same same - but different

Dearest Friends and Fellow Runners,

What a day! It all started that the bus who was supposed to come to Thamel to pick us up was a no show. After a bit of waiting around and a few phonecalls at 6:30am real time, we figured we somehow had to get to the stadium and hop on a bus there. Easier said than done, but with our locals in tow, no problem. We all got on Rickshaws, 3 people per Rickshaw, piled on top of each other. Rickshaws are made for 2 people max. Great fun. Wait for the pictures! I will post them when we're back in Canada. The buses at the stadium were there, we met with the Nepali Elite Athletes and our favourite Nepali Olympian and off we went to the start line in Nagarkot. That bus ride was not as bumpy as our other rides. When we arrived there were already crowds waiting. Registration/bib pick up had not started yet as the bibs were on the bus with the YESS volunteers who were running a little late. Registration and bib pick up here is nothing like anyone of us has ever experienced. It was pretty chaotic but the volunteers managed to get people to form lines after all. The race started at around 10:30am real time which compares to about 9am Nepali time. So everything was on time. The course was tough. It was super hot. There was one killer hill, worse than skeleton hill in the Run for the Toad. Super steep, super long. Beautiful countryside and clean air made up for the hard work. Some of us fell down the hill, some of us fell up the hill, there was blood. But we all made it to the finish line eventually and had an awesome run. Well the finish line was a bit difficult to find. The race ended in a village and there were flags but we had to go all the way up to the top and finished with a killer set of stairs. Running a race in Nepal is pretty exciting. I think apart from the Elite Athletes we were the only ones who did not hop on the back of a passing truck or motorbike for parts of the course. I wanted to try but chickened out. We saw Yolmo women in their traditional clothes doing the race, girls in slippers running past us.

The after race celebrations took forever, comparable to the celebrations at the school opening in Sermathang. Jude was an honored guest and had to sit up front and again we were making escape plans. Dave, Jude and myself with the help of Russ did all the handing out of the medals and prizes and certificates. It was hot. When that was done, we escaped and hopped on the bus, got excellent seats and waited for about 1 hours for the bus driver to show up. Never were so happy to see a bus driver when he finally decided to drive. We were home at about 6pm, starved and dusty. We went to a lovely place for dinner and celebrated. Tonight we'll go celebrate some more with the volunteers from YESS.

That's it. Last blog before we head home tomorrow. There will be tears. I'm sure.

Thanks for listening, See ya'll back home.

Mads - from Raju's place