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"Doesn't really matter what happens - it will be an incredible experience. I have run races in China, Saudi, the Barbados and Jamaica as well as Canada and the US but nothing has been as seductive as this race."

"We were on the Osa Peninsula in the Corcovado National Park, an area tough to reach and closed to the public except by permit. The beaches are unspoiled and remote. The jungle was alive and is the last region in the world where jaguar run free. One runner saw a jaguar track! It was hot and we had to cross many crocodile and shark infested rivers with the assistance of volunteer river boats."

"I have never experienced a country of so much beauty, resources and people of wonderful spirit. I learned more about staying in the moment and enabling myself to take in every morsel of the experience around me. Even when my ankle hurt, or I felt hot, hungry, thirsty or tired, I could look around and see, smell and marvel at what was around me."

"Over the last 20 years I have made a considerable effort to race the most difficult races in the most beautiful, exotic and at times the most hostile environments on earth. I have been places, seen things and experienced emotions that are possible only in hard to reach places with ultimate effort. The coastline, jungles, beaches, villages, environment and distance at the Coastal Challenge offers the challenge and promise the memories that compel all of us to do what we must do. It will be one of the worlds great adventure runs."

"We were adolescents amongst the elders of endurance racing, ignorant of what we were about to get ourselves into, but open to learning as much as possible from these amazing athletes who surrounded us. At times, it felt as if we had tapped into some secret fraternity or brotherhood of physical pain. Little did I know we were about to get the hazing of a lifetime."

"We had traversed back and forth from beach to jungle for the last few hours, making our own path to escape the sun. We had forgotten to bring headlamps and as the jungle trail got darker, we found a strange urgency welling up inside us: jungle motivation - that compelling need to get away from areas where you can't see things, but things can see you. We were back on the beach as soon as the sun was down."

"It was grueling. And it was glorious. The theme of the Coastal Challenge race is "Take on the distance, Take on the Challenge, Take on the Elements" - and this was truly tested in every aspect. We covered over 140 miles of sparkling white and black sand beaches, densely foliated and wild jungle pathways, and rolling farmland with hills steeper than anything I have yet seen in any footrace in the United States. We ran, we walked, we hiked and even came close to crawling a few times, as we battled 90+ degree temperatures and humidity that starkly contrasted the Winter weather in Boise, Idaho where we lived and had trained. We saw exotic wildlife and bird types that I had previously only seen in a zoo or pet shop : Scarlet McCaws, Toucans, emerald-green Quetzals, crocodiles, iguanas and 3 species of monkey, including the infamous Howlers, who should be more aptly named "Growlers" for their eerie, menacing, deep-throated call which makes them sound much larger than they really are! We crossed dozens of rivers, coasteered our way over exposed reefs, and crawled over and under fallen trees, muddy trails and rocky outcroppings."