go big or go home pt 2

Clearly I was still riding the adrenaline rush from skydiving, because on Tuesday night, I signed up for the Cape Town half marathon.

After some discussion, Micho, Jill, Alex and I talked ourselves into it. Well, to be more accurate, they kind of talked me into it because I was the most hesitant. I think we might have minor brain damage due to the recent smoke inhalation (kidding Mom, I'm kidding) but we're doing it! Micho runs xcountry at school and has alot more faith in me than I do at this point, because she said she's positive I could do it now if I had to. I know I can run 6-7 miles without puking and/or passing out, which I'm told is a promising start. Jill has done a couple half marathons before, and Micho obviously knows what she's doing, so we have a little training schedule and we'll see how it goes. There are a couple guys in our building we've run with before who are also training for it, so that will help. One minor complication--the race is on April 11, which is the day after we get back from our weeklong Garden Route trip. I mean, it's not like Cancun style spring break, but it's probably not ideal timing...oh well. I guess this means I should cut down on my recent bottle of wine per night habit (again, I'm kidding Deb.) I'm pretty nervous about the whole ordeal right now, but we all just want to finish and say we ran a half marathon while abroad in Africa. And obviously the tshirt is a big motivator.

This afternoon was my first day at the afterschool program at Ikaya Primary in Kayamandi. It was really fun, if a bit overwhelming. We're in a classroom of about 40? 7th graders, where we basically hang out with them and help them with whatever homework/project/assignment they have for the afternoon, and then they get a snack and have some type of physical activity for the last 45 minutes or so. Today was kickball. I'm really looking forward to getting to know the kids--they're a little shy to open up at first, and while they have been learning English for the past couple years there's still a bit of a language barrier. I think they will be entertained by my pathetic sounding Xhosa. I really can't imagine going to school here and not getting involved in or experiencing the township. This is some info on Kayamandi from the website of the township's community development center, and this is a website about the school.

Well, I gotta go get ready to run!