Friday, March 09, 2007

Half way there


I just had a celebratory lunch after receiving the news that it is very likely I will get my free permit to climb Kilimanjaro soon. This is a huge relief since there is less than a month until the April climb dates and if the news was negative it would shut down the climb and cause a lot of disappointment. There are still a lot of organizational hurdles but this is the big hill. I still have to collect some permission forms and money, hire guides etc.

I am also relieved to have completed the Kilimanjaro half-marathon without injuries. Last week I finished 21.5 KM in about 2 hours and 20 minutes. This is a pretty slow time but my primary objective was to be a good running partner for the other PCV and not get hurt. This run reminded me a lot of last years fun run. The mountain was visible the whole time, and I had good conversation the whole time. It also had spontaneous component typical of most of my adventures. Being TOD i got in town the evening before the race with no reservations made. I went to the YMCA hoping to get a room but they were booked, although I was about to go downtown to search for a vacant room I remembered my highest priority was to register for the race. I managed to register for the race before they closed the gates, and met a friend who was
also registering late. I asked for a ride down town and they not only gave me a ride down but offered me a place to spend the night. Since they were also running the half marathon, I enjoyed not only my first hot shower for months but also had free ride to the race. They had a late start in the morning so we got there at 6:59 AM. I saw my PCVs joined them and then the race started 7:00 AM, perfect timing.

Another accomplishment was the week before last I ran up to Umbwe Secondary where my "site-mate" lives. We kept saying one on weekend we would make the trek, but I knew that if I did not make it then I would never do it. I had heard it was about 10 KM which means it would be almost the exact same as the half marathon except unpaved so easier on the joints. It turns out to be a bit further than 10K and by my time I would estimate about 13-15 K. It took 1 hour 40 minutes up and about the same down. I highly doubt I will be running that again, but at least the half marathon was not nearly as bad.

So things are are going, probably need to start moving again too.

Labels:

0 Comments:

Post a Comment

<< Home

s