Countdown to Africa

163/365: Night running is my drug

In just four days I depart on a month-long journey to East Africa. AND IM SO EXCITED I WANT TO PEE MY PANTS EVERYDAY! Like, seriously ,I get so jittery when I talk about it – I’M ECSTATIC!

I’m heading first to Tanzania and meeting up with two USC friends to climb Mt. Kilimanjaro. Afterwards I’ll head to Uganda to meet up with students from my master’s program in Israel. We took a course about Rural Water Development and now we get to implement some of what we learned: we will build a rainwater harvesting system and install a weather data recording machine. After 10 days of volunteering, myself and a few of the other students will travel for a week . I’m excited to spend this time traveling with a small group of Israelis – both because two of the girls are my closest Israeli friends here and it will be nice to have alone time with them before my potentially permanent move back to the Bay, and also because I’ve always wanted to travel Israeli style, hehe!

Preparation for this trip has been intense. I started training for Kilimanjaro at the end of May and have never felt so mentally prepared to push myself. I have a regimented running schedule that I learned to love, and that I now cherish. I run every night at 8pm, after the sun sets, just as dusk sets in – down the nature reserve’s switch-back road into the vast canyon near my home. As I run, I inhale the majestic beauty of the canyon before it disappears into darkness. Running in the desert at night time, moon not up yet, no street lights, I am spooked by dark figures that turn out to be trees and bats that fly a little too close to my head. But that makes it all the more invigorating. Overall, it’s like a fresh ocean wave has washed over me, and I feel alive, flying up and down the mountainous canyon wall. I love it.

Just as much as my body has gone through training, so has my mind. I now have the mental ability to push myself to accelerate up steep slopes, but more than that, this running schedule has forced me to sit with my mind for about an hour every day, alone. Just me, my mind, and the dark road (oh, and of course my iPod). I think about Kilimanjaro, I think about tomorrow’s To Do list. But what’s been the best are my internal therapy sessions. What’s good in my life? What’s not good in my life? How I change the not good things? What actions or viewpoints do I need to adopt in order for that to happen? Who am I sending love to? Who else should I be spreading kindness towards? What are my feelings right now?

I did go through a general emotional rough patch and my self-therapy was unbelievably self-empowering. To know that I could cure my hurt, move past my problems, solely relying on myself during the journey is a powerful thought.

Anyway, four days left before my flight, four days left of running in this beautiful canyon.

"The mountains are calling and I must go." 

- John Muir, 

shout out to SC Outfitters.

Peace out peeps,

Nina