Running Wild

I mentioned the 'journey' to get here, but not much about the run. Now that I have recovered I'll tell you a little more.

As soon as we entered the conservancy we spotted a giraffe and thought, 'we are going to be running here! (Insert excited screams)

My buddy Debbie and I arrived, we could not believe how well organised it all was. Security was high. Cars were searched by dogs and people were searched a number of time, so we thought the rumours of Prince William and Catherine being at the event might be true.(The got engaged at Lewa and Prince William is the Royal Patron of Tusk Trust, an organisation that the Safricom Marathon raises money for).But I didn't see them.

We set up camp quite near the start line-you could see it from our tent, which was pretty cool.

There was such a buzz in the campsite.

We woke up to low flying helicopters and to footsteps of the elite Kenyan runners warming up-really-they are superhuman and amaze me

And then we ran. Around about 6km we spotted some zebras, but honestly, with the camera men on bike and the low flying helicopters to keep us safe, there was not much chance of spotting anything else. A frined of mine said a herd of giraffe galloped beside him and his friend, lucky sods!

The terrain varied from dust tracks, to real rocky paths. There is nothing to say but it was tough. Damn hot and hilly and hard. The supporters at the stations were such a boost of energy. There were a couple of mist tracks at stations (to cool us down-which was great!), but apart from that it was a real bloody long slog.

I kept thinking, 'Appreicate how beautiful it is. Remember this" etc, but then thoughts of "When will it be over?" would creep in.

My first 10km was too fast and at around 12km I was flagging under the heat. But I would ask myself, "Are you going to vomit?No, so keep going!"

When I realised I wouldn't get in under 2h30min, I lost interest in my time and felt pretty demoralised.

There were no chips, but my Garmin read 2h44min (which I am not exactly boasting about!), but it also read that the course was about 22.3km.

All I could think, when I crossed the finish line, was thank God that is over and now I have to bloody well drive back to Nairobi.

We put down the tent and tried to rehydrate.This is the first run I've done when I've ended up with black toes. I was cursing those hills, even the downs were bad, then remembered that it wouldn't of helped that I couldn't find my socks (!) and had to beg,borrow and steal a pair.Anyhow-as far as injuries goes, not bad.

It all was a bit of a dream, a daze.

Oh, then Debbie and I spotted giraffes and a lone Ostrich, and I really wanted to cry. I just ran in the wild. How lucky am I?

The best bit, sitting in Barney's (at Nanyuki airstrip) for lunch after, guilt free stuffing of faces!

Now that I have recovered, I am so pleased that I got to run Lewa during my year in Kenya. I am just chuffed with the fact that I actually made the effort to drive up country after such a busy week. The race was so beautiful and I was one of the lucky few that was able to take part.

PS- There are no official photos yet, but I did find this clip on youtube, it shows one of my team mates briefly, but it doesn't show you, that before he crossed the finish line he did 10 press-ups...why oh why???

I've reposted this for the linky party! You can read more about the Lewa run here.

Thanks for stopping by!