15km of pure pain – when you are stuck on the run… with no end in sight
I just had to stop. The pain was simply unbearable. I have experienced such a pain before, but not this early in the run. I had just hit the 8km mark at Mary Leakey school junction. I was on a half-marathon lunch hour run. I was now starting the second third of my run, which would take me to the turning point past Kanyariri market. I would then make a U-turn and run the length of Kanyariri road all the way to Ndumbo and back to Uthiru for the last third of the run.
But here I was – stopping after an otherwise well-paced run. Here I was – limping. The pain on the right thigh was just unbearable. I could hardly walk. It was excruciating with every step, even though I was now just walking and kicking that leg as I limped along.
It was however too late to turn back and face another 8k already covered. I could, but I really dreaded the 2km uphill from ‘the river’ past Wangari Maathai institute all the way to Ndumbo. That hill on Kapenguria road would spell my doom with such a painful right leg. I would instead easily keep going to the tank, to reach the Kanyariri road junction and turn left back to Ndumbo and Uthiru. This would be a shorter route to the finish line, than turning back.
After kicking that leg while limp-walking over a distance of ten or so footsteps, I did regain some relief on that leg, but my run was now done. I could hardly accelerate. In my view, I was running at the slowest pace done this year. I would hardly do a 6min per kilometre at this pace – and that would even be a great achievement if it materialized.
Resumption of the run reinstated the pain in its full pinch. I could hardly fold the knee of that leg. How was I going to make this run through? I was still too far from the finish line, whichever route I did take. I just had to endure a painful run for the rest of the run. What a day! What a Tuesday!
It is only by sheer willpower, and the fear of being stuck far from my finish line, that kept me running through my pain. I would be better off collapsing within my home territory, not within the fields of the university farm or along the Kanyariri tarmac. I just had to make it home.
I therefore kept running, albeit slowly, just to get myself moving and eventually finish this run. This run was painful I tell you. I was surprised that I still managed to turn to the right when I got to ‘the tank’ junction that joins Kanyariri tarmac. Am I crazy or what!
I would have and should have just turned left and gone back to Ndumbo and back to the finish line but no! I had to prolong the pain by turning right and extending my run past Kanyariri market, some three kilometres ahead, then had to run back same distance and eventually all the way to Ndumbo market and eventually to the finish line.
It was a painful run all through. The muscle pull did not relent. If anything, it got worse. I grimaced and reduced speed to the bare minimum most of the way. I was more of crawling than running. Running any uphill stretch was the most painful!
Pain makes you oblivious of many going-ons around you. The mind tells you to just be done with it. I do not even recall seeing the Uthiru flyover now half demolished and the demolition now ongoing on the Ndumbo side of the bridge. I was too concerned with survival despite the rumbling caused by the heavy machinery on top of the bridge as it knocked down on the concrete structure of the bridge. It was working hard to get that bridge finally destroyed.
The pain would finally come to an end when I stopped my timer after 2hr 8min and 17sec. I was so relieved that it was done with, even as I limped to the washroom and wash off the mid-day sweat. It has been my left foot that has been a culprit of being painful with every run. Today was different. It was the right leg that did me in. I hardly felt a pain on the left foot.
Lesson learnt – be glad when facing challenges ‘in advance’, since you have another day to make amends. I shudder to think of what would have been if this day was one of those ‘real’ marathon days! I would have probably recorded my ‘personal worst time’ (PW). I am therefore glad that I did face this pain when there was no competition… in advance so to speak.
Talking of competition, do I see one such ‘compe’ when it comes to COVID19 vaccines? The leading three vaccine initiatives – AstraZeneca, BioNTech/Pfeizer and Moderna are outdoing each other to see who among them shall launch a real ‘shot’ soon. And the winner is….
The UK has officially started vaccinations of its citizens based on the Pfeizer/BioNTech vaccine starting today, Tuesday. They shall target the over 80-year olds and the front-line health care workers. This vaccine however requires a second shot in 21-days and ultra-cold storage of neg-70. The same P/B vaccine is about to be rolled out for the citizens in the US by next week. Though these three leading contenders are not the only COVID19 vaccines ready to roll. Russia is already vaccinating its citizens with Sputnik V and China has Sinopharm in many arms at the moment.
So, before you shout out loud, over the chances that the vaccine shall permeate to the other parts of the world such as our motherland, have a look at this… The corona virus has now infected 68,126,444* people globally with 1,554,355 fatalities and 47,184,488 recoveries. The UK numbers are 1.7M with 61,434 deaths, while the US numbers are 15.3M with 291,016 deaths. Deaths per 1M population for the two countries are 903 and 877 respectively.
Based on these numbers, maybe the UK and the US should be entitled to being in the rush for the vaccines. Compare that with our motherland, where the infections are 88,579 with 1,531 deaths. Our fatalities per 1M population is 28. Nonetheless, loss of life remains loss of life and no numbers should be any good. We too need this vaccine. Surely, in the spirit of ‘compe’, one of the other top three, or any of the over sixty, should be looking our way. Maybe our runs shall be back to normal, without masks and restrictions once we get our own dose of vaccines. Maybe this wishful thinking shall be sooner than we wish to think.
*all data from worldometers website on Dec. 8, 2020 (4.00pm)
WWB, the Coach, Nairobi, Kenya, Dec. 8, 2020
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