This upcoming weekend

Countdown Clocks

Kilimanjaro Marathon!

3 weeks ago I saw a letter at our office about Kilimanjaro Marathon, and since I didn’t have much to do that day I googled the event, and shortly after I had read that is was a yearly marathon that was happening in Moshi, just at the bottom of Kilimanjaro (in Tanzania). I thought: “I’ve had ‘To run a marathon’ on my bucket list for a long time, maybe I should do this one?” so the following day I booked hotel, flights and paid the fee for running (got it covered by IL Modig, my club in Fresvik!).

I’ve never run a race further than 10km, so this was something new for me, and even though I didn’t really have money for it (still have to live in Zambia for 4 more months without a lot of income) I made the decision to do it. I started running the very same day I booked everything. And since then, 25 days ago, I’ve been running a lot. I stop lifting weights and ran instead, on the treadmill, in the compounds, at the running track.

I haven’t been running a race since May 2013 when I ran 10km Bupa Charity Run in the city centre of London (awesome to run, and I collected over £200 for children in Aylesbury).  So my fitness level wasn’t great (imagine after 2 months on holiday around Africa for Christmas!) therefore it was a lot of work (running) ahead of me, before the marathon on 2^nd of March.

Week by week
The first week I ran in total of 84km, mostly short runs every day
The second week I ran 106km, which was 5 days of intervals and long runs and 2 days rest
The third week I only ran 74km, 2 days rest and some intervals and long runs, but my legs, joints muscles was aching, so I took it chill.
This is the fourth week, about 40km, and I will run more on Tuesday, Wednesday, and even Thursday, so guess I will get another 30km before I start resting for the Marathon on Sunday.

It’s been a lot of fun training for this event, since I suddenly had something to focus on and look forward to.

Goal
My initial goal was to finish the marathon in 4 hours 20 minutes, but then I “improved” my goal with 20 minutes (to finish within 4 hours).

During my training I’ve consulted with my brothers back home in Norway, who are some of the best runners in their age-group in Norway. So it was natural for me to listen to their advice. I have to thank them for advice and support

Last year
I’ve been looking at the result lists from previous years (Kili Marathon) and the best runners are all from either Kenya or Tanzania. Here are some of the numbers:

• ·         239 participants
• ·         Best European was a Frenchman who ran it in 3h18m25s
• ·         Average last year was 4h6m
• ·         No Norwegians participated
• ·         Best Scandinavian (Danish) ran in at the time of 4h33m16s
• ·         Best time was Kipkemoi (Kenya) at the time of 2h14m58s
• ·         On the top 14 there was 13 Kenyans and 1 Tanzanian

The "wall"
Have you seen the british movie called “Fatman”? It’s an English comedy about a unfit guy who runs a marathon to win over his lost love. In his marathon he meets “the wall” which a lot of people talk about when they run marathons. The “wall” is when your body runs out of carbohydrates to burn, and switches to fat, and all runners get this after 1-2 hours of running. I’m hoping to be ready for this mental challenge and jog through it. What is important is not to push too hard, since you don’t want to get lactic acid when you’re only half way.

How I’m getting there
I’m taking a taxi to the airport on Thursday at 22:00, and my flight to Nairobi is at 24:15 and takes about 3.5 hours. I will fly from Nairobi to Moshi (which only takes an hours) at 8:30. So I will arrive Friday morning and therefore I will have entire Friday and Saturday to relax and check out Moshi/Kilimanjaro. The race starts at 06:30 on Sunday.

Guess my finishing time
If you haven’t guessed my time on Facebook then you can do so in the comment area at the bottom of the page. So far 33 has guessed, and the average is 4h15m29s. Median: 4h22m30s

More on: http://kilimarathontraining.blogspot.com/

Mkushi!

Work in rural Zambia

Last week I was told to get to Mkushi (North of Lusaka) to observe a Kids’ Athletics workshop. Finally! The plan was that I was going to take a bus on Monday afternoon, stay the night at a lodge, attend workshop before heading back home to Lusaka either in the evening or Wednesday morning.

On Monday the bus was leaving Lusaka at 14.00 and my colleagues told me it would take about 5-6 hours. It’s a long journey. When I asked my contact in Mkushi, she said I would arrive around 18, maybe even 17. It’ll go fast she said. I didn’t believe her, I’ve been too long in Africa to know that nothing goes fast here.

I got in the bus around 13.20, and it was almost packed already. At 13.50 a priest came and prayed for us. A bit after 14 we took off. Even though it took about 5.5 hours it felt faster. I enjoyed it.

When I got to Mkushi my contact, Lina, found me and escorted me to my lodge. For K150 (170kr) it was quite decent. Fridge, TV (one channel), freezer, bathtub, toilet and a bed was more than I hoped for. I was dead tired and went to bed (but some bed bugs and mosquitoes kept me awake for a while.

Tuesday

After a morning run and a big English Breakfast at the lodge I went to the school were the workshop were being held. I came early to help prepare. At 9.00 only a few of the 25 invited had showed up. We waited 40 minutes before we started with an opening prayer. 9 had showed up by now. The 10^th participant came at 10:20, and the 13^th (and last one) came at 13:30.

The workshop is designed (by ZAAA) to last two days, but the workshop facilitator tried to squeeze it into 1 day. It was hectic, but it was OK. I was there to observe, but had to step in and lecture at times. 

Some of the participants were attending only for the reason of lunch money, K50 (when a lunch cost K15-K20) and the certificate. I lost a lot of respect for a lot of them when I realized that. The workshop finished at 16.00 as planned, and while the participants eating biscuits, drinking soda and holding their “well-earned” certificate, everyone was happy. After everyone was gone I briefed Lina, the facilitator, on how it had gone and I gave her some advice what to do differently next time.

Then we waited about an hour for our taxi driver which took us to a gas station where I would wait for a bus to Lusaka. When I got to the bus station it was 17:40, and I was told the bus would arrive maybe at 19, or 20, or maybe 21 or 22. SO… I sat down and read. I’m getting used to this waiting, and it’s not much I can do about it. But I know I will appreciate the time-management when I get back to Europe.

I had nshima w/ chicken for dinner, local style. Being the only white man I got a bit of attention and I talked to a lot of travellers stopping by to get something to eat. There was one guy who knew a lot about the peace corps and the last I saw of hime was drinking a beer before driving off on his motorbike..., and another guy who was very nice, considering he barely spoke any English. He didn’t know any Nyanja either, he was Bemba (like most people in this area). In the end he asked for money for food. I gave him K10, and he walked away without buying any food. To be honest I wasn’t surprised

At 21.30 the bus finally arrived! I asked for a seat and the bus driver said there was space, so I bought a ticket for K100. But when I went inside there was no seats available, and I could see 4 adults and 5 kids in the back row (5 seats). Then the bus driver shouted to me, waving me to the front of the bus. He gave me a pillow and told me to sit next to him. So I did. 1.5 meters away from the massive front window, without any back support. This was so awesome! I loved it! It was full moon and very little traffic. But when we were driving at full throttle in the fog or passing trucks I was a little scared.  

On the bus

Ready for 5.5 hours on the road!

Had a little stop. Look at the guys posing!

My bed at the lodge, used the mozquito net when I heard the mozzies

Lack of sleep made me drink coffee

This is how it looks like in Mkushi. You see the lady by her house?

The rainseason makes the roads bad

Lots of grass, not much else

Corn

Workshop

Spelling is not great, but rules are important!

Started

Lina shows different exercises

Demonstration outside

Their school. Nice tree in the middle

This is the gas station where I spent 4 hours of my life at

Decent view eh?! 

Didn't sleep for a second. But great view!

Runaway Saturday 15/2-14

This morning, Saturday 15/2, I got up around 8 AM, got dressed and ate my porridge/oatmeal. I was heading to OYDC to work out (hence the title) when I met my young neighbour showing off his newly captured grasshopper (picture below). He also asked for my bike and some money, as usual.

I walked to Kabwe Roundabout, only stopping by the post office (as I usually do on Saturdays nowadays). When I got to the bus stop there was an empty bus waiting for me, after jumping in I started reading the book I brought, and I had read for about 20 minutes before the bus was full and we started off our short journey. It took about another 20 minutes before I got to OYDC.  Since I had my iPod earphones plugged in, I didn’t talk much (Norwegian style baby!)

At the field the track-and-field team was training, and most of them knew me from before. They asked me to join, but I had my own program to do. After a few laps warming up I ran 4x4 minutes, an interval exercise I’ve known for years (and is supposed to be very efficient for stamina). I noticed that my endurance is not as good as it used to be, but that is as expected. After the runs I laid down and did some stretches and core work (planks, mountain climbers etc) and suddenly I had a bunch of kids (between 5-16 year olds) with me (they didn’t run after/with me, since the track-and-field team was running training). Before my lunch break I took some photos and asked them random stuff (like what do they want to be, and the answers I got was everything from bus driver to pilot). I sat in the stands and ate my white bread with brown cheese (the last bit I had!).

I went on the scale and I am now 91.2kg.

After lunch a couple of the sprinters came up to me and was asking about advice. I coached them once in September, but since then I’ve been stuck at the office. They wanted some advice on how to run faster, and they seemed gutted that I hadn’t been able to train them. Even though I’ve never been a sprinter I gave them as much advice as I could.

Second part of my workout was 10x1km, and I did well (improved since last weekend). The track-and-field team was done training so all the kids were following me again. It’s usually fine, but at one point a little girl (reached up to my knees) ran straight over my lane, inches from my knees (the kids love to get in my way which becomes annoying after a while), so I considered making the work-out short but then they got chased away by some adults (30-40 kids were bathing in the “pool” by one hurdle).  I finished my session after 10 intervals, stretched and walked to the bus stop.

Shortly after, a bus picked me up, and there was maybe 6-7 passangers, and when the conductor asked for my money I gave him the normal K3, but he insisted that the price was higher than that. I told him in Nyanja that he was lying and he should lower the price, this made the atmosphere in the bus very good. People were laughing and told that it does cost K3. I “argued” with the conductor for a while, but in the end I gave him the extra Kwatcha. A man sitting in front of me asked me about my Nyanja. I told him I had taught myself and I’ve lived here for 6 months now (but actually it’s 4 in Zambia, 2 on holiday in 5 different African countries)

Man: “What is the best about Zambia”
Me: “The people here are very friendly, except from the conductors who takes my money!”

Man: “What do you do here?”
Me: “I’m a sports volunteer, and coach kids about sports”
Man: “OK, that’s great. What’s your name? (In Nyanja)”
Me: “Ruben”
Man: “You don’t have a Zambian name?”
Me: “I do, but I can’t remember…. Do you have a name for me?”
Man: “Mulenga”
Me: “What does that mean (every Zambian name means something)?”
Man: “It’s like artist, but wait, I think βupe is a better name since you came here as a volunteer. It means Gift”

So now my Zambian name is βupe (pronounced something between Vupe and Bupe)
-At this time I was trying to throw out everything I knew in the local language.

Me: “When I see a Zambian girl, I say: Koma uoneka bwino lelo (You look pretty/beautiful today)”
Man: “What is the best about Zambian women?”
Me: “Taco! (bum)”

Man: “What are you going to bring back home from Zambia when you leave?”
Me: “Well, in Norway we are very closed up, and we usually mind our own business, but here you are so open, and you talk to strangers on the bus. I really like that, so I’m hoping to bring that with me home to Norway. The Zambian people are so friendly!”

So to sum up, this was a really cool bus trip, even though I overpaid for the trip, it took longer than normal and it was crowded (it always is). We talked about Zambian food, other African countries (Mozambique is very corrupt) and how great Zambia is.

I walked from town to home and outside our flats some of kids saw me, and they begged me to spin them around, so I did. Thankfully it was only three kids, ‘cause those spins makes me really dizzy…

At home I took a cold bath (thankfully we had enough water!) and relaxed. 

My new app on my phone. Fresvik. 6 degrees and sunny...

I found this on Lusaka Backpackers when I went there for books

Anja had Helen, who is a former volunteer in Zambia, as a guest for almost two weeks

It's corn-season, and I buy these for K2 (2kr) on the streets. yummy

My buddy found a grasshopper. Massive!

My flat in the background. A grasshopper in front

Here is from when I did my core workout at the OYDC. There were about 5-10 other kids behind me

But these kids loved to be taken pictures of

Pose

Lusaka

Busy start of the new year

I arrived Lusaka 3 weeks ago, and I’ve been very busy, unfortunately it’s all in the office though. We are arranging Inter Company Relay in June, which is a big event here in Lusaka, and there are  a lot of preparations for that. So I’ve been in the office working on my laptop. BUT I have also been doing some other work, which will make me a lot more active soon. I got the responsibility to make sure the Kids Athletic Project is going well, so basically I contact those PE Teachers who were at our course in December. I make sure they hold workshops for other PE teachers in their district. I also ask if they want my assistance, so I can come to their district to observe and help out. This is really cool, because it means I can travel around Zambia at the same time as I’m working.

Not every day goes as planned
Not every day goes as planned. Friday I came back to the office after visiting the Norwegian Embassy (for waffles and brown cheese!) around lunchtimes, and then I was asked to come to OYDC. So I did, I went to the stadium there to help out on an event. I didn’t even know we held an event on that day. Well, at least I got to do something outside.
And today I got a call from one of the staff while I was at the gym (at 9 AM) saying they all went to a workshop, so I could go there and pick up the keys. Not that I got any work planned. 

I finished a whole FM season with Sogndal. Won the Premiership (8^th years in a row, baby) and qualified for the group stage in Champions League).

Spare time
Since I came from my holiday I told myself not to eat or drink any sweets, which I haven’t done yet. “Yay for me!” I’m also trying to work out every day, so I can get fit for summer. It’s less than 4 months until my journey home, so I have to be strict if I want to achieve my goals.

This weekend I went to OYDC to run a few laps (work off some of that chocolate I ate in Seychelles) and it was a couple of nice days. The cool thing was that: When I got to the stadium there was no kids at the track, but the moment I started running a bunch of kids came to join me. I ran intervals (which means I ran short and fast), and the kids ran like crazy until they got tired, but I wasn’t left alone, because then a bunch of other kids came and joined me. It went fine as long as they didn’t fell in the middle of my lane (which they liked doing for fun). They also asked me “How are you?!” and “You are sweating, are you ok?!” a lot.

At my “compound/neighbourhood” there are some small kids that I started talking to one day, and one of them is so small I can easily lift him up and spin him around. After I did this they always come running at me when they see me coming home from work, asking me to spin them.

Postcards
During my holiday I sent a lot of postcards, mainly to my 5 year old nephew and family at home. I haven’t sent a card since, but on Saturday I sent a couple of letters, hopefully some of my readers here will receive one of them.

Postcards from Kenya

Met Anja on the plane

The kids love to take pictures with my new phone

In our hallway. Dawn, Dinah and Daniel

Dinah kisses her baby brother

Anja and Marianne practising the handstand in Anjas place

We spent 45 minutes opening a coconut... It was hard work!

Nshima, beans, chicken and bush meat. Usually we only have one of those protein sources, not 3

Fresh guava from the tree

Lime from the tree

These are the kids I mentioned. Spin me! Sping me! they shout

They love Anjas camera as well. Here she us just.... yeah....

He is so small. But with me he can fly

1kg T-Bone steak!

Done!

Double banana. For the price of one! 

Picture from the main street in Lusaka