World Run II / Reports

The map shows the position of which the pictures for the day are taken (if any). The start and finish markers are placed at the first and last valid registered position. This is not nessesary the actual start and finish position, if GSM or GPS signals was not available.

Goto: 2009-07-06 2009-07-08 Africa

2009-07-07:

25
Distance today: 20.0 km (Accumulated: 14571.8 km)
Elapsed time: 01:43:58
Country: Africa

Start 09:05am. at "Nation Building" at mid. Nairobi. 14c, o.c. and l. wind. Finish 11:21am. At sign "Mlongo Water Supplies", 20km S. of Nairobi on the main road to Mombassa. 21c, and same.

A short stage to make sure the concentration & focus was high throughout. Big city running can turn bad in seconds - even if you know the city - and certainly in yet another metropol visited for the 1. time, w. its intense traffic, cars zooming by at a hands distance, missing pavement and sudden roadworks where everything disappears in a white cloud of dust ;-)

But Nairobi turned out not to be "yet another metropol". Not to me, and I suspect, also not to my good support-driver :-)

Together w. Khartoum (!) its the favorite of the African capitals Ive run through:
- It stands out w. its distinct centre, marked by tall office high-rise, a number of landmark buildings showing daring architecture (f.x. the danish arc. Henning Larsens Nation Building, where I started todays run); all the western' convenienses and products you miss after a fewmonths out on the red dust roads of E. Africa; a business suit dresscode in financial & political downtown - though I never fealt out of place' jogging by in my running outfit, as I would feel in most european big city's. Always time for a question, advice of direction or, as is typical for Kenya, an interest from the locals in "what is going on?" - and pleanty of time to listen to the answer! Indeed Time is in abundance as in most places in Africa :-)
Oddly, my other favorite african metropol is Nairobi's complete opposite: Khartoum. A multi-million city too but w. a skyline.. Abscent ! A the most 2 buildings that could go as 'skyscrapers'. It appears as the desert slowly transforms into a capital, yet never ceases to be a desert; even the sandstormsreaches fully into Khartoum at their peaks. But it has the same distinct identity to it as Nairobi ! African Road, 4lanes wide and pumping cars & bussesthrough at high pace, defining the border between Centre and outskirts. Turn two times and you are on a silent sand street, people sitting at roadside watching life go by - or understanding that Life is not a question of Pace :-)

I'll miss both Much as I continue, at my body's and our planets pace ;-)