Running into the wall…. For the last time

Running into the wall…. For the last time

Today I have no time for Corona aka TT.  The infections have crossed the 9M level on planet earth, 9,139,787 to be exact as of today, June 22, with 472,518 deaths.  Kenya has 4,797 cases with 125 fatalities.  I am not giving writing space for TT today.  Today I am talking more important things.

The weather in this city has been without rain for long, probably most of June.  It has been cold alright but not rainy.  That false sense of no-rain weather is the reason why I decided to shift my Monday run from the traditional mid-day timing to evening.  The weather had been cool, almost cold since morning.  The sun hardly provided its rays to the inhabitants of the Western part of Nairobi.  That was however the perfect weather for a run.  

I would have done the run at lunch time, but I deliberately delayed it for the evening.  After all, even the curfew hours had now been shortened.  The curfew now starts at nine, instead of seven in the evening.  I was also missing the evening runs, which tend to be done when the weather is cooler and citizens are closing down their busy days.  Evening runs have their own ‘feel good’ moments that are hard to explain.

I started the run at four-thirty on the dot.  I could see the dark clouds that had engulfed the whole of the skies above even as I started the run.  The horizon on all the views that I made, the whole 360 degrees of the horizon looked cloudy and a bit dark.  It was as if it was already raining somewhere in the background, but the definite haze of the background when it rains was missing.  

The horizon was still visible.  There was no rain yet, but the dark clouds looked like waiting for the right time to cry out loud and burst down into tears of rain.  That time seemed soon, but the horizon did not give any secrets as to when it would rain.  There were still no signs of any forthcoming rains from any direction.  Just the dark clouds and that was it.  I therefore kept running with confidence that the weather was just downcast, but the chances of rain were low.

I had just crossed Waiyaki way and was just about to divert to my right onto ‘the wall’, to start my Vet loops when the rain started.  Just like that, it started raining.  I am used to a rain that starts from the horizon and progressively approaches until it hits.  This was different.  It just started from above.  I had by then just done a 3k distance.  I cursed my decision to run in the evening.  This would not have happened if I ran over the lunch hour.  I was now likely to give up on the run.  Six kilometres was my likely distance, if I was to turn back and run back to the starting point.  What a wasted evening! 

The turning back would however be forced out of the options, when I was forced to jump over 2 layers of stones put across the small gap through ‘the wall’.  The obstruction was new.  It meant that whoever put these stones did not want people who cannot jump to get through, and definitely did not want motorbike to get over.  

I was however not totally surprised by this development, especially from the time they fixed that gate that blocks the road at Ndumbo stage.  The gate that now prevents access to the Vet loop from Ndumbo stage.  I have known that the days of running at the Vet loop were numbered.  The loop was being closed progressively but surely.  It would just be a matter of time before the loop was completely blocked from runners.  I was therefore not surprised, though this was happening too soon!  So fast!!  

I had hoped that this gap on the wall would remain open for some time and had even calculated the alternative run route for our ‘internationals’ that would avoiding that gate.  The route would go first through the wall, followed by several loops, then finally back out through the wall without going towards the new gate.  

After that, runners would go to Ndumbo through Waiyaki way and the flyover, then do their runs on the many routes available from Ndumbo – Kapenguria road to Lower Kabete road or Kanyariri road towards Gitaru or either of these to some point and diverting to the University farm trail.  All you need to do is do the loops and get to Ndumbo stage.  From there the options are many.  However, you really need those Vet loops to grease up your initial run and put you on the mood for a longer run.  Those loops are part and parcel of any run worth its name.  You need those loops.  The same loops that now seem gone.

There I was, being rained on, and running along.  I just had to do the loops, maybe for the last time, since once those temporary two level of stones and permanently plastered and extended by another five levels, that hole on the wall shall be completely closed and the loop shall not be accessible forever.  Let it rain.  Let me be rained on.  I kept running.  The rain kept falling on me.  It was cold, but I kept going.

The path would get muddy, but I kept going.  The going become very tough with the slippery road sections within the Vet loop circuit, but I kept going.  This was probably the last time running through this loop.  I was going to do this run, come rain, come rain.  

There was nothing noteworthy as I ran through the rain.  It would however stop raining after about thirty minutes.  Few drizzles persisted for another ten minutes before the rain was gone completely.  Some road sections on the loop that was more than a kilometre remained wet, muddy and slipper.  This did not deter my run through it for eight circuits.

Though the rain had stopped, I remained soaked and muddy to the knee.  It was not that cold anymore.  I was not doing my run out of the loop on this day.  I wanted to have the maximum utilization of the loop.  I would gain all the kilometres running loops on this loop.  The very loops that the rains had made slippery.  

Thinking about it, the only reason why it rained today was to mess up my run…. and the only reason why my run was not messed today was because I was forced to run around the loop exclusively…. for the last time before it is finally closed off and gone forever, marking an end to over twelve years of looping.

WWB, the Coach, Nairobi, Kenya, June 22, 2020