Roof of Africa Run - Stage 3

Day 3 – The Easy Day

32km/20mi, 1200 feet of climbing (2400 feet descending), 4:45

This was another day of complete contrast the first two. Today we would run around the northern part of the flanks of Kilimanjaro. In the morning we ran through some pines forests. Pine is not a native tree, but they grow it here and harvest it. It felt completely odd to be running on a bed of pine needles in Africa!

For most of the day we would run on dirt roads. We passed through many Masai villages, we saw many farms and the people working their farms. Today would be the day we would run past and through many small herds of cows or sheep being herded down the road – either to market, or back home, or to another feeding area. Today we would see the most evidence of the water situation here, especially at lower elevation (I think we ended at about 4500 feet). All day we would see people, mostly women, walking to town with their plastic buckets to get water. In the towns we would see the well and all the people there waiting to fill their buckets to head home again.

Today would be the hottest day, and I really felt it, especially with no shade for most of the day. After about three and a half hours of running, we stopped for our snack/lunch break. I could feel the heat and knew I needed to keep moving – so I went on ahead with Sigfrid. After two long days I hadn’t fully recovered yet and so my pace was slow, but I could keep moving. I figured we had anywhere from an hour to two hours left of running before reaching camp, so for me this was a case of mind over matter. I just kept moving – when I stopped I would start to get light-headed. I knew I wasn’t dehydrated or slow to heat stroke, but I was definitely overheating. I’m still amazed as what the human body can go – with or without willpower.

After I finished, I drank a ton of water and kept taking in electrolytes. I pulled out my watch from my bag which showed a temperature of 90 degrees – thank goodness we were finished. As I lay in the tent for the next 3 or 4 hours I tried to keep myself cool and positioned in the breeze that was blowing. By the peak of the afternoon heat my watched showed 99 degrees in the shade. So much for all the wool clothes I had brought!

This night would be spent on the grounds of a school. We had arrived in the early afternoon and we were treated to watching the kids line up after school. They would sing the national anthem and do some exercises before heading home. It was truly an honor to be witness to this experience.

From the school we could see a long ways – towards the northern plains and Mount Meru, and of course an amazing view of Mt. Kilimanjaro. This was one of the best places to see where electrical was and wasn’t. Once it turned dark, there were very, very few lights anywhere within our view.

Despite how rough I felt during the latter part of the run, and how long it took me to recover, I still feel completely amazed to be here. I felt a lot of gratitude for the run, the people, and all the experiences that have brought me here. I realize I’m probably repeating myself already – but this truly is an amazing place and an amazing run.