The Great Ethiopian Run: Possibly the best street party in the world!

I have just got back to the guest house that has been 'home' for the last 10 days after the Great Ethiopian Run and am struggling for the words to start this blog. The experience of running, dancing and partying around the 10km route in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia's capital city, along with 37,000 other people was the most unique running experience I have ever had.

When I was invited to a wedding in 'Addis' that was to take place the weekend before the Great Ethiopian Run it really was a no-brainer! What an opportunity to visit this country that has produced so many amazing distance runners and it was no coincidence that the wedding was the week before Africa's largest road race. The groom, Tim Pattison (handicap score 1.2) is English and a pretty handy distance runner himself. His guest list consisted mostly of runners from Cambridge University Hare and Hounds, where he studied, as well as from Macclesfield Harriers, his home club. After two days of wedding celebrations last week, everyone went off to explore the country (I'll blog about my time at Yaya Village later!) and then came back together for the run this weekend.

We were all entered in the mass participation run that requires no number or chip but this year's yellow and green t shirt. The whole field of 37,000 wear the official race t shirt that is collected from the expo from Wednesday onwards. I only got back from a trip to the Simien Mountains yesterday and so I went to collect my t shirt and attend the pasta party yesterday evening. On arriving at the pasta party I soon found the Pattison contingent and spent a great evening chatting about the various adventures that had been undertaken during the week and then we got stuck into the amazing spread that was provided by the race at the Hilton Hotel and enjoyed watching various groups take turns to have pictures taken with Haille Gebrselassie, including the Cambridge Hare and Hounds!

The evening was soon over and so it was time for an early night before the big day. I must say that my nervousness was different than normal. I wasn't excited about racing other runners or achieving a fast time but I was nervous about being in amongst 37,000 others over 10km. There are approximately 37,000 runners in the London Marathon every year but that crowd gets spread out over 26 miles. The Great Ethiopian Run is 10km and it seemed very likely that I would be running in a big pack for the whole distance. And then there was the altitude. Addis is at 2300m and the air is thin. It was a new course too, because there is a big road being built in the centre of the city, and so it had to be moved further north. This meant more hills but I have been here for more than a week and so figured I should be fairly well acclimatised.

There were two other runners at the guest house and they had already organised for a taxi to pick us up and take us to the start in the morning and it just so happened that the taxi driver was running as well! We left the guest house at 8 O' Clock in the morning to make our way to the start. No surprise that we had only gone about a third of the way there when we hit a wall of traffic but, luckily the taxi driver knew his way around and we took a long-cut and got as near to the start as we could. There was still a fair walk to the start area but this was entertaining in itself as various groups were performing warm up routines that I'd never seen before. They were definitely more dance-like than running-like but I was soon to realise that a dance warm up was probably more event specific for the Great Ethiopian Run!

I was about to join the most amazing street party ever! Of course you can't go to a party without putting your make up on and every ten metres or so you could find a face painter ready, willing and able to paint a design on your face in the colours of Ethiopia: Green, yellow and red. The vibe was truly amazing with music, singing, chanting and shouting accompanying the dancing!

Once I arrived at the start area, there were a couple of check points where everyone was body searched. Security seemed to be very tight, which was appreciated, especially since the children's races had been cancelled yesterday. By this time it had gone 0900hrs and so I knew the race was now underway. I had missed the start but only the elite field have numbers and chips and so I didn't care, afterall this was about the experience!

Crossing the start line was a celebration in itself and the noise was incredible. As runners poured over the line, the singing was immense and this continued as we ran from the start at Jan Meda park and made our way down hill, along the dusty roads in the strong Ethiopian sun. There was plenty of music along the way and it seemed that as soon as the dancing turned to running another band was around the bend and the dancing and chanting started again! I ran with several familiar faces along various stretches, from Tim's wedding and from the Yaya Village until we lost each other in the crowd and continued dodging and weaving our way to the finish. I have no idea what time I ran and it doesn't matter a jot to me either. I was a part of this incredible event and it is something that I will never forget. I felt really good all the way around too! I am a sucker for an atmosphere and I was running high on adrenalin as well as in altitude!

After the race the Pattinson wedding party reconvened at the Ghion Hotel, that had been the venue for the wedding, for some good old post-race analysis. The fastest in the group was Matt Clark (handicap MINUS 1.2) had run the 10k in 33 minutes but then there were a few questions as to whether the full 10k had been completed. There was some confusion at the end and it is possible that a lap of the finishing field had been missed! (I know that I didn't go around it!)

I go home tomorrow and will be sorry to leave this beautiful country and the beautiful people that live and run here. If you are looking for a running adventure you will go a long way to find anything that compares with this and the great thing is that you don't have to wait a full year. The Great Ethiopian Run isn't just about this 10km race in Addis Ababa. There is a women's 5km on 10 March 2014 and the Haile Marathon and Half Marathon next October that takes place at slightly lower altitude, in the south of the country, in Hawassa.

As far as I am concerned it should be on every runner's bucket list. I'm already looking to book my next trip and don't feel that I need any other reason to come other than to join in another party provided by the Great Ethiopian Run.