A True Story

I currently live up in the hills in Kenya.  Its beautiful here and I’m not sure what the elevation is but its up there.  So my thinking is, that this could very well be the best place in the world for long distance runners.  And the best time of my life to train for a half marathon and possibly a marathon.  So why not start training for the Nairobi Half Marathon at the end of October.  I mean, I certainly have the time.  Additionally, I could finally manage to beat Shawn Dobbins.  (Yeah, I said it.)  So why not?  It would be a great personal goal to have and help relieve some of the stresses of being a Peace Corps Volunteer?

So why not?

WILD DOGS, that’s why.

I have been running a lot lately but I’m terrified to go again because two days ago after talking a little trash on Shawn’s facebook wall I was confronted by a pair of wild and INSANE dogs.  As I turned a corner, I heard some dogs.  I didn’t think they were too close but there they were as I rounded the corner. 

“If you get rabies, you’re a goner.”
-Peace Corps Medical Officer

It was like slow motion.  They immediately sprinted after me and to begin with they were maybe 30 to 40 feet away.  I thought they were only chasing me because I was running.  So I stopped…they didn’t.  One of them lunged forward at me.  I dove to the ground frantically trying to grab anything I could to throw at them.  I grabbed a rock and hit one of them in the head, hard.  He yelped loudly while the other made his attempt to come after me I threw another rock and nailed him right in the neck which seemed to knock the wind out of him and he slowly fell to the ground and eventually scampered off.

The other dog recovered from the blow to his head and remained a few feet in front of me, barking loudly and jumping around like crazy.  I had another rock but instead of throwing it I held it back as if I was going to hit him again and slowly backed away.  He inched forward but thankfully as I kept moving backwards the distance between us grew and FINALLY the dog simply turned around and ran off, thus ending one of the most horrifying moments of my life.  Making sure they were gone, I headed home, thankful all those quarterback camps were good for something.