Well, it’s finally here! All the training is behind me and the experience of Haiti is in front of me. I am so grateful for this opportunity! Thanks again to everyone for all of your support!

I stayed at the Tischer’s to avoid having Kelly have to drive me to the airport at 4 a.m. Jase and I were up and out the door by 4:20. There were no problems with security and the flight to Miami was smooth.

I read the following card from Kelly when we arrived. I am blessed with an amazing wife who loves me, gets me, and is always there for me.

In Miami we met a lot of the runners at the gate for the flight to Cap Haitian:

I was upgraded so had a decent lunch on the flight, and was the first one through immigration. I acted like I knew what I was doing so was outside pretty quickly. Then I was approached by many taxi drivers asking if I needed a ride. After a bit, others started trickling out and we met the RAH crew.

Here’s the bus we took to the hotel. There were also several pick up trucks to carry bags!

Bus selfie:

The bus ride over to the hotel was a little crazy. I was instantly struck by the trash — it’s literally everywhere! 😦

The road was crazy. I struggled to get decent shots, but it was narrow, crowded, rutted and seemed a bit dangerous. But our driver was amazing!

The hotel is literally at the end of the road and is pretty nice.

Some of the gang went for a run. Not me!

Most of us did make a trek to an old fort…

After that we had a team meeting to go over logistics and safety, had dinner, and now it’s almost time for bed. We have a 4 a.m. wake up call and will be running by 5. 34 miles tomorrow finishing with a long climb up a mountain.