An amazing weekend it was; it still feels like yesterday yet so many months have gone by. Its an experience my family and I would never forget. We wouldn’t mind doing it over and over again.

As earlier briefed in my previous blog, my husband and I are crazy about running. We are so passionate about it and am super excited to write about running. As young parents, we don’t underestimate the impact of our actions on our little children. We therefore try to look for fun ways to include them in our running so they grow up to love it as well, atleast for their health. Its for this reason that we chose to take our children along for the ‘Mihingo’ run in the wild.

Background of Mihingo Run

This was one of those unique family packages in our running spaces. It is organized every year by Activate Uganda. The ‘Mihingo run’ is organized with a tourist background to it. Mihingo is a lodge located deep within Lake Mburo National Park; the run trail is organized within the National Park; The runners get a feel of the wild animals, the sound of the chirping birds, the wild vegetation, unique tree species and the locals. It’s not your usual smooth run within Kampala’s neat roads. Alot of care has to be taken; it gives you this anxiety of; ‘what will I do when I run into …an elephant..??

Setting off

A family weekend get away is a beautiful thing but requires a lot of packing and organization, lest you leave key things behind and get inconvenienced. We were required to sleep in camps so had to pack our tents, sleeping bags and all other camping requirements. Since our children couldn’t run, we improvised bikes for them and skip ropes to keep them engaged as well. We set off all happy and ready for camp.

Camp at Night

It was a long journey and we reached at 8:00pm which was late. Our collegues arrived earlier and had already planted their tents in comfortable places. Fortunately we squeezed our two tents in the small space reserved for us. With support from our spaces, settling in was easier; the children sat by the camp fire. This was a new experience for them and therefore not much was said by them.The camp was in a remote area but to my surprise, we were over hundred participants, mainly expatriates, most of whom had thier children. The atmosphere was therefore full of excitement, music was booming in the background, familes were sharing meals, laughing and dancing.

We quickly had our meals and ensured we go to bed early since we had travelled a long journey and we needed good rest to get ready for the run that was to start by 7am the next day before the sun was fully out.

The Run

We were up by 6:30am and 7am got us all ready at the start line eager to begin the race. We left our children sleeping and would only return to attend to them after the run. This was the case for many other runners as well. Within no time, hundreds of participants, consisting both children and adults all started for the run.

As I ran, I ensured not to loose sight of people since we were running in the wild; thoughts of meeting a wild animal and what I would do kept running in my mind, this prompted me to run faster to complete the track. It was a rough terrain; rocky in some areas, hilly in others and sandy as well. Once the sun was fully out, the heat made running unbearable, fortunately waterpoints were positioned in various areas. We met with several locals along the tract, many of whom were happy to see us and would cheer us on.

I really felt tired but had to complete the run. I didn’t want my children to see me arrive in an ambulance; no way. Some of the runners had bikes and these helped them complete the race. Am glad we all completed the race.

Upon returning to the camp, we were received with jubilation and cheers. Our family cheered us on, it was such a good feeling. We were given medals for this achievement and happily passed them on to our children.

The children were up by the time we returned and were busy riding their bikes with several other children. They were bonding so well with other children and this gave us so much joy as parents. Breakfast was shared and thereafter children continued to play, play and play. It was a fun day, lots of music, eating, laughter, stories and dancing.

It’s without doubt that the children had so much fun, we were all tired by evening and couldn’t wait to leave camp for a more comfortable place to stay. Today, we still wait for another opportunity to go back to Mihingo and I know it will come soon, atleast that’s our promise to our children.