The fourth half - 21-o-12 - The mirror
*Screenshot courtesy of Edu
“You are the slowest runners in the world”, Edward said amidst mouthfuls of chocolate.
This was about one hour thirty minutes after the run, 9.00pm to be precise. The venue was the international diner – the poolside. The music was already deafening, and we were only talking because we were outside the main bar where QHD was spinning.
A box of chocolate was a special treat for the finishers of the ‘fourth-half’ dubbed 21-o-12 aka ‘the mirror’. This run was publicized for 12th October, as the very last international half marathon before the Nairobi International marathon set for Sunday October 28.
“These are the best chocolates that I have eaten in a long time,” Beryl stated, ignoring the comment by Edu.
“Exported, I see,” I commented in the middle of my savouring. I was on the receiving end today and so needed to do everything to get us off the topic of discussion. It did not work!
“How long did you guys take?,” Edu prodded, not willing to let go.
“Two-hours fifty,” the coach stated.
“Yes, and the run was the greatest ever!,” Beryl added.
“We finished in two hours twenty-seven ourselves,” Fay updated us. I could feel the triumph in the way she emphasized the time, “But you guys need to be serious.”
Serious
When the fourth half started at 4.35pm from the Generator earlier in the day, I witnessed the biggest crowd ever. We were thirteen! Repeat thirteen! We started with a penta, and a similar quintet during the first two halfs. The third half had a septet. However, this particular run had the greatest number ever raised for ‘a half’ – four marathoneresses and nine marathoners. As per rules of any international, all started by confirming their run distances and routes. Johnny and Karen had already declared that they would be doing a shorter route – 13k. Eliud had stated that he was “too old to do the marathon” and had indicated that he would do ‘a 16’. The rest of the gals, the trio of Fay, Janet and Beryl, and the rest of the boys, including Coach were all set for the big-21.
Edu had swung a surprise on us by, for the first time ever, introducing reflector jackets for ‘route marshals’. Three runners did adorn the ‘first aider’ reflector jackets. Edu was with a jacket and was in the first fast group. Moses and his jacket was in the middle group, while ‘the coach’ was a ‘first-aider’ at the rear of the pack, with the slow runners – the real fun runners. These three divisions of the 21k somehow maintained their formation to the finish line, with the fastest two finishing in 2.05, the middle group of six doing it in 2.27, while my duo finished in 2.50. Those who did not do the ‘21’ did a shorter ‘13’.
“What was the idea with the jackets?,” I questioned Edu, of course, amidst a munch of a piece from the assortment of the 36 pieces of chocolate from Deutsche Bundesrepublik. The run was ended and we had nothing else to do but chat over it… and munch over it.
“Initially, I had picked the fire marshal jackets…,” he started, but we could not allow him to finish since we burst out laughing.
“You mean that you expected ‘a fire’ during ‘the mirror’?,” the four around the dinner table asked, almost in unison. The five celebrating the fourth international were Fay, Edu, Ralph, Beryl and I.
“I just wanted something reflective…. The fire jackets seemed the most accessible ones before I managed to get the alternative”
*Screenshot courtesy of Eliud
The run
We reflected upon the run and discovered that there were quite a number of ‘surprises’ that occurred during ‘the mirror’. To start with, Eliud, who was to do a 16k decided that the run was ‘too sweet’ to cut it short and hence did the full half, finishing with Ralph in group 1. He run alongside Ralph who concluded that, “Eliud is a ‘bad’ runner! Alinileteeee, ai, that guy is bad news.”
But that is the fun of the run, saying ‘this’ and ending up doing ‘that’.
The middle group of Edu and the gals did a somehow comfortable run, with the only comment being that, “We waited for you two, but we could not see you anywhere,” Edu said in reference to the current discussion as to why we took ‘forever’ to run. Thinking about it, this seemed to be an excuse for being beaten by over 20-minutes by group 1.
“Your first run was 2.25, then 2.40, and now 2.50,” Edu reminded the table of five, “At this rate your next run shall be over the three hour mark!”
“Enyewe, mna ‘wana’ sana,” Fay added, “Kwanza we Beryl, you used to hit the 21 very comfortably. You even did the Family bank marathon in Eldy last week in 2hr 10min”
“What is up with you guys today?,” I queried on behalf of Beryl who was in-between a chocolate, “Isn’t the definition of ‘fun run’ supposed to be ‘fun run’?”
Beryl agreed, “Give us a break. I was drawing on the wisdom of the coach, and do not dare me… us… since we shall beat you square come the next run.”
(To give a confession, my duo spent most of the run walking and storying. So when I was defining ‘fun run’ earlier on, I was serious about the definition.)
Fortunately, this was the last run before the Nairobi International Marathon scheduled for Sunday, October 28, 2018…. Only to read that email from Edu that we should be preparing for ‘2123’ – the fifth half on Friday, Nov. 23, 2018. Who cares? Bring it on! This shall be the ‘B-and-B run’ (or is it B-and-C run?), as we beat all these noise makers to the finish line. Watch out Edu and the rest of you pretenders.
WWB, the Coach, Nairobi, Kenya, October 12, 2018
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