The Coastal Challenge
Day One; Settling In
Lisa de Speville (Photo: Sergio Pucci.) / 18.01.2005
The 77 runners that started The Coastal Challenge at 10h00 this morning have completed Stage 1. Charles Bedley (Toronto, Canada) finished ahead of the pack, completing the 30km marked-route in 2h18. The last runners completed the stage in around 5h30.On Saturday afternoon we drove from the Best Western Irazu in San Jose, Costa Rica’s capital city, to Tamarindo beach on the west coast for the pre-race celebrations; dinner and local festivities – including a bullfight (quite unlike the Spanish bullfight where the bull comes off second-best) and traditional dancing. Actually, I skipped the festivities – hearing all about it this morning – as I spent the afternoon at the airport looking for my luggage, which had failed to arrive on my flight on Friday night. I did have my running shoes – on my feet – and fortunately walked away with my gear on Saturday afternoon.
Rule No. 1
On this, I’ve learned a valuable lesson ... Always travel with Day 1’s necessities in your carry-on. Two other runners, including Charlie Engle – who is tagged as a race favorite also arrived luggage-less but had adhered to Lesson #1. I found their crates at the airport but was not allowed to exit with them (quite understandable ...).
We went back later to try again, with less success. Charlie, a size 13, managed to borrow size 12 shoes for today and we’re hoping that his crate will catch up in the next day. He placed second today and has found better fitting shoes for tomorrow.
Tamarindo is a 4hr-odd drive from San Jose and as the busses departed after 22h00 from the function for the race start venue in Marbella, the runners only got in after 01h00. But, with the start at 10h00, there was (in theory) plenty of time for sleep and relaxation. The downside is that many here are early-risers, so the camp was buzzing by 06h00.
There are two sleeping options: tent or hammock. I’m of the hammock school – preferring the supportive swing of the hammock to the hard earth. Also, in a hammock you sleep with your feet elevated – the perfect remedy to tired, swollen feet. It takes some getting used to – sleeping is a hammock is decidedly different to spending a lazy Sunday afternoon swinging in the breeze.
With the start this morning at 10h00, we had plenty of time to eat breakfast (scrambled eggs, cereal, a black bean and rice thing and fruit were available), pack our crates, dissemble camp and sit around talking to fellow runners.See All Event Posts
