Location:
Tanga to Muhiza

Distance:
42km

Time: 4hrs 58, Pace: 7min/km

Altitude: 171m
Altitude gain: 171m

Thought of the day:
Wow, this is going to be tough!

What I learnt:
This is not a race, I need to pace myself. A 5 hour marathon to start off was too quick, as I have a long long long way to go yet. Plus I need to start as early as possible as the heat at 12 makes it twice as hard.

Song of the day:
Mumford and Sons- I gave you all

Thankyous:
– bivouac outdoors nz
– movember foundation
– Ally for being the best 1 man support crew in the world
-god

Notes:
So stoked to have the first one done and be finally underway. It was amazing running in a new environment and I loved taking in the action at each small town. The Tanzanian people are ridiculously friendly. I would either get a bewildered look or a thumbs up and ‘mambo’ (how’s it?) yelled out at me. My Swahili is so bad I felt really rude for not answering them correctly as some would run along side me asking questions. I would just nod and smile and say Kilimanjaro! So my new goal is to learn as much Swahili as possible.
The plan seemed to work today where is ran the first 30km by myself and then Ally positioned herself a few km ahead and I would run to the car for the last 12km as that is always the hardest. A few of the local kids joined me for the last 3km today, and I gave the little boss up front my headphones to keep him happy while running. What amazing people. I am pretty sore but looking forward to my long day tomorrow.

Quote:
“it’s only impossible because no one has done it yet”