Eleven – zero… the streak continues, but what did I miss?

Eleven – zero… the streak continues, but what did I miss?

I wanted to make something special out of the eleventh streak.  I was really looking forward to shouting the “11-0” at the end of the run – note, at the end of the run.  The run still had to be done to its conclusion, before I could declare victory over TT for the eleventh consecutive time.

It was a holiday.  It was Easter Monday.  It was not a business day.  It was not a working day.

“Who runs during a holiday?,” I asked myself as I set off to the starting point of the run, just a few minutes after three on this evening.

The answer to the self-questioning would soon come back loud and clear as I started off the run from my door, to first go to the usual ‘generator’ starting point, then get the run going.  I just realized that the run to the generator was actually a good half kilometre, as I looked at the two gadgets at hand.  My ceremonial mask was just hanging around my neck.  I could not run with this in place.  There was no need even trying.  I had already tried and failed miserably (as per a previous blog story)

I intended to do a long run, defined as anything over two hours.  The weather was good, to mean it was shiny and not very hot.  I could however see the gloom at the Ngong hills, which was already turning dark, a pointer to some form of rain developing around there.  My experience had taught me to be wary of the Ngong hills rains.  They tend to come over to Uthiru.  I was wary, even as I continued my run.

The road was a bit deserted, not with the usual crowds or the many vehicles that I would normally meet between Uthiru and the Waiyaki way.  Even the Vet loop did not have many people.  It was surely a holiday.  The Vet loop road was as muddy as expected, following the night long rains.  But it was deserted than usual.  

A tractor dug a trench at the farm, which looked like preparation for a lying a water pipe or installing a stone wall.  This activity was going on just next to the water tank that sits next to the now permanently locked gate.  The very gate that has interfered with our running route, by forcing us to go round the loop just to get to this gate, touch it, and get back round the loop on the reverse direction.  Damn gate!  

Things did not improve as I got to Ndumbo market after almost losing count over the four circuits that I did on the loop.  The very loop that was created by that locked gate.  That damn gate!  The run however continued to Ndumbo, where the deserted scenario continued.  The market area was not as full as it usual is.

“Who runs during a holiday?,” I found myself asking for a second time in less than an hour.  I was now past the market.  I was enjoying the downhill run, which would not be for long, since soon I would get to that river, and the uphill would start.  

I remember once taking a student on that route some time last year.  I told the student to be ready for an uphill run after the run, hence needed to conserve the energy as we headed downwards towards the river.

“What river?,” the student would wonder once we started on the uphill.

“You did not see that?,” I pointed at our back, where there was a stream, submerged by the water plants.  The water not showing as the season was dry.

I kept going uphill for the one kilometre run to the elevated tank, where there is a diversion to the left.  I diverted to the left to get into the University farm for a fifteen minute loop.  This section is usually deserted.  The road is dry weather and was now slippery muddy following the rains of last night.  I hardly met a soul.  

I was taken aback by that WhatsApp caution that was sent to the marathoners’ group, where a runner forwarded an experience of some other runner who had been accosted by gun-wielding thugs on motorbikes on a deserted road somewhere in Nairobi.  

I kept going.  I have used this road for over ten years.  I would continue relying on good fortunate to keep me running on this usually deserted route.  I would get back to Kanyariri tarmac road to now proceed to Gitaru market, to do the big loop round the market, part of which meant using the Gitaru-Wangige road, now under construction, before getting back to Kanyariri road.

As I kept going, I kept having a feeling that I was missing something.  I had had this feeling since I started the run.  I could not put my finger onto whatever I was missing, though this feeling persisted for the now almost two hours that I was running as I circled the Gitaru market back to Kanyariri road, ready for my way back.  By then I wanted to race back home since the dark horizon on the now cloudy evening pointed out to the onset of rains, soon.  It was a matter of when it shall rain, not if.  

But what is it that I was missing?  The answer came at this point as I started the descent on Kanyariri road, just after the Gitaru market.  At this point I would usually….

“Where is my water?,” I came to reality, as I reached out to my empty hand seeking the water bottle.

“This cannot be happening?,” I shook my head towards my empty hand!

It is my usual tradition to take a sip at this point, to give me the energy to accelerate downhill, which would generally run until the Ndumbo river, for that final uphill to Ndumbo market, after which it is just a matter of ‘hitting the wall’ at the Vet loop, crossing Waiyaki way and the run is done five minutes later.

Now I was missing my water.  I was missing my accelerant.  Now I still had about forty-five minutes of run.  I could feel my throat run dry.  I was thirsty.  I needed a sip of water badly!  I needed a sip that I could not get.

The only reason why I still accelerated downhills was to finish the run in a hurry and get hold of that water bottle, which I already knew where it had been left – just on the table outside the office door.  I had placed it there after locking the office door, and that it where it had remained.

It is not interesting running without water, especially when you are doing a long run.  However, I was already too deep into this run – having already finished over 70% of the run.  I just had to find the mental strength to finish the balance of the run.  Physical strength alone was not going to do it.  

You can lift your legs and propel yourself forward alright, but you need the mind to tell you that you shall be alright, otherwise panic and the feeling of faintness soon takes over body and you can start staggering along your path, just like that, out of nowhere – or you may just decide that your run is done and decide to take a walk.  If you do not believe me, just find out what ‘DNF’ means.

I kept going, knowing that the run would come to an end sometime soon.  And the sometime soon would reach, when I was back to the starting point after 2hr 46min 44sec over a distance of 33.96km as per the gadget with Endomondo.  Runkeeper would register this run as a 33.71km.  

It was the best feeling in the world gulping that half-litre bottle fully into my mouth, immediately after the run.

“Next time, shout when you are being left,” I told the empty bottle, even as I gazed at the JHU dashboard on what TT was causing to planet earth – 1,872,073 infections, 116,098 deaths and 441,820 recoveries as at 6.10pm on this Monday.  My own motherland was contributing 208 infections and 9 deaths onto these stats.  Though I was on an 11-0 streak, TT was doing its own streak.

WWB, the Coach, Nairobi, Kenya, April 13, 2020