Of corona vaccines and a public kiss

Of corona vaccines and a public kiss

I had almost forgotten about this second shot Astra Zeneca vaccine, codename AZD1222 or locally called as Covishield.  The initial shot in the left arm on April 6 was a big deal.  A new vaccine had been realized in record time, hardly one year after the pandemic had hit humanity.  It was that same record time that had led to lots of vaccine hesitancy and doubts on its efficacy.  The second dose did not even seem possible after the scheduled eight-weeks interval period came and passed.  There was even talk that our bodies would ‘reset’ to not-vaccinated status if we missed the second shot after the eight weeks.  We must have therefore reset to ‘not-vaccinated’ as we prepared for the second shot that was coming forth on the twelfth week after the first one.

The announcement for the shot was sent late night as usual.  The reason why they give little or no notice when these shots are scheduled remains unknown to me.  Maybe be the body needs a ‘surprise’ for the vaccine to be effective?  I was on late night work on this Sunday night, when that email notification popped up.  It was just past one in the morning.  It indicated that staff should report for their second dose vaccination on Tuesday and Wednesday. 

I was out for my long run on Monday, just a day to the shots.  I have never been this tired during a run.  My lethargy was evident hardly five minutes into the run.  My paining stomach did not make things any better.  I knew that it was not my run day.  Maybe the first dose vaccine had already cleared from my system and the body was complaining that it was due for the booster shot.  What it was, I do not know – but I was so tired during this run that my own assessment was that I would probably do an average of six-minutes per kilometre.  That would be twenty-percent slower.  I did not care about the time.  I had decided that I would take the run, and I was taking the run.

Using the same usually run route had its advantages.  My legs knew how and where to lead me without much persuasion.  I somehow made it to Ndumbo and was soon on the downhill on Kapenguria road towards Wangari Maathai institute.  Even my autopilot mode managed to stumble on the five new speed bumps that had been added to the half kilometre road section all the way to the institute.  That was new.  They were not there during my last run on Friday, just three days ago.

I kept running and kept going.  I was emerging from the university farm at the tank, to join Kanyariri road after about an hour of run.  I kept struggling with the run, but I was now past the half way mark and I just needed endurance to keep me going.  I was on the road for hardly another five minutes after this turnoff when I approached a white vehicle parked on the right edge of the road, on the same edge that I was running on.  Part of the vehicle’s right side was almost touching the edge of the road, since the roadside did not have so much space anyway.  Though the road is not usually busy with vehicular or human traffic, it still did not look right for a vehicle to be abandoned there.

I was about ten metres to the vehicle when I observed clearly through the windscreen some silhouette of two people.  It took me five steps to clearly see a man and a woman seated on the front seats, guy on the driver’s seat, while the lady sat on the front passenger’s seat next to him.  I was just passing them in another five steps when I observed them with tightly locked lips, as they sat and embraced on the small front section of the car.  I was tempted to turn back and reconfirm, since I had made my observations a bit too abruptly to even register what was really going on.  I recall having passed by some three or so school going children, of the primary school level, whom I had overtaken about twenty metres before that car.  Those three boys would soon encounter that vehicle with its movie through that clear windscreen in a few moments.

I kept going and resisted to turn back.  The school boys can start learning their lessons in life as they pass by that car.  A movie or two would not hurt.  I was already just struggling to keep on the run with all the tiredness and I did not have any more physical or mental energy to think about this issue at the moment.  However, I lied.  That scene of those two on the front seat kissing around left me analyzing the situation with many what-ifs and whys.  Why would two grown-ups want to display their affection in the light of day in ‘the public of the road’?  What happened to good old public decency and respect to one’s self, and the public?

Let me disclaim that I have nothing against anybody doing anything.  Kiss until your mouth gets sore if you want.  Its your mouth!  (not mine!).  For that matter, do it where you want to do it – it is your choice (not mine).  My only gripe is turning ’public’ roads into ‘private’ rooms.  There is an acceptable level of decency expected in public spaces.  I did not make the rules.  The citizens of this country made the rules.  I may not like the rules but rules are rules.  Let public affairs be kept to the public and so should private.  But do not just take my word for it.  A UK government minister had to resign just yesterday for having kissed a woman in private, so how serious can such in public be?

I kept imagining how that scene came to be.  Could the gal have been the wife of the guy?  But why would they decide to romance beside the road in that case?  Could it had been a ‘plan’?  Isn’t ‘mpango’ a ‘plan’ in the English language?  Even if it was a ‘plan’, if you can afford a car, then you can surely afford better privacy.  I must have been running thoughts on my mind for long, since I do not even remember how I did the U-turn on the Gitaru-Wangige road, as I found myself back to that very car hardly thirty minutes later on my way back.  I passed by it and had a chance to glance back momentarily to confirm if I had even seen right the first time.  This time, the two were decently seated on their respective seats looking straight ahead through the windscreen with straight faces.  If you had not been around there before this time, then you could not even have even known that there had been no innocence on that front seat.

I was energized to pass by that vehicle and run away towards ‘the tank’, and straight on towards Ndumbo.  That last hill towards Ndumbo shopping centre was something that I was waiting for, with all the dread it deserves.  It is a one-kilometre section of pure leg pain, made worse by the way I was feeling on this Monday.  I somehow managed to clear it and would soon just join Waiyaki way, then cross the road at Kabete Poly and be back to my starting point, which would be my finishing point.  I was even surprised that I had missed that six-minutes average that I had feared.  I had in fact done this run in an average of 5min 3sec.

I was glad that the run was finally done with, and there would be no more runs until after the second shot vaccination.  It was hardly twelve hours later that I would get that shot.  That second shot was even more painless than the first.  The registration on the government system after the vaccination was a simple one question affair, unlike the initial interview done during vaccination 1.  It is just about twelve-hours since that second shot in the arm and I am still feeling no effects, if there should be any.  I cannot evaluate the effect of ‘full vaccination’ on my runs until the next run on Friday.  The global corona infections* may be 182,403,071 with 3,949,423 deaths, but this pandemic shall soon be defeated if we continue to have and accept such vaccination initiatives.  Our Kenya numbers may be 183.603 and 3,621 respectively, but we as a country are also doing something about it, despite the few doses that have come our way.

*source: worldometers website

The last two days have taught me two lessons – be blind to the going ons if you are a marathoner running on the public roads, and let us all respect our public spaces.

WWB, the Coach, Nairobi, Kenya, June 29, 2021

Better be ready – of MA+RA+TH+ON preparation and gadgets that failed

Better be ready – of MA+RA+TH+ON preparation and gadgets that failed

There was nothing to celebrate during yesterday, Tuesday’s run, with corona infections having hit a new high of 164,994,625 and 3,421,329 deaths globally, and Kenyan numbers being 166,006 and 3,021 respectively.  I did not even feel like having this evening run in the first place.  What with the world and the country all gloomy with this COVID19 monster that was not being tamed anything soon?.  

Positive developments were nonetheless taking place.  Vaccines were starting to trickle through the world, though even our own second shot was now in doubt.  This was caused by the withholding of vaccine exports by India, the main manufacturer of vaccines that go to WHO’s COVAX (COVID19 Vaccines Global Access) scheme.  

India was having a surge in infections at their local level and were now prioritizing supplies to themselves first.  That second shot of the Covishield vaccine from Astra Zeneca was now being delayed from 8-weeks to 12-weeks since the first shot.  The certainty of even getting it in 12-weeks’ time was also in doubt.  With all these uncertainties, it was not a Tuesday that you would want to get out there and do your run…. but evening came and it was run time.

I was still feeling the pains of the last run of Sunday, hardly two days before, even as I setup to change into the run gear.  Nonetheless, a major international marathon relay in the name of MA+RA+TH+ON, was coming up.  This is a four-member team relay where each person contributes 10.5km to the team, to ultimately tally the total of 42km marathon distance.  I was already in a team and the event was beckoning.  The dates had already been cast in stone, being the weekend of May 22-23.  It was now a matter of making it count.

I would be using this Tuesday run as the last run before the weekend relay, while I also wanted to take advantage of the run to formulate a 10.5km route for the relay.  The challenge with our run routes from Uthiru is that none of them provides a flat terrain.  You are likely to encounter a hilly terrain anytime you run for over 1km in any direction from Uthiru.  Some hills are however worse, and you would want to avoid them when mapping an international competitive run on a 10.5km distance.  I was doing my mental calcs, but each span of 10.5km still ended up with over 3km of uphill somewhere along the route.

I had to accept the reality that I would have to run through some hills, and hence be forced into a reduced pace with would reduce my average speed, the very metric that really counted for the event.  I still wanted to scout the best of the existing bad options of run routes.  I then needed to take the five-day break after knowing my route, to then take a rest to enable me be at my peak strength come the weekend.  This Tuesday run was therefore a compulsory run, both to know a final route for the weekend and also to do a final run before the weekend.

I started the run at four, and carried with me one gadget with two timing apps – the Runkeeper that had now become the default since the collapse of Endomondo, and a second Strava app, being the official app for use during the weekend relay event.  I wanted to test Strava app in advance and confirm that it worked well and would be up to the task come the weekend.  You can imagine the frustration of trying an app that fails during an international event, where a team of another three rely on your contribution to relay and shall make the marathon successful.  It can be a disaster.

My plan was to start off on Runkeeper and have it time and map the whole run, from start to finish.  It always worked well and has hardly let me down (apart from the occasional incorrect starting point, which can easily be fixed by a simple editing of the saved map).  Then, I would start the Strava at some point on the route, for timing through the 10.5km section, then stop it after that section was recorded.  While Runkeeper is a faithful servant, Strava on the other hand is unforgiving in terms of mapping.  Unless you have the professional subscription version, you are stuck with a wrong map that cannot be edited.

I did not expect much in terms of differences on this run compared to my Sunday run.  I was still tired but my day’s run was mainly concerned about the 10.5km section that I had mapped in my mind.  Unfortunately, that 10.5km section meant that I had to still do the long run, and carve out a section of that long run.  I had to carefully figure out a section that was not as bad of the rest of the route, in terms of few hilly terrains.

I eventually started the Strava at Ndumbo, after having ran from Uthiru, crossing Waiyaki way and then running the length of the tarmac to Ndumbo market.  Instead of going down Kapenguria road as I would usually do, I decided to turn left onto Kanyariri road and kind of do a reverse of the usual run.  I usually avoid this reverse loop due to the Wangari Maathai hill that a runner has to face on their way back, when they are tired, as they climb it towards Ndumbo.  I would have to just face my avoidance on this Tuesday.

I started my Strava as I went down the hill after Ndumbo market.  I already knew that this downhill would soon come to an end, and I would then face the uphill section that first gets you to the ‘the tank’, then the mild uphill that goes as far as Kanyariri road shall take me.  Being psychologically prepared helped me out as I faced the hills.  The weather was a bit sunny, but not hot.  The road was fairly deserted, with the occasional one vehicle every kilometre or so.

I kept running and the pace felt comfortable enough.  Nothing out of the ordinary, just another evening run.  My plan was to try and avoid the sudden hill near ACK Kanyariri church as you head to the market.  Instead, I planned to turn right, and use this alternative road that eventually gets to Wangige road.  The last time I used this road must have been during the Divas International Marathon of early 2019.  I could hardly remember its ‘hilliness’, but I thought that it was a bit easier that the usual straight Kanyariri road to the Gitaru market.

My Strava was still on, so was Runkeeper, though I usually do not check on the gadgets when I run.  I use the gadgets to time my run.  I do not run to ‘please’ the gadgets.  I know of a colleague who worships his gadgets and control his every run.  He can even come to a stop if the gadgets say so.  Not me.  I already knew that they were working on the background of the phone that I carried with me, and I did not bother look at them at all.  The time to look at them would come, especially for the Strava timer that was on a mission for a specific distance.

My plan was to turn to the right at that junction, then go for about 5minutes, to any turning point, then start the run back.  And that is what I did.  I turned right and started running on that road.  It was also fairly deserted.  I was not looking at the gadgets, and my five-minute run was to be based on instinct.  I kept running, waiting for instinct to raise the alarm on the five minutes point.  I got to some shopping centre and felt shame-on-myself to just doing a U-turn in the crowds, and so I kept going and passed the crowd.  I just kept going waiting for an opportune time to do the U, but it never came.

Behold!  It came as a surprise when I started making out the new Wangige road flying over just ahead, about two-hundred metres from where I was!  This was not the plan.  I had not intended to hit this point.  I should have turned back before reaching this point.  It was not too late!  I just had to be ‘polite’ to go all the way to near the highway and do a U-turn at that point.  Why I had failed to get my initially intended U-turn point earlier on the run remains a mystery.  Sometimes instinct can go to sleep, just believe me.

This alternative right-turn road turned out not to be as mild as I thought.  It was still hilly, though the hilly sections were shorter.  The U-turn at the highway was quite a relief, since I now knew that I was on my way back home.  My timers were assumedly still working, and I did not make a check at them anyway.  I started running back on the hills and downhills until I rejoined Kanyariri road at the new centre at the crossroad, where we now have nyama choma fumes that knocks out even the most resilient of runners.  I quickly passed by the smoky roadside and started my way down Kanyariri road.

The relative downhill was smooth and I enjoyed this part of the run.  I would eventually get to ‘the tank’, where I had to turn left and join the route through the university farm.  It was also relatively downwards all the way.  My mental route calculation had convinced me that I would hit the 10.5km around the Kabete Children’s home on Kapenguria road once I turn right from Lower Kabete road.  I would by then be through with the uni farm and passed Mary Leakey school to emerge at Lower Kabete road.  However, with that extra distance that I had gone after missing my initially intended U-turn, I believed that the 10.5km mark should have been somewhere on the Lower Kabete road section, give or take.

I was therefore checking my Strava as I joined Lower Kabete road, expecting to see something like ten-point-something kilometres, when I saw an 11.5km.

“No way!,” I said loudly, reducing my pace in the process, as the evening business traffic saw lots of vehicles zoom on both directions of Lower Kabete road.  

It would surely be too soon to hit such a distance, in my view, but maybe my body clock was already improperly tuned on this day anyway!  I was however still convinced that Strava must have failed me for some reason.  I was nonetheless not waiting to find out what was going on.  I still had a run to finish, and that finish was still over 7km away.

I kept running and finally stopped the Strava timer at the river, past Kabete Children’s home.  That was the place I thought the 10.5km should have ended, based on initial calculations, disregarding that extra run past the initially intended U-turn.  I momentarily saw a distance of about 12.5km with an average pace of 4min 45sec per km.  I put Strava on stop mode and continued the uphill run on Kanyariri road, to eventually pass Wangari Maathai institute and then get back to Ndumbo.

From there I could see the end in sight, just on the other side of Waiyaki way.  And for sure the run would come to an end soon.  I was relatively well energized even after the run.  The Runkeeper kept a record of 24.5km, but the average pace is what I was not expecting – 4.59min per km.  That was the first under five that I was recording on this or any other route in over three months.  This run that I had done with a laissez-faire attitude is the one that actually turned out to be a record-breaking run.  I now really wished that the MA+RA+TH+ON was happening on this Tuesday!

I learnt the lesson that in running there was probably no ideal day.  You shall break records on the least expected of days.  Preparation remains key, but you never know for sure when you shall shatter your own ceiling.  Keep running with an open mind, knowing that anything was possible.  Talking of anything being possible, that Strava app would later in the day give me the dreaded ‘app has stopped working’ error with the only option being to close the app.  That closure of the app took with it my MA+RA+TH+ON mock time and distance.  I would never know for sure what Strava had in store for me.  Now I was happy that the MA+RA+TH+ON was not happening on this Tuesday!

WWB, the Coach, Nairobi, Kenya, May 19, 2021