October 2015 – Head over Heels 2014

I have uploaded a video of us in camp.

In case the video won’t play for you. Here’s the story:

Most nights we camp on the side of the road, we cook over a campfire, wash with a little water or wet wipes and go to the toilet behind a bush, avoiding snakes and scorpions.

Emma went off to pee in the dark. As there is no comfy toilet to sit on, she has to crouch putting weight on her blisters and painful knee. I heard a sorrowful wail,

“Oh! No!” from Emma.

“What is it?”

In attempting to avoid bending her painful knee too much, she has peed on her flip flop but didn’t notice until she put her heel back down. Then she tried to wash her foot with fairy liquid but lost her balance and stepped in the sand. By the time we start videoing, Emma is sat down safely, laughing but very tired, and I am helping her to rinse her foot and shoe, whilst she explains what happened.

Emma ends with the question, “Why is everything so hard?”

And I reply, “That’s what happens when you run 40k a day.”

It’s a long tough journey.

*****

No of days: 31

Total distance run by Emma: 1,346 km, 837 miles

Daily average distance run by Emma (including rest days): 43.45 km, 27 miles

Distance run today: 41.8 km, 26 miles

This is a tense time. Local knowledge is invaluable and we have been warned that the area Emma is about to run through has lions in it. Mike is no longer on the bike beside Emma but inside the car.

The car is beside Emma so that if a lion is spotted she can get in as swiftly as possible.

Woocash is driving and I am on top with binoculars. I know from experience how incredibly difficult it is to spot a lion.

Do you think you could spot a lion amongst this grass?

Staring at a strange looking burnt tree, I realise after a moment that it is an ostrich, stationery in the forest. It moves away as we get closer. Ostrich can be vicious when they want to be, lions aren’t the only animals to be wary of. Although of course in the excitement of seeing an ostrich, I forgot all of that and simply yelled “Ostrich, ostrich!” Everyone looked right and for a moment failed to keep look out left, which was the side Emma was on.

The strangest thing about this forest is how silent it is. There may have been lions in the grass watching us for all we know but we don’t spot them. We are wary when we stop to eat and rest but never see anything and we all make it safely through.

P1070843 — It is an adventure but right at this moment Emma has run, on average, a marathon a day for 30 days. She is in a lot of pain and she is in danger from the wildlife. What kind of strength is required to achieve that distance, face that pain and danger and keep going?

However, the stress is too much for everyone and although Emma ran through dangerous game parks in her previous run along the Freedom Trail in South Africa with only her brother on a bicycle as support, we make a very good decision to turn left and run through Zambia instead of Botswana and the Chobe National Park, which is full of animals.

The only thing is that I have not prepared for us to cross into Zambia. I don’t know requirements for the border crossing at all. Lets hope its an easy one. This will be my first land crossing in Africa and my first with Cleopatra, the car.

*****

No of days: 30

Total distance run by Emma: 1,305 km, 811 miles

Daily average distance run by Emma (including rest days): 43.5 km, 27 miles

Distance run today: 56 km, 35 miles