Recap of the 2012 Lewa half marathon

At the finish

– Laikipia, Kenya.

On June 30th Steph and I completed the Lewa half marathon. Held within the Lewa Wildlife Conservancy, this annual race is considered one of the toughest marathon and half marathon courses on the planet. This was only my second half marathon, and was Steph’s first – and she did it just 10 months after her back surgery! We ran together and were very happy to finish the race in 2:10:10. Amazingly, the winner of the half marathon ran the 21km in exactly HALF the time it took for us to complete the race! It was very humbling seeing some of Kenya’s great runners at the starting line, but the atmosphere and the landscape were amazing and made it all worthwhile. The first 10km flew by. The seemingly endless hills between kilometers 13 and 16 were challenging, and the last 5km felt like 15….but we finished with a strong 100m sprint across the finish line.

Flying over the start and finish lines

The race is actually a huge fundraising event for Lewa and the Northern Rangelands Trust, with money going to a number of conservation and education projects in the area. We hope to organize a team and run it again next year, unless we are too busy with safaris!

The starting line

Helicopter surveillance for the race

On the run….

The finish line!

The rhino protection team from Lewa and Borana at the sarting line. They ran the half in army boots, carrying 35lb packs and guns!