The May international in June – when the pain is delayed

The May international in June – when the pain is delayed

The pain would come in two days later.  I had thought that the worst was gone, but how wrong could I be?  I could hardly wake up this Friday, two days after the run.  My legs were hurting, especially round the knees.  I knew that it was that Wednesday run.

On that Wednesday, two days ago, I had started my run at 12.30pm on the dot.  The weather was great, with just the right intensity of sun.  The air was, however, a bit still.  I would have preferred some windiness.  There was no breeze, but it was a bit cool.  The sun was still suffering from the defeat of the long months of rain that persisted most of April and May.  School reopening date even had to be postponed by a week due to these selfsame rains that had rendered the country mostly flooded.  The rain clouds had now generally retreated and left a dry spell that had lasted for over one week.  The last real rain must have been at the end of May.  The sun has since been progressively trying to shine back to its glory while the rain clouds subside.

This lunch hour was no different.  The clouds were still trying to stop the sun rays at intervals as I started the run.  The run started well and I already had an idea of the run distant.  I was cognizant that I had missed the May marathon that was to be held on May 31.  I was however on a bus for the long 8-hour trip to Western Kenya on that marathon Friday.  I had for a moment thought that I would skip the May marathon after that miss.  However, I was sticking to the marathoners motto of ‘running is a must’, and here I was, finding myself doing a compensatory marathon on this twelfth day of the month.

“If you want me to cancel a run, then ensure that we do not cross the gate,” I have been telling my folks, and that saying remained true on this day.

I started feeling a pain on my right wheel as I started the run, hardly before reaching the exit gate.  This was just after a short warmup run of 4kms.

“Let me just push it to Kabete Poly and see how it goes,” I lied to myself as I exited the gate.  

I knew that an exit through that gate meant that I was going for the full run – come rain, come shine; come pain, come relief!  But do not take my word for it.  It was just last month during a similar compensatory run that I was rained on most of the way, and I still survived.  Sanity could have called for a dropping off, but the spirit of ‘running-is-must’ could however hear none of that.

The leg pain persisted to the 7km mark at Ndumboini market.  From there on I got some relief as I went downhill towards Wangari Maathai institute down onto Kapenguria road all the way to the river.  I would then take the 1km uphill on the same road to join Lower Kabete road five minutes later.  The sun was still overhead.  The air was still still.

I turned right towards UON Lower Kabete campus, and kept going.  The road was generally deserted of walkers, though the vehicular traffic of occasional matatus and mostly private vehicles traversed the road at intervals.  I approached two cops armed with Kalashnikovs just before the campus, also walking on the sidewalk heading the same direction.  

I thud my feet loudly as I approached their backs to alert them of my approach.  I did not want an incident where they pretend to have been run-towards and had to ‘do something’ in self-defense.  They both momentarily turn back as I get within range and soon after, overtake them.  I benefit from their “anakimbia na hii jua” comment.  I am happy that the complement is a bit mild this time round.  I have heard worse description of runners before, let me just leave it at that.

I keep going.  I meet a crowd of people around the campus.  I am running on the opposite edge of the road next to the campus compound, but even on this opposite sidewalk I do encounter people who look and behave like college students.  If it looks and behaves like one, then it is one!  But trust me, I know, have been there.  Same uni, different campus.  

Who else can display the following behaviours, if not the students?  To start with, I approach a group of three guys all of whom are walking all across the narrow one metre wide footpath.  And, do you expect them to give way?  No way!  They force me to leave the sidewalk and get around them through the rough grass patch between the tarmac and the sidewalk.  I feel like being angry, even uttering a curse, but I force myself not to.  It is the age.  

Soon thereafter I encounter another group of about five.  By this time the campus gate is just on the other side of the main tarmac.  These five are chattering and laughing loudly and animatedly.  They have no care in the world.  The world is theirs.  They almost remind me of that, and I guess are ready to tell me to ‘runner bow down’.  They even give me the benefit of a story about what they did over the weekend.  It is more of who did what to who, but I do get to listen to the eventualities, since my footsteps are already retreated.

I soon pass by that hullabaloo of the campus gate area and keep going towards Kenya School of Government, and soon out onto the leafy surburbs of Lower Kabete with hardly any walkers around.  I keep going.  The run is now imbedded into my system and I have reached cruising level.  I am just going through the motions in this quiet environment.  

I pass by the Farasi group of roads, one after another, that is, Farasi road, Farasi close and Farasi lane.  It is a relief when I finally get to Ngecha road junction just next to Zen gardens.  I check on the tower clock at the junction.  It is now 1.40pm.  I know that I have another kilometre or so, before I do the U-turn.  I keep going on the Lower Kabete road and then divert to Spring Valley road for the short run to the U-turn point above the Red Hill road.

It is a welcome relief to do that U.  The run is now at least halfway done.  I now just need to survive the run back.  I am still energetic and rearing to go.  The weather has remained good so far.  My good fortunes however come to an end when I am back to Lower Kabete road and now have to do an uphill run all the way to UON campus.  That is a whole 5km of uphill.  I persevere and persist.  I am, however, getting tired and I can feel it.  I wish for a sip of water, though I have none.  I wish for a shot of coke or a bite of a melon, but those are just wishes on this Wednesday.  I almost start losing my senses as I pass the campus heading back towards Kapenguria road.

One thing you learn as a marathoner is to learn to listen to your body and know when it can easily give up on you.  This giving up is sometimes called ‘hitting the wall’.  I start imagining that I may hit the wall.  My situation is just due to the dehydration.  I had underestimated the effects of the heat of the sun.  It seems to have been sucking the energy and fluids from me for over two hours now.  I am also losing my sense of perception.  

I know that I shall soon be on free fall if I do not do something about the situation.  I deliberately switch the phone that has my timer, from hand to hand in short intervals, just to keep my senses engaged.  That action, after about ten reps, brings me back to reality just as I reach the river in readiness for the 2km uphill run to Ndumbo.  I almost give up when imagining that Wangari Maathai hill, but I also envisage the relief from the cool orange juice in my fridge and keep running as I look forward to how it shall bring me back to life in another 20 or so minutes – if I make it.

And making it I do, when I finish that devastating hill and now has only the short run along Waiyaki way, then past Kabete Poli(ce) then Kabete Poly(tech) and soon to the finish line.

“Leo kweli uliwezwa,” the sentries welcome me back laughingly as they open the gate as I head to the finish line.

I am too tired to even respond in affirmation.  I do not even know how I get the energy to wave back in resignation.  I soon thereafter reach the finish line and collapse on my seat wondering, “Why do we even run!”.

That question is soon answered when I access that cold juice after a shower.  I am rejuvenated and my body feels different.  I cannot describe this exactly, but it is some form of jumpiness.  A mixture of tiredness and satisfaction.  Just the feeling of a run.  No, we do not run for the 27.25km distance of this Wednesday done in 2:31:10.  That would be bad motivation and we would not even want to be on the sun for that long.  There must be another reason why we run.  Maybe we just wait and find out about the real reason when we do the next monthly international marathon on the last Friday of June.

WWB, the Coach, Nairobi, Kenya, June 14, 2024

One week that I would like to forget

One week that I would like to forget

If there is ever a challenge that I usually dread, then that challenge can only be the 5-runs-in-5-days challenge.  The organizers, MOE*, make it sound and feel like a simple 5-in-5, but the real run is in the details.  The intention is to ‘simply’ do one run every day, Monday to Friday, during the designated week.  The designated week for the February 5-in-5 was the week of Feb. 12.  The MOE makes the run sweeter by keeping it open and to the discretion of the runner, hence virtually no rules  – any run, any distance, any time, provided it is within those five days.
*MOE – marathoners of expert

Day 1
Monday, Feb. 12 was another hot day.  I am not used to the overhead sun that seems to stay overhead the whole day.  It burns the bald like hell and it does not relent.  However, this was day 1 and I was just from my two-day weekend rest.  I assumed that I had cheated the sun by going for the run in the evening, leaving at 4.40pm, but I was in for a surprise.  The sun was still hot and burning.  The sun this year has somehow increased its burn-rate.  It hits the skin and penetrates to the dermis then straight to the blood stream.  When that happens, you start by getting lethargic and soon thirsty and dehydration sets in hardly five minutes into the run.

I had intended to do a half marathon on day 1, then do short 5ks for the rest of the days.  However, that sun on day 1 put a halt on that plan.  I was not going to do any run more than an hour in this furnace.  I decided to settle on a short 10k run, which would mean running from Uthiru, through Kapenguiria road, to Lower Kabete tarmac junction and back.  It is the usual IKM 10k route.  I left at 4.40pm and survived the sun.  I was energetic on this first day and the run was quite enjoyable even as I finished the run at 5.50pm.  I had missed out on a record by doing 5.01min/km – that 01!?  Anyway, the 14.3k was a good day 1 run.  I did not think much about the other runs.  If day 1 was this good, then there should be nothing to it.


Day 2
I woke up with some pain on my right leg.  That very leg that almost messed up my Stanchart marathon last October.  I thought nothing much of it, apart from that maybe it was a result of that 2.5km hill from the river to Waiyaki way that is dreaded by all runners on that Kapenguria road.  It should subside, I thought of this pain.  I went on with my events for the day, skipping another temptation to run at the lunch hour, and deciding to do another evening run.

I wanted to ease the pain on my leg and hence decided to do the IKM ‘inner circle’ merry-go-round run.  This is a round-and-round run over the 1.3km circuit on the tarmac of the work compound.  It starts with a 400m of hill then a short flat section, then another 400m of downhill, then another flat section.  The route therefore keeps alternating between up and down on every circuit and it is a real test of endurance.  The sun remained hot, but running was still a must.  Twelve go-arounds resulted into a 16.2km run in 4.57min/km average.  I had finally broken the 5 barrier.  I was elated, but just briefly, since I was already limping by the time I hit the showers, and struggled home with the pain on the right leg.


Day 3
It was Valentine’s day.  For the first time in like forever I did not visibly see any roses anywhere within the staff desks.  The colour red did not seem to manifest much.  I would later see some ladies take some pics with a bouquet of flowers near the auditorium.  It was one big bunch being passed around the group of three, each taking a photo-op with it.  It did not register much, though I thought it was a bit funny.

I had already decide that I would do an evening run.  I would not risk the mid-day burn.  However, my leg was paining so badly that I was walking with a slight limp.
“This 5-in-5 is a bad idea,” I muttered subconsciously as I headed to the safety office to get some ointment.  I had already checked on all the first aid boxes on my way, and everything was in those boxes, apart from the ointment.

I was starting to doubt whether I would manage a third run, but I was still doing everything ‘by faith’ at this point in time.  I got to the safety office when the bus was just about to leave at 4.30pm.
“Sorry, deep heat is the only thing that you cannot get,” they told me.
“So, what can I get?”
“Anything else”
“But nothing else can help me at this point in time?”
“Blame the forces that take it from the boxes, I can swear that we usually refill”

Anyway, I managed to get one small tube after more search with their assistance.  That gel brought some relief and I was ready to hit the road by 4.40pm.  I wanted to go out there and face that Wangari Mathai hill once again.  But that was not to be….
“NCA are looking for you,” the person on the other side of the phone told me.
“Can it wait?, I was just preparing for an important evening run!”
“No, can’t wait, hawa watu wanataka kutu-arrest”

This was too sudden and unexpected.  What arrest?  What NCA?  What the hech is going on?  I did not even have time to say yes, before I heard a strange voice on the other side of the line.
“I am from NCA, I am arresting your fundi,” the strange tone on the other side said.
“But who are you?, why are you arresting my worker?,” I asked, not sure of what I should ask.
“I am from NCA, and we are inspecting your site, and your foreman has no papers?”
“But why are you on site, I mean, this is an internal renovation!,” I was almost losing it.

Why would there be someone called NCA, in a site where he is not invited, doing inspection that he was not called for, arresting a worker whom he did not have a warrant for and calling me, when I am supposed to be going for an important run.  It would take me a lot of phone time, including a disconnection and reconnection, to just tell the guy on the other side that internal works need no permit.  Of course, by then he had demanded to see architectural plans, approved council plans, environmental impact assessment approvals, utilities approval, and that my worker was under arrest for not having an NCA registration certificate, valid, he added.

I went for my Wednesday run at five, completely drained of physical and mental energy, made worse by the last twenty minutes of this evening.  Can you believe that that NCA guy wanted 20k for not seeing the plans and another 10k for my worker who had an NCA 2023 registration instead of a 2024?  I was already many k broke by the time I went for this run of few k!

Based on the late start of run on this date, I decided to do another merry-go-round-run within the compound.  However, my adrenaline was so shot up that I could not manage any better time in those 12 rounds.  I was still happy with my average of 5.17min/km over those 16.33k.  I was a zombie all through, just going through the motions of the run.  I did not even feel any pain on the leg, until I finally took a shower and took a rest around seven, when I started feeling the pain.  That ointment that I had applied earlier seemed to have waned.  I re-ointmented the back of my right leg and walked home.  What a third run day!


Day 4
I was to go to hospital for a scheduled medical check on this Thursday.  I had planned to wake up at seven, then start my 3km walk to the Mountain View clinic.  I had set the alarm for seven, and that is when the phone also came on.  I had hardly checked on incoming messages when I saw a call, with True Caller app indicating that the called was NCA office.  I ignored it.  I prepared to leave and just about 7.30am as I left the house, a second phone call came in.  This did not need True Caller app since I had already saved it as ’the NCA person’.  I ignored it and walked the distance to the clinic.  It did not take long thereafter to see an incoming text.  It was from ‘the NCA person’.  The text was straight to the point “Gari yangu imekwama, nisave na 2thao, nitashukuru”.

I was already having a medical issue to deal with and now this?  I ignored the text and went on with my mission to the medical facility.  I even complained to the doc about aching right leg and got another brand of ointment.  I walked back the three kilometres to the workplace with every step increasing the pain on the back of my right leg, specifically just behind and above the back of the knee.  Folding my leg was becoming a pain in the leg, but I persisted.  I was surely not going to do any more runs.  I was done.  The challenge was good while it lasted, but this was not for me, not at the expense of my leg health.

I was thinking of what I would do when I leave work early on that Thursday, maybe even apply that new ointment by five, then maybe go to bed early.  It is at exactly that moment, around three, that I saw the email that I did not want to see.  It was another brief one, “Coach, we are on for the run today at 4.30pm, usichelewe kama last time”

I almost cried out loudly!  All runners know that Tuesdays and Thursdays is usually a students’ run day, where they book the coach and go for a run.  There is no caveat to the rule, and so I was now suffering from the strictness of my own rules.  Anyway, a students’ run day is not full of run, and hence I was confident that I would somehow make it through those slow runs and walks.

As I prepared to leave with the two trainee runners, I did not know that they had another taste of my own medicine planned.
“Coach, remember today you are taking us to the tarmac for the ten k.  We are not ready, but we shall try”
I had hoped that they shall forget about this 10k debut, and we would stick to the proven 8k route, but I had promised that we were to take this run a notch higher on this day.  I wish that I had not promised this 10k on this day, especially when my leg was hardly movable.  I did not say nothing, I went along, and we did our runs and walks and somehow made it to the Lower Kabete tarmac junction and back.  They registered 10k, I registered 12.15km in 2.10.42.  We had finally broken the 10k barrier with the trainees and it was quite a fete.


Day 5
The new ointment seemed to have worked, since I woke up on Friday with hardly any pain on my leg.  My knee was folding well, and I was not in any discomfort.  I had already done the four runs for the week’s challenge.  The last one run was not going to evade me, even an evening appointment, at the time when I should have been running, could not cancel this run.  I decided to do a lunch hour run and wrap this up.  Using the same route of Monday, I ran to Lower Kabete road junction via Kapenguria road and back.  I left at 12.37pm and was back 1.21.36 later over that 15.25km distance.

Finished.  Done.

Whether I look forward to such a challenge, definitely no!  Whether I shall do this again, not sure, but it sounds too tempting to forego.  

WWB, the Coach, Nairobi, Kenya, Sunday, Feb. 18, 2024

Running half naked – when running is a must

Running half naked – when running is a must

If there ever was a decision that I made just in the nick of time that turned out to be ‘healthy’, then today’s decision would be that.  Before this decision, the morning had generally been calm.  It promised to be a good day, even sunny if anything.  However, I knew that my troubles had started the day with me the moment I finished that cup of coffee with accompaniments at about eight-thirty in the morning.  It did not even take me thirty minutes to start being nauseated.  I could hardly settle down by ten, when I almost started drooling and made several trips to the washroom to clear my mouth.  It is then that I made the decision to take the day off and walked home.

That twelve minute walk seems like forever.  I finally reached home and virtually crashed the door down since my mouth was already filling up.  I went straight to the washroom where I threw up violently, almost suffocating from the continued outrush through my mouth.
“The hech,” I said loudly to the quiet house, trying to regain my breath.  Things had escalated quickly.
If I had delayed my walk home by even a second then many bad things could have happened either at the office or along the way.

I did many more spits and regurgitation in a span of thirty minutes while making the endless trips from the living room to the toilet.
“This is worse than I thought,” I thought loudly.
I was ready to get a vehicle to a medical centre.  I could not continue this way.  Any more outpouring and I was surely outa here.

My first aid training pointed to only one thing that could manifest and progress this fast – food poisoning.  There is something that I had got straight from fridge-to-mouth, and that accompaniment is what was the likely culprit.  This f-t-m was a shortcut that I now regretted.  I would normally have passed my fridged stuff to the microwave first, but not today.  I wanted to have a hot-and-cold, and now I was in for a bitter mouth and bile in the mouth.  I finally took some hot water, with the first round f the water triggering another outpouring from my belly, before my situation stabilized when I decided to take a nap in a seating position, empty pail next to the bed, just in case.


I was however lucky that this attack episode was today, and not yesterday.  Yesterday was a Tuesday.  It was the day that I decided to resume my runs after the Sunday, October 29 Stanchart marathon.  I had intended to have a week of rest after the marathon, but things happened and the break turned out to be two weeks.  I was therefore fairly well rested from that grueling 42k at Stanchart.  The intention for this lunch hour run was to do at least a 10k ‘welcome back’ marathon.

The spirit of running took me on a turn for the worse at Lower Kabete road after Kapenguria road.  I should have done a U-turn at this point and earned myself a comfortable 10k run on this dry lunch hour, the first in a long time.  It has been raining like 24-hours for the last week.  If anything, I should have as an alternative, turned left and done the Mary Leakey route and earned a 13k with no sweat.  Unfortunately, the run spirit directed me to turn right onto Lower Kabete road and head towards UON Lower Kabete campus.
“What are you doing?,” I asked the thing that was now controlling my every step.
“Turn back, you runner!”

There was no turning back.  I kept going.  My steps were strong.  I was energetic.
“Where are you going!  Turn back!,” the thing spoke.
I ignored.  I continued.  I soon passed by UON campus.  I then passed Kenya School of Government and the Post Office.  I kept going.  I at some point passed by Farasi lane school signboard.  I stuck to the sidewalk which was not there the last time I ran on this road, over five years ago.

I did not even know the end game on this lunch hour run.  I was supposed to squeeze all the run of the day to fit within the one lunch-hour hour, but here I was going and going.  The terrain was generally downhill.  I finally reached Ngecha road.  This should surely be a turning point, but no.  The spirit of run persisted.  I soon passed by Zen Gardens.  It brought back some good memories when training events used to be held in that compound… before COVID brought all that to an end.

“Turn back damn it!,” something in me begged.
I ignored it.  I kept going.  Even the walkway crossing the tarmac to the other side of the main road did not force me to turn.  I ignored the walkway and kept to the uneven path besides the road that did not have a walkway and trod on.  At this rate, I would soon be heading to the Redhill road and then Spring Valley Police station.  And of course the Lower Kabete roads terminates at Sarit Centre, and these landmarks were now becoming more real possibilities than before.  However, that would mean that the run would no longer be a lunch hour run, but a full marathon.

Finally, just before the Redhill road, I decided that enough exploration was enough and did a U-turn.  I am not sure what my ambition for this run was, but I told myself that I was exploring this side of Lower Kabete road, where I had hardly run for many year.  The roll down was equally easy on the legs which encouraged me on… but spoke too soon!  I almost came to a standstill when I did the U-turn.  The terrain of the return leg immediately turned out to be an uphill.  The struggle that I faced on those 5km back to the ‘tarmac’ junction to Kapenguria cannot be described on this generally hot lunch hour.

There would only be a short reprieve as I rolled down past Kabete Children home and KAGRI towards the river.  And I mean a really short reprieve, since I would then be facing the infamous Wangari Maathai hill section all the way to Ndumboini upto the Waiyaki way.  I almost collapsed in those 2km of real hill.  By then my once average time of under-5min per km was now thrown out of the run track.  I was likely to end up with an over-6, if this hill was to stretch even by a millimeter.

I soldiered on and managed to reach the finish line through lots of willpower despite my tired legs, stopping my timer at 24.12km in 2.03.44.  I was tired, but not as tired as the Stanchart.  I was not the only one tired at this late time of the lunch hour.  I found another run also taking a breather at the finish line at the Generator.


Josh has been in the marathon team for long.  We are in fact family friends.  I used to visit him sometime before COVID, when he stayed in Kikuyu town.  However, COVID spoilt many things including visiting each other, but I had kept in touch.  I know his family.  His spouse and child both run, and I have met them at some Stanchart events.

“You are still at Kikuyu?,” I asked, as we both sat at an umbrella just outside the Generator house, taking a short rest before we got back to work.
“Nope, niko kwangu huko Ngong’”
“Oh, you setup your own?”
“Sure, for the last two years,” he said, then continued, “You should plan to visit soon.”
“The year is still young.  I will purpose,” I answered, “How is Norah and that young runner of yours”
“Both are OK, lakini Norah hates Ngong’ with a passion!”
“Why so?”
“Wizi ni mob, houses get broken into all the time.”
“I thought you are in an estate with centralized security and all?”
“No, we bought plots and built.  Everyone just stays on their own, though we have neighbours.”

As we continued the chatter, now almost fully rested, he narrated a recent incident.  He was out of the country for duty, with the junior having gone to visit a relative, leaving Norah all alone.  On that fateful night, the bad guys jumped into his compound, which has a perimeter wall, but the wall is not very high.  The wife heard something like a commotion at the chicken coop, with the chicks making noises.  She shouted and raised an alarm.

It was not long before the neighbours woke up in their various compounds and started coming towards the direction of Josh house.  His immediate neighbor who has a domestic worker also heard the noises and sprang to action.  He jumped the separating wall and stumbled onto the thugs.  He noted three characters.  The unexpected confrontation startled the thugs who ran away and jumped hastily through the opposite wall of Josh’s compound, into another compound that is not yet inhabited, and soon disappeared into the dark night.  Quiet was restored for sometime, with the neighbours each talking loudly in their compounds, assuring all that all was well.

Finally, the domestic worker who had done the chase knocked onto Josh’s house.
“Norah, Norah!,” he called out, knocking the door, “Ni mimi, Simon.  Mikora imeenda.  Unaweza fungua mlango sasa.”
Norah finally gathered the courage to open the door, with the reassurance from the chatter in the neighbourhood and with Simon’s knock.
“Nimefukuza hiyo watu, wameenda,” he continued next to the still closed door.

Norah opened the door, relieved, but still shaken.
“Eh, nilikuwa nimeshtuka!  Haki ahsante sana, Simon,” Norah greeted him, door now open.  The dim light of the moonlight aiding in visibility and the light in the house now lit.
“Hiyo mikora ilikuwa tatu, iliruka kwa ukuta kama mashetani,” he described laughingly.
“Phew!  Ahsante!”

What a good ending, I thought.  No one was harmed.  And for sure no one was harmed and nothing was stolen this time round.  Previously, some of their chicken had been stolen in the dead of night by similar or same thugs.

But wait a minute, there is a part that I nearly forgot….

When Norah was now about to say her goodnight, she looked down the frame of Simon to note that he was armed with a slasher, but was also stark naked!
“Simon, eh, kuna endaje?,” she gestured downwards.

Simon seemed perplexed at the question, not sure he understood, before he followed the gesture of Norah's hand.
“Oh, oh, oh,” Simon responded and looked down on himself too, realizing for the first time that he was naked.

He abruptly and unexpectedly dashed off in full flight, without a word, and jumped over the fence to his compound, leaving Norah bewildered and at a loss of words.  She heard a loud thud on the other side of the compound as Simon fell over.  She did not know whether to get back to the house and lock or what was going on exactly.

It did not take long before she heard yet another thud as Simon jumped back to Josh’s compound now dressed up, still recovering her breath.
“Unajua nilikuwa nalala tu hivyo.  Lakini niliposikia nduru, nika amka tu hivyo na mzee nje,” he explained himself, and soon even forgot about the double-jump over his fence, and continued, “Lakini hiyo mikora iliruka ukuta kama mashetani!”

WWB, the Coach, Nairobi, Kenya, November 15, 2023

Booster vaccines boosts the run – the truth is out

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

5 runs in 5 days challenge – Day 1 of 5

5 runs in 5 days challenge – Day 1 of 5

I knew that it would be a tough week when the MOE* introduced the 5-runs-in-5-days challenge.  The email notification was direct and to the point, “This week’s challenge is the 5-runs-in-5-days starting today, and daily, until Friday”

*MOE = marathoners of expert, the committee that organizes the run events

“What is wrong with the MOE,” I heard a colleague marathoner asking soon after the email was sent around ten in the morning on this downcast Monday, June 13.

“What about?,” I queried.

“Imagine, they have set a 5-day run without notice!  They want to kill us before next week’s marathon, or something!?”

“Must be ‘or something’,” I responded.

I knew, being part of the MOE, that this was a last-minute surprise that was meant to invigorate the group that has been quite low since the COVID19 hiatus that started March 2020.  Worldwide corona virus related deaths were virtually zero at that point in time.  Two years and three months later and the global* death toll has now reached 6,332,729 from 541,127,668 confirmed infections, hence a death rate of 1.2%.  Kenya numbers were now standing at 5,651 and 327,145 respectively, hence a mortality rate of 1.7%.

*source: worldometers website

However, many things had happened since that fateful March 13, 2020 date when Kenya was put on a corona lockdown.  We now have at least four approved COVID19 vaccines in use worldwide, out of which the country has benefited from many free doses.  Mass vaccination has majorly put a halt to corona.  We no longer put on masks.  Social distancing is a vocabulary nearly forgotten and is likely to slip out of our normal lingua.  We no longer ‘gota’ to greet.  We have gone back to real handshakes.  I do not even remember the last time that I saw or used a hand sanitizer!

So, the MOE we just sprucing up things by throwing in this 5-day challenge at no notice.  It has never been done before, but the time was right.  The deal was made sweeter by the stipulation that ‘the distance did not matter’.  It was therefore a doable thing.

I knew that the first, second and fourth runs would be the most difficult.  The first run occurs when the body is coming from some restful period.  In my case I had not been on the road for a run since last Tuesday.  Seven days of no run would make run day number 1 a difficult one.  Number 2 run is usually difficult due to the pain of the first run.  The fourth run comes at a time when you do not want to let yourself down as you gear up for the final.  That anxiety can cause you to miss that run number 4.  The final run is just pure adrenaline.  It is the final and you must just do it.

The first run lived to its expectations.  The day was cold, if anything, chilly.  There had been no ray of sun from the early morning, if anything, it drizzled.  I was lethargic from a long rest period.  I however found myself at the locker room ready for the run.  I had already decided that the challenge shall all be run on the Uthiru-Kabete Poly-Ndumboini-Wangari Maathai-Kapenguria road-river-tarmac and back circuit.  That would give me at least a 10k per day.  That was a doable daily distance, hopefully.

I started the run at 12.45pm.  It turned out to be a cold run on a 12.6km course, over the lunch hour in 1:06:27.  I finished the run without a sweat, just due to the sheer intensity of the cold weather.  That does not mean that I was having it easy.  Far from it.  I was tired, thirsty, and hungry.  I however knew that the real test would be on the Tuesday run, the number 2 run.

WWB, the Coach, Nairobi, Kenya, June 15, 2022

Running into a taxi business with a twist... four twists

Running into a taxi business with a twist... four twists

Today I added one more view to the most viewed videos on YouTube.  I was just curious to know what makes the billion-view videos be worth their ‘B’ achievement.  It is a question that I had already asked a few members of a ‘friends’ group to contribute to not so long ago.  They had told me that such a B-viewer video needs to appeal to, or be for…. guess…. the kids!  And surely video number 1 was a kids’ video – with 9.81B + 1 from me!  It was a sobering reminder of what the innocence of the young can achieve.

But it was not long when I had another kids’ discussion, but in a different context.  That was last Saturday, just seven days ago.  I was eventually travelling from TRM on Thika Road on a taxi.  I was coming back to Uthiru after a day out, probably the first time out of my comfort zone in over a year.  Even that three hour stay in that mall had already been a too much outing based on circumstances.  You know what to blame for this situation of not going anywhere else don’t you?  Of course, corona, silly!

So, the discussion started with kids as I was seated on the taxi from TRM about seven in the evening.  The driver who had already told me to cancel the Uber request and pay the indicated amount offline was driving smoothly on the almost deserted Thika road towards Pangani.  He had already lamented that the app only benefited the app.  He had said that the drivers were hardly even getting the crumbs, since they had no say in how the fares were being set nor were they even employees of Uber.

We were discussing corona in general, and why we would soon be having another lockdown in Kenya, or even not at all.  The pros for a lockdown was due to the ‘new Omicron’ variant of corona virus, while the cons were ‘the youth’.  Omicron has just been ‘discovered’, of technically speaking, had just been ‘sequenced’ in South Africa on November 24, just ten days prior to this taxi ride.  

Of course, SA and another eight of its neighbouring countries had faced a travel ban from most Europe and Americas, hardly one-week after that sequencing activity, leading to much uproar over discrimination in how international bans were being imposed.  The argument being that the ban had been rushed, and that SA had just been forthright with scientific truth.  Keeping quiet was the alternative, and that is the alternative that many on the web were now advising SA, in hindsight, to have done, instead of speaking the truth and now being banned (plus its neighbours).

The new Omicron variant was believed to be more transmissible, though its ‘deadliness’ had not yet been determined.  Even as late as today, some three weeks later and its deadliness is not yet determined.  Nonetheless, it seems to be less deadly than other variants or than previously feared.  The corona numbers* now stand at 269,570,565 infections globally from all variants, with 5,315,126 deaths since December 2019.  Kenyan numbers are 255,932 and 5,342 respectively.  On that Saturday, as I sat on that taxi, my Uber app off, my phone also off due to lack of charge, the global numbers were 265,795,997 and 5,268,209 respectively.  

*source: worldometers

Interestingly, the infection rates had gone up on a week-by-week comparison, while the deaths had gone down in the same period in the last one week.  A new highly transmissible variant was therefore ‘in the air’ yet the death rates had gone down.  The general prevalence and case numbers were even higher in the countries imposing the ban.  A punishing ban in the southern part of Africa had come to naught.  What a contradiction!  It did not even take long before the variant was being detected globally anyway, including in places that had no links with SA at all.  The variant was already out and it was its turn to do the rounds – live with it, as we now say in these days of corona.

Back to the taxi, where my phone was about to go off due to lack of charge.  The phone that I attempted to replace hardly a week prior with little success, after the replacement phone developed a starting error forcing me to return it to the vendor, and now be reluctant to migrate from my old phone.  The young runner, Atieno, had already laughed at me even before that one-week-old phone got faulty, telling me that I could do better than an Umidigi, her words, not mine.  I had and have no love to any brand of phone.  I buy according to my money and live with it.  Anyway, with my phone almost off, I paid up the initially indicated fare on the app before I had cancelled, by MPESA.  I did not want to be reach my destination and fail to payup due to a phone that was off.

However, before we had started that corona discussion, and the pro-cons of Kenya shutting down soon, we had discussed this issue of phones going off before paying up for the taxi.  The driver, who had been on ungoverned talk since I stepped into the taxi, had volunteered his wisdom on this.  He had disclosed that some drivers can screenshot a different fare display and show it to the passenger at the end of the trip in cases where the passenger’s phone is gone off.  

It would usually need a keen eye to detect the deception, though by such a time it is likely to be too late, usually after the fact.  However, he then confessed that it was possible to report such cases to Uber for resolution and penalization of the offending driver.  This would usually lead to the reduction of the driver’s ratings and the eventual crediting of the passenger’s account with the difference in charges, ready for use during a next ride.

We discussed the joys and the ‘not-so-joys’ of being the in the taxi business.  It was now almost seven-thirty as we joined Waiyaki way from the Museum hill roundabout.  He has told me that he would be closing business after he dropped me, since it was already night.  This seemed a contradiction the expectations of the current business environment.

“But we no longer have a shutdown?  You can surely work for 24-hours!”

“I just fear the night,” he said casually.

“Must be due to bad people,” I nodded in agreement.

“Not bad people, the good people!”

This got me thinking!  Fear of the good people?  Was I missing something?  He then opened up the story telling session with the top four reasons why he feared the good people and hence would like to avoid them as much as possible.  Do not hold me to account or call me names as I state the list, his list.  I am just reporting what the driver told me.  We were now on Waiyaki way, heading to Uthiru.

Good people number 1 – the drunk girl

He said that these are the types that he picks up from some nightlife joint, already tipsy.  The girl settles on the back seat and stays restless, asking him why he is not getting to his destination quickly.  They get into the list due to what happens at payment time.

“Nipe namba ya MPESA!,” the girl says, slurring with every word.

He gives the number, taking maybe five or ten times just repeating the simple ten-digit number.

They have now arrived at the destination, but the MPESA has not yet reached the driver’s phone, who then complains about it.

“Yani, hujapata!  Hebu nipe namba ya MPESA tena!”

He says that this is the cycle that makes him avoid doing night rides.

Good people number 2 – the drunk girl no. 2

This was a particular girl, but the cab driver still gets the jitters just imagining how he got himself into this situation.  He had responded to another call for taxi and had ended up in a nightclub.  A lady approached his taxi and stood by the rear window, leaning of the boot of the car.  The next sound was that of shattering glass, as the hind window smashed through.  He got out of his seat and went out just in time to see the impression left by a drink bottle that had hit that window.  He still does not know how and why his car was smashed, but it ended well, with the girl agreeing to repay.

Good people number 3 – the guy who sleeps

This is a guy he carries from… guess… from a nightclub yes, already drunk.  He tells the driver to wake him up when they get to the destination.  Many things happen at the destination.  They start by arguing over the destination itself.  The Uber app would be showing the pin confirming that they are at the destination, while the guy on the backseat would be swearing that that was not it.

“Nirudishe penye ulinitoa!,” the drunkard would finally slur out loudly.

They usually, somehow, get the right house.  He had not returned a client in his experience.

At alighting time, the driver stops the app and presents the figure to the guy who is now just awakening from the usually deep slumber, now trying to figure out his current whereabouts.  I will never forget the gesture that the driver made at this point, as he impersonated the drunkard.  We were now just past Kabete Polytechnic, about to get to Uthiru in less than three minutes.

The taxi driver pointed ahead, and continued to say what he was told, his right index finger being wiggled towards the windscreen, “Wewe… we… we… wewe!,” he shook his finger, his tone changed, even as he kept driving with one hand.

“Unataka nikulipe mara mbili eh!  Unafikiria nimelewa!, Eh! We, wewe, we!”

That reenactment was just magical.  It was like the drunkard was in that taxi at that very moment.  I could feel him.  I could feel the driver’s shock at the turn of events.  He did not tell me how he resolved it.  I can only imagine.

Good people number 4 – the guy who does not pay

This one is a story that I have heard before.  I was even ready to tell him the story myself.  This is the guy who is dropped at an apartment block and claims to go to the house to bring back the money for the taxi charges, never to come back.  However, this was a story with a twist.

He had waited for over ten-minutes and the guy did not come back, nor did he have any idea of to which house among the many in the storied complex the guy had disappeared into.  It was in the wee hours, as wee as three in the morning.  He got his courage and alighted from the taxi.  He then approached the sentry’s cubicle at the gate and asked the watchman for help.  The watchie had been one of those who just sleeps the night away, and was now also coming out of slumber.  He had just opened the gate to let the taxi in and had resumed his sleep, not caring whether the taxi was to leave or not.

After jolting the watchie back to consciousness, he started to ask him where the person whose name he knew as James, from the casual conversations, lived.

“Ai, hapa kwa hii plot hatuna mtu anaitwa James!,” the watchie was categorical and now fully sober.

“Ule jamaa nimelete hapa saa hizi!”

“Hata sikuona umelete nani,” the watchie confessed, truthfully.

The taxi man was at a dead end.

“Pole,” I told him, “Such loss of money!”

“Not so fast,” he continued with his story.  We were now at the Uthiru roundabout.

He had proceeded to describe the guy to the watchie.  It happened that the description that he gave were spot on, since it did not take more than two minutes before the watchie had a smile in his face, “Ah, huyo anaitwa baba Angel, anakaa B6!”

He found the guy in B6 collapsed on the sofa set, with the wifey trying to revive him with some early morning bowl of hot soup, which he was not responding to!

We did not get to conclude the pros and cons of closing down the Kenyan economy, again, due to the new Omicron variant of corona.  However, just like the YouTube videos that are a hit due to young people, the country was not going to be closed due to the same young people.  If you guessed that the this is due to some young persons’ street protest or some social media anti-Gov movement by the youth, then you are wrong.  The reason is that corona has not had an effect in the schools and there is no reason to close the schools and mess up the status quo.  Life shall continue as is, as usual.

WWB, the Coach, Nairobi, Kenya, Dec. 11, 2021

One week and three marathons – why virtual is good and bad

One week and three marathons – why virtual is good and bad

Today is a Sunday.  It is the last day of the 2021 edition of the Standard Chartered Nairobi International marathon.  If anything, it is actually the real day of the run.  It is usually the day of the real run, until ‘virtual’ spoiled the party.  Virtual running has meant that there is a one-week window to do the run, from wherever you are.  We would usually have this run at the city centre stadium, at the same time, on the same starting line, with the full list of marathon greats.  

That was the norm in the good old days before corona.  However, corona had hit us hard from December 2019 and led to cancellation of most runs in 2020, include the Stanchart of 2020 which was cancelled outright due to corona.  We had escaped a second-year cancellation, but corona had forced us into this run-from-home event now called virtual.  The very corona that had now infected 247,283,954 people globally, leading to 5,013,391 deaths.  Kenyan numbers were 253,310 and 5,281 respectively.  

To put these numbers into perspective, the population of New Zealand, Liberia or Ireland is just about that 5M figure.  This virus was now forcing us to avoid large crowds and run individually or in small groups and run far from the event venue.  The virtual event had its good and its bad.  The adrenaline of the crowds is something you cannot get while running virtually at home.  Formulating a route to fit the run is quite difficult.  

The dangers of the road are many, unlike the real event where roads are closed to traffic and runner rule the roads.  A real event has the routes marked and there is nourishment in terms of water, glucose, and occasionally soda and fruits, every five-kilometres.  You benefit from roadside restrooms at the same intervals.  However, you are on your own when running virtually.  It is the lack of nourishment that breaks a virtual run and renders the longer distances very difficult to do.

Nonetheless, it is not all gloom on the virtual front.  Running virtually gives you a window of one-week to decide on when you want to run.  There is no restriction on date or time.  There is no restriction on the geographical location or the route that you can take.  You can even run many runs and choose the best of them as the final one to post to the event website.  Did I mention that you can even run different distances if you so wished?

Yes, it is with this issue of running-many-different-distances in mind that I found myself rushing to the starting point for a 10km run on this hot Sunday.  It was the last day of the run, the run that had been done since last Monday had already culminated into the final ‘real’ event at the Nairobi’s Nyayo stadium.  The final event of which only the invited elite runners participated in.  The rest of us were to experience the good and the bad of the virtual run from the comfort of home, in my case some twelve kilometres from the Nyayo stadium venue.

I had already done my 21km marathon on Tuesday.  I had even escorted Sharon for her 10km debut marathon on Thursday.  I was today running for someone registered on my team as WW, not WWB.  This WW was registered for the 10km run and I had just noted on the posted results on the organizers website that WW had not yet posted any results on the 10km.  

There were about eight more hours before the marathon event closed.  That was plenty of time to do something about this missing run.  Not only that, I was also aware that one of the team runners, Beryl, was going to miss this run after suffering a last minute medical issue.  A run on her behalf could ease her pain and add mileage to the total collection of distance that we were mining in this virtual running week.  It was not last minutes.  Any distance that was getting to the team was welcome.  I had even sent email to the team to remind them to get out and do their runs for the team.  This was it!

The sun was overhead and hot as I started off the run at Uthiru.  I was on the same 10km route that I had accompanied Sharon on, during that Thursday run.  However, this would be a run of similarities and contrasts.  While we started that Thursday run on almost similar solar radiation, I started this run with a real run, unlike last time when we started the run with a walk.  I was adorned with the same luminous yellow T-shirt of NMMT branding, just like on Thursday.

While on that Thursday we had met the ruffian just across the Waiyaki way after Kabete Poly, the very ruffian who greeted me in zeal and encouraged me to, “mseya, endelea kuletanga tu warembo manze.  Mimi pia uniletee mmoja next time,” much to the chagrin of Sharon.  This day was different.  I crossed the Waiyaki way without seeing anybody who wanted to interrupt my run and then kept running with no much ado.

I reached Ndumbo stage and soon started on the downhill towards Wangari Maathai institute on Kapenguria road.  I increased pace and the gravity kicked in to pull me towards the river.  I was almost out of breath as I reached the river.  On Thursday I was still at conversational pace by the time we hit the river.  I did not give much thought to the upcoming hill after the river on that Thursday.  Today was different.  I knew that there was the one kilometre uphill coming up.  I reduced speed towards the river crossing then settled on a pace that could propel me to the end of that hill, past KAGRI and soon to the Lower Kabete Road to do the U-turn.  I still touched the tarmac as I did the U.

I was not looking forward to my run route back.  I knew that there was that hill after the river all the way to Ndumbo.  A two-kilometre section of pure hell on earth!  I soon found myself on that very hill.  It was tough!  The sun was just hovering straight ahead, beaming its heat onto my face as I kept running to the West.  The beams were painful on the face.  The glare of the horizon was blinding!  I kept going, hoping and wishing that this hill could just end.

While on Thursday we were even commenting that the hill was ‘somehow mild’ after Wangari Maathai towards Ndumbo, as we walked its length to completion, it was different today.  That hill was long and nowhere near mild!  I still struggled on and finished the uphill just past Ndumboini stage.  From there I did the right turn and then ran round the big circle, with the collection of churches encircled, to join Waiyaki way.

I now had only two more kilometres to finish the run.  My energy levels were still high, and the sun had started losing some of its hard-hitting beams.  It was even hitting me from the back as I ran towards the East on Waiyaki way.  I crossed that road and started the last stretch past Kabete Poly back to Uthiru.  My energy levels were still top notch.  It was a sprint to the finish line.  I stopped the timer at 11.93km in 58min 17sec at an average of 4min 53sec per km.  

Why the data was converted to 10.00km in 49min 55sec at an average of 5.00 when posted to the Stanchart website still remains a mystery.  That leaderboard showed that that time was a position 9 ranking.  Of course, there shall be adverse changes to that list when the elites post their data.  But the screenshot of that listing remains the truth as at the time of writing.  I even believe that I deserve a 42km medal.  After all, I did 42km in the virtual marathon week in those three runs, didn’t I?

WWB, the Coach, Nairobi, Kenya, October 31, 2021

The virtual half – a Nairobi International marathon with a twist

The virtual half – a Nairobi International marathon with a twist

I was on the road again on this Thursday.  I was taking a trainee runner to the routes to figure out a 10km distance and give her the impetus to keep going.  We started the run at exactly four in the evening.  It was hot, but not as hot.  We left Uthiru towards Kabete Poly, then crossed the Waiyaki way and ran the length of the road towards Ndumbo.  We alternated our runs and walks.  

We talked during the walks.  We even discussed how we were lucky to have decided to run on this Thursday instead of the previous day, when it had rained from about four all the way to late night.  As a consequence, the traffic jam around Kangemi had been impossible, leading to one of our runner, Berly, getting stuck in the traffic jam for over two-hours after her visit to collect a running kit.  We were glad that our ‘foresight’ in choosing the right day for the run was working to our advantage now that it was hot, but not very.

At Ndumbo we generally ran the downhill on Kapenguria road all the way to the river, then walked the uphill for about one kilometre to the Lower Kabete Road junction.

“This is harder that I thought,” Sharon commented as she finally reached the T-junction of Lower Kabete Road where we were to do the U-turn and run back on the same course.

“You must touch the tarmac,” I urged her on.

“I am too tired, I may fall over into the road,” she lamented.

“This is the ritual, you just have to do it”

She reluctantly touched the tarmac of the Lower Kabete Road, even as the vehicles from Westlands sides approached and hooted.

We turned back and walked for about five minutes on the slight uphill towards Kenya Animal Genetic Resources Institute, KAGRI.  We passed by it on our right then took a few photos.  I had already reminded the runners in the group that photos were necessary for the report to the sponsors, to make them feel good and… to also get that next sponsorship in 2022.

We then did a short run to the river and afterwards faced that one-point-five kilometre of uphill that ends at Ndumbo.  We would run-walk that hill to the very end.  By that time Sharon was taking rests every five or so minutes to get some life back to them.  Her legs were aching.  I knew the feeling.  I could feel for her.  We were now however not far from our destination.  Just another two kilometres and we would be done with the run.  The sun was still overhead and hot, but not as hot.  We kept going knowing that the end was near….

It was however quite a different situation two days ago, when I did my own virtual marathon on that Tuesday.  I started the run at about 3.15pm and it was a hot afternoon!  I have never run in such a heat.  I was nonetheless lucky that my body was feeling quite well on this day.  I did not have any aches and I was quite ready to give the international run my best.

I was suffering the disadvantage of having little choice on the route to take to get the 21km done.  All the routes that I formulated would have at least half of the run being done uphill.  There was no way out.  I therefore decided to do my run on the best of the worst options that I had at hand.  I still had to do over 10km of hills on this route even though I would get my 21km alright.

I had taken the same route as the one that I was taking Sharon to.  I however did not ritualize the tarmac with that touching action.  I instead turned left and ran the one kilometre stretch along the tarmac and then diverted once more to my left to the Mary Leakey route.  It was then generally uphill through the University farm all the way to rejoin Kanyariri road.  I would then turn right and run straight on for about two kilometres to Kanyariri ACK church junction for another right turn to run all the way to the Wangige road underpass for my U-turn.

It remained hot.  I was tiring much faster due to lack of hydration or supplementation with drinks and fruits.  I was just glad that I had got to this U-turn, since I now just needed to survive a return journey mostly on Kanyariri road to Ndumbo market, then the last two-kilometres to Uthiru.  I was tired, it was hot, and I still had an international marathon to tackle.

The end was finally near when I crossed Waiyaki way and was passing by Kabete Polytechnic.  That was Tuesday.  And I stopped my timer at 1hr 54min 26sec with the Runkeeper app reading 21.22km.  That was a good run time bearing in mind that hilly terrain and no water or glucose being dished out as would have happened if it was a ‘real’ run at the city centre.  The real run that had now been allocated to only few elites who would be at the stadium on Sunday, October 31.

Well, Sharon and I finally also finished our Thursday run which was still to be posted to the Stanchart international marathon website as a 10km virtual run.  We finished our 11.32km in 2hrs 03min and 24sec.  The run was posted to the website thereafter.  The stats would show that Sharon was so far at position 57 in a time of 1.47.18.  The organizers had prorated the timing to fit the 10km expected of the competition.  I even saw that other young runner, Atieno, under by tutelage with runner number 2020 being positioned as number 66 on that list of 10k women.  

My runner number 2031 had debuted at number 8 on the men’s 21km listing when I posted my own results registered as a time of 1.53.39.  I however knew that neither my nor Sharon’s time would be in the top 1000 list when we finally get the elites doing the real run tomorrow, Sunday.

That does not matter.  It is on record that we hit the leaderboards, and no one can dispute that.

WWB, the Coach, Nairobi, Kenya, Saturday, Oct. 30, 2021

Unlocking the locked runner… really?

Unlocking the locked runner… really?

Mondays are run days.  I therefore had no choice but to be ready for this run over the lunch hour.  I was quite rested after 2-days of no runs.  I was ready for this run – just another Monday run.  This run also coincided with the staggering numbers of COVID19 infections – 11,630,803 with 538,177 deaths worldwide with the motherland having 8,067 cases with 164 deaths, as per worldometers stats. 

I was also aware that Kenya would be making an announcement on what next, following the expiry of the three-month lockdown from leaving the city and dusk-to-dawn curfew.  We were to know whether we would face a fourth month locked in or we would finally be let free.  I was not holding my breath on this.  If anything, I was expecting an extension of the lockdown and curfew, based on the rising number of infections locally and internationally.

I started the run at 12.55pm.  The weather was good, meaning no sunshine and not cold either.  The cloud cover formed a big umbrella shielding us from the sun even as I started the run.  I was relaxed and well rested as I did this run.  It was a good feeling.  My mind was generally blank.  I was repeating the Friday route, which was now well etched into my memory.  I could even close my eyes and run this half marathon and navigate through the whole circuit.

I was soon at Ndumbo stage, passing by as I heard the various radios from motorbikes, kiosks, parked vehicles, moving vehicles and all…. “Fellow Kenyans….”
I could not hear the rest since I was already past all these collection of radios in a moment and was now running down towards Wangari Maathai institute, then towards the river, ready for the uphill towards KAGRI.

As I passed KAGRI towards the Lower Kabete tarmac, I got to the collection of three or so motorbikes parked at the road junction.  Two people were seated on a bench, just next to the bikes besides the road.  They were playing draughts, with the radios on…. “… this pandemic…” is all I heard as I passed by and turned left ready for the uphill towards the Mary Leakey turnoff.  

It is at this very junction while turning left that some minute insect got into my left nostril – just like that!  Out of nowhere! 
“Atchoooo!”
Nothing doing. 
The nostril remained itchy, but I kept going towards the Mary Leakey turnoff about two minutes away.

At the turnoff, I got those vehicles that have now been turned into market stalls, with all manner of groceries and fruits on display and sale, within and on top of the vehicles.  Their radios were on, with the few people around the vehicles – buyers and sellers – continuing their chat.  I am not even sure if they were listening, but the sound was loud enough… “… gender-based…” I heard as I passed them on that left turn.

I was now going towards Mary Leakey school and soon towards the river on the dry weather road.  It was a bit deserted, save for one bike that passed me by, going same direction.  Its radio was on... “… fellow Kenyans…” the bike was already gone way ahead, and I could not get anymore of the sound.

Soon I was taking the right turn that gets you ready to face the university farm.  It would take about ten minutes to run through this trail to emerge at the Kanyariri tarmac road.  This section of the road would usually not have anyone – and it did not disappoint on this day – there was no one through the almost ten-minute run.  There was no radio sound at all on this footpath… in fact no sound at all.  It was quite quiet!
Many “Atchoooos!” later and that nitwit finally got out of my nostril just in time to enable me breath freely enough in preparation to hit the tarmac at ‘the tank’.

I turned right at the tank, to join the Kanyariri tarmac where I would run for about fifteen minutes, before making a U-turn.  At this ‘the tank’ turnoff, I saw one motorbike parked just besides the road on the newly constructed shed.  The radio was on, “… wakenya wenzangu…”

I was already too gone to hear any more, as I faced this road that is usually generally deserted.  You encounter very few vehicles.  None of the vehicles that pass by had their radios on, hence I did not get much more news on this day when we expected the ‘big’ announcement on what happens next after 3-months of lockdown.

There were no more radio announcements by the time I got to Kanyariri shopping centre.  If anything, I just heard some music coming out of the various radio items that adorned that part of the geography – be it from inside shops, from the passing motorbikes or from the walkers.  Either these people did not give-a-dee about the announcement, or the announcement was over. 

I would not get to know the final decision of announcement while on the run, not with these two-word sounds that I was getting over time.  I was soon doing the U-turn and started my run back on Kanyariri road tarmac, enjoying the downhill all the way to Ndumbo river, then a short uphill to Ndumbo centre, then to Waiyaki way and finally, crossing the Waiyaki at Kabete Poly ready for the home run.

I had to run some errands immediately after the lunch-hour run, hence did not have any time to check on what the verdict of the powers were, on whether we would be having a fourth month confined in the city or not.  It would soon be evening, and the local news was quite clear on what had happened – lockdown is off, curfew is still on, with effect from July 7.  I did not have a reaction.  I did not know how to react.  After over 90-days of restricted movement, I was not sure of what this new status would mean.

WWB, the Coach, Nairobi, Kenya, July 6, 2020

Running for love... at the last minute

Running for love... at the last minute


Remember that last time B had asked whether I was serious about a run on the fourteenth?  She turned out to be right, since she skived the run, with a simple, “Something came up”.  This ‘something’ came up when the run had already been publicized and it was on the cards.  However, there was nothing stopping this run.  But at least I had tried my best to get her to the starting line.  I had even given her a ‘last chance’ to be at the starting line by 4.00pm.  I had informed her that the ‘train shall leave with or without the runners’ after that time.

By 4.15pm it was evident that Beryl had missed the train on this Friday.  This realization was brought to fore when Karl did a casual pop into my office with a “Are you not going for the 4.00pm run?  I was to join you!”
“I was waiting for B,” I responded, knowing that I was lying even to myself on the possibility of B making it for this run, “However, let us go.  I shall be ready in a minute.”

Karl was already dressed and jogging around ready for the run.  It took me exactly a minute to shed off the work attire and adorn the ‘international’ attire ready for the ‘international’ run.  We immediately moved towards ‘the generator’ starting point.

We would soon be joined by Nick and momentarily by Barbara while on our way down there.  I had previously only been in touch with the latter through email communication, where I had informed her that the ‘early starters’ would be leaving at four, with another group of ‘regular starters’ leaving at 4.45pm.  She had preferred to run with the early starters, though she was on some work assignment that was making this 4.00pm run unlikely. 

It was therefore a pleasant surprise to see her join in.  Of the four, she was the most appropriately prepped for the run.  I could see those small water bottles affixed to her belt and somethings that looked like those gel tubes that I last saw during the Amsterdam’s TCS international marathon.

“Where is the group?,” she asked in surprise as we got ‘generated’.
“This is it,” I responded.
“You mean the four of us are ‘the group’?”
“Yes, we are the group.  We only expect another two to join in on the four-forty-five group.”
She did not seem impressed. 
She expected a multitude. 
She found nothing close.

It was just about 4.25pm when we started our run.  Our team of four left the generator and were facing that 400m uphill to the gate just a minute after start of the run.  By then Barbara and I were on the lead, with Karl and Nick not far behind.  We passed by the gate and were ‘out there’ ready to do those 21k of run.  My new member of the ‘new B-and-B’ was not going to have it easy on me.  I was already feeling the intensity of the run by the time we were at the highway crossing at Kabete.

The run continued onto the other side of the road for about three minutes before we got past ‘the wall’ and did the Vet loop ensuring that we touched the new gate from ‘the other side’, the same gate that now prevented us from doing a ‘proper’ loop.
“We have done two,” B said as we headed to Ndumbo after looping.
“That can’t be…,” I protested.  I knew that we should have covered much more distance.
“The Garmin does not lie.  It is two miles for sure.”
It took some mental calculation to convert the miles to ks, before I accepted the situation.

We ran down past Ndumbo market towards the river.  The pace was quite intense.  We were just under 6min per k.
“Prepare for the seven kilometres of uphill… coming up,” I warned B.
“I shall give it a try.”
She did not just give it a try.  She conquered that hill, with our first stop being at Gitaru market for a short two-minute break, before we ran the last kilometer to Wangige road to face that dusty loop where the main road is still under construction.

It was not long before we were back to Kanyariri road for the seven kilometres of downhill.
“Hi, mzungu?,” an excited child, in a group of about four, shouts at our approaching steps.
B says her “Hi”.
We are soon passing by them.
“How are you!,” they shout almost in unison. 
I am just an invisible silhouette in their vision.
“Hello!,” B encourages them on.  However, it is short-lived, since we are past them in a flash and are enjoying the downhill run so much to let such distractions set us off pace.

It is on this section that we also met up with Edu and Jeff.  They were facing the uphill while we were on the roll down.  We exchanged our greetings and let each pair go their way.  Karl and Nick must have been somewhere behind our trail.  We had not seen the duo again since we met at the loop during those first twenty minutes of the run.

The run was generally quiet without much event.  Most of the passers-by and by-standers just looked at us with either expressionless faces or with a dismissal of the futility of whatever we were doing.  What they failed to know was that we were enjoying a downhill run and the overall run was starting to seem like an under-2hr run.  Which believe me you if a fast run.  I could feel it now that we had clocked 15k, sorry 9 miles.

It would however be the kids who would once again recognize and voice our presence as we ran… and the downhill could not have been complete without the children near Junel Primary School giving this recognition, just as we approached ‘the tank’.
“How are you, mzungu!”
B recognized them and appreciated the greetings. 
I was silhouetted once more. 
Just when I thought that I would remain invisible, one of the boys shouted an afterthought in my direction, “Kipchoge!  Huyo ni Kipchoge!”

We would finally face that last 1km of uphill towards Ndumbo market.  We just did it.  Once you are through with that hill, then you are generally through with the run, since the last 2km cannot stand on your way.  The first of the last two leads you to the road crossing at Kabete Poly, while the last kilometer takes you from the Poly back to the ‘Stop’ at the gate.

It was a great thrill to conquer the international half in just 2hr 2min and 20sec.  The Endomondo gave the distance as 21.71km, while Runkeeper recorded it as a 21.54km.  The after run Coke was a welcome warm down even as we now prepared for the next two runs – the Kilimanjaro international marathon at the Tanzanian town of Moshi to be held March 1, and our very own Beyond Zero marathon at Nairobi Nyayo stadium on March 8.  The two marathons back to back – the two runs that we are starting the month with.

WWB, the Coach, Nairobi, Kenya, February 14, 2020