Editor's Note: I know a lot of you were looking forward to getting Not In Addis: Episode III, but the subtitle was going to be 'David doesn't do much at a couple of lakes', so I decide to summarise it in this much more interesting installment instead. So, here's the summary:
David doesn't do much at a couple of lakes.
Ok, ok, here's a bit more detail:
Trip 1: David goes back to Babugaya for part of a day for the Worship Team retreat. Although not officially a part of the worship team yet, he thought it would be good to meet some of the gang. Unfortunately, the bit he got to was pretty boring, so he ended up wishing he's just stayed home and done some marking instead.
Trip 2: David goes to Lake Langano to relax after a grueling 13-week term. Does as little as possible.
Trip 3: On the way back from Langano, David gets dropped off at Babugaya again for the Faculty retreat. Does as little as possible, although manages to do a bit of marking.
Ok, that's over with. On with today's installment...
First of all, an update on Danielle Hale. She's the girl who was hit in the eye with an errant hockey stick a few weeks back. She is now back at Bingham with both eyes intact. She was initially diagnosed with having four tears on her retina, which could have lead to the retina detatching, which is never a good thing. So, they headed back to the US to have lazer surgery, but when it was checked by three experts over there, there was no problem to be found. God is good! She calculated that she had people praying for her on 6 continents. Thanks for adding yours.
Today is the 30th of November, 2003. For many people this is a date they have been preparing for for months. I was not one of those people, although in retrospect that probably would have been a good idea. For today was the day of the 2003 Total Great Ethiopian Run. And I was runner number 5627. Out of 18,000. Yes, that's right - 18,000.
The run is 10 kilometres in distance and consists of a couple of loops around the centre of Addis. My preparation for the big event was grueling. I ran about 1 kilometre about three weeks ago. In my defence, that was after playing squash for an hour-and-a-half. I had intended to do more after that, but never quite got the time and/or motivation. So, this morning I woke up at about 7 o'clock, had a quick breakfast, put on my cool souvenir running shirt, laced up my runners, and headed out to Meskel Square.
Brad Adams (another teacher here from Australia) and I caught a taxi in (which, as usual, included a couple of moments where life traditionally flashes before your eyes). The taxi driver took us as close as he could before the roads were closed to cars and we walked in to the starting line. Of the 18,000 runners, I'd estimate that there were probably about 100-200 non-Ethiopians. Unusually, nobody struck up a conversation with us while we waited for the starting gun. Too focused on the task ahead, I suppose.
My goal for the race was to run the whole distance without stopping or walking. I also had in mind an hour as a target time. I can walk 5km in an hour, so 10km/h didn't seem out of reach. A month ago, I was pretty confident. Today, I was much less so. I did some running last year with some friends, but I'm not sure that we ever cracked 10km. It took me a month of running to do 6k without stopping. And that was at sea level, not 8,500 feet above.
Finally, the big moment approached. Brad and I joined the mass of runners, managing to get a position towards the front. The crowd surged forwards, forcing the policemen trying to hold the starting line to retreat. The siren sounded, and we were off. From this point on, time was measured in distance. Especially since I didn't have a watch on.
0m: So far, so good.
50m: Slow going with thousands of people attempting to get to the front at the same time.
100m: The crowd thins a bit. Already there are runners ahead of us as far as we can see.
300m: A guy stops in front of us to retie his shoelaces. We dodge and keep going.
500m: We hit the first hill. The hills in Addis are generally longer but less steap than those in Brisbane.
800m: Top of the first hill. That wasn't so bad.
850m: The crowd of runners starts a chant for a couple of minutes. Soon everyone is running in time. Interesting experience.
900m: First sharp corner. A middle-aged white guy hits a traffic island he couldn't see coming and face-plants. He gets up quickly and keeps going.
1km: Slight downhill. Feeling good. I can do this!
2km: Bottom of the second hill. This one's a bit steaper and a little shorter than the last one. Still doing ok.
2.2km: A group of people from Bingham are waiting to cheer us on.
2.4km: Top of the hill. My legs are starting to complain. Time to slow down a little. I keep jogging, but Brad goes ahead.
3km: Finished the first loop. I am ready to stop now. Legs have signed a petition and contacted their local member. Start chanting "Every single step" in my head.
4km: Finally at the top of the first hill again. The second loop takes a slightly longer route between hills at this point. Still running (albiet slowly) Legs on fire. Now chanting under my breath.
5km: Missed the sign and thought we must have gone at least 6k by now. A friendly Ethiopian passing me corrected that delusion for me. "Every...single...step".
5.2km: About 500 people pass me when they take a short cut through a petrol station instead of going the extra 100m of the hairpin turn.
6km: Around this point an Ethiopian (who's name I can't remember) decides to join me as a running buddy. I'm sure I'm slowing him down.
7km: We hit the second hill for the second time. Legs have given up their protest and decided to try blisters instead.
7.2km: Halfway up the hill, the Bingham crowd misses my passing while chearing for another guy from the school just ahead of me. I barely noticed. "Ev...ry...sin...gle...step".
8km: A thoughtful soul has set up a fire hose and is cooling everyone down. Yay! Blisters multiplying. I'm going to die...
9km: A kid on the sideline puts out his hand for a high-five. I attempt to comply, but the activity saps about 40% of my remaining energy and I miss anyway. Note to self: Don't do that again.
9.3km: Ask my running buddy how long we've been running. "1 hour" he says. Bummer.
9.5km: The crowd picks up pace, and I try to do the same. Burn another 50% of remaining energy in about 50m. Nearly stop and throw up. "EVERY SINGLE STEP!"
9.8km: Round the final corner and see the finish line. Halelujah!!!
9.9km: See the time above the finish line: 59:45. Try to pick up the pace. I can do it!!!
9.97km: 1:00:00. Doh!
10km: Take the final steps over the finish line. 1 hour and 10 seconds.
So, I achieved my goal: I ran it the whole way without stopping. And only 10 seconds over the hour. I'm happy with that. The guy who came in first (an Ethiopian, of course) did it in 29 minutes, 54 seconds, which is a new course record. I'd estimate I came about 5000th, which is not a bad effort.
It came at a cost though - my calves are making me pay. Flights of steps and slight inclines will be a challenge for the next couple of days, I think. But I did get an extremely cool medallion, just for finishing the race.
In other news, we have finally reached the end of first term (the first of three). 13 long weeks. Everyone has found it hard going, not only due to the length of time, but also the fact that most people were hit by a mystery virus that took people down for about a week. I managed to avoid that one somehow (every other Australian on the compund got it), but did get a stomache bug of some sort that knocked me back to about 50% for a day.
We are also saying goodbye to three of the teaching staff this week. Tim and Ally Hicks head back tonight (or more accurately, early tomorrow morning). Tim and Katie Strawn and their son Aiden leave later in the week. We have been given the blessing of a replacement teacher for Ally in the 11 Psychology classes she taught though, which is excellent. I'm still not sure who's looking after 5th grade yet, but something will be worked out for the next 3 weeks until their new teacher arrives in January.
Also, we've had rain the last two nights in a row. In the middle of dry season. Woohoo! Hardly ever happens, but it's good that it did. We're already getting power rationing.
Anyway, time for bed. God bless,
David
Prayer Points
- Praise that Danielle's eye was healed before a finger was laid on it.
- Pray for David Hicks, who is currently on a tour of the UK and USA trying to drum up teacher for the next school year. With 12th grade being added, we're going to need even more than we have now, and several will be departing.
- My calves. Just kidding.
Director's Commentary
- No, that isn't a grammatical or spelling error. Total is a petroleum company and was the major sponsor of the race. Back to the story.
- The astute among you will have recognised that name. It's the same place as where the giant bonfire happened a month or two back. Back to the story.
