Masai alikimbia

Just a little story to share with everyone: Ever since I started running, it has been met with strange reactions from people. Most popular is that people think something is wrong, because in rural Africa, when someone is running, they are either being chased or running for help. One day when I went for a run, my neighbor Bariki was home for lunch. He must have looked out of his house and saw me run by. He rushed over to my house where Rose was washing clothes and asked her what was wrong. She had to explain that I was just running for the fun of it. Crazy mazungu.

If I were to peg a strange reaction to running on one tribe, it would definitely be the Masai. Not only, do they laugh a lot when I ask if they saw me running, but more than one have asked what time I run so that they can watch. I don’t get it… or maybe its just they don’t get it. The guy in charge of the herds here on the ranch is often on my end where he won’t be spotted by paying guests, and therefore he has had the honor of me running by with a brief wave of my hand. One day, as I was heading out for a run, he said he wanted to race me. I designated a destination- a tree about 100 meters away and we took off. Not to brag, but I blew him away. At the tree, some of my neighbors materialized and I told them I just beat the guy. They all said it was because he chews tobacco. Okay. I can accept that.

So yesterday, I was trudging along the road back to my house with my two backpacks and a 10 liter bottle of water when I met the guy again. He wanted a rematch. I tried to explain that I was not ready to run after a long day in the village and then at the tree house, pulling double duty. He didn’t like that answer and began counting as I did the first time we raced. I dropped the jug of water and we took off. Mind you, I still had my 2 backpacks with research equipment in them. Well, he kept running and I just stopped when I thought of the long walk home and my big load. I yelled out, “Nimechoka!” (I am tired!) and he just laughed and laughed and laughed. He did come back to get the jug of water for me and express his sympathy, but still- I think I made his day.