What a Choice!

What a choice! Over the weekend, I was in Arua, Uganda (extreme NW Uganda, 15 minutes or so from the DR Congo border). I was conducting some training for language evaluators. Wherever I travel, I like to run and Arua was no exception. At 3950' above sea level, it's 1800' lower than Nairobi, so it should be easier, right? Well, that assumption turned out to be wrong. I don't know if I was tired or what it was, but I actually felt like I was 1800' higher.

Anyway, while there, I had the option of running two pretty nasty hills in both the first mile and the last mile of my run. Or, I could run under two huge trees in which resided thousands of giant fruit bats (seriously — 2'+/- wingspans — these things looked like medium-sized raptors, birds of prey, when they were flying) and risk being coated in bat guano.

So, one day I did the hills and the next I did the bats. At least in my limited experience, the hills were far worse. I couldn't do the final hill on the return route — it was probably mental, but I just didn't have it in me. On the second day, I braved the guano and made it out and back without the special sauce (or the 2 all-beef patties, lettuce, cheese, pickles, onions, and sesame seed bun). But, it was quite freaky coming up on the trees. Thousands of winged creatures flying around and around making this weird, high-pitched sound.

I then planned to run out on the hills and back through the bats on the third day. Alas, the lack of sleep interfered and I didn't run anywhere. But, this link will show you what I had planned: Hills Out, Bats Back

I'm not quite sure what's going on with my running. This morning, back in Nairobi, I just couldn't get my 2nd wind and ended up running only 2.26 miles at a pace of 9:23 mpm. I just didn't have any more of anything. Oh for the days when knocking out 7 or 8 miles or more without thinking much about it. Ah, well.

Run well, y'all,
Bob