The first marathon since Corona – when the unexpected happens
The last time we held our regular monthly international marathons was in March 2020 – yes, March 2020. And even at that time the corona thing almost cancelled that run. The monthly runs over the 21k distance had by then become a permanent event in our marathoners’ calendar. It was consistent, it was anticipated, it was a crowd puller, and it was the only talk in our marathoners’ groups.
It was therefore a real relief when the MOE* finally agreed to arrange for the first marathon after corona break. This run was to the next one that follows the last run held in March, being the April run, albeit April 2022 – 24-months later!
*marathoners of expert – the organizers of the event
However, many things had changed in the 24-months hiatus. While putting on masks, social distancing, handwashing, sanitizing, curfews, working from home and fear of the unknown had been the language since 2020 towards 2021, the tone had changed to vaccination and return to normal, from late 2021. By January 2022 the country and most of the world had lifted the mask mandate and rescinded most COVID-19 restrictions. Working from home had ended and life back to the office had become the norm.
The world had evolved from 537,042 infections and 24,110 deaths as at March 27, 2020 to 513,670,092 infections and 6,262,095 deaths as at May 2, 2022. Kenyan numbers were now 323,295 and 5,649 respectively*. This was a global 1,000 fold increase in infections and 260 times increase in deaths in that 2-year period. However, the end had now come, with vaccinations, medications and therapeutics halting corona on its heels. We had moved from calling corona ‘the thing’ (TT) in low toned whispers, to calling it by name and fearing nothing!
*source: worldometers
It therefore did not come as a surprise when the MOE decided to hold the first international marathon of 2022 in the month of April and set the date of the run for the last Friday, as has been the tradition. The date of Friday April 29 was therefore communicated as the day of the marathon and the runners were asked to start preparing for this inaugural run. I made this big announcement on April 11. The organizers were however cognizant that the runners may not be ready for this, having had no serious run in two years, but we had to start somewhere.
I talked to three veteran runners and got their buy in, just to ensure that we could deal with a worst-case scenario where no one turns up. They all committed to participating in the run. The month however had many unknowns that would unfold from that date. To start with, the unexpected would happen, when the former president of the republic of Kenya, Mwai Kibaki passed on on Friday, April 21, hardly one week to our marathon. It was not long before the Friday when we were to have the marathon was declared a public holiday.
We usually leverage on the fact that we have staff on duty to raise the numbers for the marathon. That is why we hold the runs on a working day. A run during a public holiday, when the staff are not on duty, would not be tenable. We therefore made a last-minute decision, hardly three days to the marathon, that we were rescheduling the run. The options that we considered were to keep the Friday date, to move the run to the next week or to cancel the run altogether and wait for the next one in May.
We decided to reschedule it to Thursday, April 28, one day earlier than planned. It was on the same date of rescheduling that I was got confirmation that two of the three veteran runners were also cancelling their participation due to other engagements. That meant that the B-and-B team, a persistent pair of runners from pre-corona days, was not getting back in this run. However, one B was doing this run whatever happens.
The new Thursday date still had its challenges. We were coming up for a long weekend, with Friday being the day of national mourning, while the Monday of May 2 would also be a holiday that extends Labour day. It became even more complicated when Tuesday was declared a holiday as Eid-Al-Fitir, to mark the Islamic end of Ramadhan period. We were facing a 5-day long weekend. Our runners were likely to be on a holiday mood, than on a running mood come the run-day Thursday.
I however kept hope alive and was still confident of a successful first group run of the year. I still had one firmed up confirmation for the 21k. Thursday was it.
The rain started around ten o’clock on the night of Wednesday. It was still raining when I woke up the next morning at seven, ready for the 1.4km walk to the work place. The rain continued the whole morning on the run-day Thursday. It was still drizzling by two in the afternoon. For all intents and purposes, this run was technically headed for a cancellation. We could not risk allowing our runners to be out there through the rains. It was now two hours to the 4pm start time of the 21km run and the rains were not relenting.
We had one other last minute decision to make. The 21km route, as originally formulated, has a section of about 1.5km through the university farm that is usually impassibly muddy during the rains. We had not anticipated any rains when formulating the route and had included this section on our map. We now had to revise the route, hardly 2-hours before the run, to exclude this section. I was back on Google map to reformulate the route and share with the runners while they still had time to consider the change.
And just like that, the rain stopped, and the sun came up. This happened at 3.00pm, just one hour to the start of the run. The run that was surely under cancellation was now back on, on a revised route.
When Edward and I started the run at 4.15pm, I was already about 2km deep into my own run. This is because I had left the locker room at 3.56pm to the Generator starting point but did not find Edu. I assumed that he must be waiting at the gate, since the revised route was to start at the gate. I therefore ran to the gate but still did not find him there. I tried his phone, but this was futile, since I knew that he does not go running with his phone. I informed the guards to ask Edu to wait for me, should he come by in my absence, since I had already decided to go back to the Generator once again to see if he was there. I got to the generator at 4.13pm and found him there waiting.
“Did you see the new route?,” I asked, wondering why we should be starting at the Generator.
“Yes, I did, but it is so tough, that we should just do the original route.”
“But the Uni farm shall be muddy and impassible?”
“Better that, than coming back Wangari Maathai hill”
We therefore reverted to the original route that started at the Generator and off we went. It was an easy run. It is a route that I have been to many times, over that distance, including earlier in the month. This is the usual Uthiru to Kabete Polytechnic, then cross the Waiyaki way to Ndumboini. From there we were to run down Kapenguria road past Wangari Maathai Institute, all the way to Lower Kabete road. We would then turn left and run about one kilometre to then turn left towards Mary Leakey school, then the University farm, then emerge at the tank to get to Kanyariri tarmac. We would then turn right on the tarmac and run to Kanyariri centre for another right all the way to the Gitaru-Wangire road junction, then do a U-turn to run back to Uthiru. I did not expect any surprises, but… spoke too soon!
When we go to the Uni farm section we were met with our worst fears. The route did not disappoint! It was impassably muddy! I had to reduce my run to a walking pace to enable me traverse most of the sections. I almost slipped and fell at some of the sections. Edu was somewhere behind as I could decipher his footsteps in the quietness of the farm section.
We finally emerged at the tank and joined Kanyariri road tarmac. It was then a smooth run all the way to Gitaru-Wangige underpass where we did our U-turn on the 13k mark, and then ran back all the way to our starting point at the Generator. I stopped my timer with a reading of 24.03km in 2:36:43. The first IKM International marathon, the very first group run of 2022, was now done. We had proved that it was possible to resume our marathons, despite the various hiccups that came our way.
WWB, the coach, Nairobi, Kenya, May 2, 2022
