How cool is this?

Remember when we were at Jabor, Jaluit oh so long ago?  (We were there in September, there are links to those posts to the right.)

While there, we met a couple of recent Dartmouth grads who were teaching at Jaluit High School.  One of those teachers was running about 10 miles a day and told me that he missed races.  I suggested he come and run the Kwajalein marathon in December.

I did warn him that I thought that this run might be one of the hardest mental races.  Here are the basic details:

• It starts at at 3 AM on Monday, December 13th - this is for a couple reasons, I think.  First, it's called the Pauper's Marathon because it is held at the same time as the Honolulu Marathon, but for Kwaj residents it is way cheaper since you do not have to pay for a $1300 ticket to Honolulu, hotel in Honolulu, or the entrance fee (Kwaj marathon fee is $0).  Second, if it takes people a while to run the race, starting at 3 AM allows them to get the bulk of the running done before the sun comes up, at which point it gets HOT.
• Since it starts at 3 AM, there are only a few blessed souls who are out and about to cheer you on.  Those few people definitely help, though.  Each time I pass them, I speed up a little.
• The course is 10 laps of an approximately 2. 6-something mile loop, so that 10 loops equals 26.2 miles.  That means it gets just a little monotonous.

On the plus side for this run - it is completely flat!  

Anyway, back to the cool/good news.  Chris, the teacher from Jaluit, and three of his Marshallese high schools students are set to arrive on Kwajalein tomorrow to compete in the race on Monday.  There have been many people who have worked to make it happen on Jaluit, Majuro, and Kwajalein, but it's kind of fun to know that Cherokee played a role in bringing more marathoners to the island.  

I'm excited to cheer on people during the race. Part of me is sad that I won't be running with the group this year.  Oh well, there's always next year.  

This photo shows you the plane that will take the boys to and from Majuro, where they will catch their connecting flight  between Majuro and Kwaj.  You can also see how there is a long, narrow strip of land connecting the villages of Jabor and Jaluit.  This is where the team has been training - most of them have been BAREFOOT!

TC at Jaluit High School's Welcome Party for the freshmen.  It's a great tradition.  The seniors spend all afternoon preparing a meal for the rest of the school.  Then they serve the whole school, starting with the freshmen, and each class sings a song that they have created to welcome the new students.

The kid in white is from Ailinglaplap Atoll, he's also the student body president.  Jaluit High School is the regional high school for many of the southern atolls in both the Ralik and Ratak chain.  I believe there are at least 300 students who board there.  This was near the end of the night when they were just having fun and dancing.

TC and I with Kenneth, the IT teacher from Sri Lanka.  He's not part of the group coming to Kwajalein, but hopefully he'll visit in the future.  He's wearing the shirt that Jason wanted us to donate to a worthy individual.