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

Same run, but different run

Same run, but different run

The Friday run was to be a repeat – a reconfirmation that Monday was not an accidental run.  On that Monday I was forced to take a thirty-minute break at the very middle of the run, at the turning point, when the rains just started from nowhere.  That break was a good rest.  After the rest, it was a smooth run back through the 10.5km.  However, I noted that I was really struggling with my run, as if some force was pushing me back.  I however managed to finish the run and break a 21km record in the process.

On this Friday, I wanted to confirm that this run was still possible, without a break.  I left for this run at about 12.30pm.  The sun was already overhead, though it was not very hot as it had to also contend with the cloud cover that came on and off over time.  The start of the run was fun, without any pressure and the route was easy.  I now had the route profile in memory.  I would just run the 8km, then make a gentle left turn for another ten minutes, and would then do a U-turn when I felt like it.

The run to the 8km was good.  Though the route seemed to be hilly, in my sight, I found it quite easy to run on.  My right wheel was however still giving me trouble.  It pained as I ran, but seemed to improve with time.  I could feel the pressure of pain on my knee and had to reduce speed at places.  Accelerating was out of the question due to the pressure that the knee was struggling to handle… and failing to handle.  The knee pain subsided and was virtually gone as I headed to Kipkenyo.  

After the 8km turn, at Kipkenyo, I started on the 2km stretch that would get me to the DEB school, where I was rained on last time.  I passed by the school and kept going for another five or so minutes, before I found a place that I would do a U-turn.  The sun was still hot as I did the turn, ready to replicate the run back to my starting point.  

My troubles started when I was now back to the DEB school, hardly 12km onto the run.  I started feeling that force pushing against my run.  I reduced speed and kept going, almost coming to a halt, even halting at some point.  I was feeling the fatigue of the run.  The road profile, in my eyes, was generally downhill.  So why would I be struggling with a downhill run?  If anything, I should be rolling without an effort!  But believe it or not, I was hardly able to keep up with the run.

I could have abandoned the run altogether, but I was already too deep in the run, and of course, did not have any alternative.  I had to make it back to the finish line, or otherwise be lost many kilometres from my destination.  I motivated myself that I had done worse runs before and that kept me going.  I kept struggling but kept running.  I kept estimating my remaining ‘survival’ distance as I kept going.

Finally, I reached the last left turn for that spelt the last one kilometre.  I was re-energized.  I was going to make it to the finish line.  The sun was still hot but that did not mean a thing.  I was going to finish the run.  And soon, in another five minutes, I did finish the run.  I recorded a distance of 23.28km in 1.54.00.  The verdict for this particular run was that I barely survived.  

For a second time in four days, I was still unfortunate not to meet any runner at this home of champions.  Maybe my run time was occurring at the wrong time?  And just like my initial denial on Monday, the map profile on Runkeeper and Endomondo still indicated that there was a 100m uphill run when I start the run back after the U-turn.  My eyes may have been seeing otherwise, but the geography of the earth did not lie – the last 11km was a continuous uphill.

WWB, the Coach, Eldoret, Kenya, Aug. 21, 2020

Waiting six months for nothing

Waiting six months for nothing

Today is a Wednesday.  CV infections are 7,403,022 with 416,568 deaths as per worldometers.  WHO is more conservative with 7,145,539 and 408,025.  There has been debate about the source and authenticity of these numbers, but let us not dwell on that for now… Infections are in the millions and fatalities are in the almost half million.  

It rained most night and most morning.  It was still drizzling while I made my way to the starting line for the lunch hour run.  I was having second thoughts about even taking this run.  I was being forced to this run since those 1,000 miles in 2020 were now beckoning.  If anything, a new quest for 1,500 miles was in the offing.

I looked up at the clouds and the waters hit my projected face.  The drizzle was still real and the time was exactly noon.  I was just about to be happy that I was not going to run, when the drizzle stopped before my very eyes and the weather become still.  It was cold.  The horizons of Ngong hills and city centre was engulfed in white haze.  It looked like it was raining over there, some ten or so kilometres off to the horizon.  At that rate, if true, then it would just be a matter of time before the rains started pounding this part of the city once more.

There was no time to second guess my decision.  I was soon out of the block and started off my three gadgets.  Yes, three – two cells and the newbie wrist strap bracelet that had just arrived last week.  This is a gadget that I had waited for since January.  I made the first order online in late January.  By then CV was not a threat at all.  Starting with first data of 41 infections and 1 death on Jan. 11, the world had just moved to 854 cases and 24 deaths as at January 24 – mostly all in China.  The rest of the world was safe, with no worries.  International travel by air or otherwise was still going on as usual.

I had ordered the gadget through an online agent, but by the time they firmed up the order in February, the shippers at China were already facing a lockdown.  Shipment of exports from China was starting to be delayed.  I was asked to wait for 2-months!  Which was quite something.  It would normally take three weeks max to get something from there.  I waited and finally in March, just after the Kili marathon, I did get my item… or rather an empty package.

It took me two weeks to get my refund after returning the empty packet, even as we started the month of April.  By then Kenya was already on curfew and lockdown.  The world had recorded 827,404 cases of CV with 40,712 deaths as at April 1.  Kenya had recorded 59 cases with 1 fatality by that date.  International shipping was a pain, now that air transport had ground to a halt in most countries including Kenya.  

The exception remained cargo, but the cargo was now moving around quite slowly on the now clear airspaces.  A re-order of a similar item in early April resulted into an ‘out of stock’ notification after two weeks of waiting.  A third order of the gadget in mid-April resulted into almost two months of waiting.  I was given an approximate receiving date of June 1 – imagine, April 15 to June 1!  Even a ship could have traversed the waters from China to Mombasa in less than that period!!  But I waited.  There was nothing to do but wait.

Last week the gadget finally arrived – after waiting since January!  And… and it did disappoint!  I had expected that I would put an end to running with the two cells, which I do due to their route mapping ability and the maps can subsequently be exported and shared.  This feature is was the features page of the gadget had promised, “… has GPS to track and map the run...”

The bracelet has GPS alright, but there is no way of keeping it on.  You switch it on and when you move to the next button, you find that it has gone back off.  There is no way of starting your run on the GPS screen.  Means that when you just press a button to get you off GPS screen and onto the ‘start’ button for the run, the GPS is off already!  And the distance that the gadget gives, without GPS is always 50% more that the true distance.

Take the Sunday run for example.  That date of the international MA-RA-TH-ON.  The day when four athletes had to form a relay team and each contribute a 10.5km run that should then add all up to equal a full marathon, within the hours of June 6 midnight to June 7 midnight.  I was already tired from the Friday run, and hence did not have the strength for a run on June 6.  I decided to go for it on Sunday June 7.  I would only be doing the 10.5km contribution to my relay team, and be done.

I had mapped the run on Google maps and knew exactly how many loops I had to do at the Vet-loop and be back to the finish line after conquering exactly 10.5km.  I left to start the run with the usual two cells, one running Endomondo, the other Runkeeper.  I had already tried to see if Strava can be of use on one of the cells, but it persisted on the ‘No GPS’ screen for too long that I had to give up on it and use the alternative apps.  

Despite this, the MA-RA-TH-ON event was being tallied on Strava, and they had already cautioned that ‘… all runs on Strava shall automatically be recorded as part of the event’.  I had thought that was quite stringent, and discriminatory, in the world where run apps come in all manner of names and can usually export a map that is then available for consumption by any other app.  

In fact, this is what consoled me even as I abandoned Strava.  I knew that I could easily import the run data from Endo or RK onto Strava.  I had already done this data exchange for the three runs of June.  I therefore knew for sure that Stava was capable of ingesting run data from any other app.  I was not worried any bit about recording my fast 10.5km onto Strava… and… onto the international relay aka MA-RA-TH-ON.

The third gadget on this Sunday run was ‘the gadget’, the very wrist strap bracelet that does not seem to keep GPS on.  I had already set GPS on, and pressed the other button to get me to the run start screen.  I could see the GPS icon flashing on the starting screen, which I later read on the manual meant that GPS had not yet ‘locked’.  A polite way of saying, ‘no GPS’.  

No GPS meant, the run could not be tracked using satellite, hence it is not possible to map, or distance the run.  But I still gave it the benefit of the doubt.  Maybe the GPS signal would be acquired within the run duration, after all, the mid-day weather was quite bright with a good level of sun due to absence of any cloud cover.  The day had all the ingredients of GPS signal availability.  But do not just take my word for it, the two other run gadgets had full (green level) GPS signal strength.

I finished my MA-RA-TH-ON just after one-thirty.  I stopped my three gadgets.  The apps were in full agreement – 10.54km in 47m44s – a 4m32s per km.  That run took a toll on me!  I am not sprinting any more such runs in a while.  I immediately uploaded the run data to Strava online and it graciously accepted.  I then looked at the ‘challenges’ page on Strava, and the message was still, 

‘You have registered for one challenge MA-RA-TH-ON and 0 challenges completed’

“What?,” I shouted to the screen while at the empty office.  

Sweat was still dripping from my forehead and arms and now soaking the desktop.

I refreshed the webpage.  The message remained at 0 done.

I logged out and logged back to Strava.  The message remained 0 events done.  

At the same time, the same app indicated the 10.54km done, under my list of events, but it did not seem to get this event into the list of challenges done.

I was still all sweaty and wondering whether I actually needed to time my run with Strava only for the run to count into the relay challenge.  I would really have let my team down if I failed to bring forth my 10.5km to the table.  But, I had not failed to bring the distance to the table.  I had done it.  I had witnesses.  I was sweating profusely for crying out loud, if that was not witness enough!  

Endomondo was my witness!  

Runkeeper was my witness!  

Even Strava was my witness!!  

All these apps were showing a BIG congratulatory message for the fastest run in 2020 – but the challenge was still indicating a 0 done!  How unfair?

I really contemplated taking another 10.5km run – if that is what it would take to get the distance registered as part of my contribution to the relay team.  However, after some denial phase, I came to the acceptance that my fate was sealed.  I had done my run, it is only that fate had conspired against me, to deny me an opportunity to contribute the distance to the kitty of the international relay.  

I had now made up my mind – I was not repeating the run.  If the distance and time would not count, so be it.  If I had already stopped doing things for CV aka TT, what about the relay?  There was no real prize anyway, just bragging rights over a fast average pace.  I could skip that and not lose any sleep.  I was in fact even happy that my ‘miserable’ speed would not be up for debate on Whatsapp, as it would not count in the discussions of who was who.

It was now just past two, when I had to make full disclosure on the marathoners Whatsapp group.

“Sorry team members.  I did the run using Runkeeper and imported the data to Strava.  Unfortunately, Strava has failed to recognize this run as part of the challenge.  I tried but it is too late to do anything about it.  Once more, sincere apologies to the relay team.”

A few chat exchanges later and….

“It is taking time for Strava to update the data.  Just wait.  I had to wait myself,” a fellow runner in the group would provide the insight.

At three my data was uploaded to the challenge.  By three I had also confirmed that the bracelet gadget had recorded a distance of 16km in 47min45sec.  Why I waited for six months to get nothing still puzzles me.

I shake my head as I head for the showers…. That shaking of head is today, Wednesday, after the lunch hour run that had been rained in advance.  The very run that took me through the muddy Vet-loop and equally muddy trail from Mary Leakey school through the University farm, all the way to the tarmac as I joined Kanyariri tarmac.  The run was difficult.  Running on mud is difficult.  The very run that tested the three gadgets once more, with the bracelet recording a ‘fake’ 36.8km in 2hr 3min 34sec.  The other two recorded the expected 24 point something km in the exact same time.

Why I waited for six months to get nothing still puzzles me.  I shake my head as I head for the showers….

WWB, the Coach, Nairobi, Kenya, June 10, 2020

When 13 is the lucky number

When 13 is the lucky number

The rains were not going to get me again.  I was still feeling the pain of being rained-on on Wednesday, just two days ago.  I did not want to experience any more such pain ever.  The same rain made me lose the opportunity to do a proper half marathon, since the last two hundred metres had to be cancelled as the rain made the run-to-the-finish-line untenable.  On that Wednesday I did start my run at 3.30pm, hoping to finish by 5.30pm just before the rain.  But the rains would have nothing to do with my plans.  It had its own plans for an early rain that started around five.

On this Friday I was determined to start the run at three.  Another thirty minutes earlier than usual.  At this rate of starting early, I would soon be starting my runs at two!  I was sure that I would finish the run by 4.30pm and surely, it could not have rained by that time!  That early?  Can it?

My other consolation that I had was that the anger of the rain had kind of been quenched already, since there was about thirty minutes of mid-day rain, from around one.  It was not very heavy, but it was heavy enough to cause a blockage at Uthiru roundabout.  It takes quite some rain water volume to block that trench inside the roundabout to force the water to overflow onto the roundabout tarmac.  There was water on the tarmac as I walked work-wards just after 1.30pm on this Friday.

Despite my best of intentions, the run actually started at 3.10pm.  I was aiming to redo the missed marathon of Wednesday.  The one that was short by just two hundred metres.  Almost doesn’t count, does it?  I had to do something that counts.  That is what was on my mind as I set-off at three-ten.

The route was to be the same ol’ Mary Leakey, with four loops at the Vet loop.  This combination had already been proved to be exactly the half marathon, if anything, it was a bit more, depending on how far one would be go for the U-turn every time they did the monotonous loop.  The weather was downcast.  There was no sun, nor was there rain.  It was still and cloudy.  There was no sign of impending rains, though the horizon was starting to get dark.  The Ngong hills were getting dark, and the windmills were now hardly visible.

I started the first phase of the run by dispensing of the four Vet loops first, so that I could now just be left with only the ML to tackle… and then be straight back to the finish point at ‘the generator’.  The rains of the previous day and that lunch hour mock rain had made the dry weather roads wet, slippery and full of water puddles.  These roads were the Vet loop and the section of the road from Lower Kabete road as you divert to the left to ML school, then through the Uni farm.  I still managed, despite soiled shoes, soiled socks and soiled legs.

I was not exempt from having a facemask myself since I was in a public environment, running on public roads.  I also had my mask… handing on my neck.  I still observed very few people having their masks either on or at hand.  However, the situation had improved.  I would rate that every one in ten people that I came across was having some form of face mask.  I insist on ‘some form of’, since this issue of facemasks is now taking a nonsensical twist or even some comical turns in some cases.  The things people put on their faces in the name of masks!  There was even a news article the previous day of folks now turning inner wears into face masks!  

In exactly two hours, actually, 2.00.36, I was through with the repeat run of Friday.  This being compensation for the Wednesday run that was ‘almost’ a half marathon.  24.34km was the Runkeeper distance, while Endomondo gave this run a 24.31km.  The distance is not the subject matter, nor the time.  The subject matter is that you should do your run, at your distance and your pace – while there is still time for that.  

Even go ahead and do your walks out there, while you still have the opportunity.  Just do something while the time is still there.  The subject is that we have TT lurking in the shadows waiting to inflict a big blow to the running community.  TT, aka COVID-19, now had infected 2,218,332 people globally, with fatalities figure being 148,654, as per JHU stats of today at 11.38.41pm.  My own motherland is contributing 246 cases onto that 2M figure.

Many countries in the world are in some form of movement restriction or lockdown that is causing real inconveniences.  Runners have not been spared either.  They are suffering the most with the inability to access run routes, or being forced into facemasks that they cannot breathe-through.  Our motherland has only initiated partial lockdown in the name of 7.00pm to 5.00am curfew and the requirement to adorn a facemask while at public places.  

There could soon be a total lockdown where even running ‘out there’ shall not be possible.  Take maximum advantage and run as much as you can while we still have time… while we can still tame TT.  The time for TT to take over and start its streak may be with us sooner than later.  

China’s lockdown was 63-days (2 months) – the total ‘no leaving your house’ type.  That would be 24 missed runs – a 24-win streak for TT, if such a restriction was imposed on us back here.  Better be having 24 wins with you as early as today, if you really want to gain any real advantage over TT in the unlikely event of a total lockdown.

Finally, this was the thirteenth streak since I first dared TT – and yes, I am celebrating my 13-0 win, four weeks since the first dare!  And to put icing on the run, it turned out to be quite enjoyable.  It did not even rain during and after the run!  The more reason why I believe that 13 is a lucky number.

WWB, the Coach, Nairobi, Kenya, April 17, 2020

Running at night - dare you?

Running at night - dare you?

“Am I imagining that I imagine a light hitting my face?,” I asked myself, as I stepped carefully, with heavy steps, on the dim trail.

It happened again, a beam tore through my approaching form, just for a moment, then it went dead again.  This caused my second temporary blindness as the rods in my eyes had to readjust from high intensity light to darkness.  I kept going.  I would soon pass by a sentry, hardly visible, apart from his form that could be made out from the side of the now dark and almost invisible trail.

“Salamno,” I say in his direction as I pass by.

“Salamno!”

I am soon gone and face the left turn on the ninety degrees corner of the farmland.  My only worry now is a stumble, which may affect the run completion.  A fall would be worse, as it would spell the end of my run for the day.  I just kept stepping on by faith that all is well.  From the corner, I would run about half a k, to get to the main road that leads in and out of the compound.  I then have to continue making my way through the trail that generally runs around the outer perimeter of the compound.  

This is just my fifth circuit out of the six that I plan to do.  I still have one more of these dark runs to contend with.  However, I am not to blame.  Blame my location.  I surely started the run at 5.30pm, when it was still bright and light.  It just become dark as I started the fourth circuit.  It was hardly 6.10pm when the darkness hit.  I was doing this ‘torch-beam’ circuit hardly ten minutes later on this 2k circuit.  My last sixth would end at 6.38pm.  I had survived over 30-minutes of running in the dark.

Running in the dark has its own share of issues.  To start with, you need to be alert – all senses alert type.  Your eyes are not your only guide.  They are hardly your guide since you cannot see properly.  Your ears are your second most important sense.  You judge your action with what you hear.  Like that apparent movement in the thickets on my left before I met with that beam.  That thicket noise surely meant something.  I was faced with a ‘stop-think-retreat’ or ‘accelerate-think-later’ when I first heard these sounds.  I accelerated, only to get that face load of beam!  

The wild

It was just one day after this Monday run that we were discussing the ‘animals on campus’.  I was all smiles as I saw the presentation on large screen about the other stakeholders that this campus in Ethiopia coexists with.

The list had snakes – that is not strange.  Have vegetation, have trees, have insects, have rodents and that would be the natural predator.  This campus has all these.

“We have rats,” the presenter would say.  

Surely!  That is not something worth talking about when listing animals on campus!  Is a rat even an animal?

“We have jackals, near the field.”

“Did you say jackals?,” I had to reconfirm this.

“Yes, just on the thicket next to the field.”

My experience on that trail next to the field came back to mind.  That must have been it.

We would be provided with the full list of the other animals on campus, those that my Engineering department had to find a place for.  Blue breasted bee-eater, the bird.  A duiker, I had to check that out before I found out what it was.  How about another bird, the Rouget’s rail!  Several tortoises – I had seen these while on previous runs, just grazing next to the trail.  Hooded vultures – no comment on this.  Frogs – this is an animal?  Liars!  White-tailed mongoose.  

A civet – that was another animal that I had not heard of, but there it was projected on the big screen.  Vervet monkey – so that is what that thing is called!?  The list would go on… Green parrot, Honey bees…

“We also have three of the four species of Ibis nesting around the waste water ponds,” the presenter would update us.

I had to look that one up, since that would be quite something.  The real genus for this would therefore be Bostrychia, though my source would indicate five species in this genus.

Back to the run at night, where you must have both your eyes and ears open.  You also need to have your instinct ready and waiting.  The run at night is also likely to be faster since your adrenalin is likely to be elevated ready for ‘anything’.  However, this also means that your stress level may be unnecessarily high during and immediately after the run, hence you need to know how to deal with it.  Just finish your run and get something to relax you, like a warm bath and a cup of your favourite drink – water can still do.  I finished off with a bath and a glass of warm water, even as my Endomondo gave out the stats as: 

DISTANCE - 13.94 km

DURATION - 1h:08m:10s 

Finally, please note that there is a difference between running-in-the-dark and night-running.

WWB, the Coach, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, Dec. 4, 2019