The last time I wrote, I was in the middle (closer to the end, actually) of training for the Safaricom Marathon. It's a very unique race, run on dirt paths through a wildlife conservancy at an elevation of over 5,000 ft, where there is less air to breathe. My friend Erin had mentioned it to me way back at the beginning of the year, and I immediately said yes. I procrastinated in registering, much as I procrastinate in a lot of things (ahem, letter-writing), but Erin kept on me and I managed to get in before the race closed at 1,000 people. I've been running all over Nanyuki since I got here, but especially the last several months as I've been upping my mileage to make sure I could complete 26.2 miles (42 kms). It was Erin's first marathon, and I promised her that I would run it with her. Unfortunately, she got injured about a month beforehand, sadly just after she had completed a long, long run that would have allowed her to make the full distance on race day. So plans changed a bit and Erin decided to run the half-marathon, without having run for a full month (amazing!), and made me promise that I'd still run the second half - the way this race is set up, it's two loops around for the full, which makes it easy to host a half and a full.
Yesterday (Saturday the 28th) was the race. We spent the last few days before that race chowing down on nyama choma, ugali, pasta, and the incredible array of treats sent in various care packages (thanks again, family & friends!), and working very, very hard on all of our Peace Corps projects, of course. We headed up to LEWA on Friday for the pre-race meeting and to pick up our numbers so we wouldn't have to worry about that on race morning. We got up around 4 am, and my usual pre-marathon routine is to take a long, hot shower which is an easy way to warm up your muscles. Unfortunately, we had no running water and no electricity, so that was out. The backup was hot bucket baths - not quite the same, but worked ok I guess. It's always difficult for me to eat the morning of a race because I'm so excited; I just want to get going. Nonetheless both of us managed to cram down something small before we took off. We stumbled outside in the darkness (literally, we couldn't see a damn thing except whatever was illuminated by my cell phone light) to the gate of the compound, and caught our ride to LEWA just as the sun was coming up.
It was pretty frigid out when we arrived, but by the time the race started at 7:15, it was already warming up. Erin and I met up with two other Peace Corps Volunteers, Matt and Alyssa, who had gotten up even earlier than we did to make the trek all the way from Meru. They are also runners and had come with a group of professional runners that they run with on the eastern side of Mt. Kenya to cheer all of us on. As we were coming in, hundreds of Kenyans that live in the area were walking in (and walking 7 km after they arrive at the gate!) just to get a glimpse of the race. The scenery is absolutely spectacular, just like the wildlife scenes you see in Africa back in the US. It's almost surreal to be standing in the middle of it. The photos here give you some idea, but they really don't do the place justice. In fact, the scenery almost makes you forget how hot and hilly it is... almost!
Besides Pikes Peak, this is definitely the hilliest marathon course I've ever run. And I think it was even a little warmer than the unusually hot day in Boston when I ran that oh so many years ago now - damn, I'm getting old! I'll let the pictures do all of the talking. You can see from the smiles on Erin's and my faces, that we were having a GREAT time during the race. It was tough, but if you are pushing yourself, all races are that way. The fact that Erin RAN almost the entire half marathon without having run for the previous month inspired me to give the second half of the race as much effort as I could. I'll re-edit this post hopefully during the week to give more details of the race itself, but I am running out of time...
This was marathon #9 for me, and I'll always remember it for running the first half with a good friend, running in a beautiful location, and as my first (but certainly not last!) marathon in Africa. Next up is the Nairobi Marathon at the end of October, and my goal is to finally go under 2:40, which means a lot of miles, hills, and speedwork before then. I'm going to try recruit a bunch of other Peace Corps Volunteers and Kenyan friends to join me and make a little party of it. So if you are reading this and interested, drop me a line... or I will soon be dropping you one! And THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU to all of you who sent well-wishes this past week, much appreciated.
Otherwise doing fine, work is busy, and I'm managing to keep myself out of trouble... for the most part, kind of. As I told a friend recently, my problems are good problems to have - if that makes any sense. Outta time for today, so more next week (hopefully).
