Matthew Todd

I decided a while back to give myself a little bit of routine by training for the Kilimanjaro Half Marathon. I hadn’t ever really run more than 3 miles before, but so far, so good, and the race is coming up soon now — just 2½ weeks!

The actual race route runs along a very narrow, busy road, so I’ve been running instead up into the villages above town. After about 4k the pavement turns into dirt, and I pass through coffee fields and over a gorgeous rushing river, just like something you’d see in the Smokies. Lots of kids are walking home from school at the same time — sometimes they laugh and run with me, sometimes they yell “Mzungu!” and ask for money, but all in all it’s pretty fun.

On a geek note, one thing that’s made a huge difference in my training is this GPS doohickey Dad gave me. It figures out how far I’ve gone (there’s no way I could tell that otherwise, since we couldn’t drive these routes) and how fast I’m going — and it even beeps when I’ve gone halfway so I’ll know to turn around and go home!

I suppose that’s all there is to say for now, but I’ll be sure to write about how the race goes!