Science Camp

Tomorrow will be exactly one month since I ran in the Longtom Ultramarathon.  What an amazing unforgetable day it was!  I just cannot believe, though, that already a month has gone by since then and we are almost into May of this new year, one third of the way through 2008.  As a result of time seeming to fly by faster than I can keep up, this new blog post is going to be a little late.  It is certainly worth telling you all about though and I hope you enjoy hearing about one little project that I did with another volunteer, AJ Kumar.   

AJ is a one of my best friends in the Peace Corps.  You may or may not remember, but collectively we wrote a speech together for our Swearing-In Ceremony when we officially became Peace Corps Volunteers.  AJ is an absolutely facinating person to be around.  He is so amazing that many other volunteers have chosen to give him the title, K.O.W. or King Of the World.  As a graduate of Exeter Highschool and Stanford University and already accepted into Harvard for his Graduate Degree…AJ certainly lives up to his name when it comes to almost anything.  So when he asked if I would want to come help him out with a science camp at his village site, I didn’t think twice.

Over the Easter Holiday, I spent two weeks with AJ.  After the Longtom Ultra he and I, along with two other friends, went for a three day hike in the Blyde River Canyon, the World’s Third Largest Canyon.  Following a week of fresh air and canned food cooked on an open fire, we traveled for three days back to his site, located in the Northern Cape Province.  The name of his village is Heneingvlei and is well known for the two large salt pans that are the only remnants of an ancient lake that once covered the landscape. 

This was my first time in the Northern Cape.  I love my site, but if I had to choose another one, it would be AJ’s.  Besides being very very rural, there was little else to complain about as far as I am concerned.  He had a wonderful host family with the most adorable little kids.  The youngest one was around 2 years old and was definitely a “free bird”.  That little tike would run around bottomless all day if he could.  The funniest part was when he would see his mom rushing towards him with a pair of pants.  Not willing to give in to her attempts, he would turn on his heels and flee as fast as his tiny legs could carry him in the opposite direction. 

Another upside to his village was the large, two story, well resourced high school that stood about 200 yards from his house.  It was this school that we used to put on a 5 day science camp for anyone between the age of 7-20 years that could attend.  Later I would find out that AJ was also blessed to have some pretty darn amazing kids in his village too. 

 The week before the camp, AJ and I had thrown around different ideas for the camp.  We both have a science degree, his being in physical science and mine in biology.  It turned out that we both had the right combination of ideas and expertise to put on a super fun science and sports camp.  In the end, we decided to give the kids a little bit of a taste of everything: chemistry, ecology, geology, and physics. 

This was the second camp that AJ had done at his site.  The first was a chess/sports/science camp for all ages.  From his experience from that first camp, he thought it best to seperate the camp into two age groups.  The plan was to have ages 7-14 years in the morning from 8-12 and ages 15-20 years in the afternoon from 2-6.  Despite being physically and mentally drained after nearly 10 hours of camp + preparation every day, I would say that dividing the age groups is the way to go. 

We arrived back at his site on a Sunday evening and spent the rest of the day light hours walking around the village advertising to children and parents and handing out fliers.  Unfortunately, because the custom in South African Culture is to have visitors sit down and and share a cup of tea, we didn’t manage to get far.  The only thing we could hope for was that the word would spread and we would have more than 5 kids at the camp on Monday morning. 

The next day we went to the school early to get things prepared and low and behold the kids started drifting in.  Before the morning session was done, we had about 25 kids in attendance.  The item for the first day was Volcanoes and Dinosaurs.  We had the kids get into groups and they constructed volcanoes and green dinosaurs out of home-made playdough (flour, water, and salt).  I was a bit shocked to find out that only 1 or 2 kids actually new what a dinosaur was!  Growing up as a child of their age, I was such a dinosaur fanatic that I could name and spell correctly nearly every dinosaur known to man.  After constructed the volcanoes and dinosaurs we had a short lesson on geology and the rock cycle before heading outside to play some soccer. 

Later that day we had class with the highschool learners and the topic for the day was Chemistry: Mystery Powders.  It was a lab that I had learned about when student teaching at North Winneshiek Schools with the Star Teacher Birgitta Meade.  The idea behind the lab is to give learners +/- 5 white powders (salt, sugar, flour, baking soda, cornstarch, etc.) that they do a series of tests to (look, feel, water, vinegar, iodine, heat,etc.) to describe the physical and chemical properties of the powders.  Then the teacher mixes 2 or 3 powders together and the learners have to conclude what the combined powders are based on their previous observations. 

AJ instructed the learners on how to correctly write a lab report (materials and methods, observations/results, discussion, conclusion, etc.).  Clearly the learners had never done anything like this before but the soon grasped the concept and visually showed that they were enjoying themselves. 

The remainder of the week followed a similar format.  Tuesday was ecology day. 

After “erupting” our volcanoes with baking soda and red dyed vinegar we did a science inquiry lab on ants with the elementary learners.  We had them observing ants and then collecting them into jars with sand to make ant farms.  The highschool learners did  a field experiment collecting plant, insect, and soil samples from a location near the school.  We used the experience to talk to them about animal and plant relationships and the adaptations they have to their environments. 

On Wednesday we decided to give the elementary learners a break (actually AJ and I needed one more than them).  We did have class with the Highschool students and had them experimenting with different lab stations demonstrating the properties of waves.  We had a wave pool to show the behavior of water waves, mirrors and prisims to show light waves, and a spring to calculate the velocity of a wave.  Even I found this lab informative, because I had never seen or used a wave pool before. 

On Thursday we had the little kids again and took time to teach them how to play kick ball and four square, two games foreign to them. 

We also gave them a chance to readjust their ant farms because many of them forgot to leave air for the ants and all their specimens died (a good way to get the kids thinking about what living things need to survive…that is unless you are an ant!).  We also let the kids play with some of the items related to waves.  Later that day the highschool students spent most of the day working on their many lab reports.  It was a challenge for them, but we could see they were gaining a lot from it.  Even I can’t remember doing a formal lab report until I was in college.  We rewarded the learners with an intense game of basketball.  It was a nice feeling to be able excell at a ball-sport in this country.  Usually it is soccer and I certainly am out of my league when it comes to that. 

The last day for the elementary learners included a heated tournament of four square followed by a quiz over the weeks material.  We ended the camp by awarding each particpant with a participatory certificate and prizes for good behavior, attendance, good quiz score, etc.  The afternoon session was very similar, except that we played a basketball tournament instead of four square.  Despite having some stressful moments throughout the week, whether it was planning or being unable to communicate in Setswana well enough, AJ and I were very pleased with the weeks results. 

That night AJ and I relaxed and rewarded ourselves with chocolate send from his parents along with Transformers, the movie.  I have to say that although we were exhausted from the week and partly wondering why we had spent our “vacation” working so hard, we both wouldn’t have chosen to do anything else.  The camp was so rewarding for both the kids and us!  We could easily see that we had done something for the kids that was educational and still fun.  Over the course of the week, the average daily attendance was 30 elementary learners and 20 highschool learners.  Not to shabby I have to say.  A clear demonstration that AJ has some pretty cool kids at his site; and yeah AJ, you are pretty cool yourself.  Thanks for letting me be a part of that wonderful week in Heneingflei. 

Longtom Ultramarathon

March 29, 2008, 6:00am on a Saturday morning…the gun goes off and I dash down the hill in the midst of 300 other runners and the first signs of the morning sun just creeping over the distant mountains. 

Now, before I get to far ahead of myself, I should mention that there is still much story to tell before the actual day of the Longtom Ultramarathon.  For me, it began on October 5, 2007 when I first started my training for the race.  At the time, I was already aware of the 56km Longtom Ultramarathon.  I don’t know exactly how I learned about it, but I think I had just heard the words “race” and “marathon” and my ears perked up.  Realizing that there were two options: a half-marthon and a full-marathon, I obviously chose the second.  For the next two to three months I just  carried about my business while trying to build my mileage as I went.  I was not fully aware yet what the Longtom Marathon was about and why so many Peace Corps Volunteers run in it. 

It was in late January when I began to learn about the real reason for the Longtom Marathon and why I should run it.  I was told that the Longtom Marathon had partnered up with the Kgwale le Mollo (KLM) Foundation (http://www.klm-foundation.org/) a few years back thanks to previous Peace Corps Volunteers in South Africa.  I was also told that the money volunteers could raise would be donated to the KLM Foundation which would use the money to help give one child a year the chance to become a great leader for his or her nation.  I knew that if I ran in the Ultramarathon (a far greater challenge for me than the half-marathon) then I would have a greater chance at raising money.  The realization just solidified my seemingly crazy decision to run the full 56km distance.

Soon after I proceeded to inform my friends and family (probably most of you that are reading this) about my goal and asked for financial support.  As many of my supporters and running fans did the work on their end, I too was hard at work.  I started to come to terms with the challenges I was going to be facing.  One was that I had never raced a distance greater than 21 kilometers (and that was only one time) and that I was also going to have to run over a mountain.  Running over a mountain is a challenge in itself, but when you are training on the flattest place in South Africa, it doesn’t make things easier. 

As the months ticked by, so did the miles and the dollars.  I was receiving top dollars from supporters back in the United States and I was reaching top mileage myself.  Just a month before the Ultramarathon my TEAM had already donated more than $700.00 and I was putting in long runs of about 26 miles and 90+ miles per week.  The days leading up to the final event were shining bright…and they never went dim. 

In the final weeks before the event the donation total reached $900.00 and I finally had the joy of resting my body.  At last, it was March 28, 2008 and I had arrived safely at Sabie, the starting location of the race and just one day before the greatest physical challenge of my life. 

 March 29, 2008, 6:00am on a Saturday morning…the gun goes off and I dash down the hill in the midst of 300 other runners and the first signs of the morning sun just creeping over the distant mountains. 

I started the first kilometer at an easy pace for me, just jogging along side Ellen Whitesides (the only other volunteer that had chosen to run in the Ultramarathon).  I hadn’t really formulated a racing strategy and just spent the first 4-5minutes getting a feel for the race.  After that first kilomter ticked by, I had begun to drift ahead of Ellen and turned to give her a wave.  With her approving smile and wave, I turned my head forward and looked directly at the leaders ahead. 

It didn’t take long before the course started to ascend.  I knew that the hills were going to be my greatest challenge and I was now getting my first opportunity to see how my body handled them.  I was a bit worried when I realized that my body felt very awkward going up the hills.  It just reaffirmed my worst fear, that I had lost all my muscle memory on how to run hills.  Despite feeling extremely inefficient running up the hills and extremely full from a large bowl of oatmeal that I ate for breakfast, I was still passing runners left and right.  As I passed the runners I wondered if I was old enough to be eligible for the race.  I couldn’t find a single runner ahead of me that was under the age of 40! 

As I ate up these middle aged maniacs on the first hill I clicked off 21.30, 23.28, 20.17, and 24.49 for the first 20 kilometers (each split being 5km).  As you can see, most of it was all up hill, with the 2nd and the 4th 5km being the steepest.  By this time I was already starting to feel the burn, the oatmeal felt like I was carrying a child in my stomach, and I was getting tired of carrying along my water bottle with Gatorade. 

At last, after 20 kilometers I reached the top of the first real hill.  At this point I had managed to work my way up into a group of runners that I was equal with.  I didn’t gain on them and they didn’t gain on me.  I found that despite my lack of hill training and lack of comfort on the hills, I was still holding my own on them.  In fact, I was doing more than holding my own…I was looking like the best one out there!  It wasn’t until we reached the first significant downhill that I realized I wasn’t the fastest downhill runner as well.  I watched as many of the skinny, long-legged African runners cruised by me and floated down the hills.  I was feeling the chronic pain in my left heel that sent an uncomfortable sensation up my leg with every heel strike.  This didn’t help me much in keeping up with the runners as the passed by on the down hills. 

The flat/downhill lasted about 5km and I came through in a time of 19.22 minutes.  It was also during this stage that I caught up to another runner.  I wasn’t sure how old he was at the time but I found out he was a true veteran of the Longtom Ultramarathon.  Running in his 7th consecutive, I latched onto any advice he had for me.  As we clicked by each kilometer marker with a 3.30minute split, he warned me that we were going a bit too fast.  He commented on the runners flying ahead of us that there was no worry, they would be coming back.  We rolled through the small hills casually talking about the scenery and good racing strategy. 

When we reached the next, last, and most brutal hill of all, I stopped to take in some water and powerade (I had been stopping like this about every 45minutes because I found I couldn’t get enough when I tried to drink when running).  After a brief walk and drink I took off up the hill. 

I was a bit surprised that over the past few hills my legs seemed to regain their muscle memory for running hills.  I wasn’t attacking the hills by any means (to conserve energy) but I felt extremely efficient on them.  I credit it to all those hills I ran and biked on around the Decorah area.  Another thing that helped was that I threw away that damn water bottle.  I just can’t stand running with one of those things in my hand.  The first part of the race was over…now I meant business. 

Despite feeling ready to go and excited that I only had another 10km to go to the top, I was not moving very fast.  My next two 5km splits were 24.10 and  26.21!  I hope that just tells you how steep those hills were.  Just image a crazed Gonzo, chopping at the bit, ready to eat up some middle aged African runners and yet only managing to “cruise” by at nearly 8minute mile pace!  That hill was so unrelenting.  It was absolute torture.  The worst part was that we were high enough now that there were few trees and the short grass did nothing to hide the seeminly infinite switchbacks that loomed ahead.  At one point as I shuffeled up the hill, a logging truck moved up along side me.  That truck was having just as hard of a go at it as I was.  I ran stride for stride with that truck for nearly 5 minutes always anxious about whether the logs just to my right would toppel over and put me out my misery or if the whole truck itself would give up the ghost and roll back down the hill, taking the other runners out of their misery.  Either way, I kept looking ahead and citing that old book my Grandmother used to read to me, “The Little Engine that Could”…I think I can, I think I can…

At last I managed to make it to the top of that S.O.B. and took a well deserved rest at the water station.  I realized that the worst was behind me, but I was disappointed when I soon realized that it wasn’t all technically down hill from the top…I still had more hills to go.  Thankfully, there was nothing that compared to what I had gone through. 

At this point in the race, the sun was well in the sky and not a cloud in sight to shield the sun’s burning heat.  The road was getting hot and making my shoes feel like size 12 ovens.  That was when I started to get my first scare…dehydration.  I touched my skin and it felt dry as a bone and my fingers were tingling for the second time in the race.  I looked ahead for the next water station.  When I made it there I ran through the water sprinkler two times, posed for a photo giving them my best gun show, guzzeled down three packets of water and went about my business singing “On the road again…just can’t wait to get on the road again…”

21.08 minutes.. 20.33minutes…the next 10kilometers were mostly a gradual downhill.  I was moving down them at a relaxed pace when another runner caught me from behind.  I picked up my pace to keep up with him and we chatted to one another.  I think we both did it out of necessity to keep our minds off the body’s call for help.  As we cruised down the hills, I started to sense the first real pain in my legs of the race.  Before this there was too many steep uphills to really put a strain on the legs.  Now as we went down, the lungs had a chance to rest, but it was time for the legs to get to work. 

At the next and final ascent I moved ahead of my brief companion and never saw him again until the finish line.  Just as I came to the top of that last hill I saw the 12kilometer mark shining like a beacon in the sun.  There it was…the marker that proved officially that I had completed my first and ever official marathon (44kilometers).  I didn’t stop to do a jig or kiss the hot tar road, but inside I was celebrating like you wouldn’t believe.  I gave myself a light pat on the back after looking down at my watch to see 3hours and 17 minutes.  Not too bad for my first marathon, considering 35 kilometers of that was nearly all up hill for 2000meters.  But my little private party didn’t last long and that beautiful sign soon turned evil and reminded me that I had another 12 kilometers to go. 

After a 4.25 split I got to the top of that last and final hill and heard the announcer tell me I was in position 12.  It was the first time I knew what place I was in.  Another pleasant surprise at the top of that hill was that I could see Lydenburg in the distance…the final destination of this long journey.  A place where I could relax and possibly have a massage.  Oh the thought was so grand that I flew down the hill as though there were a pack of lions nipping at my heels.  I ran the next kilometer in 3.27 and the next 5 kilometers after that in 18.14 minutes. 

As I descended down the mountain I put aside the pain in my legs, which didn’t enjoy running down hill at such a steep grade, especially after all they had been through.  If my legs had a mind of their own, I am sure they would have stopped and said, “We’re not going one more step mister.”  In actuality, they nearly did so.  It was at this point that the calf cramps I started to experience about 15kilometers back started to take effect.  With nearly every push off with my toes my legs refused to come out of their contracted state.  As I expected my foot to heel strike as it should, I found my toes still pointing downward.  This annoying and very scary truth caused me to nearly fall flat on my face countless times. 

Fortunately, it was at this time that I started to catch all of my fellow Peace Corps Volunteers that had chosen to walk the half-marathon.  As I came up from behind them I would yell out “Yea, Peace Corps!”  Most of them were extremely shocked to see me that it took them a second to realize who it was.  This explains why most of the photos people have of me during the race are of only my backside and me nearly out of the cameras range.  Some of the volunteers tried to run along with me.  I had to apologize that it was not physically possible for me to slow down and wait for them…the thought of being done was so great that I wasn’t going to slow down for anything…not even if Jesus Christ himself wanted me to stop and walk for a bit.  (Well, that may not be true…)

Anyways, you get my point.  I was dead set on getting to that finish line by this point.  It was also at this point that I had firmly decided never to do this again and that I was definitely never doing the famous Comrade’s Marathon (90kilometers) that South  Africa is so well known for. 

With only 5kilometers to go I finally made it into town and on flat ground.  I had been looking ahead and seeing the next two positions that I needed to catch if I hoped for a gold medal.  I thought that once I would reach flat ground I would be able to resume my normal stride and fly past them like a speed of light…that didn’t happen at all.  All I discovered was that things got really really hard.  Now that the downhill was over, gravity stopped becoming my friend and I had to ask my legs to start propelling me forward…they didn’t agree to that idea at all.  I found the last 4 kilometers to be the longest 4 kilometers of the day and perhaps my life.  As I ran through these long streets that never seemed to end I was furious…I said to myself “They told me to run from Sabie to Lydenburg…well here I am in Lydenburg, why the heck am I still running then?!”  With each right or left turn around a street corner I hoped to see that beautiful word ”Finish” stretched across a banner ahead, but it never came.  Then, those course designers had the gall to make the last kilometer to the finish line UPHILL!  Ugh!  I would have hated to been the race official directing runners at the last corner.  I don’t think one runner had a nice thing to say to him.  

At last, we finally arrived at the high school sports field where the  sight I had been praying to God for finally came into view.  I knew by this time that I was in 11th place because I had caught one of those long-legged runners that burned past me on the downhills about 30kilometers ago, and the 10th place finisher was just finishing ahead of me.  So, I came in only fast enough to make sure that I stayed in 11th place and with that, I crossed the finish line.  Alive…Tired…but very very happy.  My final time: 4:03.13

I waited around at the finish line getting a massage, chatting with friends who were never short of compliments, eating anything I could get my hands on, but mostly just sitting and smiling.  It was around 6hours racing time that my compatriot Ellen Whitesides crossed the finish line, looking much better than I imagined I did.  Now that we were all together again, we went to take a few group photos and then called it a day.  And what a day it was. 

If you want to see more information about the race or check out the results page, just go to the following websites:

race information: http://www.longtominfo.co.za/

results: http://www.raceresults.co.za/output_full_results.php

 race day photos: http://picasaweb.google.com/datavortex/LongTomMarathon2008