When I decided to go on a round trip world, I first chose Africa, and then I needed to pick races that I would like to do. For Tanzania, that was the easiest thing that I have done: I picked Kilimanjaro marathon. Why? When I thought about Tanzania, the first place that I had on my mind was Kilimanjaro. Thus, I checked all information about the race and it sounded for me like a great idea. I was so interested in that race that the online registration was not even open yet!
Few months later and my registration done, I arrived one week before the race in Moshi, ready to run these amazing 42,2 kms. Why did I arrive earlier than one or two days before the race? First, to try if the weather and the altitude were acceptable for me. Even if I had already run in Africa, each place has its own specificities. If you are running on a beach it’s not the same as in the mountain. And when you talk about mountain, weather can be different from one to another. So, one week exactly before Kilimanjaro marathon, I ran for three hours 27km with 600 m of ascending elevation. I felt like the next week would be not that hard…
Then, that was because I would like to interview female runners. In fact, I decided to go on a round trip world during two years not only to run for a Charity called « La Fondation Motrice » who supports children who suffer from cerebral palsy, but also to learn more about women and running. Why do they run ? How running change their lives? Then, I could release a documentary about running dedicated to women.
But, let’s go back to the Kilimanjaro marathon!
March 1st, 6:10 am, I was with a thousands of people, waiting for the departure in Moshi stadium: dancing, talking and even taking pictures to remind me about this awesome day ! At that time, the sun was not even
raised.
6:30 am, Kilimanjaro marathon departure was given! For my second one, I was not running alone : I decided to run with Gauthier, a French guy that I met one day before. He was running his first one. As an « experimented runner », my aim was to help him to run his marathon but not only for him, also for me as I love to run with other people. I started to run and to go out of the stadium, cheered by all non-runners who were there for this big event. The first 10 kms, until the u-turn, were quite easy because I did not feel the heat yet. The sky was cloudy, better for the runners.
While I was running to reach the u-turn, I saw theses Kenyan and Tanzanian athletes who were like flying to reach the half marathon. What a great experience to see one of the most famous runners in this race. Then, when I went back to run the next 10km, I saw people with slower pace, I tried to cheers them up so they kept running and gave all their energy in the race.
Around 8:30/40, I reached half of the race. The first half was quite easy but the second one was a little bite harder. Kilimanjaro marathon had decided to check if runners were good climbers or not. So from the 22sd km until 30th km, I was climbing the mountain beginning on a tarmac road and then on a rough road. It was quite painful because I started to feel hotter and hotter. Hopefully, I felt better thanks to my camel back and all the water stops. During this climbing, as I saw a lot of people walking, I tried to motivate them to keep going. Indeed, I think that if in any race you stop to run, start again will be harder. At the 25th km, we ran by a woman, alone and walking. We made her jump into our « train », so Kirsten could keep running this climbing part. An American mother who was also supporting a charity for this race. She stayed with us during 10 km. What a great feeling running with people from others countries!
Once I had reached the top of this difficult but nevertheless beautiful climbing, the finish line was only at 12,2 km, what a relief! I had already ran 30km!
From the 32sd km, when the road started to descend, it helped me to recover from the last hardest kilometers. Raisin
g my hand in the hair, laughing but also monitoring my pace, I was focusing on the end of the race. 6km, 5km, 4km, 3km, then I almost felt on a bumper when I saw the 2km sign…
Final countdown to the stadium, I accelerated my pace to end this Tanzanian marathon, I ended at 11:00, in 4hours and 30 minutes. As planned, 10 minutes less than Paris marathon in 2014. I could not believe that I already ended my second marathon. « Voilà, ça c’est fait » as we say in French. Now, I look forward and I am keep going on because there is a long way to go before the end of my trip…
