the video marathon continues--

here is a brief glimpse from our time in africa - summer '08. here we are (quinton, jamie, trey and me) arriving at the shelter children's orphanage. our kenyan friends greeted us in grand fashion, and we felt very much loved and appreciated. it was the beginning of a great two weeks.



now, let me tell you about the time i ran the ngong hills of kenya with the kenyan marathon training team. knowing my passion for running, quinton set up this surprise excursion and here is how it went down:

we had been in africa and staying at the orphanage for about a week (at this point, i was lacking on the nutrition and hydration end). the marathoners show up to the orphanage to "pick me" and off we went. I was told this would be a quick visit to the running village and a scenic jog through the kenyan countryside. being that i was in the best shape of my life, i figured i would have no problem hanging with the pack. so, after a few minutes i noticed that we were starting to pick up the pace and we are now going what feels to be about a 6:30 mile pace. i begin to ask, "how far are we going again?" oh but wait, LANGUAGE BARRIER. i took 2 years of swahili in college but "how far, how long" was not coming to me in the moment. anyway, we kept on...and the worst part, i didn't know where we were going or if i was even safe! i, the little mzungu (white person), was headed out on foot and fast and all i could do was pray. "lord", i said, "please get me back to guinn safe and soon, and allow me to keep this pace because if they drop me i definitely do not know how to get back". somewhere in the swift shuffling of feet and vision of the roaring kenyan countryside, i hear them say "40 kilometers". having run a time or two on the metric scale, i do a quick conversion to more familiar terms and shout "25 MILES!!" now we're heading straight up hill, and are probably 8 miles in at this point....and, i was at my end...i stopped to walk. all of a sudden, abram (was his name) miraculously knows english and says to me, "do you walk in america?"
i'm thinking, 'oh heeey, abraham! glad we're speaking the same language now-- in america i train at sea level, and in america i can drink the water, and in america i don't push a 6 flat pace for 40 kilometers". anyway, he got the memo and we all headed back to the camp...still running 6:45 miles but only 12 of them.

i remember being at the top of one of the many hills and i could see the orphanage off in the distance. probably 5 miles away, and with only a few more hills to scale, masai villages to run past, and cattle and donkeys to dodge, i could tell that we were headed in the right direction and this gave me an new energy to finish the run strong!

finally, we make it back to the shelter!! i sprinted up to hug guinn and defintely spent some time praising God that i was back safe and sound. THEN, abram and i led some of the little ones in stretches!! hence, the video below:


two more kenya clips--
dancing jimmy



and julian. all the other kids were playing and he was sitting on a little hill reading his bible. so sweet.