Kili Marathon

On Saturday, after a long night of "shakey shakey" a bunch of us got up early to go watch the Kiliminjaro Marathon. We watched the half marathon and the marathon winners come in. The runners had to run on the "road" with the crazy cars and on rough dirt roads. They came into the stadium which was at the local University. It was really interesting watching the runners come in because they looked all looked so different from the runners back at home. We saw runners without socks, without sports bras, some running without shoes at all, some running in pumas, some running in sandals, some running in jeans. A few finishers were in wheelchairs. We probably saw only one or two pairs of actual running shoes in the whole place. We saw the first place marathoner come in at the course record of 2 hours and 15 minutes. Later that day, the local volunteers took us back to the course to go to the festival. I can honestly say I was one of five mzungus in a crowd of about 2,000 people. But perhaps that is because all of the entertainment was in Swahili. Who knows. It was cool to be a part of the festival and see everyone come together and get really excited.