Marathon Man
on It began in Africa (Kenya), 25/Jan/2012 11:35, 34 days ago
So, I am running a marathon. And by running I mean the vaguest amount of forward movement that might be considered running. The marathon I am attempting is the Kilimanjaro Marathon on the 26th February (it doesn't involve running up the mountain, just for the record). I will be taking part with a VSO team comprising of volunteers from all over East Africa raising money for VSO and their own organisations.I know we have recently tapped you up for donations when we climbed Mount Kenya, but if you didn't sponsor us then you can sponsor me now because marathons are hard andKAIHdoes great work. The money you donate will go directly to our vocational training centres which help young adults gain skills such as tailoring, cooking and hairdressing so that can start their own businesses. Gaining employable skills is vital for young adults with learning disabilities so that they can lead independent lives.Please email us if you'd like to donate.Running a marathon is always hard but thistraining was haphazard from the start, with Christmas holidays, work and a penchant for Tusker interfering with ambition.Then there's the difficulties of training in 'Nairobbery', where terrorist threats are only the start of our trials: we are currently in the dry season at the moment which means it is only a reasonabletemperatureto run between 9 pm and 9 am. However running in the dark is also a no: where we live doesn't have much in the way of street lighting, and the drain covers have all been stolen, so the risk of falling down a drain is not insignificant. That leaves me with 6am to 9am, which is in fact a pleasant time to run if I didn't have to go to work.Eddie& Dan during circuitsOther risks faced are being hit by a matatu or bike (I am currently averaging seeing one road traffic accident a month, usually pedestrian/ cyclist versus matatu), getting stones thrown at us by small children or choking on Nairobi's horrendous rush hour fumes.Matatu touts still try to bustle us onto their matatus not noticing the purpose of our running as well.Being overtaken by Kenyan Athletes also running the Langata road, despite their smiles, waves and little encouragements, is disheartening too when you see how quickly they speed by seemingly hovering over the ground. Training "alongside" (for about the five seconds it takes them to pass) Kenyans with a reputation as the best long-distance runners in the world can be testing.Lucky, then, that I have an awesome running buddy,Dan, another VSO volunteer also based in South B.In fact, the training has continued (we ran 23km last time) and we have found a nice route which runs alongside the National Park, which is like getting a free safari (we saw ostrich and zebra just last week). We have added a weekly circuits training session on the roof of Dan and Helen's apartment too, usually watched by small children and the chickens who live/ await execution on the rooftop. We have even cut-down on the Tusker-consumption.Eddie& Dan in their natural environmentIt's also been fun confusing Kenyans who stare slack-jawed at a pair of mzungus runningslowlyby.To combat the stares, I have taken to high-fiving pedestrians as we pass which amuses them even more. I did take my chances with this however, when passing the army barracks on the Langata road; a uniformed soldier with machine gun seemed uncertain whether to shoot me or accept my well-intentioned high-five.So please, wish me luck and sponsor me! I'm going to need the incentive.