Hujambo!

“Pictures or it didn’t happen!” Well it happened: I ran 10 km in the 2009 Nairobi Marathon, and here are the pictures to prove it! There were almost sixty of us from ILRI, and we all finished without the aid of an ambulance. Finishing 10 km was a bit anti climatic because we didn’t finish inside the stadium. I’m not even sure I crossed the finish line because by the time I got there people were already lined up waiting for medals or certificates or something. Next time I’ll do the half marathon (21 km).

Some people even told me they saw me on TV running. I guess I’m on my way to being famous, maybe?

If you want to see some more crazy pictures you can see the gallery here: http://thefro.org/gallery2/v/2009/marathon/

I ran 10 km in the Nairobi Marathon, hakuna shida (no problem). It’s not far but I’m really tired! As I was waiting for the 10 km group to start I saw the wheelchair group fly by, and then the full marathon group. The 42 km guys are serious runners, holy shit. And the wheelchair guys were going so fast, and with such vigor, that I wondered if any of them ever fall. It would have to be catastrophic! I don’t even remember seeing them wearing helmets…

I had a lot of fun, so I’m actually looking forward to more runs in Kenya. I felt a real comradery when I arrived in the city center in a matatu in the morning. Because the police had closed all the roads I had to walk from the business district to Nyayo Stadium where the race was starting. Lots of people were walking, and random people were slapping high fives when they saw that you were obviously running in the marathon. As we were waiting at the venue I saw kids, old ladies with hunchbacks, and people in way worse shape than me running 10 km, and that’s ridiculous. I’ll have to do 21 in the next marathon, but never 42. Out of the 60 or so ILRI people who ran, two went for the full marathon. They both finished, but one of them was a bit out of this world when he crossed the finish line (if you know what I mean). 42 is too far!

We had ILRI people taking lots of photos, so I’ll post those when I get copies later this week.

It will be two years ago tomorrow that I moved to Kenya with Sara. After a few months living in Tala we were evacuated due to the post-election violence after Kenya’s 2007 Presidential election, but I came back soon after. In that period I’ve taught computer classes as a VSO volunteer, traveled all over East Africa, learned Swahili, forgotten English, and gotten a non-volunteer job in Nairobi. Who knows where the hell I’ll be in two more years!

Tomorrow is also the annual Nairobi Marathon, in which I’ll be running 10 kilometers. I’ve never been a runner, per se, but I’ve always been into sports. I want to do the run more for fun than anything else (besides, 10 kilometers isn’t really THAT far; a whole marathon is 42). For the past two months or so I have been training (if you can call it that) with some buddies at work. We run at lunch time, anywhere from 5 – 10 kilometers, through dirt roads, corn fields, etc. It’s a great way to get out of the office if nothing else. Not to mention the countryside is very beautiful, especially when you’re running in the rain. Also, I don’t feel so guilty when I go out and eat a pastry at the coffee shop afterwords.

Adios, muchachos!

The Nairobi Marathon is only ten days away. ILRI is sponsoring us, and I think we’ll represent them well; I saw a list go around work today and there are fifty five names on it. It’s pretty-evenly divided between men and women, but there are only two men running the ten kilometer race, me and some other guy. I caught a lot of flak from my running buddies at work for not doing twenty one, but I don’t care! I think they’re in it to win it, but I just want the cool t-shirt.

I’ve been running at work for the past month or so, hopefully that’s enough training to make sure I don’t faint during the real deal on October 25th. We usually run through the countryside around ILRI, something like seven kilometers three days per week. Keep in mind this is high altitude and we’re running on hilly dirt roads, sometimes through terraced corn fields. I’ve really got to take my phone one day so I can get some pictures. Yesterday I was running with a Kenyan colleague and we were keeping a pretty good pace. I looked around and realized we were in a beautiful, green part of Kenya, with people yelling at cows, planting corn, speaking all kinds of languages, etc… it was pretty surreal. I’m sure I’ll look back fondly at this time in ten years.

Stay tuned…

I haven’t died yet! Today was the first day of the running club at work. I feel great, but the run was really hard. I had figured I’d show up where everyone assembles before the run and then pick the weakest ones… but my colleagues swang by and picked me up just before lunch, took me to the changing room, and then off we went! “It’s not far” took us through a rural villagie area near my work, and into a terraced corn farm (big hills, up and down), then around oh my god and down and up up up up up oh my god. After a while I told my partners to leave me and I had to walk up this hill.

I walked for a few minutes and then started to run, then got tired. Several times! My buddies said that was probably around 8 km, of which probably 3 was up a mountain! Not to mention the altitude of running in Nairobi/Uthiru. That’s why Kenyan runners dominate when they go to international marathons! They’re trying to convince me to run in the Nairobi marathon in a few months. I told them I’d do 10k and they were unimpressed, pushing me to do the 21. I guess the marathon is all flat, so by then I won’t even feel it.
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