FISUgandALISON: see what I did there?

One crazy week in Entebbe, Uganda

I can’t believe that I travelled 31 hours to get to sleep in sticky-hot Uganda for just 4 nights before competing in a 6km cross-country race against all sorts of languages, nationalities and personalities, and then leave the next evening to travel 34hrs back to Abbotsford.  It was crazy, but that is what makes this world beautiful: adventure, challenge, friendship and a good attitude.   I came in at 17th place, 3rd Canadian and our women's team took home the bronze (woop! woop!).

 

Team Canada in 3rd behind Uganda 1st and Japan 2nd

As it turned out my roommate was very beautiful ;)

Girls Team: Colleen, me, Victoria, Julie-Ann, Grace

Allow me to share a few moments Uganda moments - ha ha - where it was necessary to make the best of every situation.

• Loooooooong travel: get to know Canadian Team, homework compression socks, airport yoga
• Sticky-hot heat of Uganda: turn on the air conditioning in the hotel room
• Weird food options: eating small and non-adventurous until after the race
•  Eating dinner at 9:00pm: Buy bananas for inter-meal satiation
•  Having so-called-dinner at the mayor’s house: call it a dream and giggle with teammates
• Race in the heat and altitude: drink lots of water the day before, wear sunscreen
•  Closest safari is 5hrs away: go to the zoo and take animal selfies

 

The mini bananas - sweeter than regular bananas

Finally eating...in the dark...after 9:00pm the day before Race Day.  Options: potato mash (matooke), boiled potatoes, sweet potatoes, potato medley, squash, white rice, brown rice, spaghetti noodles, flatbread, chicken, fish heads, beef stew, and steamed green stuff

Jackson with Jackson - animal selfie

Dressed up for the Safari

Rhino in the wild safari...while we continue wearing our yellow suits and imaginations

A black and white stripped painted horse - a zebra

What was the race like?

•  Hot – but with a breeze and a bit overcast
• Tough competitors: good athletes from all over but no one would know who at the start line
• Raced on Africa’s oldest golf course and had us run through a couple of sand pits
• Lots of African security, no porta-poddies and no bushes to hid behind…until they brought poddies 15min before the race started
• Some teams shared start boxes even when some boxes were empty randomly between teams
•  LOADS of Ugandan children watching and cheering Canada on!

Entebbe Golf Course served as the race course

 

Signing autographs for our Ugandan supporters

What kind of people did I meet there?

• We flew the 10hrs between Amsterdam and Entebbe with the Suisse team and adopted their small team as honorary Canadians
• Lots of East Asian boys’ teams that wanted to say hello to us white Canadian girls
• The Oliech family (Canadians from my Church that recently moved to Uganda) I got to shower them with gifts from Canada and give them hugs and they pulled out a Canadian flag to come watch the races
• Rachelle Briscoe!!  A friend from TWU who is living and working in the nearby city in Uganda saw my facebook posts and came out to watch!
• In general, most everyone spoke English (at least a bit of English) which made it easier to make friends from all over

Oliechs and me

This girl - Rachelle Briscoe :) TWU grad

What did I learn?

• I can run well in the heat
•  I don’t like matooke (plantain aka banana mash)
• That being married is surprising news
• Some Australian slang
•  Amsterdam has the best Americanos and coffee cookies (stroopiewaffels) of all time
• I LOVE my Canadiam teammates!!

Thank you all who supported me to get here through financial aid, words of encouragement, shared excitement and prayers!
 
Now for MORE PHOTOS!!!
 

Smart and casual

In a Dutch teacup in Amsterdam airport

Grace and I with our Dutch coffees :) The best americano ever (fullstop)

It was sooo good that I had two!!!

Getting Back Outside

Every year our university indoor track season becomes more and more fun.  My first year I did not care to run around a boring oval but now I look forward to watching my times drop race by race before University Nationals.  Since my start at TWU in 2011, my 3000m time has dropped 10-20sec every year.  If I keep this up next year I will run 9:22, then 9:10 and sub 9:00 (9:10 wins races and rolls the dough – although rolling the dough means working at the pizzeria alongside a sponsorship or bits of invitational race money).

1st lap of 15 - Nationals 3000m

This year the field of female distance runners in Canada was deep.  The top 12 girls were hitting standard times and on paper the races looked really close.  This is so exciting for Canadian athletics!  It is also exciting that I am in that top range of runners.  For the second year in a row I have qualified for CIS Nationals in the 1500m, 3000m, and 4x800m relay.  For the second year in a row I am the CanWest 3000m Champion!  I thank God for translating my training into running fast times.

The week before CanWest Championships I injured my foot and had to alter workouts prior to Nationals.  This affected my racing by not allowing me to be race sharp for Nationals.  No PB’s at Nationals, but I am happy with how I ran and the experience to race against fierce competition.

But now, with the indoor season over, we can move outside and onto the trails – my first love.  This year moving back  onto the trails was more important because I had two weeks to prepare for FISU cross country World Championships, that is World University Championships in Entebbe, Uganda.  I had a few workouts where I ran hills in a sweater in the 18 degree sun (prepare for a hot climate).  Tuesday I would throw my things onto the first of 4 flights to fly Abbotsford-Calgary, Calgary-Toronto, Toronto-Amsterdam, and Amsterdam-Entebbe

TWU girls winning the banner at CanWest

TWU Ladies taking home the CanWest Championship trophy

And then on the way home we threw in some airport doubles yoga :)

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