Alliance Classic Run 2019 – the Elephant
I liked the various disclaimers that the organizers forced us to sign against while registering online for the second edition of the Alliance marathon to be held Saturday, May 11, 2019.
“Entry fees are not refundable under any circumstance…” read part of the long-worded disclaimer page. In fact there was a specific link to the ‘event waiver’ page, with a 12-point declaration, most starting with “I agree to…” or “I authorize…” or “I consent…”. In summary… you were on your own on this run. Don’t blame, don’t blame.
This was also the marathon that dented the pocket the most so far. At 2,500/= ($25), this was the most expensive event that I had attended ever. The Nairobi marathon was the most expensive at 2,000/=. However, the cause for this run was worth every cent. The proceeds would go towards the support of education for the less fortunate students. It was a fund-raising event for AHSEFT – the Alliance High School Endowment Fund Trust.
But that was not the juice. We were quite awed when we finally got the runner T-shirts. They were good. They really put thought and quality to the predominantly white top. Additionally, they branded our runner numbers with our names! Mine was branded “3078 – WWB”. We would at some point in the run read quite some nonsensical ones. One runner’s bib was even branded with a vehicle registration number.
Not so early
I took a matatu at about 0620hrs for the 15minute drive to Kikuyu market stage. I had already mapped out the route and knew that it was another 2km from the Kikuyu stage to AHS, aka ‘Bush’. I had the option of taking another matatu through the short distance and part with a pound. My instinct told me to instead walk this short distance. However, it is at this selfsame moment that my legs failed to carry me.
“Am I suffering a panic attack,” I asked myself as I stopped in the middle of the footpath not able to take any more step forward. The morning chill was not making things any better.
Then… the phone rang.
“Coach, where are you?”
It was Faye on the other end of the line. I regained mobility and was soon jogging towards Bush, where I would join Faye, Janet and Onyi. I had expected a lot more of our team members, since this run was being held at “our territory”, but that was not to be. The sheer harsh morning weather, the morning rains, the cold, the chill, the mud! All these must have discouraged quite some runners… and not forgetting the cost.
Drama?
We would soon be on warm up and would equally soon be off to the starting line to start the run. The three anthems had been played and sung – the Kenya national, the East Africa regional and the Bush local anthem. The crowd was not big as we gathered around the starting line at the main field, this despite the run categories being 20k, 15k, 10k and 5k. The start of run, at the goal post of the field, was smooth, with few jostles as we headed out of the gate and onto we-do-not-know-where.
There was no drama at the starting line like that false start at Mutuini marathon. This one just started with a 3-2-1 and off we went. No lead vehicle, no chase vehicle, no big-board timers, nothing. The route official had prior to the start of the run explained the route as, “It is chalk-marked with some guides positioned on the route. However, the basic rule is keep running without turning, until you see the chalk mark with directions.” He had paused before crushing the message down further by, “Those running 20km should just keep running and running and running for long”
Trail running
This was my first trail run. I soon realized that the trail run is akin a cross country run. It was bound to have obstacles, it should have obstacles… in fact, it surely had obstacles. We ran it mostly on dry weather roads away from the otherwise busy tarmac roads. The dry weather roads had been waterlogged from the previous nights and that morning’s rains. It turned out to be more slippery than I would have imagined. We were already screeching onto our brakes by the second k, as the trail become more slippery and water logged with every passing kilometer.
We would soon get our first water point on the 5km mark. The route was not distance-marked at all, but I had decided to digitize my analog self by having a cellphone with a runner app. This kept me updated on the distance covered on every kilometer split. At that point it informed me that I was done with 5km in 24min. That was relatively fast, considering the route condition.
Then we faced a downhill section just after that five k. I resisted the temptation to sprint it down. In running, you need to learn some lessons such as ‘every downhill is likely to have an uphill’. I therefore took it easy, not knowing the route, but relying on the adage. And… And that is exactly what happened. Hardly 500m ahead and the downhill just ended as we made a left turn. The discovery on that turn was a long uphill route for about a kilometer. I was ready for this, having conserved my downhill energy.
Downfall
We kept running. The runners had completely thinned out. I could see about three runners ahead. We were each separated by about 100m gap. I did not look behind to see who was following me. I usually do not look behind. I kept going. We kept going. The route was drier on some sections, but it was generally wet and slippery. There would be one more surprise, when we made the left turn after the 7km mark. It is the chalk mark that directed us to this turn, which seemed to head into a private farmland.
That dreaded turn would almost mark the ‘downfall’, literally, of this run. This almost one-kilometer section was running through a footpath on a swampy area. There was no way out but to reduce on the speed and step carefully on the mud. I was doing my first trail run and this was proving to be more challenging than I had imagined. The torture would end with a water point on the 9k mark, as we made another left turn.
It was bound to get worse, and it did at the 11k, when we faced another uphill run section for about a kilometer. After that, the route profile remained generally flat, with the ups and downs being a bit mild. After the 14k junction, we merged with the 10k runners as we turned right. The route then become full of runners. It took real effort and skill to gain distance with such a crowded road section.
It would however get worse, when the Bushians would somehow just be found walking on the whole road from the 17k mark all the way back to the finish point inside the school. These students had no respect for runners and we had to really jostle for space on the extreme edges of the road to get past. I somehow managed to get past this walking multitude. I was still relying purely on chalk mark to direct my run. I was not yet familiar with any of the running tracks that I had used, nor did I see any familiar landmark so far.
Memories
Then out of nowhere I managed to see the very familiar entrance road to Bush, at the Kikuyu Eye hospital stage. This is a road that I had used in many occasions, at least once a year while attending those PTAs. That was four years ago. This is a road that brought memories of all those fee hikes that were slapped on us in the name of building or bus or development or motivation… or the optional library books fund amount that was compulsory to all parents. I just shook my head as the memories brought me back to this place. That would not last long, since I was soon at the main gate and the end of the run would beckon in another minute.
The ending was not dramatic. Just crossing through the goal posts and finding students who would hand you a number. They handed me number 13. I stopped my two timers. The analog one, which I had stopped first after crossing the line, recorded 01:38:31 - 19.93km. The digital one recorded a “20.03km 1h:38m:37s”. It provided a map as evidence.
Thereafter, I would go to the tent on my immediate left where there were three desks. I got to the one written ‘20km runners’. There I reconfirmed that my name was on the register, watched as the student attendants crossed it out and finally get a medal branded “AHS Alliance Classic Run”. The green lanyard was printed in black with the wordings “Alliance Classic Run 2019 20km”. Word would soon circulate on social media that the run circuit looked like “a weird elephant with a tail”.
WWB, the Coach, Nairobi, Kenya, 11-May-2019
