Bamako Marathon: Probably more fun to watch than to run

Oh my goodness, I am so obnoxious. I did my best to cheer on the top-finishing Malian in the 2011 Bamako International Marathon, who was in 5th place as he neared the finish line. I cheered in English. Loudly. Weirdly. About 30 seconds later, clearly not inspired by my hooting and hollering, he was passed by someone with more gas in the tank. Oops. Sorry, buddy. He finished 6th.

After a lazy start to my day (Lebanese meze and a Coke + chocolate crepe and a latte, the breakfast of champions), I'd finally made it over to Stade Modibo Keita to watch the marathon. By the time the race started around 3:30 p.m., the sun was lower in the sky, but it was still a pretty hot, sunny day for a 10K, much less a marathon. I found a nice shady spot in the stadium to watch the festivities. Rapper Lassy King Massassy (I think; I can't find confirmation.) and some kids' field day-style activities kept the crowd entertained. A couple of parachutists gave us a thrill -- one guy just missed landing on a group of kids waiting their turn for the obstacle course. Forget the obstacles on the ground, kids. Look out for the grown man falling from the sky!

Now, it's not yet the hot season. I don't want to give the wrong impression. But I was pretty darn warm, dehydrated and dusty just walking over to the stadium after my long brunch. I can't imagine what it was like for the athletes. There were some live shots of the leaders shown on the big screen in the stadium over the course of two hours, and pretty much the whole time that they were shown running they were also sucking down water. Staying hydrated was a race all its own.

A runner from Niger won the marathon, but there were plenty of nationalities represented in the top 10. A runner from Tanzania won the women's 10K. Apparently anyone can sign up to run, but I think next year I'll be just as content to find my shady place in the stands.

Tonight I skipped the movie at the French Cultural Center (21 grammes) to watch the Bears-Packers game. Boy, was that a mistake (or at least it was the last time I checked the score). I don't know why I expect better from the Bears. Nothing from my youth has taught me any differently.

It's ok, though, because yesterday I got my fill of culture. I finally got to both the National Museum and the Museum of Bamako. My favorite exhibit had a series of black-and-white photos showing Bamako's growth over the last 100 years. Placards detailed how each neighborhood was founded and then expanded. And expand Bamako has -- I think it's gone from about 100,000 people to 1.4 million in just the 50 years since independence. Incroyable.

I finished off the night with my first visit to the local movie theater, Cinema Babemba, which was showing "Les Feux de Mansare," in addition to a couple of Hollywood action films. It's a Senegalese movie and totally worth the watch if you want to leave the theater with a sense of melancholy about the state of the world, but have the ability to better understand, just slightly, French. Note: If you're ever a former gun-runner/diamond smuggler who returns to your home village to marry your childhood sweetheart, but find out she's in love with your best friend, dude, just let her go. It's not meant to be.