04 December 2010

Good Saturday Run

It's been a long time since I last posted -- since I first got to Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso. Running in West Africa -- Burkina Faso and Ghana -- was a welcome change from running in Nairobi. Even though Ouaga is the capital city of Burkina Faso, it's not nearly as large as Nairobi and there is not nearly as much traffic. So, the air was cleaner. I did have to watch out for hundreds of motor scooters and bicycles (thousands as work traffic picks up later in the morning). It turned out that the safest place to run was in the middle of the road rather than on the side.

Much of my running in both Ouaga and Ghana was on dirt roads. My shoes got filthy!! After we got home, I left my running shoes outside, next to our door, as usual. The dear lady who works for us here commented that I must have run somewhere besides Nairobi. Curious, I asked her why. "That's not dirt from here," she said. She was right, but how did she know?

This morning's run was a good one. It wasn't long -- none of my runs these days are long -- but it was a good 3.9 miles. The first part felt especially good. Maybe I'll get my endurance back some day. The weather was great -- I left before sunrise in the pre-dawn light -- the temperature was 59° and the humidity was a comfortable 59%. I almost decided not to run because I didn't get enough sleep last night. But, I'm really glad I went.

I hope your weekend run(s) is as satisfying.

Run well, y'all,
Bob

2 comments:

kids sport sandals said...

Very cool blog! I love the little story about the lady who knew you've been running far by the dirt on your shoes. In the city we don't notice such things, do we? keep on writing - and running! :)

Bob A said...

Wow -- thanks for the compliment on the blog. I just write whatever comes to mind and whenever it happens to come to mind. That's the "random" part of the title -- I do it in spurts.

Certainly in US cities, we don't see the dirt as much. Here, though (I live in Nairobi, Kenya), my shoes still get very dirty. During the rainy seasons, my shoes and legs look like I've run on trails; during the dry seasons, it's the dust. Never boring, that's for sure. The pair of shoes I'm using right now only have about 200 miles on them but they look like they have 600 or more.

Thanks for stopping by and commenting.