New York City Marathon, New York, USA - November 1, 2009

Dr Kate Evans and Simon Buckingham are running the NYC marathon. Training for a marathon is never easy, but training for a marathon in the bush has its added complications, as the one thing everyone is always told is ‘ DO NOT RUN IN THE BUSH’. So what options do we have, the only safe (ish) one we have is to run up and down the airstrip which is about 1km long.

This is a good place as it is open and we therefore have good vision. Animals can turn up at any time and so one of us has to drive up and down with the runner, as yet we have not found a volunteer to come with us and so one of us has to drive whilst the other runs, making our training session twice as long.

Another factor is the heat here, as we head for summer the thermometer is regularly above 35oC and so we have to time our runs to morning and evenings and take plenty of water. So far we have been joined up a couple of warthog and some ostriches, we are hoping that the lions stay away.

The marathon is part of our Tri-continent Triathlon, where we hope to raise enough money for a much needed 4x4 vehicle for the research, you can help us on our way by visiting our just giving fundraising page. Wish us luck on the 1st November.... I think we are going to need it.