The Soundtracks - TWJ 2010

Muddy Mayhem: the final trail...

37 Frames - Trace & Dee — Fri, 30 Apr 2010 08:00:00 +0900

Noted Russian novelist Ivan Turgenev once wrote, "We sit in the mud... and reach for the stars." OK. Check. Then it was Lance Loud that mused "I have been found in a mud puddle at 4:30 in the morning." So have we. Not sure if we had any classic Joy Division on our playlists over the past traumatic weekend but we now reflect on co-founder and bassist Peter Hook who suggested, "I think people expect mud at festivals, I think you'd be asking for your money back if you didn't get it." With that in mind let us remind the world that we signed up for Trailwalker Japan, not Glastonbury...

Although to be clear, we would be outstanding headliners.

Where to start? I'll quote from Trace's facebook page...for those those who may not get through the ensuing cathartic mess and are only here for the pics...and hot, mud-clad chicks. Tee's current status says..."Small part of Trailwalker history. Under horrific conditions, over a thousand people, volunteers, walkers, locals and staff, all came together as a community to brave fog, sludge, snow, hail, sleet, mud, rain, zero degree temperatures and everything else the mountains could throw at us. Thank you to everyone who made this experience feel a little less harrowing than it actually was. Already planning next year ;-)"

It was truly horrendous. And difficult to articulate. Any attempt to explain it will just seem an over-indulgent embellished exaggeration. But it really was a nightmare of epic mud pie proportions.

Our fellow walkers agree. It's good to have back-up. We quote our blog buddies the incredibly awesome Snailwalkers who made it the whole hellish way... "Soundtracks - what can i say - it was nice to meet you on the trail - wish it could have been under slightly less traumatic circumstances! I'll cheer from the sidelines if you go again, but I will never ever ever go on that trail again...!"

Snailwalkers you are our heroes.

It will take some time to recover from. But we are all OK physically. Shaken and a bit stirred. Still dirty, nursing our bruises and processing it all. Retiring at a massive and proud 54km in the most extreme conditions.

A few stats:

712 walkers
178 teams
80 teams finished
98 teams retired
Total course ascent is higher than 9 1/2 Sky Trees (when finished)
Total vertical drop 4500m (ouch, worse in slop...)
Lots of rain, then hail, then snow, then more rain, rivers & rivers & rivers of mud...

Since last we spoke, the car was packed and we picked up Emma and Erin late Thursday afternoon after a losing battle with Tokyo peak hour traffic. We were on our way. Then not. As Erin forgot some photo ID, but thankfully we only had to do a little blockie to retrieve it. How we all got in and out of the car again remains a mystery.

Finally on the road to Odawara. Hello torrential rain. But Em was positive it was going to stop. We spent a lovely evening at Relax Inn, which we did. Then tried to get some much needed Soundtracker beauty sleep. The big day was mere hours away.

Woke up to...naturallly...rain. And the Soundtrack fairies had visited. Terry towelling head bands and brand new bandanas for us all. They certainly helped channel our inner John Travolta, circa Staying Alive or Olivia in Physical. Represent your preferred icon and all that. There seemed to be more in the car than the previous day. But we all bundled in with pillows and blankies piled high and rocked up to Shiroyama Track and Field with headbands oh so ON!

Just giddy with excitement. Parked the car. And then it kind of hit us...all that planning, week's of packing and organising, months of weekend training and trail dancing, bonding and bathing. It was for now. We were actually going to start those 100ks for real. Time for some registration and bumbled our way through that process. Em went blank on camera when we asked her for the team chant. She got nervous. Met up with other lovely teams. Got our lucky #59 bibs, the calorie mates and towels. Then got all our gear together and started working the body glide onto our feet.

Raining, raining. But thanks to a last minute ditch and re-think of our 100% commitment to Konan's polyester at least one of us (Trace) was wearing Gortex and I had my new Sports Depo Rain Suit on. We were good to go and so far pretty dry. Time for some starting line photos avec BANNER!

Tremendous, we know. Costco ¥1990.

So excited. Gun went off at 9am and we jogged the 2 laps out of the stadium to the bemusement of onlookers and supporters. We jumped and leaped a lot too. No shame, obviously. But it was truly strategic to get ahead of the congestion at upcoming road which follows the quaint irrigation channel. Bit puffed but mainly chuffed.

We made it to CP1 in good time, albeit in the fog and rain. Lots & lots of fog. Spooky.
Snack 1 and catch up with fellow walkers. It's 11.15am and a very wet CP1. Although looking back now that dreary rain isn't a blip on the misery radar.

We abhor the trail from CP 1-2 so we just put our heads down, cranked the iPods high and trudged up that dreadful, truly detestable mother of a hill. Rain all the while. It was just crap. We ate those squashed and mangled peanut butter sando's at the top. And they were so good, albeit a bit soggy.

Met our blog buds the Snailwalkers at the top of Mt Sengen, as you do. About 1.30pm and fog still soupy thick.

CP 2 was not far away. Through the heavy fog and the still continuous rain we made out our gorgeous support team in the distance at the Ashinoyu Flower Center, of course wearing their headbands and brandishing the banner. Marnie and Em cheered for us and for all.

We are sure many teams are still dealing with sign envy.

Nice weather for a walk. Here we are enjoying the glorious tenki at CP 2.
We're all in good spirits still and making pretty good time, even with the rain. Schedule is on track. Trace and I were beyond jubilant when we crossed the road from the pond to enter the hiking trail and heard Savvy's horn blaring at us. Yes, our support team had actually seen us walking, not just taking a taxi between checkpoints as they had long suspected....

We rocked up to CP 3 laughing and giggling, enjoying the short trek down through the Hakone woods. So excited that we could have our prune. But even more thrilled to see this...

Multi-tasking support crew. How fab.
We dumped all our gear with the girls and took off for the short 12km flat trip around the lake. Nice to be without all our stuff for a while and just stretch the legs. Bit sorry now we didn't stop for some more serious trail dancing. But we were on a mission. There would be a bbq at the end. We move for food.

Arrived to CP 4 about 7pm. Yes, still raining. But the most magnificent feast had been prepared. Thank you so much to our lovely top chefs.Not only was there a feast but we booked in for some stretching, Marnie gave back rubs and we got ready for the evening's activities. All the while that rain keeps coming down.

We met orphan Anna, who was hiking alone and that was so NOT on with us. Leave no hiker behind. So we welcomed her with open arms and very spunky headlamps and asked us to join us for the night hike ahead.

And then the next 10 hours looked mostly like this. With some hail and snow thrown in.

Hello Miyojingatake carnage... Here is the first 15 kms of the Migo-bingo hike before the Garmin died from hypothermia.

Looks normal enough but if we zoom in a little more closely to the section as we enter the mountain trail we see this...

We're not sure if that's us wandering around deliriously in the fog, sliding down mud slides and back up again, being pelted in the head with hailstones or just wandering around in circles like we usually do ...

Or perhaps we're just channeling our inner Mr Messy.

However, the path should look a little more like this (data from our training hike in March):

It's clear we really were having a miserable time up on that mountain. There really are no words for the experience of CP 4-5. It was the worst night of my life by far. Worse than even the prospect of a Footloose remake. To give an indication, we are pretty slow going at the best of times but this 18km section usually takes us 5-6hours in training. On this lovely April eve it took us almost 10 hours. We had done the previous 36 km in 10 hours. These next 18km almost the same amount of time...

The freak snow about a week ago and the days of rain leading up to and during the event made their mark. In some parts of the trail we were sliding through mud up to our knees. For most parts we were ankle deep. And because we were at least half way in the pack the trail had been so churned up by all those hikers before us...it was just diabolical and dangerous. To me it looked chocolatey to the rest of the team it was total diarrhea. Either way it's a diet supplement just thinking about it.

This section tested us. Mentally, physically, very emotionally. Falling down, falling left, falling right, falling on our faces, our behinds, our heads. In most ways we succeeded but in others we failed hopelessly. We can only learn and move forward, even if the mud still sticks. Our teamwork which worked so beautifully in training didn't quite come together on the mountain. Nat and Erin were way ahead and then very lost. But thanks to Sam's amazing course marking, they finally found their way. Tee and I behind dealing with nausea and a few meltdowns of our own. Even with the very wise words of our support team ringing out into the night as we left cp4 "stay together", that night we crept into ourselves, rarely seeing the dim lights of other walkers and dealt with the trauma of those 10 hours split in two.

I don't want to revisit that night anytime soon. I love my team. We thought we'd prepared for every scenario, silly us... we really should have thrown some dirt in the bath tub while Erin was testing the rain gear, all got in together and walked about for a bit...We're on it for next year.

CP5. We made it early Saturday morning. Just after the stinging hail finally subsided and I had the most spectacular of falls. Not telling where the bruises are...Plastic bags almost worked. Dawn came and the temperature dropped. Still sporadic rain drops. So damn cold. There are few words and the photos don't do the Saijo-ji checkpoint justice. Seen a few photos here and there - but it seems that pretty much everyone was too traumatized to take photos. Covered from head to toe in mud, it just didn't seem appropriate to take out the camera that morning. The carnage and misery on every walker's face, seemed like they'd just survived a natural disaster. CP5 looking almost like a refugee camp and we can only say that Sam and staff dealing with it all there - you were amazingly wonderful to this band of bedraggled, mud-crusted survivors. It wasn't long before we joined together as a team once more, the way we work best and made the decision, for safety and sanity, to retire here at a very impressive 54km. It might seem crazy to some to end it here - after all, the next 9km to CP6 are relatively easy and for sure we could make it to CP7. Although CP7 to the end was perhaps another matter, certainly as bad as what we'd just endured. After talking to each other, realizing what we'd all been through that night - some warmth, bonding and bathing were much more needed to heal those wounded souls. Miyojingatake - you didn't break us.

And more importantly we have left the trail wanting to do it again. Key point.

The only picture we have. And here the shoes actually look clean.

We can never thank our amazing support team enough. Emma and Marnie you were completely awesome. We couldn't, wouldn't do this without you. Although we are just a little bit jealous that you seemed to be cafe hopping between checkpoints and enjoying all kinds of "fly".

It still defies explanation but somehow we got 6 people and all our crap and mud in the car (minus one plastic container that we just couldn't fit) and made our way up to Yamanaka-ko. An almost equally terrifying ordeal. Thankfully it was raining so the fuzz weren't around. We checked into the YMCA, hit the bath and had a highly illegal indoors barbie. It was still raining. We were feeling right in our decision. And apple bacon and tofu fakon does make everything better.

Slept for a few hours in the cozy bunks then dropped Marnes off at the station. We miss you Mistress Marnie. So wonderful you could share this with us.Thank you truly for everything and particularly your most excellent bbq skills.

Time for another room partay, with lots of bubbles and lots of cheering for teams that made it. That's what it's all about, right? That and a few drinkies and the nike slogan - there is no finish line.

Sunday morning...could it be any sunnier??? What a fabulous ending to this long, long trip. Time for some serious celebrating/therapy.

Mount Fuji was willing to acquiesce and share in it with us, just this once - well actually twice. We had double Fuji fun at both the finish line and the lake.

Did someone say photoshoot Soundtrackers?

Oh, yes they did...

So just how will we cope with all this dramatic fallout? Let's see...

First up brekky at the local Cafe Gusto (or Gutso as we prefer to call it...only place in Yamanakako with pancakes...). And it was here that we realised how right our decision was for us. It's always hard not to second guess yourself especially when it is a glorious day and there is a huge swan boat wearing a crown in your foreground. But within minutes of sitting down and hitting the drink bar, I looked around at our team. And they just overwhelmed me. Erin was already on the iPhone checking out where we'll do Trailwalker next... So excited about the possibility of Canada or France (did someone say a trek through wine and cheese country???) Trace was making notes on times and goals for next year's Japan challenge and Em was planning what snacks and food we would need to prepare for our world Trailwalker tour. Any sponsors? Giddy again and all so positive and content in our accomplishments. The traumatic night on Mingo-bingo a distant memory. Had we kept walking on in those miserable conditions, we may have joined a large group of Trailwalkers who never want to attempt the event again. But by stopping when we did, we will be back next year for sure. Because we want to WANT TO keep doing these kinds of challenges. And isn't half the journey just showing up and making it to the start line? I'd like to hope so. And I'd also like to think that at the toughest times while there are heroics in forging ahead (and we are so in AWE of those that did finish), there is also a certain type of bravery in stopping when it's right for you. But on that lovely Sunday there was no stopping us. We were in deep need of some serious healing...

How to recovering???

A trip to Ishiwari-no-yu Onsen may help.Yep, we're getting better. The delicious hot water and array of machinery helped ease the muscle tension. That and the long, long soak in the outdoor tub with the local oldies all the while planning next year. Nat, first time onsening, had fallen asleep in the jacuzzi bed bath...

Funny engrish always helping to getting the better feelings. Yes, thank you we will taking a break a little by chocolate crunch...

After the onsen it was time for some icecreamery madness. Soft cream always helps. You do the math. 5 chicks. 6 cones. Yummy stuff to you who know true taste. Obviously we are not coping with the aftermath. But as always we will do over very best to overcome all trail related difficulties and trauma...

Then since morning icecream time was over way too soon it was off to Dino's Diner for some well-earned lunch. What's not to love about an American style diner run by a Japanese guy who lived in Paris in the heart of Yamanaka-ko with a sign out the front that says "Big Eater Heavy Drinker Welcome"? Makes so much sense. So us. Super yummy onion rings and interior. A serious game of Uno with lots of cheating.

Clearly we are still in need of some austere analysis. We have discovered both this and your inner Trailwalking Guru can be found at the uber cool, very eco Hammock Cafe. Fancy a swing? Fancy a sage Swami Emma? It's all yours for the cost of a very reasonable foamy cappucino.

We are renting the hammock cottages here for our final pitstop next year.

A truly enlightening experience on many levels.

Homeward bound finally. Fuji capped off the goodbyes...

Photo credits - Emma (especially for the spunky Fuji photoshoot), Dee (while on the trail), Marnie (at the CP's) and very very infrequently, Trace (when we made her).

Thank you all so very much for sharing in every amusing /thrilling/challenging step of our Trailwalker Japan junket. We did our very best for you all in horrific conditions & hope you see the achievement in those 54km (especially those last 18) as much as we feel it. We know we haven't let you down in the drama/hilarity department...that's for sure. Whether you've been a donor, a friend, a family member, a blog stalker, a supporter, a fellow oxfamer, someone interested in our misfortune, stupidity, our many fashionable faux pas & dilemmas, or a fan of our meltdowns, playlists, dance moves and magical moments - we love and appreciate you all.

Here's to the next tornado of trouble just one short year away. And all the mischief and mayhem that Team Soundtrackers will get up to in the upcoming 12 months. See you in 2011...maybe the mud will be out of our toenails by then.

"Courage doesn't always roar. Sometimes courage is the quiet voice at the end of the day saying, "I will try again tomorrow." - Mary Anne Radmacher

It's on...

37 Frames - Trace & Dee — Wed, 21 Apr 2010 01:35:50 +0900

Today's Trailwalker inspired track:
Here comes the rain again ~ Eurythmmics

Today's Trailwalker inspired quote:
If you want to forget all your other troubles, wear too tight shoes. ~The Houghton Line, November 1965

The Soundtracks are truly remixed and finally we are ONE!!! Oh, yeah the whole team is in town and we are getting ready to rock and roll. Loudly. Are we AME-ONA or HARE-ONA??? We'll see. Our dedicated fans will know Nat always brings the fog & Trace the rain but Erin is our sunshiny sparkling member. I have no power whatsoever, so we are kinda hoping fog, rain and sun will just all equal happy cloudy time or something like that. The current Trailwalker forecast looks partly sucky with a high chance of miserable and an approaching front of what on earth are we doing.... But we remain ever hopeful that this weeks' Friday evening NKH weather man will have to apologize profusely to the nation for making everyone take out their brollies, when in fact it didn't rain a drop and was the finest, most comfortable day ever.

So back to now. Nat arrived on the coldest April day in 50 years which dumped some 20cm of snow on the course. Fabulous. Bring on the plastic bags. This is not boding well for the new shoes Tee and I had to buy last week because after 100's and 100's of kms the old ones decided to cark it a week before the event. Soles fell off. Brilliant. But we do have several back up options. Firstly we're hoping our highly technical application of super glue all over the old shoes will hold. Our fingers remain stuck together, so things are looking good in the adhesive department. But probably in all likelihood, knowing us, things will come apart rather quickly. So we'll revert to plan B, the wearing of the new shoes. Totally broken in after a good 5 minute walk around the block. Plan C will bring out the old bit of sponge my 93-year-old Nan sent us to assist with any foot trouble, blisters, hot spots. How's that for upstairs? Genius. Plan D involves my dear tap shoes or my white-boot roller skates, if I can find them.

Unbelievably the car is almost packed and ready to go. We have more food than our local Costco, which for most families of 6 would last at least 2 weeks. For us, if we were lost in the mountains....ooooooh, a good hour at most. I may wear a skirt, still pondering. Nat has nothing to wear. Look for the nude Soundtracker on the day. But thankfully 3 of us have rain wear/suits direct from our local Konan Store. What's not to love about Konan? Gortex it's not, but for this little jaunt it is 100% polyester all the way, baby. And just to make sure the very stylish ensembles truly deliver on all their waterproof promises we enacted our very own myth-buster scenario late Saturday evening, when we had our first full team shin-dig. This may have been somewhat fueled by at least 4 carafes of red wine and a seemingly endless supply of bubbles. Lovely Erin, now affectionately know as Wet Spice, took one for the team, got herself fully decked out in her hiking wear avec gators and full rain suit and then got in the SHOWER to test the waters. Really. Verdict...100% super dry. Waterproof, yes. Baka-proof, we are not. There was laughter.

And there is video proof, of not only that famous shower scene but most of the afternoon/evenings' shenanigans. We will post it soon. A work in progress, tentatively titled "How to Trailwalking: the pre-partay..." As a teaser get ready for more street dancing, some inspired cinematography, and a stop at the Whoppee T-shirt shop, which was thankfully closed and in an alternative universe saw us all deported from Japan. After all, we could help ourselves for free even though their store signage said...and I quote...for real..."Don't ever call us". It was an evening drenched in all things literal not in the least that mullet-in-headlights, arthur-fonzarelli's-been-cloned version of Total Eclipse of the Heart. My goodness this has been a fun trip.

So the team is ready to go. The trail mix is packed. Quick side-trip...the biggest Loser Finale in Australia just finished, Lisa won (what a star) and Hayley was so amazingly awesome. We will so be there for you next year Hakka, front row for sure...Back to the Trail...The stockpiles/suitcases of food from every corner of the globe have been zip-locked.Thank you families. There are treats and bbq's planned - rain, hail or shine. We have a banner kit. Yes, there will be magnificent signs. We're working on the playlists and re-thinking the rain gear...seriously. Marnie and Emma are on the same page. Yes, we have a manual. We have lists. Post-its and a really cool wind-up light thingy. 2 tents and binoculars. Oh, the Navi doesn't work. We printed out a map. We have more first-aid supplies then Seattle Grace and Mercy West combined. We've got handmade soups, smoked apple bacon and tofu FAKON for the vegos. Marnie makes yummy pikelets. We have a DVD player, our pillows and blankets, a hairdryer and a crate of Moet. There are surprises and bad costumes and a tremendous amount of excitement and trips to the loo. We are almost on our way and we cannot wait. We will do this.

Thank you soooooooooooo much to all our recent generous and totally unexpected donors. Lots of love and hugs to Yuri, Tanni, gorgeous Geigy, Janie F, Robin, Micheal & the kids.

We walk in all weather for you. Rock around Friday.

2 days, 7 hours and 24 minutes until TRAILWALKER 2010!!! ... Hopefully we'll be sober by then.

The Soundtracks in print...

37 Frames - Trace & Dee — Sun, 18 Apr 2010 09:29:07 +0900

Today's Trailwalker inspired track:
Basket Case ~ Green Day

Today's Trailwalker inspired quote:
I don't know what my path is yet. I'm just walking on it. - Olivia Newton John

Love getting the Trailwalker word out there. The world needs to know just how much stuff we are carrying and the volume of snacks we are eating and how we deal with rain and whether we can find any vintage Nik Kershaw for the ipods.Oh and did I mention I may wear a skirt? Audible groan, I know. But it's good to mix things up, switch up the playlist, take the heat off the tights for a bit. But I fear the inbuilt shorts crotch, not made for my more womanly foreigner figure, may ultimately do me in, if not fully cut me in half...

And then there's our recent shoe debacle. Will leave that for another post. But it could well be a big RIP to our Attacker and Streaker footwear. Oh, yes less than 5 days before the event. We may end up wearing thongs.

Digress digress...you can find part 1 of our trailwalking tale-slash-fiasco-slash-cathartic purge in the April edition of our most favorite magazine BAB. Find all things Soundtracky and Trailwalkery on p20 (plus there's Tee's final marathon installment on page 11). We know our many fans are riveted to find out just how we do... I will be doing a total follow-up in the BAB May edition. We promise a no-holds-barred expose of the trail affair.

Until then it is way overdue to thank our many, many recent donors. We have surpassed our target thanks to so many generous friends, family and colleagues. Harumi, Ben, Annie & Simon, Justine & Cordell, Kel, Scottie & Grace, Steve and the INCREDIBLE K INTERNATIONAL SCHOOL we thank you all so much!!! We are so touched by your support. Truly. We wish we could tell you how much we LOVE you all but we'd rather show you through INTERPRETATIVE DANCE while on the trail... (fabulous facebook group btw). And you know WE WILL.

The 2-week weather forecast is currently predicting buckets of rain...

Just wonderful. Bring it.

4 Days, 23 hours and 31 minutes til TRAILWALKER!!...

80 Ways to Train...

37 Frames - Trace & Dee — Thu, 15 Apr 2010 00:12:00 +0900

Today's Trailwalker inspired track:
Just Can't Get Enough ~ Depeche Mode

Today's Trailwalker inspired quotes:
Me? I'm scared of everything. I'm scared of what I saw, I'm scared of what I did, of who I am, and most of all I'm scared of walking out of this room and never feeling the rest of my whole life the way I feel when I'm with you. Baby ~ Dirty Dancing 1987

Oh, them. They're the dance people. They're here to keep the, uh, guests happy.
Neil Kellerman ~ Dirty Dancing 1987

Date:   April 11th 2010 (Emma's Birthday...)
Where:     Checkpoint 6 - Checkpoint 7 (Yagarasawa to the Fujimi Center)
Totals:     16km - 4:53 hours

We’re always conjuring up new & ridiculously fantastic training methods. Mainly because we are easily bored. We just may have outdone ourselves this past weekend with all-new Soundtracker Fatigue Training workout. Let’s get physical, kids. I love my sleep even if you wake me up before you go-go but this proved a bit of a brick wall last year during Trailwalker when we were a million miles away and pretty much got none. We were very much worse the wear for it, without any patience. It was nasty. So this year we are troubleshooting it from the get-go. Don’t stop believing. Pushing ourselves to the limits, going beyond them to bust a move and ultimately work through any sleep-deprived, sledgehammer scenario. Oh, hell no, sleep, we don’t need you tonight. Though, generally we would love you all night long. This year things can only get better. So it was a full-on do-nichi’s worth of heavy duty warrior training, which commenced Saturday afternoon with bubbles and nibbles at Em and Erin’s. Mickey wasn’t there, too shy. We were working for the weekend and simultaneously we were wanna be startin’ somthin’ for Em’s pre-Birthday celebrations. Because she was about to turn 36 and after all girls just wanna have fun (this may all be way too convoluted to follow but do keep going as there is an ending something so strong and a point…eventually).

Canapes moved into dinner at the local curry joint with fellow Soundtracker fans and our marvelous support crew, with or without you, minus Jack & Diane and Jessie’s girl. With enormous amounts of garlic Nan in our systems we reminded each other of down-wind rule for the Sunday’s checkpoint 6-7 hike as we rolled back to our house (chez E&E). Time after time we downed some post-dinner-pre-going-out drinkies. Then we were like, if you leave, just take on me…because a-ha! it was time to amp up the workout intensity, bring on the cardio and leave the love shack.

You might think we were going to be hopelessly irresponsible and you would be right, but have some faith, this type of training does lead somewhere. It led us to the Pong for 80’s night at 57.

There was something in the air tonight. What’s not to love about hanging out with George Michael. Annie Lennox and David Hasselhoff…? I mean, come on Eileen. We boogied the night away, dancing with myself and all kinds of new friends, costumed and non. I was in the former category, nice lace leggings, sparkly legwarmers and all but no sunglasses at night, naturally. Oh and it was all you can drink for 2 hours, so we could relax and still work on our hydration techniques…All too easy. Did someone shout “Dance Off”? Indeed. Hit me with your best shot boys, cause the spectacular Meegy is in the club and we’re not gonna take it lying down. That girl can robot anyone under the table. Walk like an Egyptian, check. Jump, check. She is always our Dr. Feelgood.

We danced til dawn then beat it back to Kiyosumi. Hungry like the wolf Em had her birthday soy hotdog then we grabbed a couple of hours sleep, the reflex of course, before our 6am call. We found a fabulous Easter Bilby and Cadbury eggs on our bed…sweet dreams (are made of this…) We didn’t hit the road til 8am…fatigue training not off to a good start (or perhaps the perfect kick-off???). Here I go again… We were so horrendously exhausted with every breath you take…The exact condition, albeit sans the rubiks-cube shots, that we will be experiencing in less than 2 weeks as we tackle 6-7 for real.

After a tortoise inspired start, it was time to whip it, even push it, and we actually enjoyed the hike and the walk this way, our all-time nemesis. Welcome to the jungle. Gorgeous wild blossoms still blooming, inspiring all kinds of sluggish lyrical safety dance moves, especially when Dove’s cry. We were walking on sunshine all the while. Em wore her High 5 party hat the entire day. Legend and lucky star that she is. We forgot about it mostly until every hiker we met reminded us or just thought us super freak. There was a lot of singing and bd shoutouts through the woods. It was a good day, not at all an early pre-cursor to a cruel summer. We pushed through the tiredness ending up in Suruga-Oyama way ahead of time, even with photos, videos, dawdling and illegal tractor rides…(our lips are sealed).

Time for a bath at the Fujimi Center and some 100yen quality tainted love time in the massage machines. We then battled through the late Sunday Tomei traffic, gave up at Nakai rest-stop and were appalled our favorite soy donuts, to pour some sugar on me, were not there. So we settled for some birthday noodles and a surprise cake in the car. The only way to roll. Made complete by fork with candle. No 99 luft balloons though. Sorry.

At some point we made it home sweet home, all tuckered out from almost 2 days fully awake, party hat still firmly on, big hair and smudged mascara de rigueur. Finally finished the whole 100km of the course. Training done. So now comes our packing marathon and the ensuing what to wear debacle. We’re under pressure. This will surely occupy the entire next week. Because all too soon we will be lining up at the start in Odawara. And we just can’t get enough.

*If anyone has actually made it to the end of this nonsense we invite you to partake in a little Soundtrack giveaway. A twofold challenge, only for the truly adventurous and old and open to all, even us…

1. The above waffly prose contains some 60 of the best 80’s Song Titles. If you can name them all, including the artist if you can be bothered, you get the most incredible yet-to-be-determined prize.

2. If you can somehow work video killed the radio star into a meaningful sentence you get something too. May be just the accolades. Fittingly, perhaps that is enough.

Time to Trailwalker… 8 days, 8 hours and 48 minutes!

Trailwalker: A recipe in progress...

37 Frames - Trace & Dee — Thu, 01 Apr 2010 15:52:59 +0900

Today's Trailwalker inspired track:
With A Little Help From My Friends ~ Joe Cocker

Today's Trailwalker inspired quote:
One of the very nicest things about life is the way we must regularly stop whatever it is we are doing and devote our attention to eating. ~ Luciano Pavarotti

Not long to go now, Soundtrack fans. Hello April.

So far in training we've done 84km of the trail in 27:01 hours, over 4 separate days... Yes, that 1 minute (in the 27:01) is totally important. We know that adding fatigue and break time onto this during the actual event will mean that we will really be pushing ourselves to cross the finish line in our hopeful and perhaps seemingly deluded, 40 hours. But we're up for it, April fools day notwithstanding.

In TW progress we're loving connecting and sharing with fellow trailers...

We met another Trailwalker while on a photo shoot this past weekend. The uber fab and fit Jim from Wolfpack. Love the name. Hoping for our own Hangover sometime after we finish our 100ks. The Wolves are looking to finish in 30 hours. We hope to see you all at the end. And of course we'll be photographing it all...just in case our very own delirium and amnesia sets in and we require some kind of pictorial evidence to remember it all.

But you can count on one thing for sure. We will be entertaining ourselves. AND we will be very well fed. Our financial donations have been rolling in from friends, family, colleagues and clients...Jan & Geoff, Jude & Dave & Daisy, Lynne...Your donations to this wonderful charity and the ongoing work Oxfam does and your support of us is so special. Thank you all truly.

And there are the more out of the box donations...

A very special contribution to the "dangle a carrot in front of us to get us over the line" foundation - from Trace's fabulous high school friend Phil.

An Aussie food fest with only the best treats from home. If this doesn't get us over the line, then nothing will.

The only problem being. There seems to be none left for the end. We were just testing it all for the trail, plus doing a spot of carb-loading cross-training. Phil - you have motivated us beyond belief!! You are a total STAR. But we need another box. Kidding...

And so this week we will now be following the advice of Tracey's new notebook - "Fruit gives health sufficient on the body". Indeed.

AND...

We will.

Lest you think we are all junking our lives away... Tracey's recent lifestyle change is a double-page spread this month in the BAB Mag. (Look out for our TRAILWALKER story in BAB next month...) Tee we are so proud of you. You continue to inspire us Soundtracks, that, and your AWESOME Party Mix Tapes.

Then there is her new talent for all things Soup-a-licious. She's been cooking up a storm all week. LOVE YOUR WORK. Hello Soundtracks Soup Kitchen. She's featuring all kinds of flavors, Moroccan flair, a bit of broccoli, cauliflower and blue cheese, lentils and mushrooms. With protein protein protein... A recipe for Trailwalker success and good trail nutrition.

Yummy stuff.

Going to run it all off now - training through the cherry blossoms. Have a fabulous Easter weekend, filled with glorious chocolates - dark chokky is rich in antioxidants, after all. Runner's World said. Our very own Easter Bunny Box has just arrived. Better make that a double run.

21 days, 16 hours & 57 minutes til Trailwalker 2010!

When the going gets tough... the tough sit down to peanut butter sandwiches.

37 Frames - Trace & Dee — Fri, 26 Mar 2010 02:08:34 +0900

Today's Trailwalker inspired quote:
"Today is your day! Your mountain is waiting. So... get on your way!" ~ Dr Seuss

Today's Trailwalker inspired track:
"Climb" ~ Adam Lambert

Date:   March 20th 2010
Where:     Start - Checkpoint 3 (Odawara to Onshi Hakone Park)
Totals:     23.5km - 7:05 hours

We knocked off Start to CP 4 last weekend amid high winds, the odd squall, a barbie that wouldn't gas up, a jelly bean bonanza, hopelessly ineffectual plastic bag footwear, stupendous amounts of food, a cozy cabin, a pirate-ship and 36km of trails just waiting to be danced on and videoed.

Dropped Savster up at Lake Ashi, then disturbed the wabi-sabi of our driver's morning nap as we bumbled on to the bus to Odawara. Did some marvellous back-seat dance moves as he wondered off for a whiz. It was 6.30am and we were hungry. Hello Breakfast 2.

At Odawara eki we had Breakfast 3 at Becks, considered purchases at the Hakone Bakery for pre-morning tea, then complained the whole way to the start about those silly steps. In good spirits but hot.

Off we go. We have spats. No mud. No snow. It's a sun-shiny day. We passed springs first blossoms, which inspired a good 10 minutes of lyrical dance. Not easy with poles.

Start to 1 was fun. Not quite as slippery as we remembered. Snacks 2-4 consumed. Off we went down the road, massive happy Saturday traffic jam. We snuck out of it via the hiking course as we made our way to CP2.

Let's not mince words. CP1-2. We hate you. We'd temporarily blocked this 3 hours of endless huffy puffy from our collective Soundtrack conscious. But it soon came flooding back. The wind battered us the whole way to the top of Mt Sengen. Not doing anything for the hair. Don't stop til the top. Hungry beyond words. Lunch 1 demolished in record time. Ahhhh peanut butter sandos, we knew you well. Met our lovely friend Martin and his team HCCR, out for a train on the course.

Couldn't get down fast enough. The weather was turning. But we figured with all our terrific amounts of food, we'd surely be fine if we were lost to the elements, ooooh for a good hour, at least. With 20 seasons of watching Survivor under our belt (and absolutely loving Heroes vs Villians) we channeled our inner Russell, and got to the flower center, alliance intact. Finding no immunity idols on the way we did make quick work of nuts, maple bikkies, and deeply reflected on the promise of Caramello Koalas at the end. Got nothing for you. Head back to camp.

CP2-3 was a quick walk, punctuated with Trace's magnificent tour guiding and historial interpretation of the trail. Too tremendous to detail. By this time we were well into pre-afternoon tea snacks 7 through 15. It was almost time for canapes.

A taxi hurtled us from CP3 back to the Lake Ashi campground as we had to check in to Chez Cabin by 4pm. Pre-audibles consumed en-route.

Fabulous accommodation, wonderful welcoming staff at the camp-jo. Wish we could have stayed for a few more days.

Dinner was an extravaganza We ordered a beef bbq set for 1. It was massive and fed 4. Caramellos were soon gone, yummy baths and some very interesting stretching going on, not to mention what all those foodstuff do to one's insides. Apparently Em found an outlet, and as such was banished to her room. Lights out in the bunk beds. That was until the storm hit and we rocked and rolled all night.

Total for day 1 - climbed 1,778m. Down 1,107m. And 1 slight hissy fit pulled.

DAY 2

Date:   March 21st 2010
Where:   Checkpoint 3 - Checkpoint 4 (Onshi Hakone Park to Ashinoko
Camping Village)
Totals:     12.5km - 2:43 hours (including filming time for The Soundtracks "How
to Trailwalker Japan" instructional video...)

Morning bought good weather and we headed out to finish off the training with CP3-4, a lovely meander around le lac.

The terrain from the Garmin data above looks a little wacky... but it's pretty flat around the lake. Slight reprieve from the mountains. Lowest point about 720m and highest is about 790m so it's only a undulating 70m difference...

Completely around the shoreline of the lake. A good Sunday stroll. 'Later, little cabin.

In classic Soundtracker style we took the Pirate Ship back over to the start of CP3. Emma wants to ride the Pirate ship alongside us on the day and call out support (while campaigning for eco coffee stirrers) from the masthead. We allow it.

Then it was time to try out the latest addition to the Soundtrackers Kit 2010...

No words, we know. They don't even match. But they did work, even though they broke.

Time for a trail run. Lasted until The Hives finished. Then it was time for some bush dancing, Soundtracker style. The woods may never be the same.

"Spring is when you feel like whistling, even with a shoe full of slush."

Girl Guide Peanut Butter Cookies waiting for us at the end. Erin, we LOVE your treats. This must have been around pre-lunch time, because lunch 1 was at the BUREND ICECREAM Shop, where very sadly Trace's "Potato Chips Ice cream" was unavailable. She had "Purple Sweet Potato" flavour instead, and it tasted just as it sounded.

Total for day 2 - climbed 710m. Down 704m. And 1 fabulous video made.

And so now there's only one more section of the course to train. CP6-7. Which is tentatively booked in for April 11th. Em's Birthday. Nice present. The course - done. In the meantime, Emma and Erin are heading home to stock up on food items for the big day - oh and to celebrate Gran's 95th. Happy Birthday GRAN! An idea for a spot of trekking on Mt Cootha with Nat has been bandied about, and if not that - then definitely training brunch.

Trace & Dee will be throwing themselves headfirst into hard core training mode. Intermittently between blossom hanami's, dee's birthday retreat, a few more visits to the outdoor shop where we look at rain gear but never buy it, and perhaps a quick stop home to Australia to head to the studios to support Hayley at The Biggest Loser finale. Go Hags!

Thanks to Matt and Corts, Bev and cousin Stevie for their generous donations. You've helped us reach the 75% mark and we are thrilled with your support. You're all getting a free (autographed) copy of the "How to Trailwalker" training video. For Christmas. Only 15 days left to sponsor us before the April 9th first donation deadline.

We love you all. Go crazy. It's spring... "Spring is nature's way of saying "Let's party!"  ~ Robin Williams

The Ultimate Soundtrackers Guide To Trailwalker

37 Frames - Trace & Dee — Wed, 24 Mar 2010 02:49:23 +0900

We're bombarded, on a daily basis, naturally, with questions from our legions of Soundtrack fans around the globe...with "Just how do you do it?" "How do you train for a 100kms of tantrums", "Any tips?" "Hardcore survival tactics?" "How can we do what you do?"

Succinctly, it's very hard to do what we do.

But in a more metered and explanatory response we've decided (to sell-out and) create our very own original series of instructional "How to Trailwalking Japan" videos.

Here is the first in what will undoubtedly be a worldwide serial sensation. Loosely titled "Footloose", working title "Kenny L, we're sorry". Take it all in.

This could be all yours for the low price of 5995yen.

We'll pay you.

Nothing's Gonna Stop Us Now... ultimate chick flick tunes and more.

37 Frames - Trace & Dee — Tue, 16 Mar 2010 21:06:47 +0900

"Without music, life would be a mistake." ~ Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzche

While some may think of our theme song as Walk Idiot Walk by The Hives, we prefer to follow in the footsteps of Cake and cover our own version of I Will Survive. ... Here are some Soundtracks songs inspired by Trailwalker.

We will also be channelling a lot of Blind Melon and really, really hoping for No Rain. More to come...

Dirty Girls..

37 Frames - Trace & Dee — Mon, 15 Mar 2010 16:33:19 +0900

Today's Trailwalker inspired track:
Bring it On ~ Lenny Kravitz

Today's Trailwalker inspired quote:
"I don't see much sense in that" said Rabbit.
"No", said Pooh humbly. "There isn't. But there was going to be when I began it".

Date: March 13th 2010
Where: Checkpoint 4 - Checkpoint 6 (Ashinoko Camping Village to Yagurasawa Public Home)
Totals: 28.7km - 8:38 hours

Checkpoints 4 to 5... Soundtracks data from the Garmin (although might be just slightly off due to a recharging incident in the mud sludge).

Onto the trail. We tackled CP4-6 on Saturday. We were so excited that the weather was looking fine for a fab tramp through the woods. Tenki page forecasted 18C for Sat. We were so ready. We were pumped. Em and Erin arrived in Sagiboobs Friday eve for a sleep over. We tried to get to bed early, but, that of course was useless. So we decided to have a team meeting which degenerated quite quickly and got completely off track as usual. We are sure that looking at our photies, our crafty projects and scrapbooks will certainly come in handy at some point along the 100km. Anyway we finally got to bed, slept for about 3 hours, then got up for the drive to our nemesis CP6 where we would drop off the car.

Naturally Savvy went berko the entire way and would not take us anywhere near our destination. We think she's blown a fuse. If we ignore her she usually comes up with the right route eventually, but Saturday she was in a foul mood and wouldn't even let us input an address. Thank goodness she's going in for shaken this week. She can just sit there and think about what she's done...So we had to follow a regular map, in one of those - what do you call them???, oh yes, a refidex... and we got there eventually with few deviations. We should know the way by heart as we've been here so many times...lost, in the rain, and otherwise. So hello Yagurasawa Public House. We've missed you.

Arrived at 7.22am. Mysterious wet spots deposited in the back seat. Weird. Leaky camelback, probably... We also, naturally, just missed the 7.21am bus down to Sekimoto. Em almost got on a happy sightseeing tour bus that was leaving at the same time with some lovely new friends. We had to stop her. Waited another 30mins for the bus. Waited at the wrong bus stop but were soon put on the right course by a very kind driver. Off to Sekimoto. Was going to grab a taxi to CP4 but it would have been over 10,000yen so we took the train and then another bus. Erin went rogue bear-back riding at Daiyuuzan Eki as we paid homage to Kintaro, the symbol of Hakone, known for his strength and courage. We hoped we could channel some of both.

Hungry again by 8.10am. Snacks on the train.

The weather at Odawara was fine and sunny. Grabbed some food at the conveni, met several others teams getting ready to head out on the course, then took our own bus up to Togendai. Slept most of the way as Em played scrabble and were delighted to wake-up to Hakone in the fog. Thick and cold and snow still on the ground. Wet. Brrrrr. Em then pointed out every high-tea, cafe and restaurant establishment along the way and how much more enticing those options would be compared to a 1200m amble up a big hill in these conditions. We agreed. Off the bus at Togendai, used the facilities and hit the course. Bit nippy but we had a ball and talked the first flat 6km following the golf course. Marveled at the newness and whiteness of Erin's shoes. She put on her new gators. Surely, we didn't need them. We made friends with several golfers along the way and had to stop ourselves, seriously, from stealing one of those amazing remote-controlled golf buggy's. Plus we pondered question of the day, "Why are all the golf caddies old ladies... and why do they wear towels on their heads..."? Deep stuff.

Made it to the start of the hiking trail. And got ready to face Myjingo-bingo again. I'd like to say we've missed you. But I know, I haven't. And she was ready for us. Pay-back for the hurling and BM's of just under a year ago. But with music in our hearts and our dancing shoes on we gingerly headed up. 1 meter in. Hello mud. Hello snow. It was bog hill.

You'd think after all the training we'd finally get the perfect 'kit' together. But without gators, sealskinz socks, anything remotely related to gortex, we were a muddy, dirty bunch within minutes. But onward and upward. Let the nonsense begin. Feet were blocks of ice because of the snow. 11km in Erin mentioned in passing that perhaps we should have considered Heather's advice about wearing plastic bags over our socks, tucked into our shoes. And perhaps we would have, if it had been brought up a little earlier... when we weren't standing in mud and ice up to our knees. But next time, indeed we will take on Heather's advice. Seriously. Here are some links we have since found about tackling the wet feet scenario...here, here and here. Because more than likely this part of the course will not dry out in a month...Snow and mud, mud and snow. We slipped and slided our way along. Had some peanut butter sando's in the shadow of the peak. Danced a bit. Ate. Laughed a lot.

Erin's shoes no longer white.

Made the scramble to the rocky top then almost promptly got blown off. Trace is having a few equilibrium issues being some 60kgs lighter than the previous decade and half of her life...We almost lost her. It was gale force up there. A bit scary, really. Mount Fuji was enveloped in clouds, but there somewhere. We started the trek down. If only we'd had a toboggan or at least some cardboard we could have made light work of the process and got there in half the time. Fell a bit. Nice brown backsides. Pretty. Knees felt like crap, socks and shoes soaking but we finally made it to CP5 incredibly on track, time wise. Yes, Trace has made us a very impressive schedule to try and at least keep us half way on schedule towards finishing within the 48 hours. If we can stick to it even slightly we have a chance of making it.Yippee. Looking good as we toileted and cleaned up. Nice hair and side wings.

Snack time. What it's all about. We now know we have the best team ever as Erin surprised us all with treats. She had carried the yummiest little cakes the whole way for us. We LOVE you...They went quickly. Giving us the energy we needed to keep going. Perhaps more so for Trace than us as she emodied her inner 'crane' and cracked us up with our required series of airborne stretching photos commemorating our brief stop at Daiyuuzan Saijo-ji. Time to hoof it to 6. Easy walk up the forestry road. Dusk had come and headlights were on. We created our very own Hollywood spotlights and cat-walked the 6k in a horizontal line to the turn off. We were fierce.

We burst through the woods into the charming tea fields, as a bat almost took my head off. Still talking. In training to keep the volume down. We promise. All limping a bit and very sore feet balls. But Savvy was just across the river and we soon found she was waiting and over her huff. For a bit.

Took a wack photo of Em. Freaky.

Time for an onsen. And without Sav's help we finally made it to one of our favorite hot springs back in Hakone Yumoto - Tenzan Tohji-kyo. We were very dirty girls. But without too many faux pas we finally cleaned up at bit and soaked for a good while. Feeling good but still with sore feet. All in all a good learning experience. We've never had any hotspots or blisters but in these soggy conditions we'd have to troubleshoot it for sure during the event. Lots to reflect on and prepare for. Bring it.

Checkpoint 5 to 6... Soundtracks data from the Garmin:

Homeward bound and very tired. An epic day. Not enough words to describe it (although I've given it a good shot for a Monday, I think). What we can't say in prose we make up for in pictures & vid.

Enjoy the nonsensical highlights.

Looking forward to next weekend - Start to CP4 with an overnight stay at Lake Ashi. Good times, great memories await. And bad hair for sure.

The stats: 1640m climbed, 2064m downhill, 2 gators...4 people, 38 days til Trailwalker.

The Trail...in brief...

37 Frames - Trace & Dee — Mon, 15 Mar 2010 12:39:05 +0900

Today's Trailwalker inspired track:
Here I Go Again ~ Whitesnake

Today's Trailwalker inspired quote:
"Organization doesn't really accomplish anything. Plans don't accomplish anything either. Theories of management don't much matter. Endeavors succeed or fail because of the people involved. Only by attracting the best people will you accomplish great deeds." ~ Colin Powell

It's been a trail inspired week. We had our first briefing session last Thursday evening in Hiroo and are delighted to discover that indeed "prune" will ONLY be available at check point 3. Yes, just about when we will need some movement. Marnie has covered us all in pink post-it notes as she tries hopelessly with Emma to get us into some kind of shape, organisational wise. Good luck. We still don't know what we are going to wear. Em lost it and almost got us disqualified upon learning at the finish she she can bring our food and rent a tree... We have no idea what will be waiting for us at the end. We are in closed-door discussions at the moment regarding if and what costumes we might don to cross the finish line in. We will consider serious suggestions thoughtfully and reward our dear fans with possibly some red frogs, if the support team hasn't eaten them all... So it was a fun evening and we got to catch up with some old friends and re-connect with the amazing Oxfam team. We love what you do and we promise to do our best not to cause too much chaos.

Marnie is currently canvasing all of Tokyo for donations - we LOVE what you do! Yep, she's got the donation box out...We are almost at our target!!! Thank you all so much! Of course there's still plenty of time to donate to this wonderful cause. You can sponsor us per kilometer or in a lump sum. Big or small, it all helps and it will make you feel good...and get our butts moving when the meltdowns start.

March Marching...

37 Frames - Trace & Dee — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 12:48:15 +0900

Snow in March. It's got a month to get warm or I'm not walking...Seriously. We're done chilaxing after our weekend Soundtracker jaunt up to Zao, where actually between the hot spring mania we caused and the general raucous and rule breaking, we got quite a bit accomplished. Yes, we talked, and drank and probably planned a lot. But, you know, we don't quite remember what. A bit like the Soundtracks version of The Hangover. But it was certainly a very good plan at the time. That's for sure.

Em, Erin and Marnie are now fully fledged, passionate followers of our "highway rest-stop circle". You all know how much we love a good rest-stop and the spectacular array of goods one can acquire there. You could leave me at the automated coffee vending machine for hours. Really, my coffee is on video. I can see it being made inside the machine. Hello Square - still a fave.

So up in Zao we spa-ed in the milky sulfuric baths. Which clarified more than once our "down-wind" rule. For the rest of my life I will never, ever, ever get over the site of Em, Erin and Tee sitting in those 3 hot spring pots at Shinzaemon-no-yu with towels wrapped around their heads, bows at the front. If only it hadn't been so crowded I could have snuck the camera in...next time. We cafe-ed the days away, put up with my eye sty and marveled at Trace's ability (the photographer) to be in every photo.

Nat was clearly with us on the first day when there was nothing but fog. We climbed mountains - rope-ways count right?

Snow monsters had clearly "fell off" as we'd been informed. Nothing left but sticks. There was no way they'd be back. We'll catch them next year.

We did some cross-training on Sunday, after Em's magnificent nude snow-diving performance Saturday eve from onsen to treacherous snow embankment and back. She inspired us all, so we went public (yet fully clothed) in a nice snowy plot somewhere in downtown Zao. It was good. It was fun. We hurt a lot now.

A good 2 days of non-stop laughs. Which is exactly the kind of preparation we need considering the nonsense that usually follows us. Team-work training. Once you've shared an onsen together, you've shared all. Literally.

So we're done with the easy stuff and we hit the trail again this coming Saturday, rain, hail or shine (actually shine only, if I have my way). Doing CP4-6... 27.5km. Hopefully I will not have inhaled every foodstuff in sight and have to endure the consequences of the last amble up this hill. Erin's testing the new shoes. She's gone all Montrail Mountain Masochist on her bad self... Woo Hoo! They look fab.

So there you have it - The Attacker, The Streaker, The Winged Horse and The Masochist. What a team. Will keep you all updated.

Many, many thanks to SUE/MUM for her lovely DONATION and for thinking of us so much! We walk for you!

Here we go...

37 Frames - Trace & Dee — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 23:21:18 +0900

"Sometimes the road less traveled is less traveled for a reason." - Jerry Seinfeld

And so the official countdown to TRAILWALKER starts. What with our epic marathon attempt oh-so-OVER, with no orange ropes in sight we are so fired up for some serious hiking hilarity.

But before that it's time for some full-on chilaxing as the Soundtracks head up to Zao this weekend for a last little snowy sojourn. Can't wait to get to Pension Stella - we had to choose it - most favorite Seinfeld episode ever. So with muscle relaxants well & truly packed, camera's charged and hot spring wabi-sabi ready to be destroyed we hit the road to hit the slopes. Was looking forward to seeing the Juyho, the famous Zao Snow Monters. But we've just been informed by the pension owner that...

"It is good condition about ski area. But I must tell you about snow monsters. They are fell off, because it was very hot in last week. It is snowing today and yesterday, but I cannot speak that snow monster will come back or not."

We hope they come back, since they fell off. There will be laughs.

Then that's it. And we're training for the remainder of March and April on the course. Upcoming: Checkpoints 4-6 (27.5km) on the 13th, followed by Start to CP4 on the following vernal equinox weekend. Hello Spring.

Natty's got her lovely new fluro shoes. Aptly named Nike Pegasus. See her trot around Mt Cootha each weekend in her Choose Life t-shirt.

We give much LOVE and many THANKS to our recent donors Jill (you're fabulously awesome!) - and the Snailwalkers, a fellow team also challenging their sanity by attempting TW for a second time. Your blog is truly entertaining. We LOVE YOUR WORK! (And want to join your training league...) Thanks so much to all of our donors. We are getting closer and closer to our TARGET!!! We are now at 650 pounds. 65% there! How fabulous is that?

49 days til Trailwalker...

Better get a steppin'...

37 Frames - Trace & Dee — Tue, 23 Feb 2010 12:43:36 +0900

“Is it time to go home yet? I keep clicking these damn shoes, but nothing happens” - Robin Hecht

Before a complete regaling of our latest trailwalker progress, we pause to give MUCH LOVE, BIG HUGS and TINA TURNER inspired dance moves to our latest donors. The gorgeous Peggy has thrown down a challenge and wants to be the biggest donor. Go beat her! We dare you! Thanks Peggy. Then Natty's friend Frankie and the always fabulous Naz, Cor and Jimmy have blown us away with their generosity. Thank you all so much. Your support is our soundtrack. You are with us every step.

And stepping we are, (or limping, as is Dee's case right now with a badly mangled calf muscle) as we get all sorted with our TW footwear. And the ONLY place to do this is at ART SPORTS in Shibs. Go see the very kakkoi Uichyama-san and he will get you situated. He may not let you have the pink shoes you want, but we've never had a blister in the hundreds of kms since we left our tootsies in his very capable hands.

Dee was always going to be an attacker, and it was in the stars that Trace would one day be a streaker. The stuff of dreams.

So this past weekend while Nat was conquering Cootha, we introduced Erin and Em to Uichyama-san. Long gone are the days of the old foot measure. At ART SPORTS they get you in super-high-tech boxy thing which scans your feet. The print out then tells your very own foot story. Interesting, enlightening stuff. The staff then recommend the best shoes for your event/sport based on your scan. Listen to them, even if the selection ends up channeling your inner bumble-bee. New stock will be in next week. Erin will get shoes then.

On to TW planning as we demolished okonomiyaki then made our way through every cafe in Shibuya. Finally ending up somewhere in the backstreets behind the Chelsea Hotel, in a french cafe with pots and pots and pots of coffee and heavenly dessert. The only way to train.

Went through prep stuff and support team bits and pieces and toying with the idea of a little fund-raising affair in early April. Naturally, you are all invited.

6 days to the Marathon. 60 days to Trailwalker.

The snowy trail...

37 Frames - Trace & Dee — Wed, 17 Feb 2010 01:48:03 +0900

"A fall of snow is not only an event, it is a magical event. You go to bed in one kind of world and wake up in another quite different, and if this is not enchantment then where is it to be found?" - J.B. Priestly

A magical Valentine’s weekend. Snow and sweet drenched. Trailwalker training in our very own way.

Half the Soundtracks consuming copious amounts of chokky (carb-loading is a totally valid form of training…) The half other skiing away - carving up the slopes. Maybe not so much magic “snow” for the teams out on the TW course trying to train. Check the TW snow warnings here.

Erin and Em went north to Nagano for a spot of skiing. We went south for some drive-by photo fun, urging Em via the iPhone not to jump out of helicopters to snowboard down mountains. We need a support team with no broken bones. (But if you do - Trace will be there to jump with you in a nanosecond...)

We also cautioned Erin, in light of commemorating the opening of the Winter Games, not to snowboard through the old Olympic rings Hakuba way. Although that would certainly be some photo op.

Embracing the Olympic spirit, we reflect on the make-up of the Soundtracks. 1/4 Canadian, the rest Australian, with a myriad of nations supporting us from the raucous sidelines, the trail and in Savvy. While the Aussies are in the majority I think we can all agree for our TW turnout that we will not be wearing anything like the America's Cup inspired look the Australian contingent tried to make work. Canada, you were way cooler. We acquiesce.

Brings back memories of 1998 when The Soundtracks and relatives of The Soundtracks tore up Nagano with our own Olympic fever… ice hockey tix, love hotels, scalpers, bobsledding, temple faux pas and more memories than you can possibly fit into 12 hours - just on 12 short years ago. The atmosphere was electric if not completely beyond freezing, which somehow led to Dee getting terribly ill and at least 6 of us ending up in the Jungle Room of a love hotel in the Nagano backstreets. Don’t even ask. But it was brilliant. And the stories have since taken on a life of their own. And the photos taken will never, ever, ever see the light of day on this blog or any other. We have always wondered if a secret camera was hidden in all those vines. On further reflection, if there had been, it would probably have been the most hilarious porno ever…Ahh natsukashi.

Back to the present and following our (Dee & Tee’s) little romp in the snow, in true marathon training/trailwalker training form… we hit the liquid calories and headed to Gordon Ramsey's for free-flowing champagne brunch on Sunday. *Giggle. Giggle.*

In Natty news she’s got her new shoes and tearing up the streets in Brissy. We can’t wait for you to get here. (Don't let a little lightening and flooding stop you Natster. Show your dedication please...) But you are so here in spirit as are all the wonderful, supportive, often comical notes, sage wisdom and advice we’re getting on a daily basis. All our Soundtrack fans – Thank you truly.

Special thanks to Kai and Clare – our favorite 6 year olds and their Dee and Trace inspired creations. Beautiful pictures. Yes, we think you're awesome too. We certainly love being drawn so expertly to scale. Rocking, hot bods. As skinny and glamorous as all that. You have made us happy beyond belief. Love your work.

Kai's masterpiece...

And Clare's work of art.

We're feeling the love.

And MASSIVE hugs and ENORMOUS love and thanks to all those who have so kindly donated us through Just Giving. Thank you so much for your unexpected and oh, so generous support. Linda, Nienke, Kate & Joe, Maxie, Chrissi and Cis - you are beyond FABULOUS!!!

Please don't forget to spread the word about donating to the Soundtracks cause. Helping out in some of the poorest countries in the world - Cambodia, Philippines, Sudan, Laos, India, South Africa. Having traveled to most of these countries and seen the poverty and devastation firsthand, we are so happy to be able to be contributing in a very small way.

More training coming our way. If we can ever get out of the futons. Brrrrr. 12 days to the MARATHON. 66 days to TRAILWALKER.

Back up and running... In more ways than one.

37 Frames - Trace & Dee — Thu, 11 Feb 2010 07:43:41 +0900

Happy National Foundation Day, Japan!! Today we celebrate the founding of the nation and the imperial line by legendary first emperor, Jimmu. With that bit of fabulous news, we're happy to announce that Justgiving has worked out it's issues and can now accept donations online again.

Huge SHOUT OUTS and THANK YOUS to Jane, Kate and Charles who have all generously donated to the cause. We will especially miss the very fabulous Charles and all the Norton Fighters out on the course this year. Bumped into Norton team members last year while training and they were always there with words of encouragement, inspiration and support. We hope to pay it forward this year.

Back to training... aka carb-loading while watching Hayley on the Biggest Loser. And a snowbound Valentines weekend for most of the Soundtrackers. Will keep you posted.