1st Place Female in the Junior Achievement Run-a-Thon 5K

Today Bob and I went to a fund raiser event that our company sponsored. It was a called a run-a-thon or a marathon but it was actually just a 5K. The event was to start at 7:20AM so Bob and I got there about 7AM to find very few people there… as crowd started to gather and the PA system was functioning, they started a group warm-up consisting of stretching for the participants - quite entertaining. Bob and I were the only oyibos (Nigerian slang for white people or foreigner)!!! The run, with a few hundred participants, started about 8:20AM. Bob’s admin talked Bob into running so we started running together. I started to get in the groove and ran a little ahead of Bob. The run was on many of the streets that we normally drive so it was nice to beoutide adn see more of the ite than we normally see behind the tinted windows of our car.

Gathering for the Warm-Up

A Picture taken along the Run

As I slowly (compared to the pace I ran in Houston) ran across the finish line, I was handed a little white piece of paper that read "1st female". I actually won first place of all women with a time of about 31 minutes! I did not expect to win nor did I push myself but I won! I was sort of excited and it definitely got me motivated to train for the half marathon here in Lagos in November (if it goes - no info on the website yet) and to get my butt back into shape. My prize was a night at the Protea Oakwood Hotel, 2 boxes/case of Indo Mie noodles (similar to Top Ramen), and a case of juice boxes. I am not sure what I am going to do with the hotel room… I first thougth of giving it to our driver or cook but thought it might be too extravagant of a gift. I then looked the place up online and saw that it is a very nice hotel so Bob adn I may stay there one night. I gave the noodles to my driver and cook and we drink the juice with breakfast.

The Award Ceremony

Bob Presenting Awards

Receiving My Award

We got there at 7AM and finally left at about 11:30 AM after the award ceremony. The post-run food did not show up until 11AM and there were no restrooms or trash cans. I asked about a restroom and they basically told me to go squat behind one of the buildings so that is what I finally had to do! I asked for a trash can and I was told to just throw the trash on the ground.

All in all, it was a fun day, a little drawn out, but definitely worth doing… and we raised some money for a good cause.

Link to Hotel where I won a free night:
http://www.proteahotels.com/protea-hotel-oakwood-park.html

Links to learn more about Junior Achievement:
http://www.ja.org/default.asp
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Junior_Achievement_of_Nigeria