Love4Gambia part 3

On June 15, Jennifer Pasiciel and the Love4Gambia team began running at the small cinder block in the middle of a farm field straddling Senegal and The Gambia in West Africa. Their destination is Banjul and the Atlantic Ocean, 424km away. They intend to make it on foot, one stride at a time.

Two years ago, with the same team of Dodou “Spider” Bah, Kebba Suso and Pa Modou Sarr, I made it to the Atlantic Ocean. I suppose I blazed the trail to Banjul. The run was my creation. I was the first to run clear across the country. It’s not my run though. It never was. Not even as I became the first person to complete it.

In 2011, it wasn’t even a solo run. It was a team run. The run belongs to the team. The run belong to The Gambia. It belongs to Pa Modou and Kebba and the exceptionally talented staff of the NSGA in Gambia. It belongs to the young students who have been lining the road in the first 3 days of the run, waiting for Jennifer and team to run by their school. See, they are the recipients of Jennifer’s run and the money raised by it. The money goes directly to their peer health education programs, where they learn life saving knowledge like how to prevent malaria, STIs and HIV; how to avoid water bourne illness; how to make decisions about their reproductive health. And maybe most significant for youth in this male-dominated society- they learn about gender rights and gender equity.

The run belongs to the mamas in the farm field who work hard all day to provide for the basic needs of their families. They know that a “toubab” (foreigner) is running for their children- to provide them with education that they would not otherwise receive without NSGA. They will be waiting for Jennifer, to thank her and the team. I think the team will owe them more thanks as I know that these mamas will lighten their kilometer-weary feet more than any amount of fuel and rest could.

This is the second time that I’ve watched the Love4Gambia run take flight with a new runner. Take flight without me. Last year, I watched Andrea Moritz run with the team. It’s emotional for me. I feel emotions that I can’t quite pull apart. Pride, mostly. Satisfaction. Extreme joy for what Jennifer and Cielianna will experience. Conviction that one person can make a different. Faith in the goodness of humanity. More faith in the tenacity and strength of Gambian women and children. I don’t feel anything close to envy or jealousy that someone else is doing my run. Because like I said, it’s not my run.

How amazing is this photo. Jenn running with Abdoulie

On the second day of Jenn’s run, a young boy named Abdoullie ran alongside Jenn for 6km in 40 degree heat wearing jeans and sandals. He ran with her because he know that she was running for young people. The Love4Gambia run belongs to him.

Supporting the team is super important to me. The best way to support the team is by donating to the team. I’m saving my donation for their victory day- the day they reach the ocean- this will be the best way to congratulate them. Click here to donate online.

I’ve also been supporting the team by writing them daily messages. I know firsthand how important these messages are. They are like little bursts of fuel when the road gets long. These messages probably best sum up my experience of Love4Gambia from the sidelines.

Here is my “transcript” of messages to the team to date.

Erin Poirier, Friday June 14, 9:29pm

Dear team. This will begin my daily notes to you while you run across the Gambia for Love4Gambia. Now that you’ve spent the day together in the car, across the most amazing countryside on earth, I’m thinking that you are feeling the beginning of team togetherness and I’m so lovingly pleased for you because I know your bond is going to grow with each kilometer you cover together and it’s going to be amazing.

I hope you’ll get some rest tonight in Basse, Basse, Basse, the hottest place on earth. The run will feel cool, Jennifer, after the night you’ll spend in a hot Basse bed! I hope you’ll see the old man on the farm tomorrow morning when you get up. And make sure you pay close attention to how you are feeling when you start your run in the morning- those steps are pretty special and belong in long term memory.

For god’s sake, no one trip and fall! Careful!

I wanted Regan to cheer for you tonight. Instead, she pulled some pages out of a book. So I think she means to think of her when you see road signs. Kinda like pages in a book.

I’m sending you so much love, until tomorrow
xoxo,
Erin

Pa Modou, Saturday, June 14, 3:31am (Atl Time)

Hello sister Erin… this is so nice of you.. everyone had the oplortunity to read through and am sure it got everyone excited we receiving so much love from you. Hello to Regan and everyone in there.. we begin in 30 mins as i write this measage. BANJUL CALLING

Erin Poirier, Saturday, June 15, 5:30pm

Dear team. Congratulations on day 1!! A big day because it the first. Now Jenn can be convinced of the reality- she is really going to run all the way across an African country with 3 of the best men on the planet.

I hope your day was full of lots of fun and laughs and waves and horn honking!

Now rest well and eat well. And be strong tomorrow

wee little runner for Gambia

It was beautiful and sunny today in Halifax as I was thinking about you guys all day- it was perfect to think of the same sun warm on your faces too. I ran 8 km with Regan in the stroller. We will do 17 tomorrow to have 25 with you. We will run on all of your running days for you.

Regan isn’t quite walking yet but she “ran” about 500m in front of the house pushing this toy hippo- photo here. She’s even supporting you with her tiny steps.

Much love. (Don’t worry about responding- you don’t need too) xoxo Erin & Regan

Pa Modou , Saturday, June 15, 6:55pm

Thank you so much erin and Regan…. its really nice to read something from you and i read this aloud to the team w whiles we were havin our dinner… we rested today at the exact place we rested two years ago with you on the run…  thank you so much for the support and keep them coming.

Much love

Erin Poirier, Sunday, June 16, 11:00am

It’s day 2 and you’ve done it! 50km in two days. You are off to an excellent start. Now the first thing is for Jen:

The road across an African country is run 20 minutes a time. You don’t need to think 20 minutes ahead. You don’t need to think 20km ahead. Just run 20 minutes at a time.

The full belly water/gatorade will lessen as your body adapts- promise!

I loved reading about all of your running together and supporting each other. All together, you are the greatest ally to legs that must run every day.

I loved the photos too! The children and youth are so excited for you! And they should be! And their excitement- put it in your pocket for when you need it. It’s so wonderful to see the team running together. And Jennifer is turning color already! “Toubab, you changed color!”

Regan and I ran this morning- 15km beginning at 6:40am. I liked knowing that we were running together at the same time. We ran down to Point Pleasant Park so that we could look out across the Atlantic Ocean and send your all strength. We were supposed to run 17km today for a 2 day total of 25 but Regan is heavy in the stroller so I think you’ll let the last 2km slide A photo coming in a second. She had a rattle in her hand and was shaking it for most of 1 hour 20 minutes- I think for you all!

I wish you lots of rest this afternoon and lots of food to refuel.

Tons of love,
Erin and Regan

Pa Modou, Sunday, June 16, 12:00pm

Wow this is amazin Sister Erin thank you like always

Erin Poirier, Monday, June 17, 8:18am

Dear team,

Here you are on day 3! Can you believe you’re going to have 3 days and more than 75km in when day 3 is complete!! Only the most serious marathon runners will run more than 75 kms in a whole week now here you are with that many kilometres in 3 days. Jennifer, you are a very strong athlete! And boys, you are so strong too! My message today is for you to all celebrate how strong you are. your strength will carry you to Banjul.

I’m looking at photos and Spider is much more muscular! Are you the eldest now? and has there been a boss each day?

It’s raining in Halifax today so maybe you’ll encounter some nice rain today too. I hope it will stop raining so that I can run with regan when I pick her up at the end of the work day.

Jennifer, I also have a message for you from Cliff today- he’s thinking about you. Here it is: Tell her to be patient. be in no hurry and enjoy this exceptional experience, wish her the best and all those that will meet her will come to appreciate what an outstanding person she is. they will come to know as we have.

Lots of love,
Erin and Regan

Pa Modou, Monday, June 17, 1:51pm

Thank you so much sister. This was read to the team during our rest time and we all laughed at you calling spider muscular hahahaha

 Jennifer Pasiciel, Monday, June 17, 1:53pm 

Thank you so much for the daily messages Erin. We always read them along with Cathy and “Aunty Debby” during our 20km rest break and it really carries us through to the end. Also, the kind words from Cliff were so nice to hear! The team is coming together so nicely (Pa and Spider pending…), but Mama Cie is keeping her two sons in line:) All the best to you and Regan. We are all thinking of you too lots as we are running, and I am blown away by your ability to do this run! Miss you lots and enjoy the Nova Scotia coolness:)

Jenn

Love4Gambia from our Rocking Chair

This Monday marked the beginning of the Love4Gambia 2012 run. One week shy of the one year anniversary of my run across The Gambia, with my team, Pa Modou, Kebba and Spider at her side, Ottawa runner Andrea Moritz took her first steps from the cinder block in a farm field on the border of Senegal on the 424km journey to the Atlantic Ocean. I’d been waiting for this moment since Andrea accepted the challenge of running across the Gambia last fall. I’ve been full of anticipation for her and gratitude for the generous people who have donated to the NSGA (making the mission of saving lives with the run a reality. And I’ve been wondering how I would feel.

I haven’t blogged since March 20, a month prior to the birth of our daughter. As I prepared for Love4Gambia 2012, I realized that I had words finally ready for writing. And with a now 2 month old baby, each day is sunnier and I’m finally ready for my blogging keyboard.

I watched online as Andrea traveled to The Gambia and on Friday, read a post from Pa Modou saying, “We are going to the airport to pick up our runner.”

Emotion punched me in the face when I read this. “Our runner.” I was “our runner.” As a new mom, child-related metaphors are within close reach. I wondered if this is what the firstborn child feels like when her parents bring a new baby, a second child, home. She might feel a similar mix of envy and dismay as she realizes that she has to share her parents love and her place in the world with another human.

These emotions where fleeting though. I read them on my iPhone as I rocked my perfect baby girl. With my sweet babe in my arms, I thought about my feelings and clarity arose as the envy dissipated.

Love4Gambia was my idea but it was never my run. And it was never about me. Just like “our runner” doesn’t belong to me, the run doesn’t belong to me. The run belongs to The Gambia. It belongs to the indomitable spirit of the South Bank Road; to the hardworking women farmers; to the bright and eager school kids; to the the toddlers chasing the school kids; to the mothers with babies on their backs; to Pa Modou, Kebba and the incredible NSGA staff who work so hard for a brighter, healthier tomorrow for Gambians.

By running this year, Andrea is keeping the Love4Gambia dream alive but the run doesn’t belong to her either.

On Sunday, as the team relaxed on the beach in The Gambia, my family relaxed on my native PEI. I went for a long run and purposely chose a route that would bring me through rural farm country- so similar to The Gambia. While I was running, I closed eyes (on a safe, empty stretch of road) for a few strides. I could feel Kebba’s stride in sync with mine, smiling and chiding me to stop asking so many questions. I could picture Pa on horn, belting out Akon. I could see Spider singing and dancing on the road up ahead and hear Ashley singing Bryan Adams next to me.

While run never belonged to me, what it left onside me, what I walked away from Atlantic Ocean and the South Bank Road with will belong to me forever.

Now my daughter and I will watch my team and Andrea, “their runner,” charge to the Atlantic Ocean in Banjul from our rocking chair.

There is no place in the world I’d rather be.

Up next on my blog (when I have free hands long enough to type): labour and delivery ARE similar to marathon racing

World AIDS Day with youth: Never let anyone tell you that you can’t

I marked World AIDS Day on December 1 by giving 2 presentations to the student bodies at Prince Andrew High School (where I work) and Dartmouth High School, with the NSGA’s Muhammed Ngallan.  Muhammed and I met in The Gambia 4 summers ago when we worked on the NSGA Peer Health Education project together.  It was pretty special for us to be in front of youth again. To share the stage together, this time in Canada with Canadian youth.

We had an amazing day and the youth were amazing.  We showed them my Love4Gambia Radio Documentary, which you’ll find at the end of this post.  Then we each spoke to them.

I had a few rough notes in front of me to keep myself on track, mostly to ensure that I didn’t get carried away and eat up all of Muhammed’s speaking time.  Before hand, I pulled what I wanted to say from my blogs and put it together so that I could share it with you here.  So here it is.

When Muhammed and I finished speaking, many youth wanted to talk to us individually.  Two youth stood out for me.

The first was a shy girl.  She spoke so quietly that I could barely hear her.

“Thank you for talking about how a woman can achieve anything,” she said. “I want to do a career than usually men only do. I want to be a paratrooper. People tell me that I can’t because I’m a girl.  So thanks for saying that I can do it.”

The second girl was not at all shy. She demanded.

“Who is the father of your baby?”

I laughed.

Word AIDS Day Love4Gambia Speech

December 1, 2011

Since I’ve returned home from The Gambia, I’ve spoken to a lot of people about my run and my team. Most people ask, “How did you actually do that?  How did you actually run all the way across a country?”

I don’t really have an answer other than I trained really hard.  I was really, really determined.  And I really, truly believed that I could do it.  That’s what I want to talk to you about today.  We’re lucky to have Muhammed with us; he’s going to talk about The Gambia and HIV in The Gambia for us while I talk about the run. For most of this, you don’t have to be runner to understand it.

A friend listened to this radio documentary on the day that it played on CBC radio and then said to me, “oh, it made your run sound so easy.”

Maybe this is the case, I don’t know. I can only look at the run and listen to this documentary having been the girl who actually ran it and I’ll tell you, it was far from easy.  But this was just a 25-minute snapshot, it’s not the whole story.

This summer, there were never any moments where I thought that I would give up but it was far from easy.  I always knew, or I guess believed, that I would make it but there moments were it was hard.

• I ran 424 km
• I was running 25km/day: more than a half marathon
• In units of time, I was running 2.5 hours a day but 25 km took longer than 2.5 hours.  We rested 90 minutes at the 20km mark.  I stopped every 20 minutes to drink more water at our truck.  So in total, our running day was  8am to 1:30pm.
• Our motto was Eat, Sleep, Run

The heat:

This is the first think that I want to touch on that I had to deal with; that made it so that the run was not easy.  It was HOT. It was 38 degrees every single day and 42 degrees on many. The heat never impacted my running performance because I chose not to let it.

Sometimes after I explain this, people will say, “oh, so the heat wasn’t that bad.” I explain that that wasn’t it at all. It was very hot; 42 degrees is very hot.  It’s 107.6 degrees Fahrenheit. It was so hot that 2 pairs of my sneakers melted.

I couldn’t do anything about the heat. I had a 25km goal each day, regardless of the air temperature. I had no control over the heat. But I did have control over how I responded to and dealt with the heat. I coped with the heat by not even considering the heat.  I never, ever considered that the heat might cause me to stop running because there was so way I was going to stop running. Stopping was never in the realm of options.

Managing 42 degree heat was all about being strong.  The human body will allow you to be strong enough if you will it to be strong enough.

The people who would say to me, “I could  never run in that heat,” they are wrong. They could. The human body can do it.  I think that they’ve just never put themselves in a situation where they are determined to reach their goal, no matter what.

Besides the heat, I had to get through a lot of other challenges including the South Bank Road, my legs and setbacks. 

Setbacks happen in running as in life. You need to be prepared for them.  For me, for my team, the remarkable days were the ones that were unremarkable.

Here are the setbacks I face: I didn’t always want to run

• Day 5: guts turned on me during the raining, spam saved the day.
• Day 6: km markers appeared.  I had run 150km already=  awesome! But 280km to go, not so awesome
• Day 7: my setback was emotional, not physical. Emotions were stronger. Happy was happier. Sad was sadder.
• Day 9: poisoned myself with water and ran 25km anyway
• Day 15: no food.  Skin bleeding and no Brikama at 26km
• Day 16: traffic tried to end our life by swallowing us up, see here

(read more about what I talked about in detail in this blog titled “How to be Strong”)

Being a Woman

Being a woman has been a dominant theme of my running days.  I anticipated this but not to the extent that it played out.  I expected that my running expedition would exhibit female athletic ability and facilitate breaking down gender barriers in endurance sport participation for women.  I knew that this was a male dominated society. Women in The Gambia are not political leaders.  They are not athletes.  To many men and women, I was an oddity.

When we meet people, Pa Modou and Kebba would proudly introduce me as the runner who is running from Koina to Banjul.  The person would look at me a say, “Her?!”  They were never able to hide their disbelief.  In fact, I’m pretty sure they didn’t even try.  Most often, they would follow this up with, “Well, how can a woman do that?”  Or “I can’t believe a woman can do that.”

Pa Modou and Kebba would reply, “Yes, she can, she is very strong.”  I told these people that I’d see them in Banjul.  I knew that they wouldn’t believe it until I actually did it.

In the end, reaching the shores of the Atlantic, 424km from Koina, wasn’t even enough.  On day 16, Spider’s coworkers came to watch us run.  We ran passed these guys and waved at them.  When Spider returned to work, these men interrogated him.

“Is she really a woman?”

”How do you know?  Have you seen her woman parts?”

Even after seeing me their with own eyes, they doubted that I was actually a woman because of my athletic ability. For these Gambian men, it was easier to believe that I was actually a man.

I met one of Pa Modou’s football teammates after the run ended.

“I’ve been waiting to see you,” he said, “Can I see your legs?”

I’m not sure what he expected but he seemed a disappointed with my sinewy calves.

Ashley and I were on the news on the eve that our plane arrived in The Gambia, before we traveled to Koina to begin the run.  The news is very important and if a Gambian owns or can access a television, they tune in.  A number of people would approach Ashley and I on the street.  They would look at Ashley and say:

“I saw you and that man on tv.”

‘That man’ would be me.  I do not look like a man.  But it was so hard for Gambians to believe that a woman could run all the way across the country.  It was easier to just believe that I was a man.

Meeting your goals and dreams:

A lot of people thought that I was crazy and didn’t think that I would make it to the Atlantic Ocean. In fact, when I got home in August, people would say to me, “I didn’t think that you make it.”  I would want to reply, “Thank you, I also don’t think that you are going to achieve your life goals.”  But I wouldn’t.

The thing was, it didn’t matter what they thought or what they believed. I made it to the ocean only because I believed that I could do it.  My belief was the only one that mattered.

And it put in the hard work to make my goal, my dream happen.  I didn’t make it 424km across a hot African country by sitting on the couch.  I made it by training and running 6 days a week for 7months.  Hard work, preparation and belief in yourself are how you make dreams happen.

That’s my message for you, my high school students. You are the beginning of your lives. If you have a dream: be it to go to university or NSCC, to become an artist, to become a mechanic and own your own garage, become a famous mathematician, become a better athlete, run across an African Nation… You put in the hard work to prepare. You don’t just sit on the couch hoping or waiting for it to happen- you put in the hard work.  You believe really hard that you can do it and you don’t listen to anyone who says you can’t.  The only person who can tell you that you can’t is yourself.  So you go out there and you make it happen just like I did and don’t EVER let anyone tell you that you can’t.

Meet Andrea who will run The Gambia

Team Love4Gambia 2011 had a number of dreams. Our summer together was all about accomplishing big dreams over the course of many kilometers of road; many litres of Gatorade; a lot of hard work and perseverance; and care, support and love for each other.

Our biggest dreams included:

1. Reaching the Atlantic Ocean in Banjul, hand-in-hand, 424km from where we began in farm field in Koina at the Senegalese border, hand-in-hand
2. Meeting Akon
3. Having babies post-Love4Gambia run
4. Having the Love4Gambia legacy continue.
5. Reuniting several years in the future to run from Banjul to somewhere else (Accra, Lagos, Cape Town…)

We reached the ocean together, hand-in-hand.

We haven’t meet Akon (yet).

My husband and I are expecting our first baby in April.

Because of Andrea Moritz, the Love4Gambia legacy will continue in the summer of 2012.

I’m thrilled to introduce you to Andrea who will be traveling to The Gambia in June to join Pa Modou, Kebba and Spider to run our historic 424km route across the country.  You can read more about Andrea here.  Andrea will be taking over most of the blogging on www.love4gambia.com. Watch for her first post in the coming days.

I know that Andrea’s journey will inspire many in both Canada and The Gambia.  Through the money that she raises for the Nova Scotia-Gambia Association, her journey will saves the lives of many in The Gambia.

I think that this June, when Andrea takes her first steps from that broken cinder block in Koina with my Gambian brothers, I will feel envious.  I know that this emotion will be fleeting.  I’ll be holding the newborn baby that I dreamed about every day of my run across The Gambia.

My husband and I planned this baby for my return from Africa and we are incredibly blessed that our plan came to fruition very quickly (150km weeks are good for fertility).  Ashley, Pa Modou, Kebba, Spider and I talked about this baby almost every day. “Inshallah, a baby will come,” they would say.  Kebba prayed for us everyday.

Baby Poirier and I will be cheering for Team Love4Gambia 2012 everyday this summer as they make their push to Banjul.  I hope that you’ll join and support Andrea, Pa Modou, Kebba and Spider on this new journey too.

For those of who have been following my writing, I’ll begin to do most of it on my new blog here.  If you subscribed to my writing via email, please subscribe to this site too!

I’ll leave you now with this video.  It was recorded as my team and I walked out of the water on the shores of the Atlantic in Banjul, after our victory swim.  I am hugging Ashley and I’m crying.

You can’t see my Fula sister Ashley’s face or hear what she is saying to me so let me tell you what she was saying:

”I can’t wait to tell your baby about what you did and what you accomplished here in The Gambia.”

A Baraka, Jerejef, Thank You

Dear NSGA and Love4Gambia Supporter,

On Tuesday, July 26, Team Love4Gambia: Erin Poirier, Ashley Sharpe, Pa Modou Sarr, Kebba Suso and Dodou Bah, victoriously jumped into the Atlantic Ocean in Banjul after running 424km over 17 days across the country of The Gambia.  We reached the ocean because we believed that we could do it; we supported and took care of each other every step of this crazy journey; and because we had such vital and wonderful support from you.

Please accept our most sincere thanks for your generous support of our run. Without personal donors, corporate sponsors and in-kind support from the Halifax running community, our team would not have been able to take our first steps from The Gambian border with Senegal.

We learned a lot about the human body and spirit on our 424km road to Banjul. I was getting stronger and faster each day.  My body was able to do it. I ran more kilometers with my teammates than I did solo. The heat (37-42 degrees) never impacted my running performance because I chose not to let it. Still, it was far from easy. Sometimes we hurt and were tired. But each time we were joined by children and youth, all traces of fatigue and pain vanished.  We were running for these kids, for NSGA programs that impact their lives. With them running next to us, we felt like we could fly.

Many Nova Scotians tell me that they could never run as far as I did or in the heat that I ran in. I think that maybe these people just haven’t put themselves in a situation where they are determined to reach their goal- no matter what. I am just a regular girl with some talent for running who worked really hard for 7 months to prepare for a really difficult challenge. I was going to run to the Atlantic Ocean in Banjul, no matter what. I never once doubted that I would get to the ocean.  Managing 42 degree heat was all about being strong.  The human body will allow you to be strong enough if you will it to be strong enough.

I arrived home with something amazing inside me- what we achieved together when we ran into the Atlantic Ocean in Banjul. We raised more than $34,000 that will support Pa Modou, Kebba and our NSGA Gambia staff as they continue our lifesaving work in the field: keeping kids alive. But I also returned home with something missing: my team.  I’m back on the roads in Halifax, running, but feel the absence of my Gambian team with each step.

In a conversation from Canada with Pa Modou in The Gambia, he wrote:

“We (the team) are one bunch of sticks that cannot ever be broken into pieces. We are tight together.  We are connected by the Atlantic Ocean as much as it separates us.”

I don’t think that this will be the end for me and my amazing team and our work to support the NSGA. I hope that you’ll continue to support the Nova Scotia-Gambia Association as our story continues to unfold.

With our most sincere gratitude,

Erin Poirier and Team Love4Gambia

 

Big Running Shoes

Monday, August 1

Leybato Guest House

Ashley and I have been doing a lot of things on our one week post-run-across-the-country holiday.  We’ve been lying on the beach. We’ve been swimming, believing that the Smiling Coast’s water can cure all. We’ve been practicing yoga on the beach. We’ve been spending as much time as possible with our guys Spider, Kebba, Pa Modou and Pa’s wife Agie. We’ve been crying every morning at breakfast.  We’ve been trying to hold onto as many Love4Gambia moments as possible.

In our moment-capturing, we’ve developed this list of “roles” that each of our invaluable team members played. When we began, we had titles like “runner, logistic man, driver, nurse” but very quickly realized that we were a team that would take care of each other together.  Titles and duties weren’t necessary.

Ashley Sharpe

• Be the nurse
• Take care of Erin, should she need taking care of
• Feed Erin
• Water Erin
• Mix the team’s Gatorade
• Be the manager
• Tell Erin what to do when Erin is no longer functioning at full capacity
• Put Erin to bed
• Sometimes wash Erin’s running gear (what a girl)
• Sunscreen Erin
• Lead team effort to make Erin eat more
• Push Erin out of the truck when she doesn’t want to run
• Run 100km across African country
• Run farther and longer than ever before
• Tape Erin
• Massage Erin’s quads
• Manage the boys
• Try to prevent the boys from harming themselves
• Threaten not to take care of boys should they harm themselves through stupidity and stubbornness
• Sing special Canadian songs while running
• Negotiate permission for Erin to have one single Julbrew on a school night
• Participate in many giggle-fests
• Possible contributor to Akon-conspiracy (?)
• Monitor pathway between Erin’s brain and mouth and intervene when necessary (understanding that running 25km a day makes one emotionally labile)
• Drive the NSGA truck through the bush after relearning a stick shift on an African dirt road
• Manage all of the money
• Manage our room key
• Yell at boys “no crying in the truck” when necessary
• Be an irreplaceable part of the team

Pa Modou Sarr

• Run 136km across The Gambia
• Run even when not feeling like it
• Be DJ extraordinaire for 424FM: All Akon All the Time
• Sing Akon when Akon is not playing
• Develop interrogation skills for upcoming film appearance as CIA Agent Momodou M. Sarr
• Entertain team with dramatic performance as President and continue performance much longer than a lesser skilled person could ever continue
• Tease the Fula
• Become brothers with the Fula
• Arrange media appearances, electricity or no electricity
• Hold Erin’s hand during media appearances
• Remain at the ready to assist falling runners: “Careful Ashley!”
• Take care of Ashley while Ashley is sick and Erin is running
• Become Ashley (for 1 day)
• Pack the truck
• Unpack the truck
• Secure location in which to unpack truck and put team to bed- sometimes requiring way more negotiation than reasonable (Soma)
• Drive the truck
• Operate the Flip camera, the Cannon camera, the Nissan Patrol stick shift, the gas pedal and possibly 1 of his 2 cell phones simultaneously (what a man)
• Teach Ashley to drive the truck (while recording driving lesson, thanks Pa-parazzi!)
• Listen to Erin’s stories and answer her questions
• Keep Erin company by keeping in-step with Cliff Matthews’ track warm up drills
• Celebrate each 20km and 5km accomplishment
• Remain the push-up king (sorry, Ashley)
• Beat Spider’s kilometer total
• Practice yoga on demand- Namaste!
• Yell “morfing” at kids who incessantly yell “toubab” at Erin and Ashley
• Surprise team with full cooked breakfast on rest day
• Cheerfully allow Erin and Ashley to talk with wife Agie every day
• Entertain Erin with football stories while running across country
• Share marriage stories (go Team Marriage!)
• Make Erin feel better when she’s ill (preferred method- decorating Erin’s “presidential convoy” truck)
• Pull Erin onto the road on mornings when she doesn’t want to run
• Make the breakfast tapalapa sandwiches for the team while singing Akon in the front seat
• Read the team our daily messages from Aunty Debby
• Get Erin enough food and water
• Locate appropriate trees for rest
• Hold the team together with easy, caring nature
• Be an irreplaceable part of the team

Kebba Suso

• Be the King: EGWEEEE!
• Run A LOT of kilometers next to Erin
• Fill in all empty running shifts following team decision about Erin not running alone
• Sing to Erin when running is hard (in English or Mandinka)
• Listen to Erin’s stories
• Answer Erin’s questions (sometimes with strategically shortest answer possible: ‘poverty’)
• Be the Dalai Lama when Erin needs some extra spirit
• Provide Erin’s anthropology lessons while running
• Lead kids in singing
• Lead mamas in singing
• Mislead crowds who are gathered for the president and instead receive a running white girl and a running Gambian
• Make Erin feel better when ill (preferred method- decorating Erin’s “presidential convoy” truck)
• Pack the truck
• Unpack the truck
• Secure location to unpack truck and put team to bed
• Drive the truck.  But frequently threaten to abandon the truck if driving the truck interferes with running quota.
• Force Ashley to drive
• Get our morning tapalapa (bread)
• Cut the mangos
• Be Ashley’s brother.  Evidence of brotherhood- much playful quarreling
• Grow gorgeous, brave and generous sons and nephews to share the running work on a day when the team was down
• Share sisters Bintou and Fatou with the team (we love you, sisters!)
• Possible contributor to Akon conspiracy (?)
• Practice yoga- Namaste!
• Use smile to light up the truck
• Use laugh to light up the truck
• Get Erin enough food and water
• Locate appropriate trees for rest
• Exhibit patience during Fula-Serere battles
• Pay 80Dalasi in fines for saying “I’m hot”
• Locate and bring Ashley to the bootlegger on Erin’s birthday
• Occasionally impress team by eating more rice than Pa Modou
• Celebrate each 20km and 5km accomplishment
• Be an irreplaceable part of the team

Dodou Bah/Spiderman

• Infuse team with energy and enthusiasm on Day 12
• Be the lead running vocalist
• Be the lead running dancer
• Be the lead running army chanter
• Banter with the Serere
• Become brothers with the Serere
• Dance with Ashley
• Keep mood happy at all cost
• Guard Erin while running through insane traffic in Serrekunda
• Lead swimming lessons for Pa Modou and the Suso kids in Bwiam
• Engage in high stake kilometer competition with Pa Modou
• Fit into the team like the 5^th finger of a glove
• Catch up on more than 2 weeks’ worth of team jokes
• Playfully follow Pa Modou’s orders like a good sport
• Lead opposition party in Pa Modou for President
• Be the ‘Bachelor’s Team’ with Ashley
• Happily do warm-up drills with Erin and Pa Modou on days where legs are slow to warm up to running 20km
• Celebrate each 20km and 5km accomplishment
• Become the 5^th glue that holds the team together.  Dodou Bah: “Together we stand; united we fall; Black and White unite; together as one.”
• Talk Erin and Ashley through their return to Canada: “the body will return home but soul will live on in The Gambia”

Erin Poirier

• Run
• Coach team
• Help team take care of each other
• Do what Ashley says

 

Together

Sunday, August 1, 2011, 1030am

Leybato Guest House, Fajara Beach

Ashley and I have been relaxing on the beach and we’ve been processing the incredible experience that we’ve just had together with Pa Modou Sarr, Kebba Suso and Spiderman Dodou Bah.

In “Running the Sahara,” Charlie insightfully states, ‘this experience was so big that I can’t fit it into my head.’ We relate to that.

Ashley and I have been keeping a list of what we’ve run through, what we’ve been through… for our own memory bank as we try to fit experience into our heads.

We are so lucky that we ran through pretty much everything that West Africa had to offer.  You’ll see just how lucky we were, as follows.

We ran through:

• A wedding
• A funeral
• A naming ceremony (remember all Muslim events, we are in a Muslim country)
• Refugee processing near the Casamance (Senegal) conflict
• 3 presidential convoys
  • 1 presidential convoy causing a monster traffic jam in Serrekunda requiring us to run through heart and centre of said traffic jam
  • 1 presidential convoy in Soma that caused a stampede exactly where we were standing in which a young girl got trampled.  Our guys, Kebba and Pa Modou, turned into American football players instantly, bear hugging and protecting us in a huddle.
  • Dirt road
  • Paved road
  • Partially paved road
  • Side of road
  • Road with monkeys
  • Road with bushrats
  • Road with snakes at pee stops
  • No roads with nile monitor lizards, thank God
  • Rain
  • Never enough rain
  • Sun (34-35 degrees)
  • Hotter sun (37-38 degrees)
  • Hottest sun (42 degrees)
  • Humidity- worse than hottest sun
  • Humidity and sun so hot that on the last day in Banjul, as I stood motionless next to our truck as we waited to begin, I felt cold. It was 29 degrees.  The weather was “cool” for The Gambia. In that moment, I knew that my brain’s temperature recognition was thoroughly messed up.
  • 2 pairs of melted sneakers

We ran through more than these “things:” events, roads, animals and weather.

(Dad, you may not want to continue reading this list.  Disclaimer- it’s just as safe here as anywhere else in the world.  All cities have crime pockets.  And we had a team of very protective men with us.  Ashley once said that she was scared of a guy with a stick, thinking he might like to hit her with the stick. The man was mentally ill.  If the man hit her with the stick, peaceful Kebba said very simply, “Well then I would tear him apart.”)

We ran through rice fields, ground nut fields and couscous fields.

We ran and drove through long hours together where my team’s bond and friendship turned into family. If you want to really get to know an African country and 3 African men, there’s no better way to become close with the country and its people than to run across it with them. West African societies, especially tribal relationships, are incredibly complex. I now have a wealth of knowledge stored away from conversations that our feet carried us through.

We ran more kilometers as a team than I did alone. Days 8 through 14, I didn’t run a single step solo. On Day 15, I ran 9 km solo (7 by request) and those were my last solo kms.

We enjoyed hours of laughing together.

Ashley and I sometimes giggled late at night until we cried.

We enjoyed hours of a dramatic production where Pa Modou was president and we were the people, engaged in an election campaign.  When there’s no television, internet, stereo… you entertain yourself in other ways.

We entertained ourselves with a rotating “boss:” the team member who (besides me) ran the most kilometers that day.  We laughed hysterically as the boss tried to wield their power until it expired at midnight.

We enjoyed hours of Serere vs Fula jokes until I had one hour too many and started running between Pa Modou and Spider hoping they would finally stop.  They stopped while running, continued the rest of the hours of the day.

We ran through the brief illnesses of 3 of our team members and learned that when one team member is down, we are all down.

We ran with 3 amazing groups who joined us: children, mamas in rice fields and soldiers on convoy. We loved them all equally.  While the soldiers in the Gambia National Army and the National Guard didn’t run any steps with us, they began to recognize us and would salute me from their convoy (sometimes up to 6 trucks and over 100 soldiers). I would salute them back.

We ran so long on the same road that the bush taxi drivers began to recognize us and would give us a happy beep and wave instead of an irritated “get the heck outta my way” beep and wave.

We went through a few mornings where I didn’t want to get out of the truck and run.  On these mornings Kebba always felt my fatigue and would say, “Oh, Erin.  I hate to let you out of the truck.”  Ashley would push me out and Pa would drag me onto the road.  Once pink sneakers are on the road, fatigue would be replaced with happiness.  My team just had to get the pink sneakers onto the road.

We rested for 2 hours under 15 different trees along the South Bank Road and led way more than 15 curious youth through yoga practice.

We ran through the mysterious disappearance of Akon for 3 days.

We stayed in places where our dinner was killed before us. Although in Ndemban, the 10 year-old boy entrusted with killing the rooster with a dull butter knife only managed to mortally wound the rooster and Spider had to step in to relieve the boy of this duties and finish the job.

Ashley and I peed and changed clothes in many hidden spots in the forest together. Sometimes we were only hidden from the truck and that was perfectly acceptable. Sometimes we just changed next to the truck “hidden” by my camping towel.

We ran through forests renowned for armed robbery, although the last incidence was more than one year ago. Though such is the reputation that locals remain weary and police checks are more numerous.

We celebrated each overhead shower and each room with more than one electrical outlet.

We endured a robbery at our lodge in Janjanbureh where the thief knocked off the screen on our window and possibly entered our room.  We’re not sure; the runner was dead asleep and Ashley just rolled over in bed without noticing. We heard that he was a very unskilled thief who only made away with one wallet from a guy in another bank of rooms. We did get a lot of mileage out of this thief as he was named as a suspect in the disappearance of Akon.

We knew that we had been running and living “in the bush” a long time when we were in Ndemban, staying at a local compound next to the road leading to Senegal and site of the Casamance civil conflict. Kebba told us: “We are 3km from Casamance so if you hear gunfire overnight, don’t worry, it’s just coming from the rebels across the border.”  And we easily replied, “Yea, whatever. Is there an electrical outlet here so we can charge the Garmin?” Then Ashley and I didn’t even think to talk about this conversation for another 4 days.

We ran so long that Stephen Harper was starting to look good.

I ran so long and got called “toubab” (Mandinka word for white person) so many times that I started following Pa Modou’s lead and began calling “morfing” (Mandinka word for black person) back.

We ran so long together that I felt like we could run to the end of the world together.

When Kebba drove us back to Leybato Guest House after our victorious swim in the Atlantic Ocean, we sat in the driveway next to each other in the front seat.  We were both silent for about a full minute.  I finally looked at him and said, “Kebba, I don’t want to get out of the truck because when I get out, it feels like it’ll be over.”  Kebba nodded his head slowly.  After a few moments, he looked at me and said, “Our team will never end.”  Then we were brave enough to get out the truck.

My team’s goal was accomplished but after what we’ve travelled, experienced, endured, been through, supported each other through, run through together… being a team will never end.

||

BANJUL

On Tuesday, July 26, around 1030am, I ran into the Altantic Ocean after running 424km across The Gambia.  I ran made it to the ocean because I always believed that I could.  And because I had my team: Ashley Sharpe, Pa Modou Sarr, Kebba Suso and Spider (Dodou Bah), with me and behind me every step of the way.

WE DID IT!!!

I wrote this with pen and paper in my journal on Tuesday, July 26 and am just posting now.

———————–

Our 13.5km run today was everything it should have been. It was easy. I loved every step. I loved my team’s love for each other- camaraderie that had turned into brotherhood and sisterhood over 400km. We easily kept step with each other. I felt like we could run to the end of the world together.

Today was all about the team: starting and finishing together.  For the first time, all 5 of us could run together because Boss Jarju was driving the truck. On the previous 16 days, someone always had to drive to the truck.

Yesterday, day 16, I ran 24km straight in 2:09:xx so at 5:24/km pace.  I was running “fast” (for Gambia) because it was dangerous and I needed to reach the traffic light in Westfield as quickly as humanly possible.  Today, I had to get my team to the ocean together. I made sure we ran at 6:00/km. Ashley had never run more than 11km in her life. Although he didn’t seem worried about it, I was worried about Pa Modou showing up at football camp next week. One coach doesn’t wish to displease another. So we clocked 6:00/kms.

We were joined today by 16 year old Muhammed- Spider’s neighbor. He was a terrific little runner and having a youth with me on our last day made me happy.  He represented all the kids I was running for.

Spider was in his best form ever with plenty of singing and chanting and dancing.  Many of his songs require him to run ahead and do a traditional Fula dance.  It was perfection.  I wanted to hold onto each precious kilometer and couldn’t believe how fast they were slipping by me.

We saw the Atlantic Ocean at km 6 as we crossed the Denton Bridge, leading onto the island of Banjul. We stopped for a family photo.

Just after the bridge, 3 NSGA staff members- Muhammed B, Adama and Haddy hopped out of a car and joined us. Ashley and I were so thrilled for our women and we both grabbed one of Haddy’s hands.  Pa had Adama’s hand. We ran.

Then we were getting so close.

A huge, golden, gleaming concrete arch presents the city of Banjul to the South Bank Road and to enter the city, you must pass under this famous arch. Spider, running on the left-most side of the road, began yelling in sweet Gambian dialect:

“I am seeing the arch!!! I AM SEEING THE ARCH!!!”

I looked ahead and I couldn’t see anything but forest.  Spider is very tall.

And the Arch appeared before me.

Impossibly beautiful.

I started crying.

“We did it. We did it. We did it,” ran through my head, my tear-blurred vision.

Ashley was next to me and said “no crying until the finish line!” Although no one else noticed, it was too late.

I don’t know if anyone other than the 5 of us will ever understand what it felt like to see the arch to the city of Banjul after 420km.  I always knew that I could get there, but in that moment, I felt something close to disbelief.  Like Oh My God, it’s finally and actually true.

It took about 500m to run to the Arch. I ran to one of the gorgeous, welcoming columns and threw my arms around it and my team threw their arms around both me and the column.

I started crying again, publically this time. Ashley, Pa, Kebba and Spider were hugging me.  We were yelling. We were celebrating.

We had made it.

We ran all the way to Banjul.

More hugs, more joyful tears (not only by me), more spraying water, more celebrating.

And then we had our delicious reward.  Our gold medal. What we had been waiting for since Koina, 422km ago.  What I had been waiting for, training for, dreaming about for 7 months.  The Atlantic Ocean.  It was about 2km from the Arch.

We began to run again.  When we reached “July 22 Square” in the heart of Banjul, we politely asked Muhammed and our NSGA staffers to let the team: Ashley, Pa, Kebba, Spider and I run the last 1500m alone.

Side by side, we ran.

We sang a special team song to each other as we wound through the stalls of the Banjul Market.

Then the market stalls parted and the Atlantic Ocean was in front of us.

We stood on the sand, just where the market ended and the beach began. We took off our shoes. We held hands, looked up at the sky and I yelled “1, 2, 3” and we ran across the beach into the Atlantic Ocean, holding hands.

We started together and we finished together.

The English Dictionary doesn’t have enough words to describe how my tears of joy felt in the ocean. Or just how sweet our celebration was.

||

Nimbarra

Day 15 + 16

“Nimbarra” means “hard work” in Mandinka.

Day 15, Sunday, July 24. 30km run.

As Ashely wrote, Day 15 was a really big challenge for me. Several factors came together to make this so. My sneakers melted at km 17. More funny than challenging. We didn’t have enough food and I was hungry.  We were in place that food was hard to get. I was cranky. Then my breasts chafed really badly. My sports bra and running tanks rubbed the skin right off, leaving several wounds.

When we started run #2 of the day, we were supposed to hit Brikama at 6km so the run would be one kilometer longer than our usual 25km. I was hurting and I knew that I would need to focus on running and not give in to hurting. If I could just focus enough, I could get the pain under my sports bra to go away. I couldn’t do this while running with one of my guys.  If they were next to me, I knew that I would break down and become really emotional.  So I put Ashley in the truck at 3km and told the guys that I needed them to help me by letting me run alone for the next 3km to Brikama.

They agreed- eager to help me. But then Kebba told me that Brikama might not be at km 6.  Where is it!? I demanded.  I was hovering really close to pain threshold and also to snapping emotionally.  I had been yelling at kids.  This is not like me. “Maybe one or 2 km more.”

So I take off in somewhat stony/stoic silence.  I could focus alone and I could numb myself to the pain in my chafed areas. I’ve run lots of late miles in lots of races, it was just like this. I was just running.

I stopped at the truck at 7km.  We weren’t in Brikama. “Maybe one or two more km,” says Kebba, apologetically. My smile was gone. Brikama was lost. Kebba and Pa wanted me stop but there was no way I was stopping until we got to Brikama.  I had to get there.  The team had to get there.  Our police escort was going to pick us up in Brikama on Day 16 and the police escort was very necessary in the heavy traffic of urban Serrekunda.

I started running one or two kilometers more. I was angry. So angry at the kilometer markers that led to the middle of nowhere. I was hungry. I knew there was pain under my resolve and I was worried that I was creating pain in my legs that would make me suffer the next day. At my lowest moment, a truck full of soldiers drove by.  Along with the kids and the mamas, I love the soldiers.  They travel on open flat-bed trucks. I salute them. They salute me back.  I made it to 9km.

I did not make it to Brikama by 9km.  “How much further?” I ask, wearily.  “Less than a kilometer,” says Kebba.  “Are you sure? Positive?” I demand.  “Well, maybe 990m,” he says.  Poor Kebba.  I had turned into Charlie from “Running the Sahara” but felt like Kevin from the film when he says that he can’t go on running aimlessly to Libya. Kebba doesn’t have a map in his head. He was doing his best.

During that last stretch, I was thinking of my coach Cliff watching me run 150s at the track.  It was comforting so I ran 150s over and over. It wasn’t necessarily the running that was difficult, the kilometers were disappearing, but during these extra kilometers, everything was difficult.

Brikama was 900m from km 9, rounding out the day’s total at nearly 30km. When I reached Brikama, I grabbed my water from Pa and said that I needed to walk and to meet me up the road in about 5 minutes.  When I walked away from the truck, I was crying. I don’t run and cry in real life but I just didn’t know what else to do with myself.  I was so emotionally overwhelmed.  I felt bad for the team because I wouldn’t let them run with me.  I felt bad that I wasn’t my usual smiling self.  But I knew that I wouldn’t have been able to push beyond the pain of my chafed skin without being alone.

I pulled myself together by the time the truck came to get me.  I had to pull myself together because I knew that the guys wouldn’t be able to handle their runner crying.

We clocked the kilometers to the finish line at the ocean after the run and about 25 minutes into our drive, I was steady and ready to talk to the team:

“Pa?” I said. “Thank you for helping me today.”

“Spider. Thank you for helping me today”

“Kebba. Thank you for helping me today”

“Ashley. Thank you for helping me today.”

Day 16. Monday, July 25. 24km run. 410km total. 13.5 to go.

We are at Banjul’s doorsteps.  We stopped our run today at the Westfield junction. It was a really… big challenge getting there.

I was really nervous about today because it involved running through urban, throbbing, bustling, busy Serrekunda.  I wrote on Facebook this morning that in The Gambia, this would be like the equivalent of running through Manhattan.

I needed some extra courage this morning so I opened up my precious package of daily notes and photos from my girl Gina.  Today’s photo was of all of my best girls running down Leeds Street in our wedding gowns at our Royal Wedding Party.  Gina’s note said to think about my girlfriends running with me today, just behind me.  I got teary.  I told Ashley that I had accepted that the next 2 days would be an emotional rollercoaster.

We got in the truck to drive to our start point in Brikama.  I was nervous and not feeling very strong and clutching the photo of my girls in my hand. I told my team that I was nervous and they told me that they would take care of me.  They told me to try not to let the traffic get to me.  I trust my team so absolutely and I knew that they wouldn’t let anything bad happen to me. We started running.  Walliduff Jarr, our Gambia Police escort on the motorcycle in front.  Spider, me and Kebba behind.  My men, flanking me.  And Ashley and Pa in the truck behind me.  I had a protective cocoon.

I was thinking of my Aunt Debby’s advice to “Do you best and the forget the rest.”  Today, “the rest” was the long line of unhappy traffic we were creating behind us.  I did my best to forget about them.

At our 20 minute water stop, a little boy named Molamin joined us.  He listened to Kebba explain Love4Gambia to a young man.  Kebba said, “We are running for the youth of this country.” When we began to run, he was next to us.  Molamin was 12 years old and from Brikama.  He ran the next 9km with us in his plastic sandals.

Molamin was incredibly helpful for me.  Obviously my legs are tired and while I’m not injured, of course I am hurting.  I have used mantras during many races- a short sentence repeated over and over again.  It helps me push the sensory data from my legs out of my head.  I concentrate only on the words.  I was watching Molamin run and saying to myself, “Run for him. Run for him.”  I hurt everywhere and nowhere all at once. We got to 12km relavitely easily.  The transfer trucks hauling logs from Casamance were terrifying and I was scared that cars were going to knock over the police motorcycle several times.

Team switched up at 12km.  Kebba in the truck. Pa out of the truck. Kebba also have Molamin taxi money to get home.  When we started running again, I realized that my second pair of shoes in so many days had melted.  All of a sudden, my left foot dropped and felt flat on the ground.  It was like wearing 2 different pairs of shoes. At km 14 of the day, we hit 400km.  Erin with 2 pairs of shoes melted.

We stopped at the truck and Ashley asked me if the same foot melted each day.  When I said they were different feet, she told me to put the good shoe from yesterday on.  I started to tell her that different pairs of shoes have different wear patterns and you can’t mix them up…. And then I stopped myself.  My shoes have just melted!  Wear pattern is no longer a concern!  Now this isn’t a reflection of my shoe sponsor at all.  My shoes have been very, very good to me.  I don’t think that any brand of shoe would stand up to running 400km across a hot African country.

At km 16, our run became really challenging due to factors beyond our control.  We had been running easily from km 10-16 through traffic because the road was a double-lane divided highway with a median.  We blocked one lane, leaving the second lane for moving cars.  Then news came that the President of The Gambia was going to be leaving the city and they shut down one entire side of the highway.  Now traffic in the busiest urban core was using only 2 lanes, one travelling in each direction.  Exactly where we were about to run.

I saw the traffic jam up ahead and dread washed over me. The “highway” is narrow and there was very little space between oncoming traffic and the traffic in our direction and the flow was moving very slowly.  The very tight space between the 2 lines of traffic, in the centre of the road, was where we ran.

For the next 6km, the police bike drove through the traffic and Spider, Kebba and I followed. We had to run single file: Spider, then me, then Kebba taking up the rear.  Car swerved, sometimes in front of us.  The guys were yelling at cars.  I was yelling at cars. I slapped about 10 cars when they tried to move in front me as soon as the police motorcycle passed.  Pa and Ashley and the support truck lost us several times because they couldn’t follow through the tight traffic.  If I had any sense, I would have been scared.  Instead, I was just mad and that emotion is much easier to run with.

We had to run the last 6km non-stop because there was nowhere to stop for water in the traffic deadlock.  I embraced the traffic light at the Westfield Junction and Spider and Kebba embraced me.  The team survived.

If my blog reads to you like a journal, that’s because it is.  I am keeping this for myself and for my friends and family.  If you are outside of my friends/family circle, I sincerely thank you for taking the time to follow my team as we run through this incredible experience.  Please let me remind you why I’m running.  I’m not running for glory or accomplishment, I’m running to keep kids alive in a country that I love dearly.

If you’ve been following Team Love4Gambia, you’ve gotten to know Pa Modou Sarr and Kebba Suso.  My team.  These 2 remarkable men are staff of the Nova Scotia-Gambia Association.  They are the ones that go out into the field and run the projects that keep kids alive in The Gambia.  Pa and Kebba do the malaria prevention.  They do the HIV prevention.  Using cinema, they educate communities about Child Rights Protection so that no one will exploit kids like Molamin and his sister.

I am running to raise funds so that Pa and Kebba can continue to do this life-saving work with the NSGA in The Gambia.  If you’ve gotten something out of my blog, if you keep coming back and if you haven’t supported Love4Gambia already, please consider donating.  Donate Now! is an easy button to click on the homepage.

We finish this unforgettable journey tomorrow when we jump into the Atlantic Ocean as a team.  If you want to celebrate, please donate.

Namaste.

Erin

This is Why You Need a Girl on Your Side

Post by Ashley:

July 24, 2011 Run Day 15

1:23PM- I’m here in the truck while Erin is running solo and stretching out her run to reach Brikama today. According to the kilometer markers, we should have been there in one extra kilometer from where we planned to end- so like at 26km for the day. However, it seems as though it is further than that. Maybe because those kilometer markers are about as accurate as time is in many places outside the Western World. The kilometer markers just ended in the middle of nowhere, not in Brikama. Not helpful to runners.

Erin has taught me a lot about running. She told me on our way here that running is much more mental than physical. I know that so far she has been very strong mentally. She has not let the heat or the numerous complications of travelling across the country bother her. Our mantra has been “Eat, Sleep, Run” We drug her to sleep, we feed her and she runs. Now today, the support team has not done the best job of feeding our running superstar. Now, I don’t know how many of you reading this have ever worked a twelve hour shift with me, but if you know me, you know that I personally do not function while hungry. Not nicely anyway. Can you say Dragon Lady? So I would imagine that when you burn a bijillion calories per day like Erin, you get crazy hungry. Like I’ll kill you if you get in my way kind of hungry.  Erin is starting off hungry in this second 5km (or maybe 10km?) run.  Since we were not in a place where food was easily accessible, and we had not prepared for this so Erin had no choice but to run hungry.

We decided I would start running with her, no boys. Sometimes you just need your girls, or in this case, girl. To top off her hungry mindset, we start running and a boy yells, “Toubab, give me a biscuit!” Oh if Erin only HAD a biscuit…  She to my surprise yells back, “You give ME a biscuit!” LOL- even Erin loses her patience when hungry!

Not too far into our run, Erin was grasping her chest. Now usually in my ER nurse mind I think- CARDIAC! In Erin’s case, I knew it was boobs. Yup, sorry Erin, I think the people need to know about your boob situation. There is heat rash on them. There is chafing on them. At this point in our run, the pain was just unbearable for Erin. So we stopped for Old Faithful- VASELINE. We continued running. The Vaseline was not cutting it. So we placed Erin in a dirty running shirt that might hold her chest better and cause less agony. This was all before Erin knew that 5km would not take her into Brikama.

Erin ordered me to the truck at 2.9km into the second run. I agreed because 1) I knew that she knew I was strong enough to run with her further if she needed me to and 2) You never argue with Coach Erin and 3) I knew that mentally she needed to have this time to herself to think. Since her birthday, she has not had that time running alone to collect her thoughts, daydream, or let herself be in silence to ponder what she has achieved and what it means to every smiling face she has met along this crazy journey. Today she mentally needs this time to run in solitude. Today she mentally needs to make it to Brikama. And she will, no matter how much further than the kilometer markers said it was. And if she hurts like hell she knows I will rub her legs later.

When Erin first asked me to accompany her on this adventure, I was a bit surprised. Prior to our first trip to The Gambia, we had been complete strangers. We did not spend the a huge amount of time with each other while there, but certainly by the end of our trip to Dakar at the end we knew each other well. When you travel with someone in quarters as close as these, there is always a risk that you will be severely annoyed with each other by the time it is over. This risk is amplified when it is a full month of travelling in non-luxury settings. We have slept together, eaten off the same plate, have used the same towel, have giggled until we cried (or sprained a laughing muscle), and squatted to pee side by side. If that doesn’t make you close, I don’t know what will. That is how today I knew she needed that space to be alone. So I kept the boys off the road and stopped them when they tried to make her stop running at 5km because that’s what she needed. When she finished her recovery (ahem) 10km run we were in Brikama.

7:00PM – We are now waiting for our dinner at Leybato Hotel and all is now right in the world. Erin is back to her smiling self after having an extra large omelet sandwich, a shower and discovering that our room at Leybato is even nicer than our first room here and has MULTIPLE outlets (and electricity) for our numerous devices that require charging.

Banjul is calling very loudly now. The total kilometers will be 424km, which is pretty close to our estimate of 430km. Erin ran 30km today bringing us to 386km. Tomorrow she will run 24km nonstop (no place to rest in busy Serekunda!). On our final day, she will complete 13.5km to July 22^nd Square, and to the OCEAN in Banjul. Yay!

Here’s a nice cold Julbrew to good friends and big accomplishments! Cheers!