The longest month... the longest run

The longest month... the longest run

Today is May 30.  Confirmed COVID19 cases on planet earth have now reached the ‘magical’ number of 6M.  Yes, according to worldometrics, 6,058,196 to be exact, with 367,385 deaths.  Kenya has recorded 1,745 cases and 62 deaths.  So, why would I talk CV19, aka TT, when I vowed not to? 

This is why…. There is no longer anything like a ‘magical’ number when talking about this pandemic.  It shall continue to register infection upon infection until it runs its course, or we get a vaccine.  In other words, we need to learn to live with it.  They way you live with the weather – it may rain, it may shine – but you keep living.  You carry an umbrella, just in case, but you keep living.  That how we have to live with TT.

Worrying about it does not help.  Worrying that you may get it does not help.  Pretending that you have protected yourself from getting it does not help.  There are so many moving parts in this issue.  Just take the precautions to avoid deliberate exposure and know what to do should you get it.  Meanwhile, live your life to the fullest one day at a time.  Do what you like!  Do your runs….

I did my runs.  I have done my runs.  I used to duel with TT from mid-March, and could now be boasting of streak number 31.  I stopped recording these numbers.  I started living my life.  How to you fight an enemy like TT, who does not want to be fought?  Who does not want to give up?  To give in?  Why bother?  Just live your life…. and let TT live its life.  Let what happens happen should your paths cross.  But anyway, what is your gain, even if you worried daylong, nightlong… daily!?

I did my runs in May, and they were good.  I stopped competing TT and started running on my own terms, my own routes, my own rules, my own distance… and they were good.  As I take a rest to close the month of May, I am sure that May shall be the month that registers me the most mileage, sorry most ‘kilometerage’.  Yet… I do not feel the strain since I did my runs, on my terms, my own routes, my own rules, my own distance… and they were good.

I did my runs on the usual route – crossing Waiyaki way twice on each run session, every three times a week.  Doing the Vet loops, going down Kapenguria road towards Wangari Maathai institute, to the river, to Lower Kabete road.  Running past Mary Leakey school.  Crossing the University farm, desolate, abandoned, tranquil, even scary at time… three times every week.  Going through Ndumbo market on my way back.  It was same route for the month.  I did not even notice the intricate layout of this route since it was now so familiar… and I liked it.

I did my runs in silence.  I was my own person.  I was in my own world as I pounded the road, the tarmac, the trail, the stony paths, but I did it.  The silence was the norm, but norms are sometimes broken.

“Ni saa ngapi?,” someone asked me just as I was going past ‘the wall’ after Waiyaki way.  I was preparing to do the Vet loops… several of these loops.

It is a struggle enough to run on your feet.  How about adding the thinking-on-your-feet bit to the mix?  And you are also moving faster than the person asking – what a way to disturb a runner!

“Saa sita na nusu,” I finally say, when I am about five metres gone.  I say this without even looking at the watch.  I already know the time in my subconscience.

So, I did not run in silence all through the runs of the month.  The silence was broken in a few occasions.  Very few occasions.

“Unakimbia kila siku?,” I thought of heard.
I was on the Vet loop another day within May.  I was not expecting this question.  No stranger speaks to no stranger.  However, I am now a veteran of this route and I am starting to form a pattern of how things go.  And many things go on while I quietly run along.

I have observed how this girl and boy are always at the Vet loop road, just walking, just talking, just giggling.  I have seen them almost on each of my run while at the loop.  The security person at the locked gate is now a familiar person.  We now even exchange our greetings, though I am not sure if it is the same person or just members of the same security firm.  I greet more of the uniformed person, than the person behind the uniform.  Occasionally the person offers to open the footpath gate to get me to the ‘the wall’.  I politely decline and do a U-turn on the gate to once more take the same long route back.

I keep observing things.  We have these construction workers on a new building after ‘the wall’.  I see them several times as I do the loops.  They break for lunch at exactly one – believe me – at exactly one.  At that point they fill the road as they head towards Ndumbo, likely for lunch.  When I say ‘fill’, I mean ‘fill’.  They give you no space to run past or against their herd.  They would have all manner of rugged construction attire in them – old helmets, some torn; tattered overalls or trousers; dirty sweat-filled Tshirts; soiled boots or slippers… and all manner of filth spewing from their mouths.

“Unakimbia kila siku?”
I surely heard this from this guy, whom coincidentally has become part of the environment at the Vet loop.  I somehow, by some coincidence meet him at the Vet loop.  I did not even know that he notices me. 

Running on the feet is already tiring enough, add to it thinking on your feet, processing questions on your feet, conceiving responses on your feet, struggling to breathe through a facemask that is hanging inches below your mouth while on your feet, concentrating on beating that PB… while on your feet?  This is torture!

“Ndio,” I respond, while I am about ten metres gone.  I do not even pretend to look back.  I am so tired.
I have no time to explain to him that I only run three times a week.

WWB, the coach, Nairobi, Kenya, May 30, 2020

Extending the run… that was to be extended

Extending the run… that was to be extended

My runs in the last two weeks have been good.  I have not been caught up by the rains out there, nor were the run paths any muddier.  I thank my conviction to run for me, not against TT a.k.a COVID-19, for bringing back the good runs.  I no longer bother to see what TT is doing.  I am not compelled to run and compete TT.  I run when I want, for the distance that I feel is appropriate.  

I would previously be compelled to do a particular number of runs, just to prove to TT that I was still game.  That ended two weeks ago when I put my foot down, rather put my feet to the run, and decided that I cannot do things for TT.  I do things for me.  

So, let TT do its thing.  I will do my runs.  Let TT have 4,734,378 confirmed cases worldwide, with a mortality of 313,459 as of today, Sunday.  I have my own numbers to show for the run track, even as my own country contributes to 830 cases and 50 deaths on those stats.

Last week’s runs were good, now that there is no pressure whatsoever as I do the runs.  I did the three runs on Monday, Wednesday and Friday.  I do not even know whether I keep the distance metrics anymore.  I believe the three must have totaled sixty-something ks – but who cares how many ks they were?  The last Friday's run must have been streak 25, but again, who cares?  There is so much satisfaction when you are competing for yourself, that numbers mean nothing – inner joy means everything.

But make no mistake about it, I still miss the group runs and the duels that we would have with members of the running team.  I miss those lunch hour sprints that we would do with Karl and Edu.  Those were the days, when we were friends at the starting line, adversaries by the time we were at the Vet loop and down Wangari Maathai route, only to be friends once again as we wait for each other to finish their downhill at the river and run as a group uphill back to our starting point.  You read right, as a ‘group’.  The very group runs that are now not possible due to TT.  The very TT that I am not bothering about anymore.

I do miss the group runs.  We had the monthly ‘international’ marathons.  Those were cast on stone!  Every last Friday of the month would be a marathon Friday – come good weather, come bad weather.  Those runs were a must… and they attracted a large group of runners.  Marathoners eager to participate in an ‘international’, probably the only international in the country, had this run as a permanent fixture.  

We would start the runs at 4.45pm and had to get those 21km packed into the short time available in the evening.  We occasionally finished the runs at 7.30pm!  That is right!  7.30pm, the very time that you must nowadays be 30-minutes locked in the house due to the TT-induced curfew!  The B-and-B team even broke a record by finishing some international around 7.40pm!  Those were the days when we broke records!  When running was fun.  When there was no fear of the dark!

We would then take our sweet time taking those finishing-line pictures.  We would take our sweet time freshening up.  We would take our slow walks with aching legs and body parts, after the tedious 21,000 running steps, to the diner for a sumptuous dinner.  A philanthropic marathoner would occasionally be celebrating one thing or another and ‘dirtify’ the table with drinks.  There was always ‘something’ to celebrate, from the real to absurd.  I think of all these with nostalgia knowing that probably these times are now gone – maybe gone forever!?

I was hoping that there would be some semblance to getting back to our group runs since the current lockdown and curfew in Kenya, caused by TT, were set to end on May 18.  May 19 was to be the ‘back to normal’ day.  I was already planning the ‘welcome back international marathon’ for the last Friday of May, as usual.  I was getting ready to be back to normal after the isolation that has persisted since mid-March.  However, this was not to happen.  The government extended the lockdown and curfew for another 21-days until June 6.

“I give up!,” I said loudly as I heard that announcement on the seven o’clock news on one of the local channels on the screen.  The extension had been anticipated, but 21 days!!!  

“I give up!,” I found myself saying a second time.

Life on planet earth shall come back to normal when it comes back to normal.  Keep living and keep doing what you are doing.  Do not peg any dates to anything, especially the back-to-normal date.  Keep living one day at a time… and make the best of each day – make each day count.

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

Streak 23 – Time for divine intervention

Streak 23 – Time for divine intervention

I stopped looking at COVID19 stats two weeks ago.  I said, “That is it,” at that time, since this TT thing is here to stay and there is no need to let it get into our way of business.  Just put on your mask while in the crowds a.k.a public places, wash your hands regularly or sanitize, to keep any potential germs from the possibility of getting to the respiratory track, and…. and hope for the best.  

Should you get it, just self-quarantine for two weeks, take lots of fluids, keep your temperature controlled and you should be OK, even without medication.  Of course, seek medication if the symptoms become too much to bear.  

But do not take my work for it, the ‘stay at home if you have it’, even after confirming that you have it is the official position from the employer, so let us do our best to avoid getting TT, but there is still life with TT, and life after TT.  

I am also encouraged that life is getting back to normal where the TT started.  China is back.  Germany is back.  France is back.  Spain is back!  England is back!!  Life shall be back to normal – TT or TT.

So, there it is, TT is done with.  

Now back to the runs.  I have been on the road three times a week since early March.  Initially it was a duel with TT.  Now that compe with TT is gone.  I run for myself.  I run because I want to run.  I just finished streak number 23 today.  

I am forced to retain these streak numbers for purposes of maintain a coherent story over time, otherwise, TT can easily take credit for having started this streak numbering system, but I am not letting it take that credit.  I count these numbers because I want to count from some starting date, being March 20, which because streak no. 1.  From that time it is three runs in a week, with each run being numbered.  TT, sorry, I am not giving you the honors of being responsible for this numbering.

The route that I was taking for this Monday’s run was the same old Mary Leakey route.  I have taken to having this route as my default run route, since it is ‘just at the backyard’ but it can give you as many kilometres as you want it to give.  Just add those Vet loops and you can even get 42k if you want to.

Let me not keep repeating the route profile that crosses the Waiyaki way at Kabete Poly, for the Vet loop across the road, on the other side.  These are the loops that can extend run to infinity.  After the loop or loops, you get to Ndumboini and down Wangari Maathai institute to Lower Kabete road.  From there a short uphill before you ‘disappear’ to the left to face the Mary Leakey route to be ‘abandoned’ at the university farm, before finally emerging at ‘the tank’ on Kanyariri tarmac to get you back to Ndumbo.  That is it, no need to repeat describing that route.

The route and what I encounter on it has remained usual, and I shall not bother repeat the usual.  I shall henceforth just be pointing out anything that gets out of the ordinary.  To start with, a lot more people are now putting on their masks, which is quite unlike hardly four weeks ago, when very few had them.  Even yours truly now runs with a mask – repeat – with a mask, not necessarily putting on a mask.  

The consequences of not having a mask ‘with you’ are dire.  A friend was arrested while walking around Westlands three weeks ago, since she was not having a mask on.  She however, got away with a forced 14-day quarantine confinement in a Government facility, read, some secondary school.  

She did this ‘getting away’ by telling the men-in-blue that she was two-months pregnant, hence was continually nauseated.  She was lucky that she had the mask in her bag, and showed it as evidence.  That incident reinforces the lesson – just have the mask with you, wearing it should be ideal, but having it is the bare minimum when using a public road – running, walking or crawling.

So, I was ‘on the run’, on the same old ML route.  Observing the many people now having their masks mainly fully covering their noses and mouths, few just having it hang on the neck.  I would soon be on the downhill run from Ndumboini heading towards Wangari Maathai institute.  

The downhill is easy to run, but you need good brakes, since you may over-accelerate to your fall.  I was on a steady pace – which would usually give me a 4min per k, when I heard some loud running footsteps, more of foot-thumping, from behind.  

There was definitely a runner behind me – but this runner liked the runner’s footsteps loud!  Usually we step on the road in such a way that the footsteps are not that loud.  These were loud, believe me.  I kept my steady pace.

“That must surely hurt,” I imaged the pressure hitting the soles of the feet, as I awaited the approach.

I would soon see this guy pass by and continue running downhill Infront of my path.  We were both on the left edge of the road.  

“Wow!,” I thought loudly, “That is fast!”

But there was something with that run that did not seem right.  The loud steps.  The ‘on-your-face’ type of overtaking.  The evident ‘dare-you’ attitude that he displayed as he passed me.  There were all things wrong with this fast run.  I was not however falling for this ‘children’ behaviour.  I have run many ks to be tricked into a dare.  I run my own run.  

And his tricks would soon be evident, as the apparent runner would slow down hardly twenty metres ahead and come towards a walk, then a stop.  He started walking as my approach become very evident.  I would soon be almost overtaking his walking frame, when he again started running besides me.  

I kept my pace, even slowed a bit, to give him time to just overtake and be gone on his own, but he seemed glad to also reduce his pace, so that he could continue to somehow now just run alongside.  I tried to get back to pace, and he also started accelerating.  He kept alongside for about twenty metres.

“Just run your pace and leave me alone!,” I thought of yelling at him!

A runner does not like company, unless the company is solicited, welcomed and encouraged.  You do not force yourself onto some other runner’s run path and routine!  That is a cardinal rule for crying out loud!  No wonder I really doubted the authenticity of this colleague of mine, or maybe that is just how he was brought up – to outrun runners and dare them to an unsolicited duel.

I would force myself to slow down again to let him go his way.  I believe that he got the message even as he now tried his best to increase the pace of his tired body to a left turn towards Wangari Maathai institute.  I would soon observe him come to a stop at the gate, with his both hands on his knees.  I knew that he was suffering a burnout.  I could only imagine the fire burning on his chest as he maintained that stoop.  I continued my downhill to the river and then faced the uphill to Lower Kabete road.  

The weather was great for this lunch hour run and the usually muddy paths along the university farm were not that slippery, if anything they were drying up and starting to be easily passable.  I am so used to the paths being slippery and muddy that the ease by which I passed by still amazed me.  That road condition would also mean that it has not rained heavily, or at all, in the last two days – and it is true.  

I was now enjoying the run on this very isolated section of the road, where you run about two kilometres completely on your own, without meeting a soul, in the middle of the jungle – probably one of the very few isolated green spaces in Nairobi at the moment.  The quiet and tranquility was equal to none, it even felt a bit frightening.  But a runner is never frightened by any situation.  You adopt then adapt.  

That stillness would soon be broken when I saw something like a silhouette of a person in the thickets about two hundred metres to my right.  Soon I would surely perceive a real person somewhere in the thickets, somewhere under the shades of the giant trees that provided a shelter from the two o’clock sunshine that was now brightening my footpath.

That person took me aback.  I had to slow down to feed my eyes onto his every move.  I saw him make short walks, of about five steps to one end, then turnback and make about the same five steps to his starting point.  He was just oscillating on a small area in the thicket.  I was still wondering what could be gwan.  

I nonetheless kept running, one look forward, two looks to my right to peer into the knee-high thicket to observe the man.  The mystery would soon be over when I caught the very faint, but distinct chant of a prayer.

Now…. what else could need divine intervention, at the most tranquil of places, if not the TT, whose stats, as per JHU site now stood at 4,159,377 total cases on planet earth, 284,883 fatalities, out of which Kenya had a round figure of 700 cases and 33 fatalities?  The very TT that I have now given up on?  It can run its stats, while I run my run, just as I did today, at my backyard, over a 21.6km distance in a time of 1hr 45m 51s.

WWB, the Coach, Nairobi, Kenya, Monday, May 11, 2020

Not even Triple halfs could tame TT – making 19 to be just a number

Not even Triple halfs could tame TT – making 19 to be just a number

When I finished the Friday run on May 1, 2020, when the world should have been celebrating International Labour day but the world was not, I did realize that many of my runs in the month were done chasing the wrong target.  The TT target was a goner!  It was useless chasing it.

The nation was set for ‘going back to normal’ on April 27.  However, it did not come as a surprise when on April 25 we were officially informed that we would be subjected to an extended lockdown and curfew.  We were given another three weeks to do things ‘indoors’, stretching our breaking point to May 18.  

But as said, it was no surprise.  The trend the world over was to extend the lockdowns, then to extend them again.  I therefore shall not hold my breath over when this lockdown shall end.  I am not hopeful of anything good coming out of the May 18 date.  Remember, the tendency is to ‘extend and extend again’.  

Since March, I have been having a competition against TT, the Thing, the virus whose name I refuse to state.  Yes, the corona virus, that causes COVID-19.  The very same virus which is technically called SARS-corona virus version 2 of 2019.  

I had initially thought I would run a few runs and keep TT at bay, in terms of who ultimately wins when life goes back to ‘normal’.  I knew that TT would cause misery by partial lockdowns, as already done in Kenya.  Now there was even possibility of total lockdowns as we approach that May 18 date.  TT is not a worthy adversary.  I am no longer holding my breath over that May 18 date.

I thought that I could win three runs every week, since mid-March, and build a good lead in the winning streak.  I thought that these accumulated streaks would beat those that TT would garner when it eventually started curtailing my runs.  The thought was good and reasonable when I thought of the April 27 date as the end date.  

That extension to May 18 got me thinking in a completely different direction.  It was futile pegging your very plans based on TT.  You may have temporary wins, but we know who the real winner shall eventually be.  

TT is a slow actor.  

Takes its time.  

Even appears invisible.  

Hits when you least expect it.  

TT makes believe you all is well, only to realize that all is not well when you look at the dashboard of infections around the world.

Take the Sunday, May 3, 2020, statistics from JHU.  The total infections on planet earth stands at 3,462,682 out of which 244,911 had passed on.  My own motherland had 465 cases with a mortality rate of 24.  These figures indicate a global mortality rate of 7% in five months since December.  

The numbers have kept rising.  I know this because I made the mistake of tracking the numbers.  The very thing that I am now contemplating on stopping.  TT has a mind of its own.  Let it be.  It shall do what it wants to do.  We cannot live our lives in fear of TT on a daily basis.  This feeling of fear is not good for the heart.  It is not good for the blood pressure.  It is not good for the mind.  It is not good for the body!

The numbers have kept rising.  Take that first time that I did note down the figures on March 26.  On that date we had a total of 521,086 infections worldwide, with a mortality figure of 23,568.  The mortality rate was just 4.5% globally at that time.  My own country had 31 cases of confirmed infections.  37 days later and everything is gone crazy!  

The only encouraging number is the mortality rate that has risen from 4.5% to 7%.  Tracking these numbers is vanity.  I am done tracking.  I am done worrying about TT.  I am living my life as best as I can from now on.  We are going to live with TT for a long time, even for life!  We better even become friends.

So, last week when I was doing the three halfs, I thought that I was increasing my winning streak, but I have just realized that I was giving TT the glory.  I was just overworking the body for no good reason.  I cannot do three halfs just to prove to TT that I am on a winning streak!  That is not good reason to subject the body to three halfs!  

I have resolved that from today I ain’t doing nothing to prove nothing to nobody no more.  I shall do my runs at my own terms.  I shall not let fear of TT influence my runs.  I shall not care about any total lockdown brought by TT.  So what if the total lockdown comes?  Let it come!  

Let TT take some wins for crying out loud!  

Let what be, be!  

So what, if we are locked-down for long, without the runs, due to TT?  

Nothing shall happen!  

Life shall continue, even without the runs!

Those three halfs were however quite something, despite them being done for the unappreciative competitor called TT, whom I am not doing anything for, from today.  

The Monday run was in the evening.  I started off at three.  The evening rains over the week before had shown a tendency to start as early as five.  I therefore had to have finished my runs by five.  The Mary Leakey route and three Vet-loops made for the 21k on this date.  

This particular route ‘persuades you’ to run on it, since it is ‘just at the backyard’.  It does not even seem far.  It does not even look like a half… but add to it those Vet loops and you have another different type of run on the cards.  Additionally, the trail by the University farm after Mary Leakey school was muddy and almost impassable on this Monday.  The run ended well.  I hit 21.23km in 1.39.18.  It was a fast run by any definition.  It later rained in the evening as I rushed home to beat the 7.00pm curfew.

The Wednesday run also started just after three.  It was a sunny afternoon but the dark clouds were already forming at the Ngong hills.  The route was the same as the one for Monday.  The route condition was the same due to the daily rains that kept the muddy trails muddy.  The intention was the same half marathon.  This run ended in 1.42.38 over a 21.26km distance.  

The crowning moment came on Friday, when I started the run at noon – yes noon.  Even by then it was already as dull as if the rains would fall within the hour.  I was just risking the run and hoping for the best.  Such risky runs usually fill my body system with so much anxiety until I can feel the pain!  

I was especially afraid of running through the University farm should it rain during the run.  That road is already muddy and slows you to a walk… without the rains.  How about if it was to rain!  It did not rain however, leading to yet another smooth Friday lunch hour run.  I would finish this run in 1.43.03 over a distance of 21.65km.  Of course, it did not rain at all that day, despite the change of weather around noon and my being forced to start the run early.

The experience of last week therefore convinces me that there is no need to make any bets with TT.  

Why I am even counting a 19-win streak after that Friday run?  

Just because I made a bet with TT?  

All bets are now off!  

TT is silent, pretentious, scheming and ultimately wins in its own ways.  Why should my life revolve around TT?  

What shall be, shall be!

I am not pulling off any three-halfs for TT.  I am not daring the weather with a mid-day half just because of TT.  No way!  I am done.  My next runs are at my pace, at my schedule at my dictate.  

I shall run when I want to.  

I shall take a break when I need one.  

I shall run a half when I believe it is the right day for it.  

I shall run longer if it is appropriate.  

I shall run short runs.  

I shall do another three-halfs if I feel like it.  

I shall do things for me, not because of TT.  

I shall do what I want to do going forward – TT or no TT!

WWB, the Coach, Sunday, May 3, 2020