TIA: Liberia

Sunday was Liberia’s first ever marathon. The hubs, in what may not have been his most brilliant decision ever, ran the full shebang; I went with the 10K Run for Liberia. 

It was a pretty crazy experience. Never-ending rain, slightly chaotic and nothing like the typical race experience. To those of you who have not yet enjoyed Liberia’s rainy season, I should explain that the rain was more akin to what you might think of as a “tropical storm.” We’re talking torrential, relentless downpour of big raindrops and heavy winds. 

Race day coordination was a challenge - this is Liberia, after all.  We were told to arrive at 6:00 a.m. for the 10K so we could get checked in.  Since we already had our bibs, this meant we got a check mark on our bibs and the opportunity to stand in the rain for a couple hours before starting. The Liberians runners seemed pretty pumped about all of it – jumping up in down in circles and doing lots of warm ups. I was totally amused by how different the whole affair was relative to any race I’ve ever run in the States. Primary example: no porta-potties. Thankfully our friends and fellow runners, Christine and Kevin, live just around the corner from the start, so we were able to kill an hour hanging out in a dry place with plumbing.  Fancy, I know.  

Despite all odds, we managed to force ourselves to go back out into the rain to get ready to run. The wheelchair and amputee races started first. It was hugely inspiring to see the guys in their wheelchairs and on crutches ready to race through the rain. Liberia’s President then showed up to start the race and actually ran a bit at the start. This of course meant there was a ton of security and created all sorts of confusion at the starting line, but we survived. Once we actually got running, it was pretty easy. Naturally, the lanes were not consistently closed and there were a few moments where I felt like the cars racing by were aiming to take me out, but we sloshed our way through.

The tagline on all the race marketing was “let’s finish together” – super cheesy, but with some truth to it. Definitely very cool to see people of all walks of life making their way to SKD Stadium for the finish. In a country that’s been through so much, it’s cool to see the random signs of progress.