When I had to rate Eldo-rate... the run way

 When I had to rate Eldo-rate... the run way

The taps of the heavens opened up fully just when I got to my intended turning point.  The timer was just reading 10.75km.  I had to take shelter on the front canopy of a roadside shop.  I would soon be joined onto the same corridor by a motorbike and passenger.  The two disembarked and the rider pushed the bike onto the corridor space.  A second motorcycle with a passenger would soon join our trio onto the corridor.  The rain persisted.  It was heavy.  I could see the main tarmac road, traversing my line of sight just about ten metres ahead, full of rainwater.  

Vehicles would speed up on either direction, splashing a full shower onto the roadsides.  It was heavy.  A third motorbike would momentarily force itself onto the corridor.  This one had just a single rider.  It did not take long before a fourth bike, with its carrier full of boxes, forced itself onto the corridor that now had six people standing.  All fourteen eyes were soon gazing through the rain, onto the road.  The rooftop iron-sheets made a noise, momentarily deafening us.  We remained quiet.  We kept gazing.  It kept raining.  It was heavy.

The rain subsided after about thirty minutes.  It was not just about two o’clock.  I was the first to leave, when the rains had turned into drizzles.  I would start my runback as a steady pace.  The four bikes would soon overtake my running frame.  I did not care.  I was running my run, going back through the route that I had already traversed for about fifty minutes.  I knew it all too well, only that it was now wet and muddy, unlike my earlier dry run.  

The main tarmac remained fairly deserted, with a vehicle zooming past in either direction after about every two minutes.  I would just have to persist with my run on the return route, until I finally finished my run.  The run was however a bit difficult.  I could feel the efforts that I had to put on my legs to kick forward.  Nairobi runs seemed easy over similar distances.  But this one?  Not this one!  This was having a toll on my legs, despite my runs being just less than fifteen kilometres done by this time.

But how did this run come to be?

I had decided on a lunch hour run since I had observed that it tended to rain over the evenings.  I was therefore continuing my runs over the lunch hour, just as I had done in the big city.  Mornings were out, because morning are sleep times for the time being, special thanks to TT for forcing humanity into lockdown and stay homes.  By morning all should be in self-isolation, which should end from around ten-ish.  I was confident that the lunch-hour time slot was still the suitable one for a run.

It was a Monday, and so it was a run day.  I left for the run at 12.40pm.  The weather was downcast.  I could hardly see a ray from up there.  It was however cool with no signs of rains.  I was running on a new route, just formulated by looking through Google maps.  I was to run by a tarmac road from Eldoret suburbs on the Eldoret-Kipkenyo-Simat road for 10.5km, then turn back when I got to that mark.  

Simple enough, but maps and the reality on the ground are sometimes different.  The satellite imagery used on maps could be old, failing to capture new features on the ground.  I had that in mind as I did the run.  I had that map etched to memory as I translated it onto the run route practically.  It would be a generally straight run on the tarmac to 8k, then a gentle left turn for another 2.5k, then a U-turn back.

This is the first-time route that I was to run on this day.  I run, I did.  Starting slow on the built-up areas of the suburbs, before hitting that main road to turn right.  The road was a good quality new tarmac, but had very few vehicular traffic.  It was also wide with a separate pedestrian walkway far from the tarmac.  I kept to the side walkway as much as I could.  I could have run on the tarmac if I wanted to, since the road was fairly deserted, but I decided to keep to the dusty side road.

I kept running through unfamiliar territories, but I kept going.  I had the option of turning back at any time if I wished to, but I was at the same time determined to get to that 10.5k mark, before I turn back.  I would finally get to the anticipated gentle turn towards the left on the 8k mark at Kipkenyo.  

I was glad that I would in about ten minutes be turning back.  Just a little more run and I would be done.  However, I must have spoken too soon since this is exactly where ‘the rain started beating me’.  It started with a drizzle, then a heavy drizzle, then a full rain as I ran into that canopy of that shop.

The rain would drum on the roof as I waited.  The three motorbikes and their humanity would join me on the small space of the shopfront.  We would endure the thirty-minute of standing about, each of us preoccupied, saying nothing.  My gaze would jump across the road.  

I would read a signboard written near a fence on that side of the road, ‘DEB Mutwot Secondary School’.  I would wonder what would happen if the rain was to continue ‘forever’.  Would I be able to get back home by running through the rain?  I usually do not carry money during my runs.  Would I somehow get a ride back without paying up?  I was almost 11k from my finishing line!

However, the rain would stop at about two, and I would run back.  The run back seemed so hard on my system.  The route looked fairly flat, but the effort was just too much.  What is it with Eldy and the run?  Is there a reason why it is the home of champions?  Is it that the champions have ‘put something in the air’ to prevent the likes of us joining them in the club?  This was a tough run!  It however came to an end, and in good time.   A first half marathon in Eldy at 1.42.09 over a distance of 21.79km.  

I was looking at the run map on map after the run, when I saw that run elevation graph.  It had 225m of elevation, 110m of downhill and another 110m of uphill.  The uphill was on my way back.  The altitude at the home of champions turned out to be 2200m at my starting point and 2000m at my turning point.  

There was nothing ‘in the air’ preventing anyone from joining the champions.  Of course, COVID19 was still a real threat with 21,943,454 infections worldwide, with 775,228 deaths.  Kenya at ranking number 63, based on infections, had 30,365 infections with 482 deaths.  Despite this, there was surely nothing else in the air that could prevent a runner from running.

WWB, the Coach, Eldoret, Kenya, Aug. 17, 2020