Running in Nairobi - more notes

Nairobi is such a funny place. I wish I wrote about it more, tried to explain it, but it is so hard too.

Sometimes I am not its greatest fan. At first, after Kampala, the fact that I could buy fresh milk or good bread or decent chocolate made me happy. (and a lot of the time it still does). I sometimes joke to friends that I need to go to my favourite cafe, it might have been a while, and I think the waiters will worry about me! (Report writing has made me even more regular!!) But there are lots of things that I don't like about this city. The cost of the city being a big negative

But the fact that I can put on my trainers and run to the forest or on the roads on the quiet valleys is something I love about Nairobi.

Enjoying running is a gift here. On quiet Sunday mornings, running passed locals in their 'best' waiting for their Matatu to get to church or people walking to work or from a night shift. Nobody shouts 'mzungu' or giggles (like in Kampala), nothing is a surprise (not even the passing Hummer H1), but if you shout 'Jambo' passer byers look pleased and return the greeting. Passing little make-shift dukas (shop) with music blaring out but then in places it is so quite as you tread the roads, you can spot two hornbills in the avocado tree and some monkeys swinging from the branches.

Or, now that the rains have stopped, on a trail run in the forest. Passing a runner or two, if I'm lucky spotting a diki-dik hidden behind trees and bushes.

I feel like I have had little time this year to enjoy Africa. My runs are my time to do that.