07.14.08

Rarified air (Part 3)

Posted in Jeuland's Musings at 10:15 am by Marc

Greetings all, from Addis Ababa! What a relief it is to be back here again and out of the polluted air of Cairo. It is hard to run at altitude, but I think it’s even harder to run in the chaotic Egyptian metropolis. I was dragging myself out of bed at 5 am just to be able to breathe on the streets of Cairo, wondering what it was about running that I had ever liked. There are no soft surfaces in Cairo, the cars move along recklessly, and there is almost no greenery. And what greenery exists is all in private clubs or gardens. The largest of these has an annual membership fee of US$1000. Can you imagine living in a city where you had to pay that kind of money just to go into a park?

Since arriving here on Saturday, my mindset has completely changed. Running here is natural and part of the rhythm of life. Again, I go for a run first thing in the morning (though here it’s more like 6:15), and set off into the hills behind where I will stay for the week. The climbing is steep at times, but it is also possible to zig and zag one’s way up the slopes. During my first run, a slender, agile Ethiopian young man joined me and we began a pleasant conversation. Gudisa claims he’s 16 (though he looks older); he has PRs at altitude of 15:01 in the 5k and 31 and change in the 10k.

About 10 minutes into our run together,  he started using one of those lines I often hear: “I have an American friend. Do you know….” This always annoys me because it’s expected that I would know every American who ever comes to Addis. But then he said the name; turns out he was a cross country runner at Swarthmore, my alma mater. We did not overlap at school, but he started the year after I graduated, and so I met him in alumni races and knew of him because I keep track of Swarthmore running. I almost tripped when he said that. It’s a funny coincidence.

In any case, he has joined me each morning since for my runs; we head off together up into the hills or to nearby forested areas. He tells me stories about people who have gotten eaten by hyenas in these hills and takes me to breathtaking views. We see loads of other runners also enjoying the morning air. It’s nice to not have to pay attention to where I am going, since he knows the area very well I can just focus on trying to keep up. He darts up the slopes, and has this incredible second gear that he likes to end the runs with. I am either way too old, or way too slow.

But there is also a sad side to this story. Gudisa is an orphan; his parents died in a car crash three years ago, leaving him and three sisters behind. Two of the sisters were adopted by an NGO and the third has been sponsored to go to Italy with an adoptive family, but Gudisa lives in a two-person rented apartment. His school fees are paid by the NGO and he dreams of better opportunities, mostly hoping that running will give him a future. He washes dishes in the hotel I am staying in in exchange for dinners twice a week. I think he does well in running competitions against other school kids and has won medals, but there are many 15 minute 5k guys her, even at the high school level.

Here’s a picture of Gudisa.

Related Posts:

Rarified air (Part 2)

rarified air

Mt. Entoto

Permalink