Our biggest fan…

Friday September 26th @ Uvic Faculty Club

 Well, 2 weeks after our arrival home, I’ve finally made it back to the blog. There’s no excuse given that blog entries don’t take three hours to upload anymore, so my apologies to those die-hards who have found the absence of entries a shock to the system! 

Thank you to all those who came to the airport. In Africa we felt pretty isolated as communication was difficult and internet was a bi-weekly and slow endeavor. It was so moving to see that people were inspired by us, and the airport crowd was a great finish line for us. 

For anyone interested in seeing some more footage and hearing some stories, we are having an evening presentation at the Uvic faculty club at 7:00pm on Friday September 26th. Please come, bring the kids and share a few appetizers with us. Anyone is welcome.

…the end in Tanzania…

one last sleep.

Before we wake up one last time on African soil we’d like to pass along a final thank you to everyone who’s taken this journey with us. Tomorrow has been a long anticipated day as we’re all very ready to be home!

We can’t wait to see our friends and family (maybe even at the airport…) But if you can’t make it out to the airport, this Saturday, August 30th we’ll be having a low-key welcome home/thank you get together at Frontrunners Victoria (downtown location) from about 6/6.30- 8/8.30 and would love to see anyone who’s interested for a quick chat.

So if your long weekend hasn’t been booked up full of BBQs, relative visits, or last-minute trips to the lake don’t hesitate to drop in.

-Erin, Patrick & Reuben

Zanzibar

Thank you all for the congratulations and support!! After finishing the run on Monday, we have enjoyed the luxury of idleness. Sand castles, napping, beach volleyball and snorkelling have been the theme for the past couple of days. The rest has been so refreshing, and although we are getting frighteningly tight now that the running has ended, relaxation is at an all time high!

A big thank you to our sponsors who not only provided the financial means for this trip, but also believed this run to be possible from the beginning, and in doing so drove us to keep running. To Lundin for Africa, Haywood Investments, The Radcliffe Foundation- we couldn’t have done it with out you! A big thank you to Arthur’s Smoothies- we’ve been dreaming about your juice since April! Thank you to Chaco who made taking the running shoes off such a joyous daily occasion- Your flips are amazing. And thank you to all the supportive staff at Frontrunners, Level Ground Trading, Usana and Smartshield.

See you all soon…

Celebrating the finish at Coco Beach

 

Teamwork continues...

Team photo at the finish

Celebratory picnic lunch

SEE-THEM-DONE

After battling hoards of people and aggressive traffic, we jogged into Dar Es Salaam today with high spirits, knowing today was the last run of this epic adventure. At approximately 10am (midnight Victoria time), we arrived at Dar’s Coco beach, ran through a makeshift finish line, hugged everyone in sight, and dove into the warm Indian Ocean!!!

Thank you to everyone for supporting us in this crazy adventure. We’re thrilled to be done!!
-Erin, Patrick & Reuben

ps. We’ll be home at 18.55, Thursday, August 28.

One, two, three… run with me…

THREE MORE RUNS TO GO!! In the increasing humidity, we hit the 100km mark today! We figure it’s a good thing too, not only for our feet, but also because the supplement box is empty and our poor little ducked-taped support bike (Bill Ferny), has had enough. His brakes went, he’s got no front bearings, and the wheel rubs in three different places! The downhill road into Dar is a bit sketchy for more than us runners!

Erick Jentink arrived yesterday to join us for the finish and we’re very happy to add to our growing crowd for the finish on Monday. Although the end is so near, us runners can’t quite believe it yet. What a day it will be! Thanks for all the continued support.

Erin

“caution:giraffes”

To our luck one of the local cars that stopped to see why 3 lunatics were running through Mikumi National Park happened to be a park ranger and an Italian researcher on contract studies who, after hearing about our project, enthusiastically invited us to stay with her and her research partner inside the park grounds. So last night we all enjoyed the comfort of a bed and a roof (coincidentally on the one night in the past 4 months with a freak rainstorm!).

This morning we set out just after dawn to finish the last 20 km in the park where we crossed paths with a family of elephants and a trio of giraffes, who happened to be grazing just behind the “Caution: Giraffes” sign. It was Day 1 of our last week!! This time next Monday we’ll be celebrating a continent complete!! So from now until then we’ll be running every day: 40, 40, 40, 25, 40, 40, 25. It’ll be a busy (with my dad joining us too), fast and adrenalin-fueled week!

Reuben

keeping our eyes on the road….and the Olympics….

Generally speaking our support vehicle (know affectionately as ‘Pr. Borsche/sausage-Africaans/English) clugs along within a 5km radius of us runners, but for the moment, things have changed. The top is now popped, we have 2 spotters sitting on the roof + the truck trails just feet behind us because we have entered the infamous Mikumi National Park. We had to go to the National Park Board to get permission to run through the park: “within its’ 3230 square kms, Mikumi hosts buffalos, giraffes, elephants, lions, zebras, leopards and crocodiles” (Lonely Planet). Locals stopped to try and shoo us into our vehicle every hour.

The Olympics are proving to be a delightful post-run recovery this week. The restaurant next door to our camping pad has the luxury of a T.V. so we were able to catch the opening ceremonies. Good Luck to all the Canadian athletes!

P.S. Does anyone know what days the Olympic marathoners will be racing?

Erin & Patrick