Yes, indeed, I am running pretty well these days and since I’ve come to the Congo, I’ve nearly lost all the weight I gained after leaving Cameroon. Sometimes the universe just makes it so abundantly clear where you are meant to be. If only I would always listen!
So, I’d like to lose about 5 more pounds (about 2kg) and then I’ll be “perfect”, but I’m pretty darned chuffed (as my British friends would say) with my body even now.
Tomorrow I’m scheduled to run 12 miles for the first time in a long, long time. But I think I’m ready for it. I’ve run 10mi each of the last two Sundays. Two weeks ago, the “easy” 10 – most of it on our one paved road – and then last week, the “hard” 10 out through Kadutu which included more hills, nearly all dirt road, and dodging crowds of people. So, tomorrow, I’ll do the “easy” 12 – extending the paved road route as far as possible in all directions and then next week either do a shorter run to recover or do the “hard” 12. The paved road is pretty limited unless I go down through the port and head north. There’s a Chinese company that’s been extending the pavement that direction. I haven’t been out there in 6 weeks or so, so I don’t know how far they’ve gone, but the part of the road from the “centre ville” down and past the port is massively crowded with cars and so not terribly inviting.
Today is 15 August which means it rains. And it did. Not much, just a bit. But apparently it’s a signal. Every year it rains on 15 August and then we have 2 more weeks of the dry season and then the rainy season starts for real the beginning of September. Today a couple of my colleagues were telling me that it really rains. Very hard and all day long. Oh joy! Thank goodness I have a pair of trail shoes because my entire neighborhood is now under about 3-4 inches of dust which will pretty instantly become mud when it rains. As long as I don’t kill myself slipping and falling, and I can keep the right frame of mind, it might be fun.
I’ll keep you posted.
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