As some of you know, I ran my first half marathon with Matt a
week prior to coming to Nepal. It had been a goal of mine for about 5 months
and I’m so glad I accomplished it before leaving the states. In those couple
months of training, I really started falling in love with running. Sure, I
dreaded waking up and immediately putting on my running shoes, and I definitely wanted to skip some days, but
overall, running is something that makes me feel very happy and healthy - and I
was worried I wouldn’t be able to get my fix of this happiness and healthiness
in Nepal. Outside of the US, running is just kinda a weird thing to do. I
remember running along a dirt path down to the beach in Greece when a girl on a
moped pulled up beside me and asked who I was running from, if I was okay, and
if I needed a ride home. Trying to explain that I was simply running for fun
did not compute in her brain, and I was afraid I would encounter a similar
situation in Nepal.
On my second day in Surkhet, I was already itching to go for
a run so I put on my Nikes, grabbed my ipod, and headed out on a quiet path
behind our house. I don’t know if it was my pale skin, weird hairstyle, neon
colored shoes, strange device that connected my hand to my ears, or the fact
that I was moving my body at a pace faster than a snail’s – or a combination of
everything – but you would’ve thought the people of Surkhet were looking at an
alien as I ran by them! Wide eyes, open mouths, frozen in place… even the goats
seemed confused as to who I was and what I was doing. Honestly, it made me a
little uncomfortable so all I could do was wave and say hello or fold my hands
in prayer position and yell Namaste as I passed. I enjoyed seeing Surkhet and
its beautiful scenery, but I didn’t know if I would be able to handle all those
strange looks and stares every time I ran. So, I decided from then on, I would
bring some people along as distractions…
Since that second day in Nepal, I have yet to go on a run by
myself. Instead, I bring along a couple of our kids as my running partners. The
first couple times were disasters. Some kids sprinting as fast as they could,
others taking 5 steps then walking, others complaining that their feet hurt or
they were thirsty a minute after we left the house; I began to think going solo
wasn’t so bad. But we started setting small goals for ourselves. First, we
tried to run for 30 seconds and walk for 30 seconds. Then we bumped it up to
running for 60 seconds and walking for 30 seconds. Now, our usual route is a
nice 2-mile loop, running for 100 seconds at a great pace and walking for only
about 20 seconds in between. Today, we PRed by going on an hour-long run
through Surkhet and up into the hills where our new school is being built. Of
course there was some walking, but the kids were champs and I’m pretty sure I’m
going to be sore tomorrow. I’m so impressed by how strong they have gotten and
how much their endurance has improved, but what’s even cooler is, simply put,
they love to run. I get asked, “We go running today?” every single day and if
we skip a day I get the cold shoulder for a few minutes. I’ve been battling a
cold this week and haven’t been up for much physical activity, but these kids
don’t seem to care about my physical health and just want to run! It’s pretty
awesome to see and going on runs with them is definitely one of my favorite
things to do here at Kopila Valley.
Just thought I would share!
~shannon
~shannon
my running crew today, we roll deep
amy, bindu & santosh
go maya!
30 minutes up the hill & we made it!
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