Tapering for a marathon never ever means "go climb Kilimanjaro"!

Yep, that's what I did.  I tapered for the 2017 Kilimanjaro Marathon by climbing Kili just days before. Or maybe I did a recovery run ... a 42km recovery run after climbing Kili.

I'm not really sure. Either way I know it was exhausting, fun, different, challenging and more......

Climbing Kili is an amazing experience and one worthy of its own blog post.  In short, it was probably the hardest mental and physical thing I've ever done.  Vomiting, falling down, climbing, painful half step after half step.  You get the idea.  All perfect preparation for a marathon really!!

The ultimate altitude training! 

So here I was in Moshi's Stadium, at 6.30am in the dark ... already 21 degrees. Ready for my first Marathon in the continent of Africa.

The first half is pretty much out and back on the main road.  The joy is watching a flock (what else do you call them?) of African elite runners coming back together towards you.  One second, then woosh, they are gone ...   Watching these guys and girls is something I never tire of.

The second half is pretty much up and down.  10km straight up destroys you.  Then the road down kills you!

... but you do get to run past the YMCA! 

Some highlights:

* the kids who come out and run with you.  Such delight from them and such an energy boost for me. 

* listening to the glorious Sunday morning singing in Churches that line the streets

* the officials and police did a great job of keeping the normally crazy roads relatively quiet

The down sides:

* Kilimanjaro is there one minute and gone the next.  Clouds come and go quickly and its hard to pick. Overall we had a cloudy day - good for temperatures and sunburn - but bad when you're hoping for that classic photo.  I saw Kili only briefly a couple of times.

If you look carefully you can see Kili's snow capped peak peaking out from the cloud

  * working out - eventually - what that road kill I kept seeing was.  Hedgehog!

My event ranking:

Organisation	8	To be honest I was very pleasantly surprised.  I was expecting a few rough edges and some African uniqueness.  But overall is was really really well run. Great course markings, clear roads, and plenty of water - and Coke stations. Deserving of - dare I say it - a western event.  Plenty of cups... ... makes great fun for the creative kids!
Course	6	Out and back from Moshi Stadium is fine.  Makes for a great finish. Finish line....  check out the stadium surface Bag drop, etc is easy and friendly.  Be prepared for the heat; be prepared for that 2nd half hill, and be prepared for the banana plantation and a little off road action as well! It feels like there are about 225,000 of these on the course! These bananas looked so tempting .... .... this didn't.
Atmosphere	7	With a 1/2 and a 5km also on the same morning the whole place was buzzing. The signs went up in town and you could tell it was a big thing for little Moshi. Its not big city like New York but its pretty cool to have any city shut down so you can run in it.
Crowds	7	And 6 of those points are for the kids.  95% of the adults pretty much stand there and watch you.   I wondered what they were thinking...
Expo	2	Not really an Expo, more of a few displays, but no problem.  Bib collection was great but don't register on the day or you'll be in lines for hours.
Medal	6	Pretty nice
Runner’s pack	4	A sponsors tshirt and a drink.  No problem.
Injuries	5	One massive blister and one black toe nail - but that was from climbing Kili ......  and that's another story.....

You make and meet great friends.  This is Greg, one of our guides for Kili :) 

The obligatory daggy kiss-the-medal post race photo!

http://www.kilimanjaromarathon.com/

@kilimanjaromarathon

26th February, 2017