Too Much Altitude

Some of the X-country team

Today we ran our first road race in Addis Ababa.  We hitched a ride with Aysha and Sunil’s X-country team.  The race was sold out, but their coaches were kind enough to provide us with unused bibs.

Here’s a little play by play of my race.

The elite men

The race got going and it all seemed kind of cool.  We got to see the elite men start and Haile Gerbrselassie was there providing some inspiration.   Then the not so cool part; we had to run. 

The first 2km were not too bad, nice and flat.  Then things started to get a bit bad--hills and altitude to deal with. Running on the flats seems to be similar to running at home, running up hills seems to be is when the altitude starts to rear its ugly head.  Added to this was parched lips and a mouth that was as dry as a biscuit.  Luckily, the race was sponsored by Coca-Cola and glasses of coke were provided at about km 4 (no water, just coke!).   Finally things got very bad: the last km was all uphill and the battle in the head to not walk began, but a Coca-Cola as you crossed the finish line made you forget all your troubles.

The kids were terrific.  Aysha had done the same race (it’s part of a series) last month and took 4 minutes off her time this time around.   Sunil ran the race for the first time, the longest distance he has run!

For Mike and myself, more training is in order.  However, in spite of the near nausea, it was a great day.  Tons of runners, music, Amharic medals, and of course, Coca-Cola.  If only Addis could do something about the altitude, I would be set.