Costa Rica: The Coastal Challenge 2009
Day 3 (long version):
Jacqueline Windh / 04.02.2009
This was the first of our three really big days on this race, with a 52.5 km route that includes 2450 m cumulative ascent (and, of course, descent - after a two days, of quad-burn, the downhills are actually much harder than the uphills). The time cut-off was at PC4, around 44 km, at 5pm - a very mentally challenging cut-off because it was so close to the end of the route: you could possibly make it almost the whole way and then get cut off. This was Expedition category’s longest distance of the race, but it was a bit of a rest day for Adventure categpry racers, who were doing a 15 km run on the beach and along the road.
The terrain was far from easy, with the first part of the day spent working our way up-river from Domincal (the town I’d spent the last week acclimatizing in, on the idyllic wave-washed and palm-fringed Pacific coast). A short run on gravel took us out of town, then we decended to the river bed (isn’t great getting your feet wet at the beginning of a long day?) The riverbed was mainly cobbled and boulders, where we could walk upstream for a few hundred m, then wade across to the opposite side to follow the next boulder bar for a few hundred m, then wade back again. This continued for 5 km. In most places, the water not more than knee deep, but occasionally it was waist-deep, and in one section we had to carefully traverse a steep rock-ledge alongside a pool, then finally jump in the pool and swim to the top of it.
I had felt exhausted at the start line (5:50 am, in the semi-dark, having got about 4.5 hours of hammock-tim but pretty much no sleep) and just couldn’t imagine doing anything beyond a walking pace. But I knew that, on this long day (I’ve never gone more than 42 km in a day before, and that was without elevation) I’d have to make as good time as possible in the morning because, by the second half of the day, I would be reduced to a steady plod (well, hopefully steady). When the clock started, I’d broken into a slow jog and, amazingly, it felt OK! I kept the pace up to the riverbed, and here is where I really made some good time. I am really good on rough terrain - and Robyn had lent me a trekking pole. That added stability through the slippery boulders and repeatedly crossing the current had me booting ahead, and I passed a lot of people on the river section.
SleepMonsters
