Give me a break… I am tired

Give me a break… I am tired

I was out for today’s run because it was a Monday, which is a run day, and it was evening, which is the run time.  The weather was sunny and hot.  I was feeling well and the run was expected to be like any other, apart from the heat.  I was scheduled to be on the same good old route that runs from Uthiru to Lower Kabete road via Ndumbo and Kapenguria road.  

Once I get to LK road, I would turn left for the about 1km run then turn another left onto Mary Leakey route and then traverse the University farm.  I would emerge on the other end of the farm by joining the Kanyariri road and turn right to run all the way to Gitaru market and then back on Kanyariri road to Ndumbo and back to Uthiru.  It is a route I have been to many times.  It is the default ‘long run’ route, with a guarantee of 24k, and can be tweaked to anything above that.  I believe that I have seen it all on this good-old, but….

What is it with people having abandoned the use of face masks while in public places?  Did I miss the memo about corona having come to an end?  I still recalled the numbers for the day.  The numbers that are always ‘on your face’ on whichever media platform you use, with or without your consent.  The numbers speak for themselves: 114,870,406 total global confirmed cases, with 2,546,776 deaths.  In Kenya the numbers are 106,125 and 1,859 respectively.  So, what is this denial that there is corona, when the numbers tell a different story?

What is it with people celebrating one million doses of COVID19 vaccines to be received in the country today night, yet these are already reserved for healthcare workers?  I even heard the definition of ‘healthcare workers’ on the news of yesterday and I started wondering if this shall even be enough for them… and we are not talking one, but two shots, eight weeks apart.  That definition included anybody working in the health sectors, not medics, but anybody whom you see working those corridors, offices, clinics and grounds in healthcare.  The target include other non-traditional healthcare facilities such as pharmacies and guarding.  So, what is this celebration all about?

What is it with young people believing that they are immune and that the COVID19 thing is for the elderly like us?  I met lots of school children walking home in the evening.  In singles, in duos, in trios, in quadruplets, in quartets, in quintuplets, in sextuplets, in bigger groups, sometimes blocking my whole route – and none of them had their masks on!  Very few even pretended to have them hang on their chins!  So, does youth mean living in a different world without corona?

All these questioning persisted even as I kept my run and observed the going-ons on my run route.  I was so preoccupied with observations that I did not even know when I did that U-turn at Gitaru, on the junction to the newly constructed Wangige-Gitaru road, and was already on my way back.  It is while taking a sip of water from the 500ml bottles that I had struggled with for over fifteen kilometres, while on the start of the downhill at Gitaru that I realized that I was getting tired.  Though I had started today’s run while on top notch condition, I was slowly degrading into tiredness and it was getting worse with every kilometre.  I was already dreading that Ndumbo hill, though I was still over four kilometres from it.

I managed to get past that hill, and once it was done, I was sure that I would finish the run, since there was no other tougher obstacle ahead.  And, finishing the run I did, about fifteen minutes later.  I collapsed on my seat and eat a medium-sized avocado almost in four scoops.  I would then take a litre of water almost in one gulp.  I was still tired and thirsty even after this.  I however knew that I would recover soon and for sure I was fairly back to normal about three hours later…

Now, it is almost ten, and I am walking home.  Everyone seems to be in a hurry to beat the ten o’clock curfew.  Motorbikes are riding as loud as ever, as they traverse the dark main street at Uthiru.  The street is momentarily lit, when the street light comes back on.  This does not last long, since that lamp post goes off in a moment.  The other posts seem to behave the same.  I walk in the dark, and walk in the light, and I keep going.  Matatus are zooming past in both directions.  There is no way those passengers shall alight at Kawangware or Gitaru before ten, when no one should be on the streets.  I even start wondering whether the curfew was even still on.  Was it revised?  Was it even removed?  Is that the other memo that I missed?

I am just about to get to the Total petrol station on my right, and I am just passing by the Uthiru market-that-never-is, which is also on my right just besides the road that separates us, when this happens…

I have just overtaken some two guys, both of whom seem to be in slippers, as we jostle for space on the side of the road to avoid the speeding motorbikes.  In front, and to my left, is some lady.  I am just about to overtake her and the on/off street lights have decided to be on, just as I overtake her.  The lights enable me to see her form.  She is in some white top and a dark pair of pants.  She seems to be in shoes.  I hear footsteps behind me, in a manner of someone running after me.  I momentarily turn back while continuing my walk.  I notice one of the two guys I had just overtaken taking a sprint after the lady.

It is now almost like the three of us are walking at almost same pace, towards the same direction, next to each other.  I reduce my pace slightly to absorb what is happening.  The guy in shorts and slippers tugs the girl on her right arm.  Those two are now just next to me, on my left.

“Sasa sister, si nikupeleke home!”

The hech! I almost shout.  

What nonsense!  What is going on here?  

I am still taking in the happenings.

The lady looks to her right, on the tugged hand.  She violently pulls off, while observing the person who tugged her, and also at me who is just walking besides.

“Niache!,” she almost screams.

Many things are now going on in my mind.  What if this ruffian calls the friend, who is still behind us, and accost the girl?  After all it is dark enough and everyone is running home.  What would be my reaction?  How about if the ruffians even assume that I am an accomplice to this girl?  What if this, what if that, I am now all over in thought.

“Sister, usiwe hivyo.  Ni kanait kamoja tu!,” the guy in shorts tries, though the lady has now started to walk faster, even now moving in front of us.  She looks back, while still walking,

“Please, I have had a long day.  Niache na shida zangu.  Sitaki mambo yako!”

The tone and the emotion on those words will stay with me for long.  I could feel her pain.  I could feel her disgust at how the world has turned out to be – where you can just be pulled aside and be ‘nighted’, just like that!  Does it mean that a single girl walking the street should just be a target of aggressive behaviour?

I resume my faster pace, even as the lady keeps walking off the tarmac towards the line of shops on my left.  The guy who has just been stood down slows down and waits for his friend to catch up with him.  He momentarily starts hurling obscenities to the already gone lady, ensuring it is loud enough for all and sundry to hear.

I know the meaning of being tired.  I can feel it on my legs even as I walk home.  So, what is it with people not understanding that everyone needs to be given a break when tired!

WWB, the coach, Nairobi, Kenya, March 1, 2021