Monday, May 08, 2006

Road Running in Haiti

Today was packed full of more than a few things to do.

Recently we made some major changes with the way the feeding program runs. The changes include watching the food supply much closer than we have since we arrived here. This change means Troy hears a tap-tap-tap on the gate at 5:30am to go open up the cellar where he puts a one day supply of food each evening.

Adjusting to a 5:30 wake up could be going better ... especially if we went to bed on time.

After Troy did the stuff he needed to do this morning we headed in to Port au Prince around 6:30.

While Troy ran errands, I met Beth. Armed with our mace and water, we headed out for an entertaining and challenging eight mile run.

Lets just say, my knees have learned to prefer a treadmill over the last ninety days. Running in Port au Prince looks like this:

Take twenty steps, stop, start, try not to bump into a tap tap, start, try not to get hit by a car, stop, start, try not to get hit by a bike, stop, start, take thirty steps, build up a little speed, jog to the left to avoid nasty garbage on road, take a step down off of the sidewalk to get around vendor, run thirty yards without an obstacle, stop, start, look up to watch oncoming traffic trying to hit you, jump up on curb, stop, start, try not to trip over people who are staring at you, stop, start, run, run, stop, start, up, down, around, up, down, around, stop, go, go, go fast before you die, go slow before you die. Time your deep breaths so that they do not coincide with a cloud of black smoke from a passing truck. Do all of this while carrying on a conversation with your friend. It was SO fun.

I won't bore you with my running metaphor today ... I will just say, that for me, running has played a major part in finding out what God has set before me, and finding out what I am capable of when I lean on Him. Beth is one of my very closest friends and I just cannot believe God put us together in this goofy country, the way He did. It was great to run with her this morning. We are making marathon plans, which to us, is very exciting.

(Troy only runs when being chased and wants to clarify that he will not begin running anytime soon, or ever.)

Troy picked me up, we had to do the grocery trip that will allow us to feed 13 people for the next week. For some reason it is embarrassing to get so many groceries at once. I cannot identify why ... maybe because so many hungry people who live day to day are right outside the doors of the store ... but having two or three carts overflowing to the top is less than enjoyable. We accomplished our goal, locating almost everything on the list. We are ready for the team to arrive Tuesday night.

It is also less than enjoyable to lock your keys inside the truck in the grocery store parking lot. But, I cannot talk about that because I told Troy I would not. ;)

~Tara