When 13 is the lucky number

When 13 is the lucky number

The rains were not going to get me again.  I was still feeling the pain of being rained-on on Wednesday, just two days ago.  I did not want to experience any more such pain ever.  The same rain made me lose the opportunity to do a proper half marathon, since the last two hundred metres had to be cancelled as the rain made the run-to-the-finish-line untenable.  On that Wednesday I did start my run at 3.30pm, hoping to finish by 5.30pm just before the rain.  But the rains would have nothing to do with my plans.  It had its own plans for an early rain that started around five.

On this Friday I was determined to start the run at three.  Another thirty minutes earlier than usual.  At this rate of starting early, I would soon be starting my runs at two!  I was sure that I would finish the run by 4.30pm and surely, it could not have rained by that time!  That early?  Can it?

My other consolation that I had was that the anger of the rain had kind of been quenched already, since there was about thirty minutes of mid-day rain, from around one.  It was not very heavy, but it was heavy enough to cause a blockage at Uthiru roundabout.  It takes quite some rain water volume to block that trench inside the roundabout to force the water to overflow onto the roundabout tarmac.  There was water on the tarmac as I walked work-wards just after 1.30pm on this Friday.

Despite my best of intentions, the run actually started at 3.10pm.  I was aiming to redo the missed marathon of Wednesday.  The one that was short by just two hundred metres.  Almost doesn’t count, does it?  I had to do something that counts.  That is what was on my mind as I set-off at three-ten.

The route was to be the same ol’ Mary Leakey, with four loops at the Vet loop.  This combination had already been proved to be exactly the half marathon, if anything, it was a bit more, depending on how far one would be go for the U-turn every time they did the monotonous loop.  The weather was downcast.  There was no sun, nor was there rain.  It was still and cloudy.  There was no sign of impending rains, though the horizon was starting to get dark.  The Ngong hills were getting dark, and the windmills were now hardly visible.

I started the first phase of the run by dispensing of the four Vet loops first, so that I could now just be left with only the ML to tackle… and then be straight back to the finish point at ‘the generator’.  The rains of the previous day and that lunch hour mock rain had made the dry weather roads wet, slippery and full of water puddles.  These roads were the Vet loop and the section of the road from Lower Kabete road as you divert to the left to ML school, then through the Uni farm.  I still managed, despite soiled shoes, soiled socks and soiled legs.

I was not exempt from having a facemask myself since I was in a public environment, running on public roads.  I also had my mask… handing on my neck.  I still observed very few people having their masks either on or at hand.  However, the situation had improved.  I would rate that every one in ten people that I came across was having some form of face mask.  I insist on ‘some form of’, since this issue of facemasks is now taking a nonsensical twist or even some comical turns in some cases.  The things people put on their faces in the name of masks!  There was even a news article the previous day of folks now turning inner wears into face masks!  

In exactly two hours, actually, 2.00.36, I was through with the repeat run of Friday.  This being compensation for the Wednesday run that was ‘almost’ a half marathon.  24.34km was the Runkeeper distance, while Endomondo gave this run a 24.31km.  The distance is not the subject matter, nor the time.  The subject matter is that you should do your run, at your distance and your pace – while there is still time for that.  

Even go ahead and do your walks out there, while you still have the opportunity.  Just do something while the time is still there.  The subject is that we have TT lurking in the shadows waiting to inflict a big blow to the running community.  TT, aka COVID-19, now had infected 2,218,332 people globally, with fatalities figure being 148,654, as per JHU stats of today at 11.38.41pm.  My own motherland is contributing 246 cases onto that 2M figure.

Many countries in the world are in some form of movement restriction or lockdown that is causing real inconveniences.  Runners have not been spared either.  They are suffering the most with the inability to access run routes, or being forced into facemasks that they cannot breathe-through.  Our motherland has only initiated partial lockdown in the name of 7.00pm to 5.00am curfew and the requirement to adorn a facemask while at public places.  

There could soon be a total lockdown where even running ‘out there’ shall not be possible.  Take maximum advantage and run as much as you can while we still have time… while we can still tame TT.  The time for TT to take over and start its streak may be with us sooner than later.  

China’s lockdown was 63-days (2 months) – the total ‘no leaving your house’ type.  That would be 24 missed runs – a 24-win streak for TT, if such a restriction was imposed on us back here.  Better be having 24 wins with you as early as today, if you really want to gain any real advantage over TT in the unlikely event of a total lockdown.

Finally, this was the thirteenth streak since I first dared TT – and yes, I am celebrating my 13-0 win, four weeks since the first dare!  And to put icing on the run, it turned out to be quite enjoyable.  It did not even rain during and after the run!  The more reason why I believe that 13 is a lucky number.

WWB, the Coach, Nairobi, Kenya, April 17, 2020