Booster vaccines boosts the run – the truth is out
Yesterday was another runday Monday. My first run in over one week. The first run since that corona booster vaccine of last week. The weather has been cold and unforgiving most of this month. I have used the weather as the excuse of not going out there. However, the run finally called me to action yesterday. I first of all realized that we shall be having the July International marathon just next week, on July 29. That meant that I needed to start my preps.
Secondly, being out of the road for over a week is not recommended. It is just a very long ‘time out’ by any definition. The only time I have taken a week or more out of the run has been during the long holidays in December, when I go back to my roots and spend the endless days doing nothing, just savouring the good weather under the mango tree. It is not yet December for those who may not have checked, hence I am not yet entitled to an ‘under the mango tree’ moment.
So, I get out of the warm office on this Monday and immediately gets hit by the cold mid-day weather. I get almost frozen out before I even make the first few steps of the run. I encourage myself on, saying that what must be done must be done. I convince myself that the weather shall improve with time, or the body shall adapt to the cold with time. I keep running and none of these two wishes come true. It remains cold and the body fails to adapt. I can feel the cold. No wind, just cold.
I would usually have done a 10km run on Kapenguria road to Lower Kabete tarmac junction as the turnback point then back, but that did not happen yesterday. I instead found myself going to Mary Leakey route, which is not a route that you would usually do over the lunch hour, since it is at least 13k. It is difficult to fit 13k of hills into the one-hour lunch hour break, but sometimes you have to push the body to limits that you would otherwise not. This was one of those lunch hours to keep pushing.
I have been to this Mary Leakey route for many years, and I was not expecting any surprises. I was just worrying about the uphill towards Ndumboini on my way back after exiting from the University farm at the tank and turning to my left back to Ndumboini. If only someone, I do not know who, could remove that hill!
Anyway, I was on the 10k mark when I started on that uphill that would end on the 11k mark. From there it was just a turnback across Waiyaki Way and back to Kabete Poly to head towards the finish of the run in less than 10-minutes. The run ended with an average of 5.07min per k on a 15.4km distance. That was probably the fastest I have managed on that route maybe forever since this is not a usual run route. The tweaks, including the 21k version curved out of this, is like the norm.
Today was not a runday Tuesday. If anything, I had already taken a heavy lunch and was not set for any run. I would usually do an evening run-walk upon being booked by a student of run. I had not been booked and I therefore was not intending to do any runs on this Tuesday. However, as it would turn out to be, I just decided to get out of the warm office at four, changed into the run gear, then was off for yet another run on the Mary Leakey route. The evening run experience was just similar to yesterday’s in terms of the weather – cold and chilly.
I was now even having a last minute decision to have a 5-runs-in-5-days challenge, though it had not been sanctioned by the MOE yet. After all, last month this 5-in-5 happened just a week to the international run. This is also the week before the July international. I am nonetheless not sure if I shall have the willpower to do another 3 runs in the week, especially now that I am doing the longer versions of run. But the speed on this Tuesday run was now even improved to 5.03mpk on a 17.11km distance.
Now, the only variable that I can attribute to these improved speeds is…. yes, you guessed it…. the COVID19 booster vaccine of last week. That shot has boosted me in more ways than one. I am now faster, based on a sample size of two runs out of two. The booster that is meant to prevent severe illness and hospitalization from corona virus disease (COVID) is just the thing that probably all marathoners need! The very corona virus that has infected* 569,036,399 people in the planet resulting into 6,390,296 deaths, with Kenyan numbers being 336,904 and 5,668 respectively. Wait till I do the July international marathon codenamed ‘Sprinters delight’ when runners should do their fastest runs, and you shall prove my ‘boosted’ theory. Free advice – Take a booster shot, it helps!
*worldometers website
WWB, the Coach, Nairobi, Kenya, July 19, 2022
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