Running in Nairobi - the 'help'.

As you may have heard on the news, Kenya is at 'war' at the moment. That means security has tightened up in Nairobi. Some boarding schools are not encouraging teachers to leave campus at the moment due to the security threats -but for me life goes on as normal (thank goodness).

I had my first visitors last weekend. My friends Stacy and Tim had trained for months for the Nairobi marathon - some people I hear, were not sure if running the recent Nairobi race would be a good idea; people like to talk and worry others, but it went ahead and with tight security. Backing out was not an option for those that had trained. I was planning on doing the 10km this time-but with stitches in my leg I became the 'help' - I had the vital role of carrying energy snacks and drinks, and cheering on my friends and the other 60 or so non-elite marathon runners.

I heard of no security problems. The only problems were the guards trying to close the gate after 4 hours and 30 minutes of the marathon...(I sorted that one!) and water stations running out of water.

 Even though I was on the sidelines of the event, I enjoyed being part of the day, listening to the stampede of elite runners in action, taking photos of a car free Nairobi city and being part of the marathon experience. (It was no Cape Town though!) After the 4.30am get up and cheering on the athletes for quite a few hours, I honestly felt exhausted when my friends crossed the finish line...I might as well have ran the thing...!!(Hmmmmm!)