Inspiration

Inspiration - noun

1. the process of being mentally stimulated to do or feel something.

What is inspiration? Well for me it was that moment of realising that a family member had gone to war to serve and protect our country while leaving behind loved ones. He headed into the unknown where he could have been killed, maimed or tortured.


This kind of inspiration is what gets an idea into your head and pushes you to take the challenge. Keeping that in mind this is what I have learned this week.....


It's been a couple of months now and while I'm still inspired by my Grandfather sometimes it helps to look elsewhere for new sources.
I thought that reading the Kokoda book and thinking about my Grandfather, Great Grandfather & Great Uncles would be enough inspiration for this whole journey, but no, this became to familiar and I started to lose focus.


I lost focus last Sunday and started feeling a little sorry for myself while trudging up a hill. That mindset changed on Sunday night when we happened to be watching 60 minutes and we saw a story about a young lady who was caught in a bushfire while running a marathon and was burned beyond recognition. Turia is amazing, working everyday to get back to normal life, she has been my inspiration this week while I have been training.


This has made this week the most satisfying, I worked harder in my gym classes and walked the 1000 Steps twice this morning, my body is aching but I am feeling very optimistic about my progress.
So I must say thank you to Turia for sharing her story, she has enormous courage, determination and resilience. As the next few weeks pass I will still think of her and look out for other stories to keep my motivation up - just remember there is always someone worse off than yourself so stop wallowing and get on with it!!!!
If you have time please watch Turia's story and take inspiration from it as I have.
Turia Pitt's story of courage resilience & determination

Dandenongs - Kokoda Memorial Walk, 1000 Steps

The great men in our families
From the list of family members below who served in World War I or World War II, I was lucky to have known nearly all of them. My Mum's Grandfather & my Mum's Father both passed away before I was born.
I have fond memories of my Great Grandfather, my Pa, Jeremy's Great Uncle & my Great Uncle.


World War I
     David Smith Tulloch - Great Grandfather (Mum's maternal Grandfather)
     Great Grandpa was part of the 3rd Light Horse Regiment and fought in Egypt and then in Gallipoli.
     3rd Light Horse Regiment - WWI
     First World War Embarkation Roll - David Smith Tulloch
     The AIF Project
   

     John Francis Lawless - Jeremy's Great Uncle (Mum's Uncle)
     First World War Embarkation Roll - John Francis Lawless

World War II

    Frank Edmund Semmens - Grandfather (Mum's Father)

    Grandpa was in the Royal Navy and fought in New Guinea.

    WWII Nominal Roll - Frank Edmund Semmens

Grandpa - 1944 age 19 yrs

     James William Thomas Rothe - Great Uncle (Dad's Uncle)
     WWII Nominal Roll - James William Thomas Rothe

     John Albert Rothe - (Dad's Uncle)
     Uncle John fought New Guinea.
     WWII Nominal Roll - John Albert Rothe

     John Leslie Stone - (Dad's maternal Grandfather)
     Great Grandpa who was from Hamilton, Victoria was a Rat of Tobruk.
     WWII Nominal Roll - John Leslie Stone

Campaign and Service Medals are:

The 1939-1945 Star

The Africa Star

The Defence Medal

The War Medal 1939-1945

The Australian Service Medal 1939-1945

The Tobruk Siege 1941 (not a sanctioned medal)

     Denzil Norman Rothe - (Dad's Father)
     WWII Nominal Roll - Denzil Norman Rothe

If you want to look up your family members on the WWI & II roles here are the links,

World War II Nominal Roll

Australian War Memorial - WWI

9 weeks to go & how is the training going?

People keep asking how is the training going, well it's going ok. Most people's comments have been 'you must be super fit', well yes..........fit but not super fit yet. Still not at the level we would like to be, but in saying that there is still 9 weeks to go and we don't want to peak to early, lose interest or burn ourselves out. Feeling stronger in the legs and mentally getting better prepared.

Last week was a great week of training, running stairs 2 nights a week, a couple of gym classes and an 11km hike through the Dandenongs on Sunday. This hike was good, I was able to use my hiking poles for the first time, slight blister on my thumb, but I did find they helped, especially going downhill when it was slippery.

I was feeling emotionally drained at the start of this week though, so Jeremy rode the exercise bike for a bit on Monday night and I had a night off training. I feel like I've invested quite a bit of emotion into the whole thing so far and with ANZAC Day last week and a lot of war coverage on the TV it was draining.

Reading the book is extremely inspiring but at the same time it is so sad. I've had to put the book to the side every now and again as I can't bring myself to read it for this reason. It's a well written book and I am definitely glad to be reading it, I downloaded the audio book version and we listen to it on our headphones while running up and down stairs which helps to push you along.

Gym class last night straight after work and then I walked home, stairs tonight, gym tomorrow and Friday and then we're hoping to do a full day trek on Sunday somewhere in Victoria. Still haven't decided where yet, so if you have any suggestions let me know.  This is pretty much how the training will go until June when we amp everthing up a bit.

Found out last week that they do a Kokoda Race Challenge to see how quickly someone can do the trek in.
Keep in mind we will be trekking for 8 days, a colleague did the trek in 3 days and the world record holder did it last year in 17:50:33, OMG that is amazing! And crazy!

Here's some more records for the trek

http://www.kokodatrail.com.au/halloffame.html