Costa Rica here we come!

It's now less than a month until I fly to Costa Rica to meet my team-mates Tom, Dave and Sabrina, and take part in what will probably be the hardest event of our lives... The Adventure Racing World Championships in Costa Rica.

Last weekend was our final training and planning weekend together. We spent Saturday kayaking on a wet (from above as well as below!) and very choppy Windermere, before a planning session and a few hours watching videos of similar races like Borneo Eco Challenge... Useful, if a bit scary. I shall simply say: Leeches. Lots and lots of leeches. Leeches where you reeeeally don't want them.

Team "Great Langdale Bunkhouse" - Sabrina, me, Tom, Dave
After a good pub dinner at Stiklebarn I headed home, planning to stop on the way for a quick run. I got to Glossop at about 3am, unfortunately without a map, but having spent a while studying the 15 trigs route I thought I'd try to find the Cock Hill trig... After an hour and a definitely sub-optimal route I was pleased (and quite surprised) to find the trig. The view back over Glossop and Manchester was pretty cool! I found the route back much more directly and eventually got dried out and home in time for breakfast.

Found it! Cock Hill Trig
That left only mountain biking, so I headed out on Sunday evening for a 30km loop around Ladybower, and even up Win Hill. The main purpose was to check my new lights, which I'm happy to say performed well. However, it was bloody freezing and I went out without enough clothes. Lesson learnt, it's not summer anymore!

After a lot of focus on Costa Rica, I will hopefully turn my attention back to running for ten hours or so next weekend, before final preparations for the big race begin... Watch this space!

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