Last week, next week, and the next BIG one...

Last Wednesday, Lorna and I were at a wedding in Skipton, then at the Coniston Cold Hotel. I've driven past this place on my way to the Dales and Lakes many times, but never been in... Well I can confirm it's very nice! After the wedding we headed over to Malham for a couple of days camping...
Campsite below Malham Cove
The Dales is one of my favourite places in the world, and did not disappoint this time. The weather was mostly great (and occasionally spectacular) - I went out for a couple of amazing evening runs, up onto the Limestone pavement after all the walkers had gone home; as the sun set I had the place to myself! We spent Friday walking around Malhamdale, taking in the Cove, Tarn, Goredale Scar and Janet's Foss then had a fantastic dinner at The Angel in Hetton. It was on the way back that the spectacular weather occured, with sheet lightning illuminating the sky as we tried to avoid all the little hedgehogs on the road!

Goredale Scar
After returning to reality and a very busy week I'm quite grateful of a taper week this week, because on Saturday I'm running the Long Tour of Bradwell! It's a race I really like, but has not gone well in the past... In 2011 I had stomach problems and had to run part of the race hunched over, and in 2012 I felt good, shot off in the lead, then ran a few miles extra looking for the Druid Stone checkpoint and spend the rest of the race trying to catch up. Who knows what will happen this weekend, but I have done some decent recceing and if I'm careful I should be OK with the route, so we'll see what my legs do!

The big news though, is that later this year I will be taking part in the Adventure Racing World Championship, in Costa Rica! I was asked if I would like to join a team with Dave Spence and two other guys, since their fourth member was unable to train sufficiently. The race looks utterly amazing, a true once in a lifetime opportunity. I'll let the organisers describe where we're going in their own words (their video is also below). More info to follow on this as November gets closer...

The course will go across the country, from coast to coast: Pacific to Atlantic, and from border to border: from Nicaragua to Panama. There will be a wide variety of terrains, from long beach walks to ascents of more than 1,000 mts, going up to 3,800 mts of rugged rocky hills.  The temperature will vary from 5°C in cool nights, to 37°C in very hot and rainy days.  There will be several micro climate zones, with some very rainy and very dry areas during the race.


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