Running Entoto

Jordan, who's a great runner, had suggested we go up really early and "run Entoto." Somehow Louise and I agreed. That meant we left the house 5:30 in the morning, drove to pick up Jordan's friend Dereje and then continued to the lower parts of the Entoto Mountains in the outskirts of Addis Ababa, just below the U.S. Embassy. The goal was to run to the famous Entoto Mariam Church up on the hill. To make a long and painful story short: After about 20 minutes of relatively confident jogging uphill, Louise and I got hit with reality: the church we were going to run to was located way, way, way up the steep, twisting road. Not an easy task for a lousy runner like me, or even for Louise. She and I ended up walking up there most of the way (at least we didn't hitchhike up, as she suggested in one desperate moment!) Once we finally arrived, we were glad to be up there. The view of Addis and the surrounding green hills (lush from months of rain) was stunning. The whole experience inspired Louise to write a story about what makes running so special to Ethiopia (it is the national sport here, and you see people running everywhere) and why so many of them are so great at it. As I write this, she is just about to submit her article, which I think came out insightful and entertaining, to Runner's World magazine. (We unfortunately didn't bring a camera along for our run. The above picture is from later in the day as we were driving through the Entoto mountains during sunset.)