The Banjul Marathon is a little mysterious. Even though it's the only organized running event in The Gambia and it's organized by Gambia's largest company Africell, there's not much about it online or on social media. But you don't have to be a genius to figure out it's a small event with sub-optimal running conditions. Basically, I expected the worst. Leading up the event, I was getting pretty excited about racing though. A lot of my friends were participating, and my kids a

Instagram recap reel of only the good moments, not the towing, freezing at night, or being extorted by traffic police 🤣 At the beginning of every foreign vacation I wonder if I will live up to my own plans and travel resolutions. Mostly standard stuff, like discovering all the stuff that’s new and different over there. And: sticking to a reasonable travel budget. For this trip, I also wondered if we’d camp in our tent, as I hoped we would, or if we’d get lazy and book hotel

Swimming seems to have a bad reputation among endurance athletes. When I ask other runners if they're interested in doing a triathlon, most answer the same way: "Nope, because I hate swimming." Adding that they're also really bad at it, which I always doubt. Why is everyone saying their technique sucks? Who told them that? I mean, generally when I see people swim, they clearly know how to get from point A to point B, fairly gracefully, and without any panic or risk of drownin

The Gambia is a small country. You can drive around the whole thing in a day if you want to. But there’s no point in doing that, because all you would see would be the road, some trees, and houses. Driving through the towns takes approximately five seconds. So when the time came to explore the countryside, we wanted to take it a bit slower than that. And bring a tour guide who could answer any history, agriculture or other type of question our 7-headed group would throw his w

Learning by doing, that’s usually what it comes down to with me. For my first ultra race I didn’t prepare particularly well. I basically prepared as if I was going to run another regular marathon. Sure, I got the mandatory race kit. But I didn’t decide on the (110K) distance until three days before the event, or specifically prepare for running up hills or on rough terrain. I hoped my heat training in The Gambia, plus one recent trail marathon, would be enough. I justify my l

When it comes to my current job in the Foreign Service, I'm enjoying more freedom than I have in years. I still work full-time, but I don't have to commute to anywhere but my downstairs office, and I don't start at 8 AM. Because I'm working on a DETO and I'm in a different time zone from DC, my supervisor prefers I start at 10 AM so our hours have some overlap. The beauty of this, I soon realized, is that I have a nice chunk of time in the morning to work out. As it happens,

One of the least fun things about being me is my dental history. I've had just about every dental procedure imaginable, multiple times over. On the bright side, I've had the good fortune to be posted in several countries where dental care is not only affordable but also unexpectedly high quality. In fact, countries like Armenia and India are 'dental tourism' destinations! But The Gambia is a little different. Nobody comes here for the dental care, or any kind of medical care

Traveling to Rwanda may not be everybody's dream, but it was certainly mine! It's located in the heart of Sub-Saharan Africa, so it's not overrun by tourists. It has a warm climate, friendly people, fabulous nauture, and it’s safer than almost anywhere in the world. My kind of place. Unfortunately, flying from The Gambia to Rwanda isn't as straightforward as you might expect. There are direct flights to Kigali from Europe and other places, but everyone who has been to Sub-Sah

Question: What do you do when you’ve completed a bunch of marathons and the idea of running another one isn’t as exciting anymore? Answer: you sign up for an ultra marathon! First of all, what is an ultra marathon? Ultra running events have different distances. It can be 50K, 100K, 100 miles, or even more. For Ultra X Rwanda, there were two options: 50K or 110K. I couldn’t imagine doing more than 50K for my first mountainous trail run, so I signed up for that distance. Durin

Over the Christmas holidays, my older sister and her husband got into a big argument because of me. They disagreed about driving me to the airport or letting me drive myself. It had been hailing since a few hours, but it wasn’t freezing so my sister wasn’t concerned. My brother in law, who won the argument, pointed to my well-known fear of driving, and insisted on bringing me there. Nobody asked me. Once we were in the car, I told my brother in law that I could have driven my

One more marathon on the books! It was my fifth full marathon (42 km/ 26 miles) overall, my third marathon of 2025, and my very first trail marathon. Dirt roads, forest trails and a few little hills in cold and slightly rainy Drenthe, which is in the northern part of The Netherlands. It's only a 30-minute drive further north to get to Groningen, the city I'm from. The event was relatively small, which is typical for off-road running races. There's nothing commercial or hyped

I’m probably never going to be an expert in Gambian history or politics. Right now I’m far too busy living in the moment, enjoying my time here with family and new friends, and by just being outside a lot. My current job isn’t related to The Gambia at all, so that doesn’t help with finding out who is who in politics or what’s going on with the upcoming elections. On a very basic level, this is what I figured out so far: The Gambia is a young democracy. Its first leader after

I'm in one of those periods where nothing tastes right. This happens several times a year and it usually lasts for a few weeks. It’s often related to stress, having a cold, or not being able to eat home cooked food for a while. Or: having to eat on a strict schedule. For example, during the 10-day Vipassana meditation course I did earlier this year I was forced to eat at exactly the same time every day, which bothered me. Strangely, I could tell that my body actually loved it

“I can’t believe we live here.” That’s something my husband and I say to each other almost every weekend, usually over cocktails at the beach, staring out at the ocean while our children practice backflips in the sand or trot off on a pony. Or when we simply sit in our backyard overlooking the pool, the massive baobab and mango trees, listening to a cacophony of birds (especially the two hornbills who swing by every morning and pound on your windows to draw out bugs). Yes, la

The Gambia’s food scene is pretty interesting. As expected, the local food is completely different from the tourist fare and because I live in a very touristy area I have easy access to both. The necessities As soon as I arrived in The Gambia I realized that while options are limited, I’ve got everything I need here. Supermarkets are small, but they import from Europe, Asia and even the US, so all the familiar stuff is present. At least the basics—not so much the fancy stuff.

I forgot to post last Saturday, which was incidentally the day after the Marine Ball. I was blissfully recovering poolside with a gallon of coffee and a stack of Vanity Fairs and The Atlantics, as well as the new book I’m reading called “Chasing Hornbills: up to my neck in Africa.” The Ball was once again a success. All the guests were dressed to the nines, the cake got cut with a sword as usual, and there was a little dancing. Things didn’t go off without a hitch though, bec

Note: this post is a work in progress! Because there’s little publicly available information about road running, or any running, in Banjul/The Gambia, I'm sharing my experiences and collating the snippets of information I manage to gather. I'm a happy amateur runner living in Fajara since August 2025. When & where to run in The Gambia Sports and fitness are common in The Gambia, but long-distance running doesn't seem to be a thing here. As far as my observations go, there are

Well, I guess it’s time to talk about work! Since this is ultimately a blog about being a diplomat, I can’t get around talking about my work life for too long. Even though I generally find it much more fun to talk about my travel, hobbies, and daily adventures overseas. To recap: this is my third assignment as a U.S. Foreign Service Officer generalist and overall my eighth tour overseas. What makes this tour different is that I’m doing a domestic job, a “desk job” rather than

I did not want to spend the night in Casablanca. I missed my flight to Banjul by almost an hour so I knew I would have to wait for 24 hours, but there was no way I was going to turn this extended layover into a sightseeing trip. I just wasn’t in the mood. It was 2AM, after all. But once I finally figured out how to get a new boarding pass and a hotel voucher, alongside a dozen other tired and confused travelers en route to Banjul, Dakar, Niamey and Dakhla (a surfer’s paradise

Today I ran my fourth full marathon, in Amsterdam. After completing Dutch marathons in Leiden (2014) and Rotterdam (2024) this one felt the closest to home because I lived in Amsterdam for three years as a student. Planning & preparation This being my fourth marathon, I knew what to do to accomplish the primary goal of making it across the finish in one piece. I followed about 80% of a generic 16-week marathon training plan. I practiced drinking water and eating carbs (gels)