A Casual Runner in Africa

Francesco P

If your first thought when you are about to travel to some far-off place is: "how is this going to affect my running schedule?", you have definitely reached a high point in your addiction to running and, as you can well imagine, you are in very good company. 

Now, we runners love to think that nothing can ever stop us from running. But can it? 

There was a time, not long ago, when my work often took me to places like China and Mongolia, and I felt adamant that I would find a way to run no matter what. There is surely no better way to explore a Chinese village than on an early morning run, when the locals shuffle out to the streets and fill the parks for their daily tai chi practice. Admittedly, the occasional treadmill in the hotel gym gives you that extra security you need in case the weather conditions or the air quality make you think twice about venturing outdoors. But the treadmill is always the last resort.

Never until I moved to my current job in New York, however, did I have the chance to travel to Africa for work. For the past two years, my job took me to visit a few UN peacekeeping missions in tough places like the DRC, Somalia, South Sudan and Mali. It goes without saying that places that are ravaged by conflict and where security is a major issue, and on top of this triple-digit temperatures are the norm, are not the most propitious for a casual run. But, again, would this be a reason to stop a runner from going out and doing the job?

I have actually given this question some thought and I have developed 3 rules of wisdom.

Rule of wisdom #1: assess the risk. 

Dangerous road conditions, rampant crime, a history of violence or even the risk of terrorist acts against foreigners are all factors to consider carefully when choosing whether to go out or run on a treadmill. While no place is totally danger-free, it is important to be aware of the potential threats around you, in order to make an informed decision. Talking to people, finding out what time the sun rises, and scouting out your routes are all good tools to assess the risk in your environment. 

The evening when I arrived in Bamako, Mali, I was thrilled to discover that the area where I was staying had first-rate street lighting. The next day, I was out running well before dawn. The long, wide roads that stretched from my hotel to the government district along the banks of the Niger river were totally deserted and looked a bit eerie, but I could pretty much spot all the open potholes and the other "runners' traps" scattered on the way, and at the same time I managed to avoid running when the roads are awfully congested and clogged with motorbikes. 

Of course, I had also been reassured that, while violent crime could be an issue, no act of terrorism had ever occurred in Bamako. Mali is a country struggling with a deadly internal conflict between the government and the rebel forces and the Islamists in the North, and the towns of Gao, Kidal and Timbuktu, up in the North, are those that suffered the heaviest consequences of the conflict. Sadly, only three weeks after my visit, five civilians, including a colleague of mine who was serving for the EU Delegation in Bamako, were tragically killed during a terrorist attack. No reasonable precaution could have saved them from the brutality of that heinous aggression.

The UN base in Gao: not a good place for a casual run

Rule of wisdom #2: study the route. 

Once you have acquired a fair sense of security, you should figure out how far to go, what you want to see and how to get there. GoogleMaps can be very helpful to plan on an itinerary. I usually also try my luck talking to hotel staff, though that can be rather disconcerting at best, and totally useless more often than not.

The evening when I arrived at my luxury hotel in Addis, Ethiopia, the first thing I did after I was checked in, I went to the polished concierge who was idling by his stand next to the revolving door. I needed his advice on my run the next morning and I wanted to go all the way to the old town. The guy looked at me like I was crazy. The best place to run - he said - was the fancy shopping boulevards on the route to the airport, certainly not the old town. As for running in the early morning, he just could not get why I was dead set on doing my run when all the stores would still be closed...

And, finally, rule of wisdom #3: enjoy the run! 

Once you have overcome the headache of going over security and logistics, nothing beats the excitement of discovering the start of an ordinary day in the life of an African city. Two cities, in particular, hold a special place in my heart of die-hard long-distance runner: Nairobi and Addis. I cannot believe I have just managed to tick them both off my bucket list! I ran in Nairobi last year. At the time, I was advised not to venture too far from the safe area where my hotel was located, next to the UN headquarters. 

My run in Addis, this February, was quite a different story: I broke loose and scampered away into the bustling streets, as far as I could from my hotel. Thanks to my GoogleMaps, and in spite of my hopeless hotel concierge, I had a pretty good idea of where I was directed. I reached the National Theatre and the Lion of Judah, while the town was still waking up to a new day, children trotted to school, a small crowd gathered around a bus, guys in suits walked along to their work places. Then I turned a corner to cut towards the French School on the other side of the hill, and all of the sudden the streets were no longer paved and I remembered where I was: in a country that used to be among the poorest in the world, and had made huge leaps since and was climbing out of poverty.

Lovely day for a run in Addis!

Friends who lived in Addis say it is a special place for runners. People there value running like nowhere else. In the morning - my friends say - the streets of Addis literally fill with runners of all types. Even in my very short running experience in Addis, I can only corroborate it is a place like no other for runners. I cannot think of another city in my long years of running where people look so cheerful seeing a runner zip by. I would have loved to stop and converse with them about the secrets of their masterful endurance running. We think it has something to do with running, generation after generation, at a high altitude. I felt blessed by my altitude solo run, and ready to go back to New York and to my running buddies, full of energy, stronger than ever, and looking forward to my next African trip!

-Francesco P.