La vie pure et l'ultra-paradis

Yes, the title is French. Yes, this is about TCC again. My 8th post on this adventure. A never-ending race report...

A long-due post although it did take a couple of months after coming back from the Coastal Challenge for me to write this ultimate article on my journey through Costa Rica, in French this time. And a few more weeks for it to be published in the ultrafondus magazine (issue number 51, April 2008).
I did not want to just translate one of my post, or even the article which I wrote for UltraRunning magazine. It has another flavor, a content which aims at attracting the francophone and overseas audience to come for some ultra-tourism in Central America. And, among many other good reasons, to take advantage of the strong Euro! The format is a series of thematic snap shots illustrated with post cards.
The article is the result of great team work, leveraging pictures from Andres and Tim and the talents of Romuald, ultrafondus's graphist, for the layout. Andres was the event official photographer and Tim the event director and founder.
For the Francophone readers and the other ones who are not afraid of this foreign language, I have posted the entire article on line (thanks to the ultrafondus magazine team for sharing).
For more information (and praises!) on this magazine, you can read this earlier post.

Ironically, I share this story about pure and cool life, at a time I need to remind myself about being happy and focusing on the present moment. The injury from last week 50K race at Skyline last week worsen during the week. Friday was finally better, then the pain came back on Saturday, making me limping. The quads got quite damaged and I believe they have hard time eliminating dead blood cells and other waste from the edema. At least the swallowing is almost gone and I am close to have regained full flexibility and being able to bend the knee as much as before. But not quite there (15-20 degrees still missing) so it is too early to resume running. When I should be training full speed, two weeks before Headlands 50K (the US 50K trail nationals) and three weeks before the French 100K road championships. As for work, I am still wondering how the Big Blue elephant will scoop us at the end of the year. Some people on both sides claim there is no reason to worry, yet, I can't prevent my analytical skills to kick in and make me think. And worry... But, Pura Vida, right? Besides, the family flew back home from Spain this week and everything is wonderful on this end. So life is perfect after all, Pura Vida!

Hope you enjoy your summer, wherever you are. And a special hello to the ultrafondus and all the TCC 2008 participants!

Pura Vida in UltraRunning magazine

First, a quiz: do you recognize the three runners on the cover? Read down to the end for the answer...

This week I received my issue of UltraRunning. With ultrafondus, they are my two favorite magazines. This issue is special: there is a long section on adventure running, a sport I discovered this winter. The section features several remote and multi-stage races, including a 1-page article on The Coastal Challenge by... me!

As the course change every year I tried to give the article a generic spin, conveying the philosophy of the event, rather than going back to the details I already provided you with in my series of post on the TCC (not tired about it yet? ;-).

For instance, I start with the following very special cocktail recipe:

Mix 130 miles of running through the Costa Rican jungle, 7 stages, a handful of micro-climates, breathtaking views, top quality food, ultra running camaraderie, a pinch of competition, outstanding logistics, rustic but non-dry camping. Shake for 6 days and you will get a memorable Coastal Challenge cocktail. No counter indication!

This is also known as the Pura Vida Cocktail, the ultra and healthy way, of course! Read the magazine for more...
And now, ultrafondus presses me to write a much longer article to be published overseas. Like I had not enough with a two jobs, blogging and many other activities... Patience and tenacity...

This is also a special issue in another way: UltraRunning is starting a series of articles featuring running clubs, kicking it off with... The Stevens Creek Striders, my running club in Cupertino (I'm also a member of the Association Sportive des Vétérans de Paris)! Here we are, manning the Last Chance aid station at mile 43 on the Western States course, in June 2005 (I was the co-captain with Bob and Marsha).
And one year later, same place, celebrating 25 years of service to the race.Thanks to the Striders I can join USA T&F (Track and Field, Pacific Association Chapter) and compete in the US; thanks to the Vétérans de Paris, I can register with the FFA (Fédération Française d'Athlétisme) and compete in France (although far less). I work for a global company (900 people, 15 offices in 9 countries), and my running business is global too! That said, there are so many new places I still want to visit and run at/in.

Yes, Farther, an endless dream...

Once more, Pura Vida to you all!

PS - The response to the quiz: Zeke Tiernan, Kyle Skaggs (the brother of Erik who came in 2nd at Way Too Cool this year) and... yes, Tony Krupicka (you should have known if you read my American River post last week!). Kyle and Tony are on their way to something very unique: both winning the Moab's Red Hot 50K (0r 55K actually). A tie, setting two course records at once! By the way, Kyle is 23 and Anton 24 so they have a huge "Farther Faster potential" ahead of them... (Need to patent this expression and pick a unit. Any suggestion? ;-)
PS: adding links to the scans of both articles in this issue of UltraRunning (April 2008):

1. A Pura Vida experience Experience
2. The Stevens Creek Striders
   

TCC 2008: the race report

After the pictures and the videos, here is my race report. I hear some people saying: "at last..."

First, another premiere in my blog, a poll: should I count the 7 stages as 7 races, or just one for the whole week? What do you think? You can answer on the right side of the page. Personally, I'll put 7 different lines in my log. And I think that each stage was worth a race, even the short and fast 11K time trial. Actually, especially this one.

Back to my report, I already told you that I didn't bring my laptop with me to write daily updates. Actually, it took me three days before I was accustomed with the Pura Vida rhythm and I took a piece of paper to write down some of my recollections of the first stages. But it's mostly on my long flight back home that I wrote down my notes, 13 pages, of small handwriting as some have seen down there. Once home, Agnès first proposed to transcript/type them for me to help me focusing on my work. Later though, during one of our family dinners, we hold a "family council" on this matter and the consensus was that this was too much work, and too much details anyway.

So I'll keep the detailed journal for the scrapbook that Agnès has started during my trip, which includes all the beautiful messages which many of you have left on the TCC website, on the Race Message Board.

1. The competition

I'm sure that, looking at the leaderboard during the week, you all wonder what happened and how I lost the pole position on the 5th day. Before flying to Costa Rica, I had looked at the participants list and figured out the favorite this year was Kurt. Kurt lives in Costa Rica but is from Germany where he still works for 4 to 5 months a year, posing marble, a tough physical job. His family (wife and 2 daughters) actually traveled and camped with us all week as the kids were on vacation that week in Costa Rica. As such a favorite, I was therefore not surprised to see Kurt taking off really fast at the start. However he was first caught up and passed by Steve, from Colorado, then Javier, his teammate from Team Costa Rica.

Steve, I, Luc (Team UK), Chris (Team California), Greg (light blue bandanna, Team California), Dominic (Singapore), Gideon (Team UK), Gerhard and Kurt (Team Costa Rica) - Photo by J. Andrés Vargas - www.AdventureandPhoto.com

Javier finished 3rd last year, on the same course/route. I passed Kurt and Steve, trying to keep up with Javier in the first steep hill, over the volcano and on a very strenuous and slippery trail. But Javier was really strong and I lost him. When I got to the finish of this first stage, I asked how far I was from him but, to everyone's surprise, the staff had not seen him yet. As a matter of fact, Javier missed a turned a few kilometers from the finish, got lost and arrived at the finish line 47 minutes after me, cold, soaked with the rain, confused and, I bet, very upset. I helped him setting up his tent as he was trembling and shaking in the rain. Another important event of the day in terms of competition is that Kurt badly twisted his ankle on the tortuous downhill, right in front of Steve who heard a bad crack. I was amazed to see him completing the Challenge, Kurt is such a tough (and nice!) man and runner. But it was enough to handicap him and prevent him from competing with us as he was suffering especially in the many downhills. With that, you see that I was somehow lucky to take the lead on the first day. And with this misfortune for the locals, Team Spain took the lead of the team competition. In the evening, Frederic, a French employee at the Ranch, introduced me to Philippe and his wife who live in Costa Rica and were visiting for business. Philippe is the President of the UFE (Union des Français de l'Etranger, or Association of French Abroad), for Costa Rica. He was amazed and amused of finding a French in such a remote location and interviewed me for an article he will publish in the UFE bulletin.

At km 15 of stage 1, after passing over the volcano - Photo by J. Andrés Vargas - www.AdventureandPhoto.com

Day 2 was the toughest stage with several river crossings (several runners drowning in the fast current...), a long climb in a muddy canyon then a lot of fire road in a very windy and sunny section. The heat was getting on us at mid day and I suffered from it and from the lack of sodium, being out of salt (S-caps) by the second checkpoint at km 32. I got really upset with the fact that the aid stations didn't have any salted food and became worried and obsessed with the idea I may hit the wall and experience hyponatremia (I had taken only 4 caps with me and we ran for almost 8 hours).

3 pictures from stage 2 (60 km) - Photo by J. Andrés Vargas - www.AdventureandPhoto.com

Although I collapsed at the finish, on the village soccer field where we set the camp, I was later positively surprised to be only 16 minutes behind David who won this stage, and 14 minutes behind Javier. The following night was our worst one with gusting winds which managed to turn a couple of tents upside down while we were sleeping (or trying to sleep).

Day 3 was a shorter (22K) stage, yet with some technical sections, one of which very muddy, through a National Park. Luc, from Team UK, was ahead of me in that one, a couple of very British cross-country-like kilometers, perfect for him. Javier took the lead early on again in this stage and missed the first turn, again. Fortunately, Kurt was not too far and yelled at us as I was also missing the trail, following Javier and Jose (Team Spain).

Cross-country in the fist half of stage 3 - Photo J. Andrés Vargas - www.AdventureandPhoto.com

The second part of the stage was mostly downhill and very run able. I caught up with Luc and we got passed by Manuel, also from Team Spain. Despite their aggressiveness in this stage, Team Spain lost the pole position to Team Costa Rica that day. I took 3rd, losing less than 4 minutes to Javier. That afternoon and evening we camped next to a farm, for a much quieter night before the early start of day 4 (5:45 am).

The 4th stage was the second most difficult of the week. Less technical than the first two days, but much more heat, early in the morning. We started with a straight 600 meters elevation gain-5K uphill in which Javier put me about 8 minutes by the summit. Going uphill is really is specialty, never walking. By the second control point, corresponding to the end of the Adventure race, at km 19, he had about 10 or 11 minutes on us (David, Luc, Steve and I). The following 6 kilometers were very exposed and I ran some of them with David. A shady section led us to the third control point and I made sure to stop at every creek to water my head and upper body, in anticipation to the last section. David was just on my heels as I left PC3, before a long uphill fire road. Rodrigo, the course designer and director, passed me with his car after the summit and told be the rest was mostly downhill. Yet I had to walk in the rolling sections, suffering from the heat.

Around km 30 of stage 4 - Photo J. Andrés Vargas - www.AdventureandPhoto.com

About one kilometer before the last control point (PC4), I was surprised to catch up with Javier, who was walking slower than me. As I passed him, I encouraged him to follow me as he seemed pretty washed out. What was I thinking? Not only he followed me but actually took off again, not even stopping at PC4. After this last checkpoint, we were promised a surprise in the pre-race briefing, with a river crossing. I was visualizing something like the river crossing at Western States, or even a larger river. I was completely disoriented when I actually ended up in a torrent in a narrow canyon. There was a rope to do some rappel and get in the water which I did, stumbling to stay afloat in the tough current. I then tried to get some directions from the volunteers about where to cross the river and where to go on the other side but they kept being allusive and making gestures urging me to get upstream in the canyon. David, who had "run" this section last year, perfectly knew what was ahead of us and actually pulled me out of the water as I tripped down and almost drowned in a whirlpool, upside down, my head not hitting a rock, fortunately. After almost a mile of such reverse or upstream canyoning, we ended up at a wonderful water fall where I had some time to recoup, while waiting for the other competitors. 15 minutes lost on Javier in 0.8 miles, ouch! Yet, I was happy and thankful to David for having helped me through this section. Without him, it would have been worst.

Perfect trail shoes, except for canyoning... - Photo J. Andrés Vargas - www.AdventureandPhoto.com

My trail shoes were really not appropriate on the slippery rocks but, most importantly, I was way too focused on my idea of crossing the river, I could not reassess the situation and visualize in real time what we had to do in that river. That turned to be an adventure race, something I was obviously not prepared for.

A local tradition: saying goodbye to the Sun (camp of day 4)

The 5th day, Thursday, had two stages. One 11K time trial (course contre la montre in French) in the morning (just for the Expedition runners), and a 22K run to the Ocean at mid day. With several hours of wait and a bus ride in between. The time trial was an unusual format: we started individually, one minute from each other, starting with the last one of the overall ranking in the leaderboard, and finishing with me (still wearing the yellow jersey, so to speak). By km 2 I passed David who started 2 minutes ahead, and we almost missed a left turn that several others had eventually missed, unfortunately, as I will learn afterwards. I kept passing runners and, by km 9, passed Steve and almost caught up with Javier, who saw me coming and accelerated in the subsequent uphill (yes, his specialty...). I took first overall again in this short and fast stage, gaining merely 13 seconds on Javier. For a good sweat as the heat was quickly rising in the morning.

Fast and flying in stage 5a - Photo J. Andrés Vargas - www.AdventureandPhoto.com

For our wait before the second stage of the day, we were entertained by an amazing monkey ruling the central plaza of Canas Dulces, a small and quiet village. The bus finally came around 11am and dropped us in the country side, in the middle of nowhere, for the start of the stage 5b, by... noon. The heat was barely bearable as we were waiting in the shade and it was too much for me to keep up with Javier and David as they were taking the lead early on. With sleeves, gloves and a Buff on my head to fight the UVs, with the sun at its peak of the day, I was way over dressed and suffocated, trying to keep the charge to limit the distance with Javier.

Overdressed in the hot Costa Rican savanna (stage 5b) - Photo J. Andrés Vargas - www.AdventureandPhoto.com

Despite resisting to Gerhard for third place, Javier put me an impressive 19 minutes, enough for him to take the pole position by almost 5 minutes. I was happy for him, congratulated him again yet barely received a smile in return. He was really determined to win, when I was myself here for the experience, having won a free entry thanks to a promotion contest Tim had run with TrailRunner magazine in 2007. It would really have not been decent for me to win the prize money on top of that! Anyway, Javier was stronger and deserved this win after him getting lost in the first stage. At least I had maintained a lot of suspense throughout the week, especially among my family and friends, my "fans!"

There was a lot of incertitude for the seventh stage on day 6, because of the tide. The main options were to (1) start very early and cut some of the reef sections along the sea, or (2) wait in the afternoon to run the whole course designed by Rodrigo. Late on Thursday evening, Rodrigo opted for the first one, my favorite so we won't suffer the heat again and we will have more time to enjoy the resort. We were off by 5:45 am again and it was still dark on the beach. After several kilometers of dirt road I arrived at the aid station to see Javier leaving, so I was about 1 minute behind. We then arrived on a beach were we started about 2 kilometers on the reef, for a delicate run on rough rocks. At the following beach we were supposed to leave the coast per Rodrigo's instructions. I saw a car from the race and two series of ribbons in two directions so got confused, yelled to find the owner of the car but couldn't see anyone. I came back on the beach and waited for Luc who was several minutes behind, followed by David. I explained the situation to Luc who said we should follow the coast and the reef, so there we went. Soon followed by David which comforted us that was the way to go. The next kilometers on the reef turned to a nightmare as the tide was getting higher. At one point, the big waves were getting into a cave and stopped our way. That is where David then Kurt and Gerhard caught up with Luc and I. Fortunately, a volunteer had been sent there by Rodrigo at the last minute when he heard we didn't turn at the beach. All the other guys were prompt to jump in the Ocean but, with my bottles in the hands and my apprehension to swim across this dangerous waves, I lost several minutes again. In a perilous move the volunteer took my sun glasses and David caught a bottle I had lost in the swim, while pulling me out of the water with his other hand. Again, David was here to save me from this second tricky water adventure... With that, the timing didn't mean much and Kurt was even more upset than me. Apparently the volunteer at the car on the beach woke up to indicate the way to Javier but went asleep in some narrow bushes by the few minutes I arrived at the car. Embarrassing story for the organizers who decided to record the time based on the time stamps of the photos taken on the first reef section.

Thanking David at the finish, for another water rescue... (Photo credit: Team Spain)

Again, I was not shooting for first place anymore, yet I wanted to minimize the time between me and Javier. Could have been less than 10 minutes after 23 hours of race that week, but it was my turn to get lost on the final day...

Despite the associated danger, Rodrigo was happy we had run his original course. Overall all of us were thrilled with such a finish of our own personal challenge on such a pristine beach. A wonderful feeling and some tears of joy for many.

2. The course

For those who want to see the Route of Fire in details, here are stages 3 to 6:

1. Google Earth (need to install Google Earth)
2. Google Map (no software needed, just a web browser)

Unfortunately, my Garmin lost the records from stage 1 and 2, likely because the memory was overflowing with so many details over 6 days. Another reason to travel with your laptop in the jungle if you dare to...

3. Mother Nature

Trail running is all about getting more connected with nature and its wonders. Running in Costa Rica gets this to its utmost level thanks to the richness of the biodiversity of this country, blessed with abundant rains. Gerhard, one of the members of Team Costa Rica, is a naturalist and botanist expert and works as a guide, when not running. He told me he knows more than 500 species of birds and many more of plants! Focused on the trail, to avoid tripping and twisting my ankle, I didn't see 1% of this patrimony. Yet, I was amazed by the variety of terrains, landscapes, views, trees, plants and flowers we went through during our 6-day journey across two provinces of Costa Rica. This is an incredible opportunity to visit a country and I'm grateful to have had this chance, despite not having the family with me to share this experience. With regard to animals we saw all sort of cows and buffalos. Colorful birds and parrots. This amazing monkey at Canas Dulces. Many dogs along the route, and I can confirm that the trick of grabbing a rock on the ground to keep these dogs at bay really works (one wild dog had bitten Bev last year who endured 11 stitches on day 2, so that was my biggest fear, along with the fear of being injured). Among the dogs, one was really special: the amazing Tica who followed us all the way from La Fortuna and got finally adopted by Team Tufunga, Rachel and Simi, back in Berkeley, CA.

I believe I saw a snake in the grass just after PC4 on day 2. Dozens of crabs running on the reef on day 6. Then, the highlight of the week, this large sea turtle laying eggs on the beach:

I love trail running for these opportunities to get outdoor and closer to our natural environment, and I wish you have the opportunity to yourself hike through Costa Rica.

4. Key lessons

1. First and foremost, I experienced the power of stretching during the week. 7 races in 6 days were a first for me and I was wondering how I will handle the fatigue and potential soreness, day after day. I'm thankful to Bev's advice in this area. She said you can actually run hard every day and that, if you experience any soreness the following morning, you just run through it and it passes quickly. I had brought my stick (The Stick) and it seemed to really work perfectly as I didn't experience any soreness throughout the week. While I was administering my own massages with The Stick, others and the Costa Ricans in particular, were getting 1-hour daily massages by professional therapists, for $25.
2. Adventure racing doesn't include only running and I'm quite bad with anything else, especially if it involves water. So I either need to prepare for it, or just keep focusing on running.
3. Flexibility. I've much improved on this during my first two years in ultra running, yet can get better prepared mentally to face unplanned situations (weather, terrain, competition, food, drinks). There is a fine balance between improving on the visualization side, the planning side, and being flexible and ready to change your plan if needed, not getting obsessed if something doesn't correspond to your initial plan. Pre-visualization versus improvisation. One thing which should help here is to remember that I do that for the fun of it. After all, it's only my "second job" so, no pressure...
4. I suffered from the heat, having no preparation at all for such a race in the middle of the winter. Yet, that's not a good excuse as David, for instance, didn't seem to care much about such high temperatures despite coming from New York (David, you are surely ready to take on your first 100-miler at Western States in 2009!). I'll make sure to use the month of May to get plenty of heat training before Western States, like in 2007.
5. Overall, this stage race gave me some sense of adventure racing although I realize The Coastal Challenge offers a lot of comfort compared to other multi-day events. The food was great and we didn't have to carry our own food. Showers were sometimes basic but we could take one every day. We were allowed 24 gallons of running and camping gear which is plenty for a week. Massages were available daily. And we had aid stations, up to four for the longest stages, with fluids and fruits. Some participants were telling stories about races were you carry your own food for the entire week and can barely sleep 1 our 2 hours in remote locations without any support for days. You see, there is always something more challenging, to push your body "farther and faster..."

5. Acknowledgements

A very special thank you to:

1. Tim for giving us this opportunity to travel through Costa Rica by foot with such an exemplary logistics and great ambiance;
2. Rodrigo for your design of such an interesting and diverse course, taking into account last year competitors' feedback;
3. Andres for your wonderful pictures of our journey;
4. The staff and especially Chef Jesus, for the excellent food, Monica for your dietetic expertise, the variety of the meals, your hard work in the kitchen and directing the volunteers, and Sergio for the perfect logistics;
5. The medical team for your expertise, availability and support;
6. The volunteers for giving one or two weeks of your personal time, for your encouragements, for the short nights, setting up and manning remote aid stations, for your good and friendly mood, for your smiles, the fire show, the music and the hard work moving all our gear from place to place;
7. The other participants of this year's Coastal Challenge for the friendly atmosphere and sane competition;
8. Chuck who ran the first three editions and told me about this event and Bev and Christine for your pre-race tips and briefing;
9. My family, friends and colleagues for your excitement following the race on the web and your many words of encouragements which meant a lot to me;
10. Last but not least, I'm most grateful to Agnès for letting me live my passion this way and relaying the news to all. I love you!

And here I am, with this 6th post on the Coastal Challenge, turning a page on this important chapter in my personal and running lives. Keeping so many unique and good memories, in writing, in pictures, in videos and in my mind. Thank you for following this part of my running on the trails. Again, I hope you too have the opportunity to visit this country some day.

In the meantime, Pura Vida!

TCC 2008: and how many words is a video worth?

After still pictures, and while waiting for more words on my TCC experience, here are a few videos to keep the good memories alive. This is also my first opportunity to post videos on my blog so, like for the previous post, enjoy the show!

First, my amazement at looking at this huge sea turtle laying eggs on the beach, the morning before we drove back to San Jose. Our pressing curiosity wasn't even bothering her, she was so focused on her task:

And, now, on the back side, you can actually see the egg coming out. About 1 every minute or so. She had to rush to get about a hundred in the nest before burying them in the sand and getting back in the water:

I dedicate these two videos to two very special persons: Pierre-Yves, whose marrow transplant has been confirmed working last Saturday, the day of his 16th birthday (Pierre-Yves has been fighting a vicious cancer for over a year, see at the bottom of my Whiskey Town 50K race report), and his mother, Vivy, who LOVES turtles. I was very much thinking of you guys down there, you are our heroes!

Now, a panoramic view of Bahia Salinas (Salinas Bay), very windy (a famous and popular spot for wind and kite surfing):

And the musical talent of our local volunteer team, quite entertaining. Getting relief after a busy week and short nights. By the way, no need for fancy drums, water jugs do it:

They were having a lot of fun too:

Sunset over Junquillal beach/bay (camp of day 5):

Last, the finish of Team Ontario (the Mensies family) at Rancho Margot (stage 1), and the camp of day 1 (swampy). And you can see Tica, the small black and white dog who followed us all the way from La Fortuna in the morning, to the Ocean at the end of the week. Amazing runner, hoping over tall grass, branches, crossing rapids and mud puddles. And chased by many big dogs, here a German Shepperd. She eventually got adopted by Team Tufunga (Rachel and Simi) and found a new home and family in Berkeley, California!

This isn't showing much of the hazardous running, I was too focus anyway and didn't carry the camera with me after day 2 but I hope you have enjoyed the movies on these post-race activities. Let me know by leaving a comment on this post. And I hope you can visit Costa Rica soon too, hopefully by embarking on your own Coastal Challenge!

Farther, Faster, around the world.

PS: there are also a few videos on YouTube:

• Coastal Challenge 2006 (Tim)
• The Route of Fire (Tim)
• The final reef section (2007)
• Bahia Salinas start (2007)

And Stefan (Team Austria) ran with his digicam throughout the week. He told me it will be a while before he edits and produces a movie, hopefully before next Christmas...!

TCC 2008: a picture is worth a thousand words...

So, how many words are 290 pictures worth...?

You probably heard about it already, either from the TCC website or Agnès' daily updates, I had a wonderful experience last week, down in Costa Rica. I took the pole position on day 1 after the leader got lost despite being local and having run the same course last year. And kept this pole position for 4 more days, before losing it in the 6th stage on day 5. I'm however very happy with this honorable second place, a very good start for my first multi-day/stage race, with some adventurous and challenging sections. I didn't bring my laptop with me in this humid and rugged jungle, but took 13 pages of notes to tell you more about the different stages, later...

In the meantime, and to keep some of last week's excitement alive, here is the album with my best pics from this incredible journey throughout Costa Rica. 210 km of pain and pleasure. 23 hours of running. More than 12,000 calories burnt. Great running buddies, volunteers and staff.

A picture is worth a thousand words, so enjoy the show (my Picasa album)... Click on Slideshow.

And for more pictures, look at Andres' incredible shots. This is Photography... worth millions of words...

You'll find other pictures on the following sites (I'll complete the list as other runners post their pics):

• Greg's blog and his race reports on The RunDown.net;
  
• Jackie's coverage of the race on SleepMonsters;
• Steve's blog and his Picasa album;
• Stuart's website;
• Stefan's album (great "insider" pictures!);
  

More in words later, then.

TCC Day -1: vamos a Costa Rica, ¡pura vida!

Here we are, time to fly down to Costa Rica! The whole Saturday on the plane, San Francisco to Phoenix, AZ, then San Jose, the capital of Costa Rica. Then one night in San Jose before getting on the bus at 5am, driving North to Fortuna in the Alajuela province (you can see my guess of the various starts and finishes of the stages in Google Earth, if you have it installed, or Google Map, in your browser).
It feels strange to leave the Bay Area which finally got a cold and rainy weather and fly to a warm area in their dry season, although dry there means more humid than here! For sure the locals will have an advantage over everyone else flying in. Not to mention I'm leaving with a cold and a knee which has been bothering me for a month now (not surprisingly though as I keep running reasonably hard on this inflammation...). And it also feels strange to leave for a week of vacation, leaving the family behind.

The turn out for this event has not been as good as previous years: 33 in the Expedition Run (the long version and the one I'm on, of course!), and 9 in the Adventure Run. With very few runners coming back from last year, but the favorite, local German Kurt Lindermuller. Looking forward to the first run to see if I can stick with him so I don't get lost (course is usually not fully marked and he knows it for having ran it last year) or I run a la Scott, with the camera in my hand.

In addition to reading some articles and Bev's post on Scott's blog, I got briefed by former participants, Chuck Wilson, Christine Miller and Bev Anderson-Abbs herself. So I feel as ready as I can on the logistics side and look forward to this new physical and mental challenge, since this is really a first for me (6-day of racing and camping for a week).

Testing the tent, at home...

At the same time, I'm ready to take it easy and enjoy this wonderful region of the world, in this thin connector between the two Americas. Chuck was thinking of coming back this year but got tempted by another raid in Vietnam at the end of February. And Chris is now preparing for her next challenge, the UTMB (Ultra Trail du Mont Blanc) for which she got her slot two weeks ago!

With Chuck and Chris at the start of Ruth Anderson 50-mile in March 2007

GSM connectivity will likely be very limited, if any, during our week in the rain forest. If possible, I will send updates to the family which they can relay on the blog, and you will get the pictures later if all goes well (meaning I don't lose my camera or get it stolen... the ones who know about our tribulations in Costa Rica in January 2006 will see what I mean...). Otherwise, the Coastal Challenge website should post updates in the meantime. Check the LeaderBoard page out! The run starts this Sunday, stay tuned...

¡Pura Vida!

A much larger drop bag than Western States: a 24-gallon ActionPacker!

Mt. Rose Marathon: strange acclimation

This is really a strange way to prepare for next week's Coastal Challenge in Costa Rica: running in freezing temperature at 9,000 ft elevation. Next Sunday I will be in the tropical rain forest, with temperatures in the 80s and humidity near the volcanoes, then dry air along the beaches of Guanacaste.

This long Martin Luther King Day weekend, we stayed with our good friends on the North shore of Lake Tahoe, in Incline Village. One of the paradisiacal places on Earth...
Two great days of alpine ski, at Northstar on Friday and Mt. Rose on Saturday.
Sunday was off, to prepare for a party to celebrate Janet's 50th birthday (our hostess).

Off for the boys and Agnès, but I took the opportunity to put a last long run before the Coastal Challenge. The weather was good, getting cloudy and some snow was expected in the afternoon. After Todd checked the distance to Mt. Rose resort (12 miles) and the weather one last time (including the warning for high winds at the summit), I was off by 11am.
The trails are still not cleared after the big storm of two weeks ago. I decided to run on the highway which connects Incline to Reno, through the "highest year-round pass in the Sierra" just below Mount Rose. It is called Mount Rose Highway, or SR 431, and has large shoulders, well cleared apart from some patches of black ice. I always run against traffic, but paid even more attention to the numerous and big cars, as Todd told me about this runner and local resident who got killed on this highway, a hit and run, such a shame.

The first 5 miles up to the lookout over the Lake were fine. I started getting cold and could barely feel my fingers by mile 9. Fortunately, I had taken with me some petty cash with a special idea in mind: a hot chocolate at the main lodge. Much welcomed to warm up, as well as the 10 minutes I spent next to the fire place in the hallway. After this short break it was time to get back uphill to the summit (3 miles) and it didn't take long before the warm was gone and my hands froze again as I was now running against the wind, reported with 50 to 60 mph gusts. I had to put my Buff on my face and it was freezing with the moisture. Even my Ultimate Direction bottle froze and made drinking a challenge. Despite such a blizzard, the snow showers were sparse and I was lucky to get some sun between the dark clouds. The sun rays were providence and much appreciated. The temperature then became bearable as I passed the 8,000 ft elevation mark on the way down. Back in Incline Village I ran across town and Todd and Janet's neighborhood to make the run right on 26.2 miles. For the right to name it the "Mt. Rose Marathon..." My very own and private marathon as, not surprisingly, I didn't see any other runner or biker braving the elements on the Mt. Rose Highway that Sunday.
This is very far from acclimating to Costa Rica, although the profile has some volcanic flavor, hasn't it?

In the evening, we got this surprise party for Janet and Janet didn't see it coming! We were joined by Kim (Janet's best friend, from college) and her husband Jim, who drove up from Santa Rosa for the night. Then John, Stacey and their three kids and Stephanie. John and Stephanie are runners (marathons for John and ultras for Stephanie) so running was part of some conversations.
This Monday morning we had planned to (cross-country) ski at Royal Gorge. It was an opportunity to meet with Stéphane again, whom I ran with in Rouen a week ago. Unfortunately the weather was not cooperative and the perspective of having to put the chains on on highway 80 canceled this project. For the joy of the boys who had one more day in Incline to play with their friends Kristen and Corine.

Time to drive down to the Bay, go back to work for a short week, before flying down to Costa Rica on Saturday. For a week of "Pura Vida!" And, in default of acclimation to the heat, with the benefit of altitude training.

The Coastal Challenge route is out!

Agreed, that may not be relevant to most of you, only 70 participants will enter this event. But that won't be my last post on the Coastal Challenge, sorry, so I hope you bear with me. And follow me during this 6-day raid at the end of January.
Anyway, just received the big news today, a preview of this year's course. The organizers have posted several Google Earth screen shots to introduce the 6 stages.
We will start in the Alajuela province, North of San Jose, the capital. And go across the entire Guanacaste province, to end up close to Nicaragua, in the North West extremity of Costa Rica. More questions on Costa Rica's geography? Just ask the CIA (no kidding!).

Based on the screen shots, I created my own place marks in Google Earth. Here is an overview of the journey through Costa Rica (click on the map. Also, using "guess" in the labels I mean that is the approximate location I got from the pictures on the TCC website).
Stage #5 seems very long but it is actually split into two parts, with a bus transfer planned in the middle. Not sure how the timing will work, or how the legs will react to such a pause between two long runs. Racing every day will be already new for me, but two runs the same day, that will be another new experience.

As for the 6th stage, it ends at a resort on a beach, I bet we will all very much look forward to it! Keeping enough juice to swim in the Pacific Ocean... There is one picture from the beach posted on Google Earth (credit: mvillani), seems gorgeous!
Sorry for the ones who can't attend this year. I promise I'll post pictures... To make you dream... Farther and Faster...