mt. fuji -- the great escapade 1/2

it was but a plan, and i got excited by it. but as the time drew closer, the excitement became fear... there were just so many bad news... but after everything, it was an achievement for sure...

so many problems on the week before the plan. it's as if fate was telling us not to go. could you believe that i rendered around 20 hours of over time on that week???? our boss was also apprehensive on it. we have mentioned about the plan way earlier but he was fine. of course, many things are still bound to happen. and knowing us, we cancel almost all the trips we have planned. it dawned on him that the plan will push through only when we started borrowing stuff. i am not quite sure though on which he was more concerned on: was he seriously concerned on our well-being or was he thinking only of the fact that no one will be bringing in the money if something bad happens... i just hope it is the first... but with the words that transpired, one can easily judge it is the latter. it also seems that he doesn't believe in us. this only fueled more my determination to succeed.

just right before the dreaded day, there were outstanding number of calls. trouble came after trouble but nothing can stop us. i have jogged for months as training and i don't want to put that to waste. but something inside me was scared, what if fate was really trying to stop us??? at that night, we enjoyed our lives. we watched a movie (GI Joe) and dined out. we even drank wine. it seemed like the "last" supper. but i know it won't be... we went home unsure of the future but with burning competitive spirits... (ows....)

morning was great. with only 5 hours of sleep, off we went to the bus stop to meet the others. oh, i'm still too sleepy: we had a dress rehearsal last night before sleeping at 2am. the bus was incredibly fun, but i just has to sleep. i woke up and it was foggy. and so cold.. at 12noon.

then it went clear...

and foggy once more...

so off we went at 2pm. no turning back.

THE GREAT TREK UP MT. FUJI IS STARTING AT THE FIFTH STATION....

...2,305 METERS ABOVE SEA LEVEL. August 15th, 2009...