Thursday, December 1, 2016

Tanzania ... Thursday ... #24 : Mbio na Idadi (Running by Numbers)



I ran again today ... I've managed to complete all but one of the runs so far in my Couch to 5K program, and just ran the second run of week 4. Yes, it's slow going ... and it seems like I really need to force myself to get out there, but that's probably more due to the blustery weather than anything else. Today I almost didn't go ... but I knew that I would be absurdly proud of myself for sticking with it and just getting out there. And, yeah, I am.

The three runs this week in the NHS Couch to 5K program are, as always, intervals of running and walking. As I distracted myself by counting breaths and calculating the times while alternating between runs and walks, I realized that I should be practicing counting in Swahili. I mean, why not?

For example, here's today's workout, in Swahili:

Jitayarishe kwa muda wa dakika tano : Warm up for five minutes

Mbio dakika tatu : Run three minutes

Kutembea sekunde tisini : Walk ninety seconds

Bio dakika tano : Run five minutes

Kutumbea dakika mbili na nusu : Walk two and a half minutes

Punguza mwendo kwa muda wa dakika tano : Slow down for five minutes

Phew -- that probably took me as long to type as to run today...

Here's one GREAT thing about numbers in Swahili: they are very structured. So if you learn the basic building blocks, you can count to big numbers. Hooray!

   1 = Moja
   2 = Mbili
   3 = Tatu
   4 = Nne
   5 = Tano
   6 = Sita
   7 = Saba
   8 = Nane
   9 = Tisa
  10 = Kumi
  11 = Kumi na moja
  12 = Kumi na mbili
  20 = Ishirini
  21 = Ishirini na moja
  22 = Ishirini na mbili
  30 = Thelathini
  40 = Arobaini
  50 = Hamsini
  60 = Sitini
  70 = Sabini
  80 = Themanini
  90 = Tisini
  99 = Tisini na tisa
 100 = Mia
 101 = Mia na moja
 111 = Mia na kumi na moja
 200 = Mia mbili
 201 = Mia mobile na kumi na moja
 300 = Mia tatu
1000 = Elfu moja

On Tuesday I saw a guy walking around Green Lake reading a book -- a full-on, paperback book. I wonder if I could run with flash cards? (Mmmm, no. I'm clumsy enough!)