Running at 7,500 feet

I've been busy this week, with LAMP and classroom setup (or intended setup) and sunny days . . . sorry for the three posts at once. It takes me a while to feel inspired. Enjoy, or split them up - one for the next three days. :)

One of my greatest accomplishments this week has been tackling the running scene. We were blessed with three sunny days in a row – I can not describe the wonderful affect this had on my morale and desire to exercise. The first day of full sun the whole campus did laundry – there is something about my yellow sheets flapping on the clothes line . . .

So, after a week or so of avoiding altitude sickness, I laced up my trail runners and took to the rocky road. It wasn’t pretty, climbing those hills, but the downhill wasn’t so bad, and I discovered the field – 5 laps = a mile. We have two fields on campus so that’s a bit of variation. It was just so fantastic to wear shorts for the first time since I left and log some miles! Today when I headed to the field, I found two women taking their lunch break. They conveniently helped me keep track of my laps – while I huffed and puffed, they would lie in the grass and hold up fingers to show how many laps I’d completed as I went by. Nice. But I was nice and inspired to watch the Olympic opening ceremonies this afternoon. Cheer hard for those Kenyan runners!

Since it was sunny, I took some pictures along guard's trail - that is the trail around RVA that hugs the fence, called so because that's what the guards walk (not sure when, I only see them at the gates.) It was still a bit hazy - the farmers in the valley REALLY need rain. The last picture is Killer Hill - well, halfway up. I can't get the whole thing in. And if you think I'm exaggerating, you come out here and try running up it. I dare you.

I found out that there is a half marathon in Nairobi in the middle of November. Do I dare to run a half in Kenya? It is the same race as the Nairobi marathon, and the average time is an hour something. That’s right - average. The good thing about this race would be that there are others here training, and I could leave campus a bit – safety in numbers. But that would mean leaving the shorts behind. You can’t have it all . . .

Wednesday we played flag football and I may have made the only tackle in the game – and cost our team some yards – but we still won by I think 4 TDs. So the tackle was well worth it, I think.