Little Liza Jane/ I'm glad my mother doesn't have immediate internet access...

So I finished the 1/2 marathon.  As my goalie coach used to say when I had a less-than-textbook-finish save, "not pretty, but effective."  I think for this effort, I'm going to have to throw a qualifier in there, making it "not pretty, but mildly effective."  My IT band and achilles in my right leg are screaming and scolding me for running, much as I imagine my mother would if she weren't having a nice time at her 40th high school reunion (hi, Mom).

We camped at Lewa reserve (lewa means "drunk" in Swahili) after a very bumpy ride in.  I was pleasantly yet firmly reminded by the 8yr old girl in the car not to "toss my cookies" on her.  In case I wasn't prone enough to getting car sick, this trip sure did the trick.  

I packed for this thinking I would be taking care of the kiddos and not running, but somehow everything necessary for running except my shorts, sports watch, and iPod made it into my luggage.  Easily fixable as only one is actually necessary (clearly, I'm talking about the iPod here).  I was told that I still had a spot on the running team if I wanted it, so decided that I'd try for an early morning jog and stop at the water stop 7.5ish km into it, where our friend would be stationed.  They said if I didn't feel good then to stop because that was the end of the "easy" portion of the course.  We had 2 teams of 10 people: the Tambuzi Tigers and the Burguret Braves, named for the farm here and the community here, respectively.

Off we went after jogging to the start line for the 715am bang.  I think I woke up at 5am, then not again until 6:40am, but the wrist watch I did have stopped ticking at 2:06am so I really don't know.  It wasn't a staggered start, just general pick it up and go.  The first 10ish minutes I can best describe as feeling as though I'm in Paris running to catch the metro with the mob and trying to dodge the poop on the ground.  No, no, not doggie poop as the city proudly boasts, but elephant, zebra, impala feces.  Elephant poop is giant.  It's only slightly more palatable than doggie doo doo because it comes out pretty  much how it went into the animal, just in a nice ol' ball.  Anyway, after telling myself that I'd just run the entire way to the water stop, thinking that a run just shy of 5miles would be a good start to training after not having run for about 3 weeks.  Respectable, yes?

I went to bed (at 8pm after seeing some truly exquisite stars) with the slight inkling that I'd finish the race if I started it.  However, I didn't prepare for the race as though I was going to do that.  I should have stretched, should have warmed up, probably should have worn different socks, packed my own shorts, etc.  Oh well.  Went through the water station, swearing to myself that I'd stop at the one that was 13km into it, where friend #2 was.  Fail #2 for me, as I didn't see the friend and was actually enjoying the run.  So, I grabbed some water & Lucozade (which is like super-concentrated gatorade... not pleasant when you're actually exercising, and this is coming from someone who enjoys eating straight frozen juice concentrate in the summers when popsicles are nowhere to be found.  I will be the first to admit that this effort on my part was not what anyone could normally call a "run."  The jog/walk method was my friend.  I jogged more than I walked, sometimes to get away from the stank of some of the other kiddos on the course, but hey, motivation is motivation.  After I got out of the Paris mob, the only thing in my head was the song by Dr. John called "Little Liza Jane."  Go iTunes it right now if you haven't heard it.  Nothing like Louisiana Gumbo blues to get you through a hard run, eh? (thanks, Dad, for the inspiration).

The course was absolutely beautiful and very much felt like "Africa" with the zebras on the side.  I even saw a Zazu-like bird flying around scouting things out.  Where we ran was a hilly dirt 1-lane road.  To pass people, you had to run in the middle where the gravel was loose.  Doesn't seem like it should make a difference, but that lack of packed dirt became annoying quite quickly.  But, what can ya do except chug along?  Water stations after water stations passed, with a mix of support ranging from the obviously American & super enthusiasts, to the British settlers who seriously were cooking their breakfasts on the side of the trail.  I am a fan of the water-soaked sponges that each water stop distributed.  On and on I went, sometimes walking, sometimes jogging, usually leap-frogging with people on my team and then the new friends that I felt I should know by name given the quality time we spent in the same vicinity.  

The highlight of the race was at about mile 10 (so 16km) where we started to hear the hum of a motorcycle.  Ahmed, as it said on the back of his jersey, noted that in about 1km, we'd be lapped by the leader of the full marathon race, which was 2 laps of the route I ran.  He joked that his goal was to not let them lap him, but then he realized that goal was not a realistic one.  I jogged ahead and sure enough, the motorcycle with the "Kenya cowboy" character sitting backwards filming the race went by, followed by the leader of the marathon.  Then close behind was Ahmed, just sprinting as fast as he could holding up his hand yelling "#2!!!" between gasps.  Sounds minor and silly, but it was the perfect lift of humor.  

Nothing of major note for the rest of the race, except that I almost got on camera with my shorts down when the Safaricom plane flew by what I thought was a relatively fool-proof place to relieve my kidneys.  I guess it's a good thing I didn't have my iPod in or I wouldn't have heard the overhead buzz of the plane motors.  

The end of the race was painful, and seemed longer than it was.  Some punks were sitting in their car off to the side with music playing and yelled "500 meters to go!!"  but they were wrong because about a minute later I passed the sign saying just that, which was in fact correct.  Didn't appreciate that.  I made it to the finish line on the jog despite a very sore right knee/IT band.  The left one, which had its ACL replaced 10 months ago, is doing great.  Crossing the finish line you received a chumps medal for finishing, a bag with a traditional kanga (cloth wrap), water, Lucozade (nasty carbonated version- why would you drink this when exercising?  burp burp burp), and a key chain.  Then some dude stopped you and came with a marker lunging toward your chest to cross out your number.  If you cared to, you could then go check to see what your time was, if the printer had caught up to that.  In my case, they hadn't yet.   The first marathon finisher crossed around 2h20mins.  I finished after him by a bit, but was enough under 3 hours that I was happy with being done with the full 21kms.   It was a bit bittersweet because while I was content with what I did, I couldn't help but wish I had been healthy enough to train and have a time hopefully under 2hrs.  This time next year?

I escaped with only 3 new blisters on my toes, and minor ones at that- I only felt one of them developing during the race.  The reddish dirt infiltrated every possible porous spot on my shoes, making it look like I ran the race barefoot once I took my shoes off.  The shower after the 2hr ride back home felt great, except on my face &  neck which are a nice shade of pink from the sun.

I couldn't tell you what I'm doing tomorrow (Sunday).  I think I'm going back to Mombasa either tomorrow or Monday?  I'll keep you posted if the internet in Mombasa cooperates.

Time for me to go grab some tea then get to bed.  7:30pm is a lovely bed time for me to hobble to a horizontal position.

Mom- I'm sorry.  Yes, I'll ice my aching leg and promise not to run until it's better.    As Alison said, hopefully today will go down as the day Lewa licked my Larium (the fancy name for mefloquine).

Easy does it...

I originally planned for my 3rd post to be titled "let the wild rumpus begin," and wrote an entire entry about 2 weeks ago but in Mombasa the only internet access I've had has been slow, and I pay per megabyte (seriously?!).  So, writing another entry, forget the pictures & links, was not an option.  I'm back up in the highlands where I wrote my 2nd entry.  Here are the "high"lights from that 3rd post I wrote, plus some updates.  Sorry it's so long!  

(From June 11, 2009)

Arrived in Mombasa on Wednesday after a 3-ish hour drive and an hour flight.  I slept most of the way in the car on the drive because I went to bed so late the night before (mind you, “late” meaning around midnight).  We arrived at our apartment and the younger boy exclaimed that the bricks on the sidewalk look like teddy bears, instantly reminding me how differently kids view the world.  I remember my aunt once remarked that she is envious of children and their simplified vision of life.  However, I suppose each side has its drawbacks, as the 5 year old promptly managed to make the nozzle head of the bidet-like apparatus fall into the toilet (of course, he had christened the loo already).  This seriously happened less than 5 minutes after entering our flat.  And, we’re off. 

It is noticeably warmer & more humid here on the coast.  I haven’t broken out my DEET-laden (read: 98%) bug spray just yet because I haven’t seen or heard any mosquitoes.  I’ve had a headache for about 4 days that is presenting like cerebral malaria (homa ya dege dege, the local term translating to bird fever) but it doesn’t make sense that I’d have caught it yet.  My first trip to the doctor might be tomorrow (Friday) or Saturday if it still persists.  Dodie’s uncle, a doctor, mentioned that “it’s [headache] often the only symptom people have of this severe malaria before they die.”  I doubt it is anything that serious, but it’s strange it is still bothering me now that we’re at sea-level (where I was is around 5000ft).  My dreams have been absolutely bonkers.  Last night I met President Clinton while riding my tricycle by my neighbor’s house (the yellow house across the street, for those of you from the ‘hood).  Might be the malaria meds (that might not be working at all?).  Getting a little worried about my training for the 1/2 marathon because I haven’t been keeping it up since I’ve arrived.  Oh well.  I’ll be fine.

June 24th, 2009

An update on the health situation: my situation was apparently (we think?) due to the mefloquine drugs I took.  My oh my, they are powerful.  I haven't taken this once-per-week drug for 2 weeks, and I'm still feeling the effects.  I haven't felt "normal" for some time now.  While I know I might be catching up on sleep from Yale & our "senior week" before graduation weekend, I feel like my little sister, Annie, who is famous for sleeping roughly 10-14hours each night when at home on vacation.  She might get up to watch some TV show, but thanks to Hulu.com, her schedule is now more flexible.  I've been going to bed around 9 or 10pm and getting up around 7am on a good day, still feeling tired.  yikes.

 The dreams have been eventful recently.  On the less pleasant side, I kept waking up thinking I was covered in bugs & ants a few nights ago.  On the more benign side, I was back doing gymnastics at my old gym, and had episode #2 on my tricycle around Belfast...

Off I went on my little tryke just peddling away when I ran into this guy walking a huuuuuge dog with a heavy chain collar.  He thought I had done something wrong so he started chasing me.  I ditched the tricycle at some point and was just running around the neighborhood, trying to lose him and have the dog lose my scent.  I didn't want to go straight to the house and have him lurk outside, so I did a round-about route.  There was a swamp about 3 ft high in Hamlin's back yard (one neighbor) so I swam through that to try to confuse the dog's sniffer.  I got home but they were still too close so I ran around some more in circles between our yard and Gage's (other neighbor).  I never made it inside because I woke up at the ripe old time of 5:30am.  I couldn't get to sleep for the next hour because my thoughts were consumed with trying to figure out a way to lose the dog and the creepy old guy, which entrance I should use to get into the house, and then which order I should run around the house locking the windows & doors.  Mind you, this whole dream happened when it was pitch black out (like 2am) in Belfast.  It wasn't that scary, but it was quite vivid.   I then put on my iPod and listened to some random playlist and proceeded to dream that I was part of this elite group of people chasing someone, only to find out that WE were the ones being chased.  It was an action flick with jumping up elevator shafts and between train cars and using clues to find someone's license plate to pick up something (I can't remember what "the goods" were).  Then I woke up and it was 8:30am.  the end.

Mefloquine dreams ("mef" dreams, as I've endearingly called them, making me sound like a meth addict with a lisp) are quite exciting and bizarre.  These dreams got better once I stopped taking the anti-anxiety meds doctor numero uno prescribed. 

Why the tricycle?  Great question.  When I had my wisdom teeth out this past xmas break, I got a little stir-crazy sitting in the house so decided to take this antique tryke I found after stacking wood out for a spin.  It's probably a great toy for a 3 year old, or at least someone under 36inches tall.  I rode about 2 blocks down the street on this puppy, just a peddlin' away as fast as my seemingly giant legs could go in the extremely limited space (see below photo- compliments to my father for the leather wood chopping gloves & flannel shirt).

 

Anyway, back to Africa.  I have  a bunch of pictures from the 2 mini-safaris I've been on so far, but can't load them at the moment.  I got so cross-eyed after the 2nd one I didn't appreciate the thrill of meeting a few giant tortoises, feeding a giraffe, or seeing crocs for the 1st time (the double vision is yet another fun side effect from this mefloquine).  However, a song I learned in kindergarten has been stuck in my head ever since.  here are the lyrics:

She sailed away on a lovely summer day on the back of a crocodile.

You see, said she, he's as tame as tame can be- I'll ride him down the Nile.

The croc winked his eye as she bade them all goodbye, wearing a big ol' smile,

But, at the end of the ride, the lady was inside and the smile was on the crocodile!  

Unfortunately, I won't be running the 1/2 marathon this weekend.  I haven't run in 2 weeks b/c of the headaches, and was told by doc #2 to opt-out of this challenge.  I'm bummed, but know it's for the best.  Interestingly enough, my resting pulse rate is still 42 bpm despite the lack of workouts.  Glad the heart isn't feeling the need to speed up any.

Other than that, I've started Swahili lessons and am enjoying them.  I have a lot of progress to make before I'm able to carry on a legit convo.  If you'd like to talk about fruits & veggies, where you're from, or what your name is, let me know because I can do that. :-)

I think that's enough for now.  I'll try to post bite-sized entries more regularly instead of giant ones like this.  Let me know what you're up to whenever you get a chance.

karibu!

Karibu! (welcome, in Swahili). I arrived in Nairobi, Kenya about 24 hours ago. Flights were uneventful, and I'm a new fan of British Airways. I was mysteriously promoted to 1st class for my London--> Nairobi flight. I was greeted with a choice of champagne or orange juice, had a lunch of lobster with mango salsa, roasted duck, a tasty sauvignon blanc or two, and tea time with scones, jam & cottled cream on the flight. The only thing better about economy class is that you had more control over what movies & music were available on your mini TV, a small price to pay for a fully reclining seat.
We (Dodie, the two boys & I) crammed all of our luggage into one small-ish sized sedan taxi before driving to the Muthaiga Club where we spent the night. We took a van to Nanyuki near Mt. Kenya which was about a 3 or 3.5 hr drive. It's beautiful up here. Not as hot as I expected, and it's actually chilly now that it's night time. The sun sets at 6:30pm. It's mostly farming land up, so we took the boys to see the cows, donkeys (one named Cheech, the other Chong- see below), chickens, turkeys, cats & dogs.
My first impressions of our drive up here reminded me a bit of Dominica last summer with the packed transport vans. All the billboards & signs were in English near Nairobi. Up here, they're more in Swahili although most have English listed. We had to slow down for a number of road blocks (the ones with spikes in them!) where the police can stop you to check your license & registration. They don't have cars to come chase you, though.
We cracked acacia seed pods (they taste a bit sweet)- they'll get boiled then planted. The juvenile trees have some serious thorns on them.
It's just about 9pm here (we're +7 from EST) and it's time for me to go to study my 1st Swahili lesson then go to bed. Tomorrow looks like more of the same with a run at this altitude scheduled in as well. We're about 1 hr away from where we'll run the 1/2 marathon at the end of the month. I did a 10.3mile run in Belfast this past week, but we'll see how the sea-level training holds up. The absence of paved roads (at least immediately around here) will be welcomed by the knee.

post #1: still in Belfast, ME

I always thought blogging was a somewhat peculiar practice (no offense to you, Mr. Systocrat) yet here I am writing my first post during my 2nd to last day in Belfast, Maine. I fly to Nairobi, Kenya on Friday and will spend the first few days near Mt. Kenya in the highlands. I'll be based in Mombasa, Kenya for the summer before moving down to Zanzibar, Tanzania where I'll be for the next 10-11months. I'll be taking care of 3 kids part-time, and doing research on maternal health the other part. I'm sure I'll find a way to make room for a beach day or two in Zanzibar.
Currently, my arms are sore from the shots I had to get yesterday but my legs are feeling pretty normal (I ran my first 10+ mile run around the bay yesterday- getting ready to run a 1/2 marathon in Kenya on June 27th!). Lots of packing left to do. You look at your life & possessions differently when you have only two suitcases to last you an entire year. One good thing is that I don't need to make room for heavy winter coats & sweaters given that I'll be just south of the equator (no need to pack a snow shovel, either).
That's all for now. I'm sure I'll have more interesting things to say once I arrive in Kenya. I'll have my own pictures by then, too :-)