As I rounded the corner for the 4^th time, I could hear mutters of “e don do, now” (which loosely translates to “it is enough”) and I laughed to myself. It was about 8pm on a Sunday Evening, I had been in Lagos for about 3 days and finally I had gotten over the long, yet comfortable trip, enough to get a quick run into my day. Things are very different here, aside from the metric system, no one really views exercise as necessary. And even those who do exercise rarely do more than take a brisk walk in the evenings.

The sun blazes and electricity is not consistent enough to allow the use of air conditioning in your home the whole day. Generators blare all day and all night in the absence of power, such that when there is power, it’s oddly quiet. As I ran, I marveled at the peace and quiet. Thankfully, we were having a generator free night but the fumes from the past use of the giant noisy machines still remained in the air.

Running felt good though, I had wondered what it would be like to go running at home. The ground around the estate we live in is partly paved and partly leveled rock and sand.  My shoes crunched in the dirt with a familiar sound and I hopped over the speed bumps in my path. The distance around the estate is about 0.6 km or 0.375 miles. Earlier, I walked 2 laps with my father, just to learn my way around. I smiled when he asked “Do you HAVE to run?” At the end of the 2^nd lap, I took off and did 4 more laps on my own.  So my run/walk came to about 2.25 miles…. Not bad, considering the heat.

I hope to get out more, but the days are so relaxing.  Warm weather and a cool breeze, its easy to fall asleep in the middle of deep thought. It’s my vacation, and after 4 weeks of consistent training, I’m enjoying the break