Becoming a Runner

I’m not a runner. Never have been.  I stick to sports that require less than five minutes of intense exertion at any given time: 100m dash, competition cheerleading, diving, but never long-distances.  Living in the home country of some of the world’s best marathon runners though has somehow inspired me to at least try the whole running thing.  Each November Addis Ababa hosts The Great Ethiopian Run, a 10k featuring some of the best runners, and well, anyone willing to try their best.  I decided last November that I would love to run in the 10k this year, giving myself a year to figure out how to run long distances.  

In February, during my group’s Mid-Service Conference, they announced a run in May being hosted by The Great Ethiopian Run, in collaboration with the NGO Save the Children to raise money to help with healthcare for pregnant women in Ethiopia.  An opportunity to help and a motivation to continue my training? I was sold.  This run was a 7k, and was going to be held in Hawassa, about 4 hours south of Addis.  I had 2 months to become a runner.

sunrise in the countryside

Running to me has resulted in pretty bad outcomes so far in this country.  The couple times I tried last year I wound up with kids chasing me and rocks thrown at me, bringing my confidence down a bit.  This time I decided it would be necessary to sacrifice my habit of sleeping in until 8am and additionally I would find out, shed a bit of pride.  6am has slowly become one of my favorite times in the day.  Not initially, but once I started getting the hang of jogging I found my sunrise jogs to be the most peaceful time of my day.  Not to mention the fact that my dog, Arbay, loves the run more than anything.

My regular route is a 4k, and sometimes I’ll increase it to almost 6k, but I’ve found my pace, which is admittedly slow, but I am happy to say I officially enjoy running.  The first morning the kids who live at my turn-around point started running with me I wasn’t sure what to think.  The last kids who ran with me threw rocks at my dog and me, but I started talking to them and now they’ve become a crucial part of my routine.  The kids are 6-8th graders who live on this farm about 2k away from my house and each morning they run with me back to my house, books in hand for school and shoes-optional.  It’s humbling having children without shoes run faster than you.  But I also remind myself that I live at 7,000ft, which makes for a challenge, an altitude they’ve lived at their whole lives.

May 1st, the day before the run, a bunch of volunteers arrived in Hawassa, ready to support Save the Children and run our best.  My goal: run the whole race.  The 7k was scheduled for 9:30am, not an ideal time considering how hot Hawassa gets, but the 21k run was appointed the early timeslot, understandably.  

The morning of the race was lots of fun, Peace Corps staff came to support us and even brought us Peace Corps hats to wear; swag, finally!  We were all pumped up, and that was before famous Ethiopian runners Haile Gebre Selassie and Turunesh aired the horn to start the run.

We were off! The first half being a run next to the lakeside, and although the path was narrow for such a large group, the scenery was unrivaled.  

The brochures had told us there would be bottled water along the route, which I kept hoping to find, but to no avail other than some locals splashing welcomed lake water from buckets.  The 10am heat was beating down towards the end but I kept going and proudly finished without walking.  It’s officially the longest I’d ever run.  What a fun day! I am now looking forward to adding 3k by November for the run in Addis.

Some of us Group 2 folks after the run