Kampala Marathon Registration

So Anne and I are all registered for the Kampala Marathon next Sunday, November 24^{th…I think}! Registration was not an easy process- you could either go to Kampala, a 5+ hour drive away to register in person or do mobile money over the phone through MTN. Our problem- we don’t have mobile money on our phone. So after stopping at 4 MTN mobile money locations- one had no network, one place had never heard of the marathon although their company is the main sponsor, another said there phone does not have mobile money although that was advertised on their sign, and one said we needed our passports to register we finally made a call to costumer care and found a place in Fort Portal to sign up. You did not need to send your name, age, electronically sign a waiver to sign up for the race, or specify what event you wanted to run (full, half, or 10K) so here’s hoping that we are indeed registered. Oh yeah, there is also a confusion over what time the race starts I’m not sure if they run on African or American time at the race.

There have been some articles in the newspaper about the race, and due to the events of the 2013 Boston Marathon (which I was apart of) and recent al shabab terrorist alerts security has been tightened for the race. One Boston terror event was enough for me so I am praying that the race will be a peaceful event. I’m not sure if this makes me feel any better or just want to laugh, but according to the Ugandan newspaper, “police [have] entered a strong team. So in case you see something suspicious, tap the policeman running next to you. He could actually be your savior.” I think I will stick to prayers and wear the red rosary I wore at Boston to get me through safely, and well if the police man is running next to me that’s okay too.