Marato Amahoro

May 24

This weekend my fellow volunteer and friend Mitesh and I ran in the 6th annual International Peace Marathon (Marato Amahoro) in Kigali, Rwanda. Mitesh ran the full marathon and I ran the half  It was the first marathon experience for both of us, so we didn't quite know what to expect. 

In all the months of training leading up to the marathon, I was running alone (accept for the crowd of 20 little kids chasing me on their way to or from school), so it was exciting to arrive at the stadium surrounded by over a thousand other runners from all over the world. We met a man who was traveling the world running a marathon a week for one year (52 marathons!!). Last week he was in China, next week Hungary. Another man from America visiting for the week to run and do some orphanage work, and several people from Belgium and Germany and Japan, some working in Rwanda, others visiting. And of course there were all the east African countries competing, including the Kenyan runners - best in the world. There were young kids and even older women (they ran the five kilometer fun run) and a race for wheelchairs too. 

The race began an hour behind schedule, 9am instead of 8am., which meant the hot sun, unabated by the thin line of clouds in a predomiately blue sky, was scorching by midday. I have a nice tan - note to self, the rainy season is now officially over; wear sunscreen! My first lap felt great - I was pacing myself just as planned, but as the day grew hotter and the water stations started running out of water (go figure) the second lap was more grueling and I slowed down by 8 minutes (the half marathon route was two big laps around the city, the marathon four). I was amazed to see that the Kenyans were lapping me - ugh. Also, there was a guy with only one leg who ran the half marathon on his crutches. That's incredible.         

I finished the half marathon in 2:13:07, which put me in 235th place out of about 500. The top runners were all African, mostly Kenyan - 1:04 was the best time. The first place marathon runner was around 2:46, which is really good considering the heat, the hills, and the altitude. It's just amazing what these runners can do!!

All in all, well worth it. But I think I'll stick to biking for my exercise for the rest of my year here :)