Running for fun

I am so glad I run. It opens up new worlds that I would never have been able to access watching the TV. I do of course require my 80’s tunes to be loud and pumping in my ears for best results!

There is this large bigger than hill, smaller than mountain thing, near to where I was staying in Sudan. It is the only imperfection in an almost flat landscape. Hundreds of people earn their living by crushing its rocks. They have developed a technique of climbing up its sides and throwing down all of the rocks that they can pry loose. The rocks are then rolled all of the way to the bottom where other people set upon them with hammers and chisels. The rocks are then broken down into a variety of sizes and stacked into piles. The bigger rocks are stacked into beautiful round cairns just over a meter in height. At night trucks come past and piles of rocks are then loaded up for the next building operation somewhere in this new land.

My running exploration led me all over that hill for an incredible workout. There were plenty of shocked expressions from those hard at work. It obviously made no sense that they were on this hill to survive and I was there for fun! Anyhow it was great to test myself against the mountain and see if I could follow their rock rolling paths straight up, mill around on top and then find other routes down again, whilst always pretending to be in total control!

My last run up this geographic anomaly saw me starting off tired and looking for an easy option. I followed a flat winding track. Like all gentle looking tracks it went around a bend and became steep and nasty. Instead of feeling daunted, I was suddenly filled with energy and raced to the top. Once there, I found a flat rock and began doing pushups with the panorama of Juba spread out below me. I was the highest being around, and certainly the only one uselessly building his chest and arm muscles. Down to my left was an interesting rocky dome which looked worthy of some attention. With less finesse than a shovel, I made my way to the base of this dome. What looked like a cool challenging rock climb from on high now looked far too difficult up close. Not being one for standing around on a run, my body launched into an all fours attack on this rock face. With huge faith in the tread of my shoes, three breaks to catch my breath, and a constant heart rate of 170 beats per minute, I made it to the top! Not wanting to waste the physical high, I got down on my stomach with my feet at the top of the dome and the rest of me pointing down it. And so it came to be that thousands of kilometres from any sea, I was able to practise my surfing jump ups. Later, with my arms about to fall off, I negotiated an easy path down. Now that was a great run!

Just the other night I went for a run in Entebbe in Uganda (had to go via Uganda to get to and from Sudan). My mission was to run on the banks of Lake Victoria. With careful planning, I found myself at the botanical gardens with a flat batteried camera and no money for the entrance fee. Moses at the gate felt sorry for me, or just thought that the amount of sweat dripping off me could be better used watering his plants, and let me in. I had a good run through the park and then headed back to the guest house with a plan in mind. I took a shortcut there up a road called Hill Road. Don’t ever take short cuts up roads called Hill Road, trust me on this one! At the lodge I collected my big camera, got some local currency and then put my sweaty body back on the road. This time I paid my way in, much to Moses’ surprise, and then got to work photographing silly pictures of me in spots I had scoped out earlier. It was a run, although I think my camera would have preferred to be in someone else’s less moist hands! Apart from the supersized foliage, a troop of monkeys entertained me, birds of all types called and shrieked, an army of real live marching ants attacked me, and a big horned cow snorted its displeasure at my company. Another great run!

Running at home will be a bit different, but I cannot complain, not with panoramic vistas of False Bay as my constant companion. Yeah, I like running!

Yours truly on the banks of the Great Lake Vic. The photo below shows just how short I really am!