Sunday began abruptly with my alarm waking me from deep sleep at 6 am and by 7:15 I was making my way to the VSO office to meet up with the gang…
A few days earlier I had seen this impressive row of trophies in Meskel Square set up for the Great Ethiopian Run…
…and could visualize the scene that would unfold on Sunday in the biggest square in the city with the biggest road race in Africa, estimated this year to have 36,000 participants
Beza of VSO Ethiopia staff had taken good care of us, ensuring we were registered and had our festive t-shirts and VSO ball caps The Great Ethiopian Run is a tradition for VSO with sponsorship for this fundraising event. The 2012 target is 1.2 million birr (just over US$65,000). Race participants are encouraged to join the “Running for a Child – Narrow the Gap to Meet the MDG Goals” campaign by raising money.
A bus was arranged to take us closer to the starting point in Meskel Square
Immersed in the high energy of the massive crowd, we saw many other groups warming up in Meskel Square
At 9 am we began crossing the start line, which of course the elite runners had already crossed much earlier…Ethiopia of course being famous for winning Olympic running events
Off we go!
A giant billboard of the late prime Minister Meles Zenawi appeared to cheer us on as we began to surge uphill
Face painting in the flag colours added to the fun!
All ages participated
Some running in wild wigs
But I was in the tail end with the walkers, having 2 good reasons not to run: a partly torn anterior cruciate ligament on the left leg and 3 giant hideous swollen bruises on the right leg that were caused when I stepped through the missing rung in the above sewer grate near my house 2 weeks ago while answering my mobile!
Passing by the National Theatre we were entertained with some excellent Ethio-jazz!
A message from the sponsors
Plenty of kids on shoulders too…and the day before many took part in the special kids race
I love the energy of a huge crowd…but it was now time for a break for me
Hiving off to the Sheraton Hotel to see the 5th annual Art of Ethiopia exhibition I enjoyed half an hour of decadence in the garden with a pot of expensive coffee and some mediocre quesedillas…
My objective for this diversion was to catch this annual art exhibition. A huge ballroom full of impressive art made my detour well worth the extra uphill walk
Heading back down from the Sheraton, I encountered my first medalist and was impressed at how the yellow ribbon completed the tri-colour flag effect so nicely
But why stop at ribbons when you can have umbrella hats? Is this what you call “over the top”?
And an ice cold jambo is just the thing to quench a runners thirst!
So I headed to the Ghion Hotel to meet up with some other volunteers and quench my thirst too, while modelling my subtle tri-colour earrings!
Happy Great Ethiopian Run 2012 from Addis Ababa!
Spider Webs Unite 
