Kilimanjaro Marathon

When my sister and I climbed Kilimanjaro in October I learned there was a Kilimanjaro Marathon.  I immediately decided to do it.  Back in the U.S. I run a lot of trails and love the adventure of going to new places for races.  How could I turn down a chance to run a marathon in the foothills of the Roof of Africa?

The race was held in Moshi town last weekend.  The first 20km was a hilly route through Moshi town, then we headed uphill for 11km towards Mweka Gate (the descending Kilimanjaro route), then back down to the stadium finish.  Now, I knew I had no business running a marathon as the longest run I had done in the 8 months I've been living in Malawi was 20km - less than half the distance.  However, I felt fit and strong and decided to just go for it anyway.

The official start of the 2009 Kilimanjaro Marathon

I ran with my mountain guide friend, his young brother, and his young brother's friend.  At the start I was worried the pace was too fast for me and in my mind I was thinking, "what is wrong with you, these guys summit Kilimanjaro ALL THE TIME.  Endurance isn't going to be an issue for them, you're way out of your league"  My guide friend is so fit that he is training to break the record for summitting Kili (the record is 8:04, from the base to the summit and back to the base.  He attempted to break the record last year and did it in 8:30.  This took my sister and me 6 days).  However, after a while we started interspersing walking breaks with our running.  At about 20km I suggested we stop somewhere to buy some drinks since the course had water but none of us were carrying any gatorade or any calorie-providing substance and we hadn't even eaten breakfast.  My guide friend said, "yeah, I saw all of the azungu runners with their energy bars and special drinks we should try to get something for ourselves." So, we stopped at a roadside stall, bought fantas, and since all soda comes in glass bottles here, sat for a while and drank them while we watched the marathon runners pass us by.  Right then I decided not to run like an azungu and to just enjoy the scene and scenery.  A little bit later I said something again as we were passed by a female mzungu runner who I knew I was faster than, and my guide friend said, "don't worry about it, we're all covering the same distance".  An you know what? I did cover the same distance and even though I was at least an hour slower than usual (I didn't start my watch so I don't know), I had a blast.  The course was gorgeous and I love running in Africa.  Dodging daladalas and animals, stopping for fantas at roadside stands, and seeing all of the azungu runners accompanied by at least 2 village kids for the last 22km of the race was all part of the experience. 

 I felt really strong at the finish so I decided to really run the last kilometer.  I got pretty far ahead of my Tanzanian posse, but then I heard the crowd in the stadium where we finished start to cheer.  Out of the corner of my eye I saw my guide friend sprinting.  So I broke into a sprint and the two of us were sprinting the last 200 meters to the finish to a roaring stadium crowd and finished in practically a dead heat.  The finishing judge winked at me though and assured me he wrote me down first :) 

View from the rooftop bar/restaurant at my hotel in Moshi

The next day I visited some faculty at another University's research site at the hospital in Moshi.  I was really impressed by their enthusiasm and the energy at their project.  It was really fun to talk to other people doing related research and hear about their experiences and to compare their organization with ours in Lilongwe.  I also met someone who is doing exactly what I want to do...she is doing rigorous research with global implications, but directly relevant to the communities she's working, and has lots of contact with the communities with both the people and the village headmen (which she can do because she's fluent in kiswahili).

Because of the flight schedule I had another day before I could fly back to Malawi from Dar es Salaam.  I ended up taking a daladala to Mruwia, a Chagga village in the Kilimanjaro foothills and hiking to the Matenera waterfalls.  It was gorgeous, and I was lucky enough to enjoy a traditional Chagga meal of nyama ni ndizi (meat and bananas).  Maize doesn't grow very well in the mountains so their staple carbohydrate is banana.  They make a stew out of meat, vegetables, and green bananas and it's very tasty! I also sampled the banana brew, the local beer brewed from bananas.  It's no wonder I fell asleep in the daladala on the way back to town!

Hiking the Kili foothills (note my technical hiking gear)

I also climbed Mt. Meru in Arusha National Park the week before the race (hey, it was a long way to travel I wanted to do more than just run a marathon).  It was a gorgeous climb, and very strenuous.  It's much steeper than Kilimanjaro and the summit involved 3 hours of scrambling in the dark and traversing ridges so windy that I wished I had more weight in my pack. 

View of Mt. Meru from Arusha Backpackers

Me at another mountain summit in Tanzania in the dark

Sunrise over Kili at the Meru Summit (4566 meters)

It was a great week, and I came back to Malawi even more motivated.  I was out of my comfort zone a lot on this trip and had a lot of time alone, but that can be good.  For more pictures of Meru and my time in Arusha and Moshi check out my photo album.