58:31

A reference to a Bible verse? A ratio of ants to spiders? Nope...although the second option could be a possibility because we have been finding many more spiders and ants in our house recently! I'll give you some more clues throughout my blog so see if you can figure out what the title is all about.
This last weekend Mandy and I travelled down to Kampala with some friends from Arua. It had been 3 months since we had left Arua so it was great to have a little break and go to the “big city”. We left at 6 AM on Friday morning in a 2 vehicle caravan...all the guys in the first car and the ladies in the second car. I love going on road trips so I was in my glory. We left when it was still dark so we basically watched Africa wake up. The most amazing sight was the sun...it was a giant red ball of fire slowly moving up into the sky. Sometimes Mandy and I will be walking somewhere and when we see what's going on ahead of us we realize, “Man, we are in AFRICA!” I had another one of those moments as we watched the sun rise over the African horizon.
Over 75 speed bumps and almost 8 hours later, we arrived in Kampala and met a few friends who had already arrived. Mandy and I were staying with Vikki so after hitting one of the second-hand markets and some grocery stores, we got settled at our guesthouse. Our guesthouse was such a blessing! Esther and her family have opened up their home for missionaries who need a cheap and quiet place to relax when they come down to the city. Mandy, Vikki and I all had our own rooms, we were totally welcome to make ourselves at home, there was a pool for us to swim in, free internet...it was glorious!
<-- View of Kampala from our Guesthouse.
“What were we doing in Kampala?” you ask. Well, let me tell you! A couple of months ago Mandy and I ended up signing up for a 10 km race with a few of the ladies in our weekly Bible Study. Yes, a 10 km race!! I'm not sure how it all happened, but by the end of October we were officially registered for the MTN Kampala Marathon 2008 and getting up for runs at 6 AM with Pam, Vikki and Cathy. The first few mornings were pretty brutal but we slowly got used to the distance and hills of Arua. Kampala is also known as the “City of 7 Hills” so we knew we would be running up and down hills throughout the actual race so we did as much preparation as possible. Any thoughts on the title?
The race was on Sunday, Nov. 23, so on Saturday we had a “ladies day” where we went to a pool and just hung out for the afternoon. Then that evening all of the families met up for a “high-carb dinner” (aka – our excuse to have lots of pasta!) at Cafe Roma. We had all gotten a little kit for entering the race and it had so much stuff in it! It was awesome.
Vikki sporting our presents from MTN -->
We got a water bottle, a little backpack, a t-shirt, a visor, a timing chip that attached to our shoe, a race number and a sweet shirt to run the race in. Oh, and all if it was BRIGHT yellow! We looked good! Jacob took a whole bunch of pictures of us with our all our gear but I haven't gotten them from him yet but when I do, I will post them.
<-- Me and my official race number.
Well, race day had finally come! There was a 42km marathon, a 21km half-marathon and then the 10km race all starting from the same location, but staggered. Our race was supposed to start at 7:30 AM but we were a little eager and arrived at like 6:20 but it was ok because we all hung out and got excited for the race. The sight at the start line was unreal!
Mandy getting everything pinned and in place -->
There were thousands of people in yellow crowded around, waiting to begin. The MTN Marathon is an internationally recognized race so there were people from all over the world there to compete...while the 5 of us ladies were there hoping we would cross the finish line! We couldn't understand any of the announcements or the music or the start gun or anything, so as soon as we saw the people ahead of us moving, we knew it was time to go. We were off! Along with 9, 995 other people!
Vikki and I have been running together in the mornings because have a similar pace and Mandy, Cathy and Pam have been sticking together so we had agreed before the race that if any of us wanted to go ahead or fall behind, it was no big deal...go at your own pace. Vikki and I ended up staying together but it was interesting! We were in a huge crowd and there were lots of people walking so we were constantly dodging in and out of people, hopping up on the curb and down on the road again while still attempting to keep a decent pace. We had set a goal to finish the race within 1 hour and 5 minutes. We were really hoping we could do it in less than an hour but we decided we would be happy with anything under an hour and 5 minutes.
So we dodged people, climbed hills and avoided as many dropped water bottles as possible for the whole 10 kms. Vikki has been to Kampala many times so she knew the route quite well but I had no idea where we were going or how far we had run at any given point. I just kept looking a few feet ahead of me, huffing and puffing away. We had been running for quite a while and as we rounded a bend there was a man on the side of the road that said, “Well done! You're just about there! Only 200 meters left!” I couldn't believe it!! 200 meters??? We were almost done!!! Just after we rounded that last corner, we could see the finish line and decided to sprint the last 100 meters or so. It was the craziest feeling ever! A few friends were standing on the sidelines waiting for us to finish and were cheering us on as we grabbed hands and finished the race together.
Any idea what the title of my blog is now?? It was our time!! We ran the 10 kms in 58 minutes and 31 seconds! We were SO excited that we beat our goal and made it in less than an hour. I was about to lose last night's dinner right after we crossed the finish line but Vikki kept me moving, pushing people out of the way so I wouldn't end up on the front page of Monday's newspaper. We walked around a bit, stretched and then met up with our friends to cheer Pam, Cathy and Mandy on. Within a few minutes they ran by us, yelling and screaming, so excited that we had all finished the race! We were all so excited it was hilarious...I'm sure we were quite a sight but we didn't even care. After the race we all went to Java's for breakfast and I had the most delicious Caramel Apple Waffels...my reward for running a 10 km and they were so good!
The rest of the day we just hung out at the guesthouse. I had a nap in the afternoon because I wasn't feeling well and then it was back to Arua at 5 AM on Monday morning. The drive back was amazing as well. Again, I love road trips so I had a great time. I love getting lost in my thoughts as I watch the scenery float by my window.
The sunrise on Monday morning -->
The road to and from Kampala is not the smoothest but it was an adventure both ways. About 2 hours away from Arua Vikki's tire went flat so we pulled off the road, thanks to a van/taxi that pointed it out. There we were, 5 girls with a flat tire. I had much confidence in Vikki but I was quite thankful when the van/taxi stopped and everyone piled out to help. There were over 15 people in the tiny little van and about 10 of them were men so there was no need to worry. Thanks to them we were back on the road within 15 minutes.
This ends my adventure to Kampala.