Roof of Africa Run - Stage 2

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32 km/20km -5:30 hours - 3000 feet vertical

Samanga to Rongai, in the northwest part of Kilimanjaro

Today was an entirely different run than yesterday. In some ways it felt like we were in an entirely different region. After all the up and down yesterday over the various ridges we only had a few of those today which meant that much more of the route was runnable. As much as I love being in the mountains, I also really like to be able to run.

The first couple hours we continued to see many villages and many people. We ran through a lot of wide open growing fields. The openness offered a view towards the mountain, but the top was obscured in clouds most of the day. Looking the other direction, we had amazing views over the plains that stretch away from Mt Kilimanjaro, and on the mountains miles away.

The people we see are always so friendly. They come out from their houses to see us run by, sort of like at the Tour de France or something like that. Somehow they seemed to know we were coming. The would say Jamboree, which is hello I Swahili and we would respond with the same. The three Tanzanians would often say more. Several times yesterday and today we would have a crowd with use for a several miles, just tagging along. Sometimes it felt they were putting in no effort at all while we were running along.

We saw a lot of cabbage, maize, tobacco, avocado.

The second part of the day we started to get away from some of the villages so saw many fewer people. We ran through areas that are used for growing and harvesting trees. We would run through these amazing pine forests with a bed off pine needles on the forest floor which was so soft to run on.

Despite being a shorter day time wise, I definitely felt the distance and time running. It doesn't seem too hot here, but the sun and the warmth definitely affects me, that seems to be my biggest challenge so far.

The running is a little different as well - I've done perhaps a dozen runs of 20 miles or more this year, but none longer than about 3 and a half hours. Here we're stretching to 6 hours or more.

The other unusual aspect is we have no idea how far we've run or how far we have to go. We can estimate somewhat based on how long we've been running, but we still have to be prepared for a long day. I was expecting runs to be 4 or 5 hours, not 6 or 8, so I've had to adjust. It's just a different mental space.

The finish today was at Rongai.  In fact where we finished we could see the sign for the border with Kenya. No big welcome today, just our own crew and runners offering each other much deserved congratulations and high fives. It was still a day to celebrate!

Roof of Africa Run - Stage 1

32km/20mi, 8 hours, 5900 ft vertical

Mbahe to Samanga

Before I write anything else, I have to say this is absolutely amazing!! I know it's only been a couple days of being here and just 1 day of running, so perhaps it's premature, but I doubt it.

I've been many places in the world and at dozens of events big and small - this ranks among the top. The running, the views, the people, the trails. Wow!!!

Today is the first day of the Roof of Africa Stage Run around Mt Kilimanjaro. the inaugural run. It began with a hearty early breakfast at 6:30. Then final packing and we headed off for a short walk to a tree planting. Simon was part of a program to plant trees near a natural spring in the village. The trees will serve to stabilize the land, support the spring, and generally keep the human activity near it to a minimum. After the speeches, we all helped plant some native trees.

The next stop was the Marrangu gate to the Kilimanjaro park. This was sort of the official start to the run. We all lined up for pictures and an official go!

The crew is small, Steve from Hawaii, Krissy from Boulder, Andrew the photographer from South Africa, Jerry from St Louis, Tim from Minneapolis, Simon, Edi and Ziegfried feromTanzania.  It's a great group and similar paces it seems - we stayed together the whole day.

Throughout the day we had amazing views, either up the mountain when it was clear and we could see that direction, and out to the plains and the mountains around the area. Just beautiful. We frequently had our cameras out.

Most of the day was lots of up and down, straight down into these steep ravines or canyons, and the straight back up the other side. This meant for a slow day, but beautiful. Lots of walking. It all added up to almost 6000 feet of vertical. The last canyon of the day we dubbed Jurassic canyon after Jurassic Park- it just looked like that.

Our favorite canyon though was mid afternoon with what seemed like the steepest longest descent and ascent. But it was beautiful. Going down it was narrow enough in places that it was only a half shoe wide. There was one tall tree sticking up, and still it was dwarfed by the depth. We also saw our first baboons scamper across the bottom as we descended. When we reached the bottom we found an amazing waterfall cascading down several levels,a with vines, moss, tons of green.

The whole day was green - everywhere! Stunning. Never the same though. Open fields, a small pine forest, banana forest, fields of plants, close cover running. A lot of it seemed like we were running cross country, almost making our own trails.

Notes for later, film crew, the half mile between kili and villages,kids running with us, seeing people all the time. Working 9 to 5- that was our running time. Kenny Rogers the gambler in the middle of nowhere.

One of the most amazing pieces of the run was the finish for the day. We came into a small village where our camp was set up. There was several hundred people welcoming us. Amazing and unexpected! Once at our campsite, we swapped high fives among ourselves and then with the dozens and dozens of kids watching. The kids were a captive audience for a long time as we cleaned up.

What a day! And this was only day 1!