Who wants a Coke?

Running races seems to be my latest hobby. I still can’t figure out why I torture myself so. Seriously. There is a Coca Cola road race series going on here and the first race was Sunday. It was a 7k and Kim and I trained for it by running up the mountain behind our house or running down the road to the goat site. Tortorous. We felt prepared but I was still very nervous when Sunday morning rolled around.

Apparently, in this country, they don’t feel the need to advertise the race start time on the race information packet. So, we got up at the butt crack of dawn to get to the race site since we didn’t know what time it actually began. After driving around for an hour trying to find the race location, we finally arrived. Things were mass chaos as always here but we managed to get there, get our timing chips for our shoes (fancy, I know), and get lined up in time for the race.

Nothing significant to report about the race itself. None of us won it or anything…surprise surprise. But, the most interesting aspect was that because it was sponsored by Coca Cola, there was Coke (and only Coke) served at the rehydration station on the race course and as we crossed the finish line, we were again handed a large cup of Coke. The theme for the race was even “Coca Cola – Active Healthy Living.” Oxymoron anyone? Now, I enjoy a good cup of ice cold Coca Cola as much as the next person, but I do know that Coke is not a part of active healthy living for anyone. And I certainly don’t want to drink a big gulp of it as a form of rehydration in the middle of a 7k race. The first thing out of every single one of our mouths as we crossed the finish line was “Where in the heck is the water in this joint?!” (or something along those lines) We were absolutely flabbergasted that Coke and only Coke were served during the race and after. It is safe to say that we each got our daily quota of Coca Cola for our “Active Healthy Living” lifestyles. Only in Africa. Only in Africa.