I found this post while reminiscing our time in Kenya last summer. This excerpt is from one of the few blog posts I did and guess what…the topic was running!
School has finished and the drawings are pretty close to done. All in all, it has been a pretty low-key past few days (for me at least, Mary has been on-call). I guess maybe it was the low-key”ness” that did it. I can’t remember the last time my life wasn’t dictated by a schedule or a task list. It was so strange. So what did I do? Well, first I put the old running shoes on and made myself continue the pursuit of getting back into shape while I’m here. The past couple years of working full time and then evening classes put workouts completely on hold. Being out here, at 7,200ft, and perfect cool climate is a runner’s dream. (Cassie, I know you’d love it.) Anyway, I took off down the usual “barn trail” that then connects to the main dirt road leading to “Old Kijabe Town”, at that point I headed toward (up) the railway station. (I guess none of this makes sense to those who haven’t been here, but let me just say that if you ever come out here, you have to at least walk this route, the scenery overlooking the rift valley is just breathtaking.) So I’m running this really cool route I’ve done a few times now with a little new terrain added for good measure. (I love exploring new trails) I love the fear of maybe getting lost and then wondering if I will have enough strength, speed, stamina to get back before Mary begins worrying! Unfortunately, I did have a minor twist of the ankle along the way which slowed things for awhile and thus resulted the need to push harder on the return to get back in time (I promised I’d be back in 45-55 minutes). So just after the turnaround midpoint, I started to feel this rush (second wind some call it) flow through me. I was already running pretty hard, but then felt the need to push even more. I hadn’t run this hard since training for Australia. The lungs were burning (altitude), the legs were saying “let’s walk a bit”, and the mouth just couldn’t seem to open wide enough to get enough air in. I WAS LOVING IT!! So I was on the return and it was a little downhill for awhile, I picked up the pace even more. Kids I had seen on the way out were running out to say “hello, how are you” again. Not sure where the air was coming from, I replied “I’m fine, how are you?” as I whizzed by. A little further down the road, the kids saw me approach and started to run in the same direction. I slowly caught them, passed them, and glanced back a few times as they tried to keep up. My lungs were really burning now. I WAS LOVING IT! The final section was some really sweet single track (this was the “barn trail” I mentioned earlier – red, hardpacked, Kenyan dirt, a worn and torn pathway beyond comprehension, and of course, mostly uphill at the very end!). By the time I reached the house, I dragged myself inside, grabbed an ice pack for the ankle, and “recovered” on the ground. Man, that was fun. Got back at right around 58 minutes. A little longer (3 mins) than estimated, but I’m always late so it’s nothing unusual for Mary! For the rest of the evening, it was a little painful to try and breathe deeply and I knew my legs would not feel so great the next day.
Well…that was a trip down memory lane for me (pun intended I guess).
