Team Tesfa

(Here is one of the long-lost blog posts from a couple weeks ago that I tried to post, but the power and internet kept going out!)

I have been going to Team Tesfa’s practices this past week and it has been a lot of fun.  I have to wake up extremely early to meet them, but it has been really enjoyable.  I actually ended up running with the girls the first time I went to see one of their practices.

I was led to a large field, which doubled as a running sanctuary in the early morning and cow pasture in the afternoon.  One of the girls picked me out and said, “Run with me!” So off I went.  The coach yelled after us, “Slow 50 minutes…” I almost died right then and there. Fifty minutes!  I must have misheard him.

In the beginning, the run was like a dream.  I couldn’t believe that I was running with the girls I had heard so much about. That dream quickly turned into a nightmare when my body realized that it hadn’t run in FOREVER, and that its first attempt was atop a mountain in Africa with an Ethiopian runner.  It felt like a knife was being forced through my lungs, and my right shoulder started to cramp.

I’d like to say that we were running at a brisk pace, but that couldn’t be farther from the truth.  I felt like I was being dragged along for miles as I slowly dropped my pace down to the speed of, well, the Internet in Addis.

Finally, we stopped after 40 minutes.  I think they felt bad for me.  In the beginning they tried to talk to me and tell me where holes in the ground were.  By the end they simply pointed to the ground whenever there was a hole, as I gasped for air.

Afterwards I tried to gather myself and pretend like I wasn’t about to keel over and die at any moment.  I decided not to interview the girls that day, due to a lack of breath and an interpreter.

At the next practice I pretended that the reason I wasn’t running was because I needed to film the runners and interview them. It was a great excuse.

The interviews went well, and I got some good footage of the team before the batteries in my camera died.

So far my research has been going pretty well.  I have a meeting with someone from the United Nations on Thursday.  It’s surprising how easy it is to get a hold of people once you have an Ethiopian phone. Unlike the US, people here will make appointments with you that day.  So far, so good.

Tagged as: Team Tesfa