The Great Ethiopian Run

On Sunday the 27^th November 2011 I took part in the Great Ethiopian Run. What a buzz!!!!! I wasn’t particularly enthusiastic about the prospect when it was first suggested all the way back in In-country-training as my one and only previous 10k whilst an achievement I’m very proud of was not exactly easy, and the thought of training in Africa, with a million kids running alongside you (not nearly as fun as it sounds) in the heat and the altitude really didn’t make me think it would be a good idea. However after lots of encouragement from other volunteers who assured me they would all be walking I signed up for it and got my lovely t-shirt which is you race entry and medal ticket at the end.

I didn’t do much (any) training because of lack of time and, let’s be honest, laziness but instead made a firm plan just to walk it. However as there was no stratification based on your estimated time like you would expect at home I found myself worryingly close to the front of a pack of 36 000+ other participants of the day and as the starting gun went we just kind of got carried along by the crowd at a pace that was somewhere between a walk, a skip and a jog.

This is not a race you do to get a personal best though. This really is all about the participation. The vast majority are just there for the party and it really feels much more like a carnival than a race, with people chanting, singing, and conga-ing their way along the route. Every 500m there are either live bands or loudspeakers blaring out ethio-jazz and a crowd of runners who have given up running just to boogie on down to the tunes for a little break! So I danced, skipped, walked and jogged my way around the 10km in a time of 1 hour 45 mins and even got to the end in time to get a medal! Unfortunately some of our group missed out as the 36 000 medals they had produced ran out as many people without t shirts just joined in and even though you are meant to have a t shirt to get a medal they were just being handed out freely at the end.

Definitely one of the highlights of my trips so far!