The Half that felt like a Whole

Whitney and I left for our ½ marathon trip last Wednesday, June 25th. We flew out of Kitale at 2:15 and landed in Nairobi at 3:00. Our team had arranged to meet for dinner that night at Java House, which is comparable to Chilies Restaurant at home. Whit and I were the first to arrive, so we ordered one of their famous chocolate milk shakes and sucked them down before anyone else arrived. Four of the members from Italy didn’t end up coming so it was just 6 of us.

We had been told of a great place to stay and get a good meal located 20 miles from the Lewa game park where we were to run Saturday morning. Since the drive up to the park was to take around 4 hours, we decided to go a day early so our bodies wouldn’t be too worn out before the race. On the road trip, our minivan we’d rented with driver had one big blowout. I’ve never been in a car when the tire blew; it was quite the scare. It sounded like we hit something and then skidded for a length of time that made me very uncomfortable. God was with us in a huge way because we stopped 20 feet short of a very large bridge. The driver handled everything perfectly and within 10 minutes he borrowed a jack from a passing matatu, changed the tire, and was back on the drive headed to our destination. We arrived safely in Timau, home of Kentrout, which is a trout farm, around 7:00 Thursday evening. This place was incredible. The grounds were perfectly groomed and it was located in the backyard of Mt. Kenya. The weather was quite a bit colder than Kitale, but each lodge had a fireplace roaring upon our arrival. You can't begin to imagine how excited we were about this place. Anytime we are traveling in Africa, we try not to get our hopes up about our lodging. This place, however, was the best that I’ve found since living here. The meal that night was fresh trout literally caught just as we put in our order and, might I add, the best and freshest fish I’ve ever tasted. The trip was off to a great start.

The next morning we met for breakfast around 9 and left the lovely guesthouse around noon to head to the game park once again wondering what our living quarters would be like at the next stop. Just after entering the park, we began to see many giraffes as though they’d come to greet us. When we found the registration tent and signed in, we were given t-shirts (Kenyan style), meal passes, a brochure of the events, and windup Safaricom flashlights. The flashlight was a particularly good bonus since none of us thought to bring one. Our tents were much better than imagined. Two people shared a tent that was very spacious. The meals left much to the imagination; for the first time in my life I felt like I was staying on some sort of Army base.

Saturday morning came quickly but not quickly enough. We suffered through the coldest night yet with wind whipping through the tent. I was freezing cold wondering just how much more I could curl into a ball to keep warm. It never occurred to me that I would have needed to pack a warm sweat suit to sleep in. What was worse was the thought that I now had to take off my pjs and put on shorts and a t-shirt for the run. I thought I would die of hypothermia before the race ever began. When I stepped out of the tent, everyone was running up and down trying to get warm. Many skinny yet muscular Kenyans looked well prepared while all the white people looked at each other in bewilderment as to why they had paid money to be at this race. At 6:30 we all walked the 15 minutes to the start line. Before the race began, a helicopter and two small planes scanned the grounds trying to scare away the large and potentially dangerous animals from the race course. Everything was exciting! At promptly 7:15, the race began. The first 3 miles were packed as the road was very narrow and 900 people were all crammed together. On the up side, it really made the time fly as we tried to bypass all the walkers and slower runners. Yes, there were people we could outrun, but no, they weren’t Kenyan. Just after the third mile mark, we began a steep decent. At one point I saw a large herd of elephants grazing in the grass. There was one guard standing by the course to protect us. That was only one of about 5 guards I saw protecting us the whole race, not including the people at the water stands. Even though we didn’t see any other animals, it was still a bit unnerving not to have more protection.

We were still descending at mile 5. Now we were getting worried because we knew just how far we had gone down and we were told the race is one of the top 10 most difficult marathons in the world, so it only made sense that the worst was yet to come. The climb began and our smiles and excitement quickly turned to frowns and exhaustion. The hills didn’t stop. Just when we’d think we’d see the end of one climb it would miraculously keep going. I began to get horrible cramps with each breath, but Whitney was a champ. She had more energy than I’d seen during our training. She kept me going and gave me lots of inspiring words. Another great inspiration was an older woman who kept a very steady pace the entire time. We kept seeing her over and over, and then when we were really tuckered out, she took a big lead on us. At mile 9 the hills stopped and we began another steep descent. The scenery was gorgeous at this point, the best in the race. I might have been swayed by the happy sight of a descending course as well. Now that the worst was behind us, we only had one thing to accomplish besides finishing and that was to catch up to the woman with the teal colored shirt (otherwise known as the woman twice our age). We couldn’t let her beat us. About a mile out we began our sprints, yes, that is right - sprints. We would sprint 30 seconds and walk 30 seconds in hopes to catch up to her. Oh, I almost forgot. At about mile 10 we started hearing cheering. The Kenyan in first place running the full marathon charged past us with speed unlike I’ve ever seen in my life. We just cheered him right on, knowing full well that we’d never be even close to running like that.

The race seemed to never end as the finish line was well hidden and markers kept counting down in kilometers of which I am not familiar so I never could tell how close I was to finishing. Sadly, I couldn't even tell if I had finished before the infamous woman in teal but I did have a picture of her.

After crossing the finish line, getting my medal, gift bag, and stretching out my muscles, I saw the teal woman in the distance. I left everyone I was standing with to go meet her, thank her, and congratulate her on a job well done. I was just certain that this had to have been just one of the many ½ marathons she’d run but instead found out it was her first. Wow! I only hope that someday I’ll have grandkids to run in a half marathon with me.

we finished the race and I am happy that I decided to do it, but I agree that it is a very, very tough run. What an unforgettable experience though!