Letters from Abroad: Jessica Nolan in Ghana

"The Marathon"

Here I am, studying abroad for a semester in Ghana, West Africa, 20 years old, and...I decided to throw every ounce of knowledge and better judgement that i acquired up until this point in my life, out the window, and run the Nestle Milo Accra Marathon last saturday.

Um, jessica.. don't people train for like 5 months before they do marathons..

Yep!

Um, jessica, what is the furthest you have ever run? Um, 12 miles... Um, jess, when was that.. ooh, senior yr. of high school (3 years ago.. eik) Um, what is the furthest you have run in the past 6 months? Umm, 7 miles...and you did what? Or is the pertinent question.. HOW!

Marathon Leslie

For as far back as I can remember I have been a runner. In elementary school I challenged little boys to sprinting matches from the handball court to the baseball diamond. In Junior HIgh and HIgh School I competed on the Cross Country and Track teams. Even now, as a undergrad student at UC Santa Barbara, I continue to run for pleasure. Running a marathon has always been one of tose things on my "Things to do before I die" list. However, due to the amount of training and preparation necessary, I have placed it aside as a "to be visited at a later date" type of goal!

So, why the marathon in Africa? I am not denying my own stupidity, I realized the probable and potential mishaps and injuries involved. Even so, There was something about running a marathon so close to the equator, without training, with other University of Ghana students, that I could ot pass up. All I could do was hope to complete my first marathon with my muscles and limbs still in tact.. and hopefully cross the finish line with at least some of my wits.

With Roommate Taea

Here in Ghana I am a student at the University of Ghana. So, I registered to run with the University team. I have to admit, the jokes I made the week prior to running the marathon about bringing cab fare were not completely far fetched in my mind. Hell, I have not been running more than three times a week since my arrival here in August.

My first hint about what a Ghanaian marathon would encompass should have come when the university sent me to have a physical. Apparently, due to the base fact that I have a heart beat, I was perfectly healthy and prepared to run 26 miles... that is 42 kilometers... UH uoh!! What had i gotten myself into?

Sunset from Volta Hall

Low and behold, ladies and gentlemen,I have successfully finished my first Marathon... in Africa,in one of the most polluted cities, often without water, on busy, traffic-filled streets... Oh, and this was only the begining!!! I still cannot believe that I ran a marathon!

I was registered with the University of Ghana runners. Due to this, I had to be cleared for physical activity at the university hospital (if you ask me, this is more of a place one would go to get an illness than to cure one). Well, they took my blood pressure, and sent me on my way. Obviously, a heart beat is the requirement to run a marathon.

Tro-Tros

Saturday morning I woke at 4am, made oatmeal, ate bananas, and met up with the University of GHana runners at 5am (much to our relief, many of them were sprinters who had never run more than 5 miles. -ha ha ) We took a school bus to the race start and at 7 am, the Nestle Milo Marathon was supposed to begin. NOw, the term "marathon" brings certain expectations to mind, such as: water, bananas, finish line, starting gun, marked route, blocked off streets... ha ha ha...the spoiled western mind is a humerous thing I was not so naive to expect massage booths, energy gels, and media coverage, but I did expect at least the bare necessities...-- ha ha ha -- The bare necessities minus some is what I got.

Typical Ghanaian Sign

Spandex, 1970's Keds-like "running shoes", flip flops, make shift tevas-flip flops with a strip of fabric connecting the sandle to the heel (if you ask me, New Balance, Nike, and the like should look into this form of ankle support--I hear it works wonders). After I stopped smirking about my stylish competition, I began to notice the extreme lack of female runners, and the abundance of younger Ghanaians. Then, as I stood there stretching-the obvious thing a person who is about to put their body through the strain of running 26 miles should do.. I noticed that I was the sole stretcher. Sure, the guy to my right was mimicing me while the rest of the people in close proximity looked on in wonder, but NO one was stretching.. HELLO... 42 kilometers... 26 miles... What the hell was going on?

Photo from Travels

The race was supposed to start at 7am. So, naturally, at 6:55, people just started running, and that was that. You have all seen ants running along on their strait line until suddenly, something upsets them and there is mass chaos- no ant knows which way to go, they all go different ways, run into eachother... After running for about five minutes, this ant analogy was my reality. Some people ran along the road strait ahead, others turned into a dirt road/village area, still others stopped and looked confused... Despite all of the early signs (the "physical," "stretching" or lack there of...) this was my first clue as to whatlay ahead in the ghana marathon experience. Even so,at this point, I was still carrying the mis-conceptions that a Nestle Milo representative had told me, "There will be stations every 5 KM with pure water, Milo (an "energy drink"), bananas", distance markers, first aid... Oh, he was a little lying english man! I have myself to blame, I should have known by now, after two months in this country, that nothing is for sure in Ghana!

Football in Keta

All of the "detours" ended up back on the same road a few minutes later, just in time for the second Ghana-ism to occur. CHEATERS!! all kinds of competetors were jumping on the backs of cars, tro-tros, trucks... and riding along the race route. Oh yeah, minor detail, the roads the marathon was to be run on were NOT marked off! (why would they do a stupid thing like that?? It is so much more fun to dodge speeding cars, bus like vehicles the locals call tro tros, street vendors, goats, chickens, massive ditches, open sewers, you name it, we dodged it).I do not think that I have described Accra traffic... Basically, there are no rules, the side of the road does not exist (it is another lane ... right), merging is a term used in some far off land, horns are used in place of blinkers, used to signal to customers on the side of the road, used to tell people to move.. adn any other purpose you can imagine. Add pot holes, livestock, round abouts, a lack of traffic lights, dirt roads... and you may have a slight feel for the road conditions. GHana!

Open Sewer in Ghana

So, there I was, running along, as all these little bastards are cheating... 30 minutes,60 minutes... No stop point.. hmmmmmm. 65 minutes... Huge Nestle milo signs, water, buckets of water to pour over our over-heated bodies, bananas! yes! "How far have I gone??" ( I stupidly ask again and again) The responses, " The place is far", "you are trying", "keep going!!" (A person who is running 26 miles, that is 42 Km, needs reassurance and encouragement! We also need to know how freekin far we have run !! Frustration!)

Helekpe Village

Finally, at the 15 Km point I see the first sign! Woo hoo!! They even had water for us!! (Little did we know that we would not get water for the next 15 Km) We were running along, very close to the equator mind you, and stop after stop, "the water is finished", of course I could not find any of the "pure water girls" that are in abundance any other day in any other stretch or road in the city of Accra. (This is ghana in a nut shell- if there is something that makes sense, like water vendors making a lot of money selling water to marathon runners, you can count on it NOT happening... Ghana!!) So, there I was, on the equator, getting chills (a sign of dehydration), salt crystals in my arm hair and eyebrows (another lucky sign of dehydration...) and no water. Dont worry, I eventually made a detour for water- (that taxi oney came in handy afterall).

Keta Lagoon Oasis

POLLUTION- Accra, like many "3rd world Industrializing areas" is VERY POLLUTED!! Every 3rd car on the street would immediately fail a smog check by driving to the shop. (we are talking black, Not gray clouds of noxious fumes). On top of the exhaust and chemically polluted air, sewage is a huge problem. Every street has open sewers that are about 3 feet across on each side of the road.(Imagine smelling that at about mile 20!!) This is the city in which i ran my first marathon. Keep in mind that I already have asthma! These conditions left an odd burning sensation in my chest and throat any time I tried to breath deeply. I was not winded, yet I could not take a deep breath because every attempt led to a coughing fest! ... Ghana

Mt. Helekpe Hike

I have already mentioned that the streets were not blocked off. But, i need to clarify the extent of "not blocked off" that we are talking about. I have been in Accra many times since I arrived here on August 3rd, and i am still overwhelmed by the bustling marketplace. (Think malls the last week before Christmas). NOw, Saturday is market day and SURPRISE, the marathon happened to be on a Saturday and happened to pass right by Makola market. Thanks to this bustling market, there were times when I did not know where the race had gone. During these times I depended solely on the pointing fingers of the market women (who by the way were selling dried fish--another lovely smell to add during mile 18) ..GHana

St. Paul Lighthouse View

SHOES! Every serious runner that I have ever known has an odd obsession with running shoes. We are wierd, we scrutinize and compare gel insoles, arch support, density of the mid-sole...We speak another language complete with terms such as shock absorbtion, split heel, stability post, overpronation...So, you can imagine my shock as I ran in my 2003 edition New Balances alongside barefoot Ghanaian runners, runners in kneehigh soccer socks who opted to hold their shoes instead of wearing them, flip flops, "running" shoes circa 1970's and 80's, thrift store give aways... wow.. (I feel there is need for a note of cultural sensitivity here!! I recognize that many of these marathon participants would have run in "proper" running gear had they owned such possessions... I am not making fun or laughing at their predicament... this e-mail is simply an observation.)

St. Paul Lighthouse - Another View

Now comes the end of the race--you know, the glorious finish line, complete with a cheering crowd, flags and banners, marching band, water, bananas... Oh, I am sorry , I forgot that i am in Ghana. Finish line -- or lack there of... Imagine this: You are exhausted, you know that the end must be here, but there is no finish line, no sign, no man giving out popsicle sticks with your place written on it, no proof that you have just run 26 miles... Finally, you are ushered into a fenced in area where you spend the next 45 minutes in "line" battling other marathoners for your certificate and marathon FINISHER t-shirt!! I do not use the term battle lightly! This was a full on push and pull struggle... and this after 26 miles in the heat! got my goodie-bag I read my certificate, "744th Finisher" (that's odd, the guy right behind me was the 301st Finisher, and the guy in after him was 899th. ha ha .. Ghana.)

The aftermath: My knees are inflamed, shoulders burned, calves exhausted, ankles sprained, armpits chafed, lower back exploding, my hamstrings and quads have seen better days, stars are a laughing matter, my throat is on fire (due to the pllution), and I have no clue what place I finished. I ran a marathon! NO training, in Africa... I am bragging, and i do not care!!! This Accra Marathon is not a marathon, it was a completely different animal!! LA marathon anyone??!!!

Jessica Nolan

[Posted: 11-24-03]

_____________________________
Return to Letters from Abroad