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Once Bitten, Twice Shy2008 Costa Rica Coast to Coast Challengeby Kimo and Licia GreenleafI have always said that the hardestthing about team sports was gettingeveryone to the starting line healthy.This would prove to be the case forus as we prepared for the adventureof a lifetime.When asked if we would considerracing as Team Adventure WorldMagazine in the Costa Rica Coastto-CoastChallenge at the end ofApril 2008, we emphatically said,“YES!” We had been adventureracing for eight years, with ourlongest race together being athree-day race two years prior,and had been wanting to furtherchallenge ourselves by competingin longer expedition-length races.The concept of this race, being aninternational one taking place inbeautiful Costa Rica, only cementedour desire to go. In preparationfor our big trip we obtained ourpassports, subjected ourselves tonumerous immunizations, attemptedto brush up on our high-schoolSpanish, completed a three-daytraining in the Smoky Mountains,read previous Costa Rican racereports, and filtered our gear list tothe smallest amount possible. Wetried to stay focused on our jobs anddaily lives without daydreamingabout Costa Rica, which wasdifficult to say the least.Then, we encountered our firstobstacle in getting to the startingline. Jason Martin, our originalfourth member of the team, toresome knee cartilage in an on thejob injury. At this point, we wereless than six weeks away fromour departure. Our minds beganto race. What were we going todo? This was not a short race. Itwas not even the United States.We needed a replacement thatwas capable of completing anexpedition length adventure race,had a viable passport, and couldleave for two weeks in a little overa month’s time.With some very good fortune, wewere able to recruit Tom Lane fromTexas to join us for this adventure.Now, our team was complete.Team Adventure World Magazine;consisting of Dave Poleto, KimoGreenleaf, Licia Greenleaf, andTom Lane; was heading to CostaRica. After several teleconferencesand numerous e-mails to work outthe details of the gear and travelplans, the day finally arrived for usto leave on our journey.After meeting Tom for the first timewhile waiting in the immigrationline, we introduced ourselves,collected our gear and followedseveral other teams outside theairport to meet Pablo, the racecoordinator. What an amazingsight it was to see Pablo and hisguys load our bike boxes and binson top of a tourist bus. We thoughtfor sure someone’s bike was goingto fall off the top and splatter intoa million pieces on the highway.Photos courtesy of Adventure Racing Costa RicaAdventure World Magazine July 2008 18