold given that it was still only a little after 2pm) we had to descend back to the main road, and this would prove to be a slow shuffle.

Around an hour later, we made it back to the road where we stopped for a brief chat with a few people who had come down the hill behind us. Apparently there were a few cases of dehydration two years ago when it was raining (due to people being wrapped up in raincoats etc). We're all still hoping it's dry on that weekend - it's tough enough out there without having to contend with rain and mud as well (although perhaps the mud would make for an interesting sledding hill descent technique?).

Despite spending quite a bit of time on the descent of Polly's Hill, we still managed to cover around 9km in around 2hrs 18min which is still a reasonable pace overall.

We stopped in at Polly's Country Kitchen for food before heading home: lasagna, burgers, fries, soft drinks and hot chocolate. The lasagna came with a salad topped with a yellow flower as garnish, and the first thing Brock did was to eat the flower and place the stem back on the plate.
"Did you just eat that flower?" Nicole asked somewhat incredulously.
"It's edible."
"How would you know that?"
"I used to eat them all the time when I was a kid."
"Yeah," Shane said. "The neighbours probably kept an eye out. 'There's that kid that keeps eating our garden!'"
"Do you mean to say you don't ever just eat flowers?" Brock asked.
"Nooo..."
"It's a nasturtium; it's edible," Brock insisted.
"It's still a flower."

All bizarre eating habits aside, the food was good and most welcome after all the walking!

It Turns Out I *Can* Still Run...

After having only done two walk jog sessions last week I headed out on my own this week to gauge how my knee is holding up.  Tuesday I managed a little under 3km (which was my intended distance, however I ran into Sarah just before the end of my session - turns out that tunnel thing under the freeway heads into the shiny council building...).  It felt sluggish, but as is usually the case, was actually the fastest I've run that distance all year (go figure).

I headed out again today and ran 4.75km cleanly without any issues (although not having run properly for any great distance since the beginning of April means that my lungs are still re-adjusting and I probably sound more like a train than usual).

Will try my luck with a long(er) run on the weekend... still aiming for anything over 5k!  But it's been a good week so far, and perhaps sticking to only 3 days a week will help keep some of those issues at bay.  I may not be ready for the Gold Coast Half, but perhaps can still pull it all together for the Noosa Half in August (which also has the added benefit of being a month after KC2008 so I won't by trying to squish too much into a few weeks).

Nerang State Forest and Mt Nathan

Team Insanity headed to the Gold Coast and onto the KC course for the second time to practice the Nerang State Forest sections (the last 17.5 kilometres of the course) and we'd picked an excellent weekend to opt for a later start (8.45 am as opposed to anything closer to dawn) given the crisp conditions.

We'd barely started on our "warmup" section (the part that's not part of the course) when two people jogged up behind us (up a hill, no less) and after confirming that we were practicing for Kokoda, asked us if we knew which was the corner you took to head towards the finish line. Given that they were jogging in t-shirts and bike-pant length skins they must have been roaming around longer than us (we were still wearing jackets - or in the case of Nicole, a scarf). A little further along the trail we passed more hikers heading the other direction and began to wonder if there would be other teams out all day.

The sunshine was welcome as we passed by the quarry, but for most of the first few kilometres we were walking along a shaded trail, and when walking along the main ridgeline that runs through the forest there was a constant strong breeze.

Our maps indicated that we needed to take a sharp turn to the south-west to head towards Nerang-Beaudesert Rd (the location for the last major checkpoint of the course), but it was marked with an incorrect number on the map (and despite walking this loop several times, Nicole "always misses that turn") and we continued further north for almost a kilometre before realising we had gone too far and turning back. (For future reference, the sharp turn onto the grungy looking trail is the correct route).

We made it down from the ridge without any difficulties and out to the main road making the stats for our warm-up section 1hr 52min for 8.5-9km.

From this corner of the forest our walk was all the actual course practice. Despite Nicole's comment of "it's sort of flattish with a big hill at the end", the 7.1km northbound trail was in fact rather hilly. Sure, they were short hills, but it was by no means "flat". This section of the course had quite a bit of fresh tree carnage over the track in places, presumably from the storm the night before. In some places this was only a few branches, but others it was a whole tree.

As always seems to happen, the steep hill at the end of the section appeared out of nowhere as we rounded a corner but we made it to the top (and the imaginary checkpoint) with no real issues in a time of 55 minutes for the 7.1km section.

Deciding to continue on without a break we followed the ridgeline south with the breeze once again hitting us. A large chunk of this section is relatively flat as it follows the ridge and after a few kilometres we reach the trail we'd turned onto earlier in the day. From this point heading back towards the Velodrome there's a series of downhills with one remaining short incline after the quarry a few kilometres from the end, but there main challenge of this section on race day will be that it comes after having walked 86km. On occasion there are glimpses of the Gold Coast high-rises, but for the most part there's really very little to look at aside from the track and the trees. And, apparently, a mobile phone (which Brock found a few kilometres from the end). Today we managed to race through the 10.4km section in 1hr 48min.

We stopped for a lunch break at the car (where a few brave local magpies walked up to us in an attempt to procure food only to end up being teased with some car keys) and attempted to locate a relative for the mystery phone with no success. Figuring that at some point someone may call the phone and be able to identify the owner, we took it with us to our next destination - Mt Nathan.

The Mt Nathan section of the KC course is simple enough on paper: 5km from checkpoint to checkpoint, up the mountain, then back down the other side. In reality the trail up Mt Nathan is possibly the most scruffy, eroded away track on the course. It also doesn't help that there are additional obstacles such as overgrown plants to deal with. To access to beginning of the track we had to negotiate an overgrown weed patch and "climb" a short section of hill (as the lower parts of the track were blocked by more of the weeds).

As is always the case on this hill, additional attention needs to be paid to where we were walking as there are loose rocks scattered amongst the ditches on the way up. We had a brief respite from the incline where the trail flattens out and descends a little, and we found ourselves negotiating yet another fallen tree, but soon made it to the summit 24 minutes after we'd left the car.

Our rough plan was to simply walk up and back down the hill, rather than to do the whole section (which would take us back to Nerang State Forest and add on about another hour), and we stuck to this. The return journey down Mt Nathan wasn't fast (as we once again had to watch our footing), but we made it back to the car in about 25 minutes which means that a rough guess of us taking about an hour for this section should be achievable.

And They Call This A Lookout?

Sunday 11 May: Team Insanity's training session last weekend was just a short, local one. Wayne was off on another work trip (some people have interesting sounding jobs... :) ) so Brock, Shane and I meet at the Mt Gravatt Outlook on Sunday morning with a map and a rough plan of walking for a few hours.

All in all, it was a very uneventful walk. We set off from the Outlook at 9am heading down Mt Gravatt through the Griffith University campus, and into the larger part of Toohey Forest. We didn't have a plan for where we were walking to, so followed a series of signs to the picnic area where we walked past a family having a Mother's Day BBQ breakfast (which we smelt appreciatively on the way past) before doing a lap of the carpark (past the BBQ) and out onto Toohey Rd in search of a small part of the reserve with a lookout.

It's perhaps a good thing that the Kokoda Challenge isn't really a navigational event in light of the fact that we seem to end up on the wrong path / street from time to time, or in this case, walking the wrong direction down the main road. We wandered down a side street which "looked kind of bush-like" and down a "track" past a few houses before deciding that the dense bamboo "forest" wasn't quite what we were expecting and turning back around.

After meandering past the BBQ a third time (still with no offers of food) we found the path we were looking for and made our way to Pegg's Lookout. Presumably when this "lookout" was named as such, there was a view? Sure, there are glimpses of some the mountains southwest of Brisbane in the distance, but the most dominating feature of the landscape is most definitely the Salisbury industrial area! Somewhat disappointed, we headed back towards the main roads, this time detouring past an old quarry where we were overtaken by some mountain bikers and their dog.

Back in the larger section of the forest we once again passed the BBQ-ing family (again, no offers of food...) and the two other interest points on the map: the Western Outlook and the Sandstone Lookout. The best way to describe both locations is with the word "trees" - the view-blocking kind. Having managed to completely underwhelmed by all three lookouts in one morning we started to head back towards Mt Gravatt and despite an attempt at a detour through the sports facilities at the University, made it back to the summit without any major issues. However, despite the uninspiring walk, we managed to clock up about 15 kilometres in about 3 hours. Better luck next week!

Training Update

Given that I walked about 38 kilometres on Monday I piked on my running training this week on Tuesday and Wednesday.  I actually wasn't all that sore, just tired, so it wasn't a particularly good excuse. 

But on Thursday I headed out at lunch for a jog/walk session with Kirit (from work -> despite being on a health kick at the moment he still smokes too much to be able to run continuously for even a few kilometres).  He's just signed up for one of those gym personal trainer gigs and decided he needed some new clothes for the gym (apparently it's important to look the part... whatever) so we jogged/walked from Eagle St through the gardens and along the river to Queen St in about 20 minutes.  I then turned around and ran the same way back in 12.25 without any protesting from my knee.

Given that Thursday's run went well, I headed out on Friday but elected just to do a short loop (about 3km).  Knee = mostly ok.

And today?  The knee's been holding up ok over the last few days so my plan was to think "long run" and just see how it went when I was out there, but about 3km in I was noticing some twinginess so headed on home making it only a 3.75km run.  I guess that means more stretching and exercises for me :(

How Many Times Do We Have To Cross This Creek?

It's 11 weeks out from the 2008 Kokoda Challenge and Team Insanity has finally had a training session with all four members present!

Our plan for the Labour Day Monday was to walk to Border Track between Lamington National Park and Binna Burra in the morning, then proceed over to the KC course to tackle the hill between Polly's Kitchen and the Environmental Centre (otherwise known as Section 5). We met up before dawn and headed south to switch cars with some of our support crew volunteers (who were also keen to walk the Border Track). After a slight delay (apparently our support crew slept in? :) ) Team Insanity and our plus-one for the day, Stuart, headed out towards Lamington.

We started walking the Border Track just before 8am, and seemed to be walking quickly courtesy of Stuart leading at a rocketing pace. Around 45 minutes later he cheeked his portable GPS to check how far we'd walked only to announce "you're not going to like this". Apparently the GPS thought we'd travelled about 1.5 km! Thankfully a sign a little further along the trail indicated that we'd walked around 5 km (which felt more realistic)!

Our conversation topics varied greatly and included existing and proposed uses for the Nintendo Wii, how to leverage existing technology to improve and streamline the travel industry (it's worth noting here that we all work in IT so it's a perfectly normal topic to us) and the lack of flavour in energy bars.

A little before 10am we stopped to grab some snacks from our respective backpacks and while we were discussing the merits stopping to eat or continuing until we crossed paths with our Support Crew (who were walking in the opposite direction) they appeared around the next bend. We exchanged car keys, chatted and ate for around 5-10 minutes before heading on our way.

We shortly encountered the Mt Merino turnoff, and a sign indicating we had 9.9km to go and later when the path diverged once more we selected one of the trails figuring that it was probably the right one, and even it it wasn't it would still lead us to Binna Burra eventually. Our path followed a creek, crossing it many times over the next few kilometres. Things to note for next time: it's just as important to watch for head-high branches as it is for tree roots, and shoes dry out remarkably quickly after being dunked in a creek. Along the way there were some excellent waterfall photo opportunities, but when we reached a lookout on the edge of the valley we checked the map only to find out that we were at the Coomera Falls lookout and that we probably had at least another hour to walk before we made it to the end of the trail.

We continued on. The trail was at little muddier that we'd seen at the Lamington end, but perhaps this was partly due to it being closer to midday than 8am and that there were more people out on the walks. But eventually we made it back to the carpark, sore knees, blistered feet and all. We weren't able to work out a complete distance that we walked, but we figure it was around 25km rather than the expected 21.1km of the Border Track and taking 4hrs 50min, it was a decent training session.

We discussed plans for the afternoon over lunch. Wayne had been having knee trouble for the last hour or two so we changed from our original plan of walking the Polly's Kitchen hill (which required two cars) to walking the Waterfall Creek loop so that he could head home.

So on to Numinbah Valley we went. If you ignore the roads, it's only a short jump to where we wanted to be, however there's only one road into Binna Burra, so it took us an hour to reach our destination of the Numinbah Environmental Centre (although we did get to drive past parts of the KC2008 course).

We set out on the Waterfall Creek loop (otherwise known as Section 6) a little before 2pm, and despite changing into dry socks and semi-dry shoes it only took me one one creek crossing to end up with wet feet again. This section of the KC course is known for it's creek crossings - 8 in total, despite the course notes indicating that there are 7, but for the first five or so kilometres it's otherwise fairly straightforward.

At the far end of the loop is a nasty hill - not the worst hill on the KC course, but bad nonetheless. Brock, continuing to display a concerning amount of enthusiasm despite insisting that he needs more practice to get "fitter", bounded up the hill, while Stuart, Shane and I plodded our way to the top. By this point Shane was experiencing knee pain and was finding downhill sections tough - unfortunate seeing as the modified loop for this year's course contained quite a few steep downhills through the next few kilometres that lead us to the Numinbah Hall (the new major checkpoint). The last few kilometres leading to the Hall are part of the new Gold Coast Great Walk so it's fairly easy to just follow the arrows. We arrived at the Hall at around 4.05pm which left us a little over an hour until sunset so despite being fairly worn out by this point we decided to keep going and rest when we made it back to the car (which was probably around 5km by road, and a little more than that following the KC course map).

The remaining 6 or so kilometres of the loop can be described as flat-ish (up to and including Chesters Rd), a long uphill (to the top of the ridgeline), flat-ish (along the ridgeline), and downhill (back to road level). The notes say that there's a trail from the edge of the ridge that leads back to the right of the ridge, and I remember something to this effect from walking it last year. The only problem is that it's one of those trails which are hard to spot and we couldn't find it. It probably also didn't help that I didn't know where it was to begin with - last year we were lead down from the ridge by one of our "added" team members. The main trail does lead down off the ridge to the left, however, and even though it deposited us on the road just south of where we wanted to be, at least we knew where we were - a good thing considering it was just before sunset so we were already losing light fairly quickly.

Once we hit the bitumen Brock and Stuart started jogging towards the car. Shane and I did what anyone else would have done: we walked, arriving back at the car at 5.10pm, making our time for the 13km Waterfall Creek loop 2 hrs 45 mins.

Complete training session stats: 38km, 7hrs 35mins. Avg speed = 5.01km/hr.

Woohoo... made it past 3k

Alright, it's a hugely unimpressive distance... :)

It's two weeks out from the Mother's Day Classic, five weeks from the Qld Half Marathon, and I'm still working out if I'm capable of running either of these. After Friday's Kokoda training effort I elected to rest and stretch yesterday, and headed back out today to see how far I would make it. The answer: the downhill section 3.21 into my "usual" suburban loop was as far as I could make it. To be fair, I'd made it past a few other downhill sections, all of which were either shorter or not as steep, and I was expecting this hill would be a problem.

Strangely, despite the fact that I didn't feel like I was running quickly at all, it took me around 14-15 minutes to run the three km, so it's not that I'm not running well, it's that I'm not able to go far :)

But, a little over three kilometres is better than the little over two I was managing during the week, so in theory I should be able to manage at least the four kilometres at the MDC, perhaps the eight if I'm being optimistic. And I don't need to enter the QLd Half / 10000m for another few weeks, so will work that out depending on if I can get back into my weekend long runs anytime soon.