Running for love... at the last minute

Running for love... at the last minute


Remember that last time B had asked whether I was serious about a run on the fourteenth?  She turned out to be right, since she skived the run, with a simple, “Something came up”.  This ‘something’ came up when the run had already been publicized and it was on the cards.  However, there was nothing stopping this run.  But at least I had tried my best to get her to the starting line.  I had even given her a ‘last chance’ to be at the starting line by 4.00pm.  I had informed her that the ‘train shall leave with or without the runners’ after that time.

By 4.15pm it was evident that Beryl had missed the train on this Friday.  This realization was brought to fore when Karl did a casual pop into my office with a “Are you not going for the 4.00pm run?  I was to join you!”
“I was waiting for B,” I responded, knowing that I was lying even to myself on the possibility of B making it for this run, “However, let us go.  I shall be ready in a minute.”

Karl was already dressed and jogging around ready for the run.  It took me exactly a minute to shed off the work attire and adorn the ‘international’ attire ready for the ‘international’ run.  We immediately moved towards ‘the generator’ starting point.

We would soon be joined by Nick and momentarily by Barbara while on our way down there.  I had previously only been in touch with the latter through email communication, where I had informed her that the ‘early starters’ would be leaving at four, with another group of ‘regular starters’ leaving at 4.45pm.  She had preferred to run with the early starters, though she was on some work assignment that was making this 4.00pm run unlikely. 

It was therefore a pleasant surprise to see her join in.  Of the four, she was the most appropriately prepped for the run.  I could see those small water bottles affixed to her belt and somethings that looked like those gel tubes that I last saw during the Amsterdam’s TCS international marathon.

“Where is the group?,” she asked in surprise as we got ‘generated’.
“This is it,” I responded.
“You mean the four of us are ‘the group’?”
“Yes, we are the group.  We only expect another two to join in on the four-forty-five group.”
She did not seem impressed. 
She expected a multitude. 
She found nothing close.

It was just about 4.25pm when we started our run.  Our team of four left the generator and were facing that 400m uphill to the gate just a minute after start of the run.  By then Barbara and I were on the lead, with Karl and Nick not far behind.  We passed by the gate and were ‘out there’ ready to do those 21k of run.  My new member of the ‘new B-and-B’ was not going to have it easy on me.  I was already feeling the intensity of the run by the time we were at the highway crossing at Kabete.

The run continued onto the other side of the road for about three minutes before we got past ‘the wall’ and did the Vet loop ensuring that we touched the new gate from ‘the other side’, the same gate that now prevented us from doing a ‘proper’ loop.
“We have done two,” B said as we headed to Ndumbo after looping.
“That can’t be…,” I protested.  I knew that we should have covered much more distance.
“The Garmin does not lie.  It is two miles for sure.”
It took some mental calculation to convert the miles to ks, before I accepted the situation.

We ran down past Ndumbo market towards the river.  The pace was quite intense.  We were just under 6min per k.
“Prepare for the seven kilometres of uphill… coming up,” I warned B.
“I shall give it a try.”
She did not just give it a try.  She conquered that hill, with our first stop being at Gitaru market for a short two-minute break, before we ran the last kilometer to Wangige road to face that dusty loop where the main road is still under construction.

It was not long before we were back to Kanyariri road for the seven kilometres of downhill.
“Hi, mzungu?,” an excited child, in a group of about four, shouts at our approaching steps.
B says her “Hi”.
We are soon passing by them.
“How are you!,” they shout almost in unison. 
I am just an invisible silhouette in their vision.
“Hello!,” B encourages them on.  However, it is short-lived, since we are past them in a flash and are enjoying the downhill run so much to let such distractions set us off pace.

It is on this section that we also met up with Edu and Jeff.  They were facing the uphill while we were on the roll down.  We exchanged our greetings and let each pair go their way.  Karl and Nick must have been somewhere behind our trail.  We had not seen the duo again since we met at the loop during those first twenty minutes of the run.

The run was generally quiet without much event.  Most of the passers-by and by-standers just looked at us with either expressionless faces or with a dismissal of the futility of whatever we were doing.  What they failed to know was that we were enjoying a downhill run and the overall run was starting to seem like an under-2hr run.  Which believe me you if a fast run.  I could feel it now that we had clocked 15k, sorry 9 miles.

It would however be the kids who would once again recognize and voice our presence as we ran… and the downhill could not have been complete without the children near Junel Primary School giving this recognition, just as we approached ‘the tank’.
“How are you, mzungu!”
B recognized them and appreciated the greetings. 
I was silhouetted once more. 
Just when I thought that I would remain invisible, one of the boys shouted an afterthought in my direction, “Kipchoge!  Huyo ni Kipchoge!”

We would finally face that last 1km of uphill towards Ndumbo market.  We just did it.  Once you are through with that hill, then you are generally through with the run, since the last 2km cannot stand on your way.  The first of the last two leads you to the road crossing at Kabete Poly, while the last kilometer takes you from the Poly back to the ‘Stop’ at the gate.

It was a great thrill to conquer the international half in just 2hr 2min and 20sec.  The Endomondo gave the distance as 21.71km, while Runkeeper recorded it as a 21.54km.  The after run Coke was a welcome warm down even as we now prepared for the next two runs – the Kilimanjaro international marathon at the Tanzanian town of Moshi to be held March 1, and our very own Beyond Zero marathon at Nairobi Nyayo stadium on March 8.  The two marathons back to back – the two runs that we are starting the month with.

WWB, the Coach, Nairobi, Kenya, February 14, 2020