Tuesday 20th July

We woke up at 5.15am and after a little bread we left for the start of the run at 6am!! We began in the cool of Kachorwa in the Mount Elgon hills at over 6000ft and realised that even the down hills will be tough.

Even though the route appeared to be down hill for the first 25km there were some sharp inclines and then a long 9km climb after sironko.Martin and Greg started the days running with great pace and the theory was to keep Eiirya for later in the run when he would enjoy the heat more!! They began the taking turns and covering the first 30km and were joined by two local volunteers. As Martin chatted to the runners (nicked named Halle), we realised that his fastest half Marathon was 1.06hrs and Marathon was 2.07hrs, then he told us he came 3rd in the Kenyan Marathon... He said we were also strong... but Martin felt he was taking it very easy!!!

The running was hard work and after  we moved through the hills the real African heat hit us... It was fantastic greeting the community and being cheered on by villages and children. They told us that they had been hearing about the project from the radio and also by the local volunteers, but now whated to see for themselves our efforts. We passed the training on route and was impressed by the efforts of the volunteers. As we approached the training centers we would run through the markets with the local volunteers and be welcomed quite vocally!!!

As we reached Soronko at 10am, we realised that it was going to be a very long and hard day. Greg did well up the long hills and even enjoyed "the positive challange"!! After a last push by the Eirya "Super Lizard" we arrived in Mbale at 1pm..... It was great to arrive and be met by a band that marched us through the town and at 1.30pm after 7.5hrs on the road we could sit down and stretch... We had a presentation and heard about all their efforts to trained the community and they had even painted Zebra crossings!!!

We left Mbale at 3.30pm and had a brief visit to the Green Valley Schools and the home for the orphans.Eirya and the team at Green Valley have been trying very hard and are amazing people. We then headed back to the best hotel in Uganda called Hotel Kirya in Iki Iki. It was really nice to be back with Rita and Michael and share real Ugandan food and home life with Greg. At 9pm we decided it was time for wash and bed....