25 on 25

25 on 25

It was not my intention to run on the day when the Christian faith was in a birthday party, but it just turned out to be.  After all, it is very long since I did a run, as ‘very long’ as nine days.  The last run was the December international marathon aka ‘the boycott version 2’.  On this date of December 16, my running team, once again, boycotted the run, after doing the same in November.  I knew that this would happen since the three regular runners had said or had done everything that they could to ensure that they missed this run…. and they did give it to me the best way that they thought fit.

Let me start with Karl.  He had peeped through my door on Thursday, a day to the run, at about 12.30pm.

“I feel like I can go a ka-tooo kooo run, maybe to tarmac.  Can we go?”

I would usually have said yes, since the tarmac run route just goes from Uthiru, through Kapenguria road all the way to the Lower Kabete road, where you do a U-turn and back.  The run is anything from ten to thirteen kilometres, depending on the tweaks that you add to it.

“But why would you be running when we have the big run tomorrow?,” I asked him even as he kept holding the door ajar.

“Kesho siko, naenda shags, Mwingi, I have something to do.”

So that is how I got the first regret over the attendance of the Friday run.  Of course I did not join him for the Thursday run.  I was not messing the international.

The second semblance of an apology came from Edu.  He had been on a daily run on this month of December for whatever reason.  Marathoners do things that are sometimes not understandable to the rest of us, marathoners and even non-marathoners.  I had met him one week prior, as we were preparing for this run.  This was during the staff party that was meant to mark the end of the year, the first such party since 2019.  Corona had put a break to gatherings and mass events since that time.  The very corona that is now technically eradicated or a live-with disease, or did I hear that it has had a resurgent from where it first started in China?  

The corona that causes COVID-19 disease, which has now infected 661.7M people globally with 6.68M deaths, hence 1% deaths of the confirmed infections.  Kenyan numbers now stand at 342,470 and 5,688 respectively.  Of course, deaths from road accidents in Kenya this year has surpassed this number.  That is why I believe that corona ended and other things took over, but let me get back to the story.

That on December ninth.  It was the end year party, when the dress code was ‘the 70s’, and Edu was adorned with an Afro wig, a waist high pair of trousers with suspenders, with others in similar for guys and girls with short short-skirts.  On this day of the end year party, when I was in a grey suit and tie – which was surely a theme dress.  If anything, I had overdone it since I was even in a pre-70s attire anyway.  I did meet Edu and we talked briefly as we picked the food and drink stamps.  He had mentioned that he would be travelling out of the city from the next week.  He did not mention anything about the marathon.  I was left to add the one-plus-one on this.  For information, that suit was in readiness of a major award, more on this upon enquiry.

Lastly, it was Beryl who did a number on me.  We had had a Wednesday evening run, just two day prior, with compulsion coming from my side, since it was my run day and she had to follow suit.  She had confirmed that she would participate in the Friday run, but not the full distance.  I had my doubts.  She has not participated in any international since the corona pandemic.  I was doubtful that she would be doing a second run, albeit even shorter, two days after this run.  I did not say as much.  It was therefore no surprise when I got a WhatsApp message on the Friday of the run that was brief and to the point, “Have a good run, we shall speak after the run.”

It was therefore a second time in less than three weeks that I was facing an international run alone and lonely.  The things that I do for the team!  The run was the usual.  From Uthiru through Kapenguria road to Lower Kabete road for a brief run, then turn to the Uni farm past Mary Leakey school, then join Kanyariri road to Kanyariri centre for the right turn all the way to the underpass on Wangige road and back straight to Uthiru.  The weather remained warm and a bit sunny.  I cleared the 24.45k in an average of 5min 00sec per km in a 1796-1935m elevation range.

I subsequently vowed not to do nothing for the team.  And took the end of year leave to prove the point.  I was relaxing and enjoying the good holiday, doing nothing, when the run bug bit me on Saturday night.  I therefore woke up early, at eight-thirty, on this Sunday and just left for the run.  I was doing this run at the home of champions, though I did not expect meet any champion on this morning.  After all, it was Christmas day, and most people were preoccupied with the day’s festivities, be it in church or in the hood.  I met lots of singing from the churches along the route.  I hardly met people on the road, even the motorbikes were relatively few on this day.

I was doing my usual circuits on one side of the Sosiani river, with Eldy town rising to its fullness on the other side of the river.  The circuit is just over 5km.  It is mostly hilly, but it is so far the only route that I could formulate, that avoids the vehicular traffic as much as possible.  Avoiding a competition with motor vehicles is one of the things that you want to do with your runs when you have an option.  I did four full loops and a conclusion run on the fifth one that did not go all the way.  I finished the run just before eleven, having covered 25.69k at an average of 5min 11sec per km.  The elevation of the run ranging from 2054m to 2104m.  I just hope that the run bug spares me and allows me to take a rest until I resume the runs officially in January week 2.

Merry Christmas!

WWB, Eldoret, Kenya, Sunday, December 25, 2022

The costly price of cheap unga

The costly price of cheap unga

I have now proved that the extra germ in my body is doing wonders.  I say this because I have broken run record after run record since that booster shot number 2 of COVID19 vaccine.  I so far have a total of four shots in the arm for this virus, three on the left and one on the right arm.  All this as global infections* of corona virus disease reaches 576,581,896 infections and 6,405,982 deaths.  Kenyan numbers are so far 337,389 and 5,672 respectively.  

*source: worldometers website

Nonetheless, corona is now virtually over and a forgotten disease.  It has been overtaken by other global problems including lack of food (grains), blamed on the Ukraine-Russia war that started mid-February.  Other issues include flooding, drought and wildfires, blamed on global warming.  Corona and COVID19 are no longer the ‘in thing’.  So, I did the 5-in-5 event last week, that is, 5-runs-in-5-days.  However, this time I did it on the longer 15-17km route on the Mary Leakey loop.  The average speeds started at 5.07 (15.4km), 5.03 (17.11km), 5.00 (17.13km), 5.01 (17.14km), 4.59 (17.14km).  Yesterday, was a Monday and I still added another run on the route getting to 4.49 (17.16km).  

All these runs were not for bragging rights, far from it.  These were experimental runs.  I was in the running lab, out there on the road, to confirm that the corona vaccinations, the booster to be specific, worked and had added an extra shot of energy in my runs.  Nonetheless, we still have a fast run, in the name of the July International marathon.  Let this run confirm that my experiment is true, as I take the body for a ‘sprinters delight’ July marathon, where runners are expected to run their fastest over the 21km distance.

However, there is no guarantee that my so far successful experiment with good runs shall continue for long.  This is because of the new global challenges which now exclude COVID19.  The cost of food stuff has been rising continually in the last two months.  While a kilo of our very lifeline staple food, unga, was retailing at 50/= hardly one-month ago, it had risen steadily and even had doubled already by last week.  In fact, it was even virtually impossible to get that maize flour at even the doubled price.  It was heading to triple, all this while, the income levels had remained the same.  This unga thing was going to be a big issue and I had even seen a news clip on Aljazeera about Kenya and the unga crisis.  Of course, that clip showed a demonstration that was taking place in the city streets where the people were protesting these very high prices of unga.

It was therefore a sigh of relief when the president just last week issued an executive order that the price of maize flour ‘be and is hereby reduced to 100/= for a 2kg packet of unga, in the whole territory of the republic of Kenya with immediate effect’.  That was a big announcement.  It was a life changer.  We would at least start eating.  I was getting tired of starving on rice and other starches.

I visited my local supermarket that is just in front of my living quarters last week, a day after the announcement, and was not surprised to find no packet of maize flour that was retailing at the new prices.  The cheapest 2kg packet was still selling at 206/=.  I gave it an ‘ignore’ and believed that there must have been some ‘clearing of old stocks’ thing going on first.  I visited the same supermarket over the weekend and the situation was the same – same old prices, no new prices.  I even visited an outlet of a major, sorry, the major supermarket chain in Kenya, at Adams Arcade same weekend and as sure as there is global warming, there was no cheap unga!  All branded packets were retailing at over 200/= per 2kg pack.

What is going on?  How can the big boss of the whole country give a decree, and no one obeys him?  It was just yesterday that someone whispered to me that he had seen cheap unga somewhere in Kangemi.  I took it upon myself to check this out and went to a supermart branded ‘friendly’.  I was surprised to see an advert for 2kg pack for 100/= placed somewhere outside the store and for sure when I went in, I did get the cheap unga available.  What a relief!

I picked some five packets and was just about to make my way to the cashier when some supermarket attendant called me back and beckoned me to the unga section of the store.  I assumed that he wanted to persuade me to buy some more.

“Ni mbili tu,” he said.

It took me some interpretation to decipher what he was saying.

“Nini mbili?”

“Unga ni mbili tu.  Kastoma wanachukua mbili tu”

WWB, the Coach, Nairobi, Kenya, July 26, 2022

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

Will vaccination ever end? Of booster vaccine 4... and 5

Will vaccination ever end?  Of booster vaccine 4... and 5

It was almost 12.25pm when I saw the missed call from Edu.  I had kept the phone in the pocket of my coat that was hanging on my seat and did not hear it vibralert me of his incoming call.  I immediately knew what it was all about.  It was another ‘runday Wednesday’ and I was being called to action.

However, this was not to be.  I was just ‘recovering’ from the very painless corona vaccination on the left arm this time round, after that right arm fiasco of January.  I had enquired before sitting on that chair, facing the small refrigerated container.  This had been placed on a table just in front of the seating position in the small makeshift booth.  This booth had been curved out of a large normally open meeting room, to create some privacy.

“My last vaccination was on January twenty-six,” I started, querying the nurse when the traffic had gone down after a three-hour event, “Am I really due for a booster?”

“Yes, it is already twenty-four weeks since that time,” the nurse responded confidently.

It was not for nothing that I was making the query.  I had been participating in the data entry process since morning, where we update the details of those vaccinated.  I had encountered two cases that called to question this 6-month duration, as far as the registration system was concerned.  One staff had added 6-months to the January 24 date and just told me on my face that he would be waiting for his booster shot after July 24.  Another January-case staff had stubbornly got the booster shot and was stopped on his track when the system refused to register the vaccination, giving a ‘not yet due date’ error.

So, finally, I sat there just before the 12.30pm break and endured the most painless injection this year.  Even the January one had some cold feeling on the arm, but this one, nada.  I wondered why some adults had to be held down to receive this baby needle on the arm.  There were even two loud shouts of pain within the day.  

Anyway, people are different and there is no right (or wrong) way to react to a piece of one-inch-long stainless-steel needle when it burrows itself below the skin.  The update of the system, in my case, did not give any error and soon I could see a second entry on the vaccination certificate, indicating a ‘booster’ of Pfizer.  The certificate that started with a single entry of AstraZeneca just last year, had now grown into 4 entries.

At this rate, we shall soon be walking around with a booklet that shall be keeping track of the many vaccination shots that we are likely to be having due to this corona thing.  The very corona which forced me to fail to do my customary Wednesday run, despite the day having the first sunny weather in a week.  It has been as cold as ice.  The very same corona that causes that dreaded COVID19 disease which had continued to plague the globe with 563,311,932 cases and 6,377,278 deaths, with Kenyan numbers being 336,053 and 5,668 respectively*.  All these in just 2-years.

*source: worldometers website

Of course, we did not have very kind words for corona during the lunch break, with the team of fellow members of the logistics team that had helped out in the camp.  For the umpteenth time I was reminded that corona was a hoax.

“Which disease spares young ones and only attacks the adults?”

WWB, the Coach, Nairobi, Kenya, July 13, 2022

Where did the waters run to?

Where did the waters run to?

I was expecting that knock on the door for over thirty minutes on this Thursday.  I was not surprised when the knock came at about 10.30am.

“Nikekuja kuten-neza rumu,” the lady said after I had opened the outer metallic door.  The inner wooden door had been open since morning, so were the two windows in the one-room residence.  Full ventilation is the only way to survive the coast, though the temperatures are not that bad for the first time in a long time.  The windows have nonetheless remained open from the day I stepped into the room on Tuesday.  They stay open even in the night.  I felt cold for the first time yesterday and I almost woke up at night to close them up, but I did not.

I was seated by a small square table just next to the door, when this knock came.  Behind me was a window on one of the walls running along the bed.  To my right was the door.  To my left was the bed, then the TV just next to the headboard.  Straight ahead was the kitchen sink with a fridge standing next to it.  Beyond the wall of the kitchen sink was the washroom.

The lady made two steps into the house and stopped just next to where my small table was.  I had not resumed my seat, but instead had decided to stand next to the TV, now facing the door.

“Sawa, nipe dakika tano hivi, niondoke,” I responded.

The lady remained standing, a crumbled bedsheet at hand.  I was not sure if this was the replacement she was bringing along, or if this was among the sheets she was removing from rooms.  I had already been informed that the room would be cleaned every other day.  Having arrived on a Tuesday, I knew that Thursday would be the cleaning day.  The lady was however not going away for the ‘dakika tano’.  Maybe cleaning time was surely a strict cleaning time with no bargain and no negotiation.  It is good that I had already put on my Tshirt and trousers since morning.  I just pulled my shoes from next to the TV cabinet and put them on.  I wondered what would have happened if I had to do a full dressing, with madam standing on that door.

I would be out of the room in a flash.

“Niende na kifunguo, au nikuachie?”

“Nenda tu nayo.  Nitawacha mlango wazi,” she responded as I left the corner room and started my walk towards the front of the block, then out of the compound.

I had intended to take a walk to Naivas Bamburi, then decide whether to try out a walk towards Bamburi Cement, Mitamboni.  If I made it there, then I would be going to the public beach.  There was no fixed plan for the morning, apart from getting to Naivas first.  When I got out of the compound and in my absent mindedness, I took a right turn on the T-junction just next to my residence.  I knew that Naivas should have been about a four minutes’ walk, but this was not to be.  I soon realized that the road did not look familiar at all.  I had walked for over five minutes and there was no Naivas yet.  If anything, the road was getting narrower as if heading towards homesteads.  It did not take long to know that I was lost.  How could I have missed my route to the simplest of places?

I decided to make a U-turn after about ten minutes of walking.  I would not have minded getting lost on any other day, but not today.  I was not in the mood to walk about aimlessly.  I wanted to decide on whether I am making it to the beach or not, that was the day’s agenda and that is what I would have to pursue.  I walked back to my starting point in another ten minutes and continued straight ahead past the junction next to my residence.  The very T-junction where I had turned right instead of left.

I was at Naivas in less than ten minutes and went straight ahead to the T-junction next to that superstore.  I knew that I had to turn right onto that Old Malindi road and keep walking to a road bend.  From that bend I would have to make another right turn and keep going until I get tired, give up or get to the factory.  That is what I did.  I was soon at the junction where Bamburi matatus do their U-turn.  I kept going and could have given up my walk had it not been the seeing of the unmistakable Bamburi cement factory just ahead with its massive structures.

I walked along past the ‘Mitamboni’ and got to the main New Malindi road.  This road is familiar as it goes to Mtwapa.  It runs next to the ocean and hence has many hotels lined up along it.  I have been to several of these hotels in the course of business.  I could even see Milele Beach hotel with Milele church standing next to it as I approached that main road.  Matatus were beckoning passengers on that junction, with Haller park running the length of the road just next to the Bamburi factory.

I turned left and did not even walk for five minutes before I saw the entry to the public beach.  However, something had changed.  It was cleaner than usual with very few people walking thereabout.  I saw a few traders with their wares laid out.  The road was immaculate with hardly anyone walking on it.  The traders were neatly sitting off the road on either banks.

“This is not the public beach!,” I self-talked as I kept walking towards where the waters should be.  I had reduced my pace since the ‘reception’ so far had been strange.

I got to the end of the road and saw a sign pointing to my left reading ‘Pirates’.  There was a barricading tape just ahead of the road that I was using.  The tape was running the full length of the approach, for about four hundred metres of blockage.  I would soon be hitting that tape and either cutting it through to go over or I would have to come to a stop.  I decided to come to a stop.  The road had reached the end.  

Usually there would be no tape, and I would just be crossing over the open grounds to access the big pool that I could even see some four hundred metres ahead.  The vast waters were also not very visible since I could see a boundary of ironsheets lined up along the beach and blocking large parts of the coastal waters.  The presence of policemen sitting next to those sheets was the clincher – the beach had been closed!

Who comes to Mombasa and does not go to the beach?  Why even come to Mombasa is you cannot step into the waters?  What a disappointment.  I made an excuse like answering the phone and made my U-turn.

“Sh! Sh! Shhhh!,” I heard a chant on my back.

I pretended not to hear and kept walking back, phone on ear, talking to no one.

“Heyi, Bwana we!  Ni itie huyo jamaa!  Sh! Sh! Shhhhh!,” I heard once more.

And coast people before the social being that they are, soon someone next to me on the road would be tagging me and asking me to look back since I was being called.

I forced myself to look back just in time to see some guy in shorts coming to my direction.  He looked like a trader or an idler of sorts.  I stopped and waited for him.  My phone was still on my ear, talking to no one.

“Wauza simu au kamera.  Tumekuona ukiwa nazo tu, na unatembea.  Twaweza kukupa mnunuzi.”

“La hasha, siuzi chochote,” I responded and turned back to resume my walk towards Malindi road.

I was not myself after that disappointment of not accessing the beach for the first time in forever.  It must be this corona thing.  The very virus causing this COVID19 disease that had now affected* 207,148,607 caused 4,362,027 deaths worldwide.  Kenyan numbers were now at 218,713 infections and 4,302 deaths.

*Source: worldometers website

I walked through the motions of tracing my four kilometre walk back to my residence.  The matatus from New Malindi roads asked me to get in to be taken to Kiembeni as they headed to the Old road past Mitamboni, but I refused.  I was burning the calories of disappointment on this one.  Soon I would observe that the Old Malindi road remained as narrow as expected, with shop entrances being literally on the road edges.  Occasionally a matatu would make a stop in the middle of the road, where else?, and cause a traffic jam as vehicles behind the stopped matatus would honk on for long.

But that is not all, I even saw some trader sweep her stuff straight into the road and did not seem to give any damn about this.  I could not fail to notice some interesting names along my way as I headed back.  There is this building labelled ‘House of mzinga – shots bar’.  I was just shaking my head before I saw the ‘Sipper reloaded’ bar… and all these were touching the road.  I would at some point get to ‘Stage ya paka’.  Now, this stage?  And the way a cat has many lives?  Life could have not been complete before seeing how graffiti was already cropping up on walls and surfaces with 2022 campaign slogans, with calls for people to vote for someone as the MP for Nyali or MCA of Kiembeni.

I thereafter spent a relaxed Thursday and just prepared my data items in readiness for a meeting with the data person on Friday.  The free internet was quite unstable on this Thursday causing me lots of downtime, but things happen.  My computer kept going off forcing those long power presses for it to revive, but life continues.  The Friday was uneventful, apart from getting to town in a matatu that was arrested just as we reached town.  The charge… having no seat belts.  Who puts on seat belts in the city in a public vehicle?

WWB, the Coach, Mombasa, Kenya, August 14, 2021

New year that is not new - how 2021 started

New year that is not new - how 2021 started

When I did the end of year run over the lunch hour on Thursday, December 31, 2020, I was doing this to achieve two objectives.  One was to fulfil the two runs a week practice that I had established for some time now, and two, I wanted to run the Friday run in advance, with the next day being a holiday.

My run around Pioneer estate in Eldoret remained the same that I have now become well accustomed to.  This run is made up of four circuits, with each circuit just about five kilometres each.  A final warm-down circuit is available just in case I still have some energy reserves.  This final circuit is about 4k, but generally on the same route as the earlier four rounds, as I head to the finish line.

I started the run at noon when the weather was downcast.  It looked like it could rain.  The cloud cover that had started a day before had now reached its crescendo and for sure, some rain would have to fall out of the sky – no doubt.  It was now just a matter of when, not if.  This cloud cover was a welcome relief since it has been sunny and dry since I started my holiday in mid-December.  There has not been a drop of rain ever since.  However, the clouds started to fill the sky on Tuesday, and by Wednesday, we had a fully cloud-covered sky.  On Thursday there was no way the sun could even shine through the dark umbrella of clouds up there.  Rain was a must.

The weather remained still, even cold, when I started on the run.  It was not long before I would face the cold wind, hardly one kilometre into my run.  I was heading towards the Sosiani river when the cold intensified.  This was my first run in December in such a cold.  I have been running in the hot sun, suffering a dehydration headache by the time I hit 5k.  Today I was shivering badly, hardly before the second kilometre.

The run continued and the first circuit was soon done.  However, the drizzle started just as I began my second circuit.  If I kept going, then I would be at Sosiani river in ten minutes.  By then it would be too late to take shelter, should the rain get heavier when I was at that section.  So, should I continue with the run or abort it?

I decided that it would be worthwhile to take the risk and even be rained on.  After all, I have been running in the sun for so long.  One day run in the rain would be OK.  I therefore decided to keep going with my second circuit.  The drizzle continued even as I went by Sosiani river.  I would be out of the river section less than five minutes later, and would be back to the trail far from the river.

The drizzle continued, though it did not increase.  The drizzle was gone and the weather remained cold and downcast by the time I was on the fourth circuit.  The otherwise dusty paths had now been sprinkled with the showers to diminish their dust emissions.  My run was therefore not dusty, nor wet, since the rain had not been so much.

I was glad that I was doing this Friday run on a Thursday, since the weather was just perfect for a run.  No sun, no rain, a bit cold, but the manageable kind of cold.  I would soon finish the four full circuits and face the final warm-down circuit that would bring the run home.  The run ended in a time of 2.17.13 over a 25.6k distance.  I was just glad that I was done with runs for the year 2020.

Now it was time to face the new year.

But wait a minute!  Which new year?  In fact, what is new year?  With a curfew at ten and a prohibition against gatherings, there would be no mid-night shouts and merry making.  There would be no midnight noises for the first time in forever.  Can you say that there was a new year if there was no shout of ‘Happy New Year’ at mid-night?  Well, for the first time, there was no such shout.  The night was quiet.  The streets were quiet.  There were no sounds of any movements in the night environment, be it of people, motorbikes or vehicles.  If anything, there was even a drizzle as midnight approached…. and then the midnight just passed.  For the first time, there was not new year!

To prove that there was no new year, I woke up on what was supposed to be a new year, Jan. 1, 2021 and there was nothing new.  The world was still as gloomy as it was the previous day.  If anything, the weather had gone worse.  Those clouds that we thought would bring forth the much-anticipated rains had now dissipated, and the sky had gone back to clear blue.  I was even glad that I had done my run the previous day, since this January 1 date was just too sunny and hot to even contemplate a run.

I would in a moment be doing self-reflection and realizing that new year was what you made it to be.  We have been conditioned to believe that there is some special day in a year, called new year, when things start from zero, and some miracles happen to fulfil your wish list.  Unfortunately, let me burst that bubble.  There is nothing like a new year when new things ‘just happen’ and some ‘new force’ comes to the earth to drastically change your life based on your that wish list, aka ‘new year resolution’.  Forget it!

New year day is like any other day.  Do you usually enjoy your day, regardless of the month/date?  If you do, then continue enjoying each and every day as it comes.  Even if that day coincidentally is called January 1.  Do you want to change something in your life?  Work on it today.  Do not wait for January 1 and expect that some ‘magic’ will come with that day.  Sorry, do what you want every day, any day.  There is no magic that happens on Jan. 1, sorry.

If you do not believe me, then ask yourself this – on Jan. 1, 2020 we started the year with fanfare and wished that life would be good.  By that date, there had been a new virus called corona, discovered in China.  That virus was causing a new disease called COVID-19.  On that day, we had ZERO confirmed cased of COVID-19 in the world, according to the WHO*.  There was nothing.  The attention of the world was still on this new disease, which was yet to be put into context.  On that day we made new year wishes that this new disease should ‘pass’ and made resolutions that it shall not get anywhere near us.

*https://covid19.who.int/

Ask yourself the same question now.  It is Jan. 1, 2021.  We all know that our 2020 wishes on the corona front did not come true.  The new corona disease spread like wildfire and devastated the whole world, as if we never made any new year resolution to keep it at bay.  Not only that, it hit us with a vengeance killing many people that we know – locally and internationally, prominent and commoners, celebrities and celebrators.  It infected and affected many people that we know – our family, our workmates, our neigbours, our acquaintances, our leaders, our selves!  It caused disease burdens, infected and affected human bodies, caused body aches – forced people into hospitals.  Forced and self-quarantine become the norm.

Look at Jan. 1, 2021, when we have 84,418,109 COVID-19 infections and 1,834,807 deaths globally.  In Kenya, the numbers are 96,614 with 1,681 deaths.  So why were we assuming that a new year wish was the antidote?  Why would we believe that is shall be different as we start a new year?  Of course, we cannot lose hope, but we should be waiting for a particular date in the year to make resolutions.  Tackle things as they come.  

Good news – It is not all gloom.  The death rate from COVID-19 has remained low (2% globally, 2% locally).  Many people who get the corona virus shall recover, mostly without even need for hospitalization.  And even more music to the year – we have at least three vaccines approved for use and already in use (from Pfizer-BionTec, AstraZeneca, Moderna).  Our Kenyan shutdown of most sectors is being lifted progressively.  Even all our schools are being open tomorrow.  We shall just live with masks, social distancing, hand washing and self-quarantine with healthy living, in the event that we get the virus.

You still do not believe me that there was not new year?  There is usually no new year without fireworks at midnight right?  Well, there were no fireworks at midnight this time round.  Some people tried their fireworks at 10.00pm before the curfew started…. but that was still not at midnight.

My parting shot is that we should live our lives fully, one day at a time.  Let us start doing what we want to do on, the date that we want to it.  We cannot just be waiting for January 1 to somehow, miraculously change our lives or start something new.  Change your life on any calendar day of the year.  Start anything new on any calendar day of the year.  Do not wait for January.  Just like the corona issue taught us, we cannot live on ‘wishful-hopeful’ based on a particular calendar day.  Hoping that making a resolution on such a day will somehow change things.  Let us live every day fully, no waiting for a particular day of the year to make wishes.

WWB, the Coach, Eldy, Kenya, Jan. 3, 2021

The tale of two runs… and three vaccines

The tale of two runs… and three vaccines

If my Tuesday run was bad, then yesterday’s Friday run was worse!  If my state of fitness was a ‘6’ on Tuesday, then it was a ‘4.9’ on Friday.  I would normally skip a run when I am less than 5 on the marathoner’s Richter scale, sorry ‘Run-chter’ scale, but I still went out for a run on Friday, since 4.9 is approximately 5 anyway.

The Tuesday run started well, and it was mostly smooth all the way, as I did the usual Uthiru-Ndumbo-Kapenguria road-Mary Leakey-Kanyariri road to the turning point just before Gitaru market and back straight on Kapenguria road.  I was a bit tired, but I attributed this to re-acclimatization after my sabbatical on the highlands.  

I started and managed this run fairly well until I got to the 12k mark at the crossroad where Kanyariri ACK church is located.  I still had a 1km run to the turning point.  All of a sudden, I got a painful pinch on my right thigh.  I almost came to a standstill due to that pinch.  I could hardly fold my leg on the knee joint.  I reduced speed slightly and almost limp-ran for a few moments.

Reality struck!  I had just experienced a muscle pull and yet I was still very far from the finish line – as far as 10km away!  Anyway, what had to be done, had to be done and so I kept going, albeit slowly upto the turning point further on, then started my run back.  The right thigh remained painful and very uncomfortable with each bend on the knee, but I had no choice but to run back to the finish line.

I mostly ‘rolled’ down Kapenguria road using gravity, since my efforts to make the run were not helping much.  The more I tried to run, the more the leg become painful.  I ‘somehow’ rolled my way back to the finish line and was surprised that I managed the run the full half in just under two hours – 1.59.05 to be exact.  Phew!  The run was done and dusted.  

It did not take long before the muscle pull on the right leg would soon subside.  I would however continue to nurse my aching left foot that has been a bother for some time.  Good news was that I was not feeling much pain on the left foot during the run – the pain only came after the run and persisted for two or three days.  That was now my life and I was living with it.

When Friday came, I was set for yet another run.  It was not because I was ready, but because it was a run day.  Karl would leave me at the locker room as he started his run.  I was a bit down for I-do-not-know-what-reason.  I just did not feel like taking this run.  Nonetheless, it was a run day, I changed to my gear and was ready to go, setting out at 12.35pm.

And out of nowhere, a pain on my stomach hit me with the very first step that I took as I started the run.

“For crying out loud!,” I cried out loud, even as I started my slow jog.

How was I going to run for about two hours with such discomfort?  The pain just persisted – not too much, but not reducing either.  I was likely to abort this run since I hardly face such stumbling blocks this early in the run.

I however convinced myself to just take it easy and run to the 5k mark at Wangari Maathai on Kapenguria road, then turn back if the pain continued.  I was a bit slower than usual as I started off the run.  I kept going knowing that I had the option to turn back at the 5k, or even sooner.  That pain was reducing my focus and concentration.  I somehow kept going on the same route as Tuesday and would at some point get to Wangari Maathai institute.  I was now on the downhill and gravity was jut pulling my run towards the river… .and so I kept going past the 5k.  I would meet Karl on his way back as I did this roll.  I suspect that he must have run to the river or the tarmac junction.

I decided to make it to that Lower Kabete tarmac junction, then turn back, since the stomach pain was still a bother.  I made it to that junction just as another runner came towards me from the junction.  We lifted our hands in silence as we said our unvoiced “Hi”.  I was soon at the junction and also at a decision point.  I would now either turn back or turn left and face the four-minute run along Lower Kabete road then make the Mary Leakey left turn.

Despite the stomach pain, I found myself turning left and was now destined to take the long road through the University farm all the way to the tank on Kanyariri road.  It was now too late to turn back as I had already started the uphill.  My pains subsided when I took the left turn towards Mary Leakey school.  I was now having a more comfortable run.  The sun remained hot, while my run remained steady.  The stomach pain started relenting, but it was ‘just there’.

I finally reached the tank as I emerged on Kanyariri tarmac.  I had now done half the half-marathon route.  After doing a half of the 21, I would surely be able to do the whole.  Unfortunately, doing the whole run meant turning right and running the Kanyariri road for about three kilometres to get to the turning point, then running back straight on Kanyariri road to Ndumbo.  Well, that is what I had to do, and that is what I did, albeit at a reduced pace as my tummy continued paining… but in the background.

Reaching that 13k turning point was music!  I was elated.  I would now just be rolling back again all the way towards Ndumbo, where I would only face one last hill and the run would be done.  And so, I rolled back and would soon face that last hill to Ndumbo.  After Ndumbo, the run was just done since the short run along Waiyaki way and crossing the road at Kabete Poly was not anything to worry about.

I was surprised that I finished this run – and still in good time of exactly 2.00.51.  Two runs, with different Run-chter scales, but done in almost similar fashion.  

But wait a minute!  Could the face mask that I adorned have been a contributing factor to my deteriorating run times?  I have noted that the first two kilometres, when I am forced to be on the mask due to ‘masks on within the compound’ rule, I really struggle and even run out of breath.  I hardly manage a kilometre in 5-minutes, which I easily achieve after I pull down the mask on the open roads out there.

That would mean that this corona thing is affecting my runs.  The masks have become necessary evils, and I advocate for their use at all time… when not running.  They are real life savers.  So as the COVID-19 confirmed infections worldwide* stand at 57,996,866 with 1,379,441 deaths and 40,186,673 recoveries, with Kenya’s numbers being 75,193, 1,349 and 50,984 respectively, it is worth reminding ourselves that masks still work.  

Nonetheless, humanity is getting tired of corona and masking altogether.  I have started observing lots of laxity in mask usage as I navigate through my run routes.  That is where the three vaccines came into play – AstraZeneca, BioNTech/Pfeizer and Moderna.  These are three independent research initiatives, each with a vaccine that is showing over 90% efficacy.  

If two is better than one, then surely three is much better.  One, two or all of these are coming to use by end of year.  One, two or three of these shall be an interim or permanent solution for corona.  But that is not all.  These three are just the few in the leading group.  There are many more initiatives in the works – with WHO** listing 48 candidate vaccines in clinical trials (including the leading three) and another 164 in pre-clinical phase.  It is now just a matter of time before corona is defeated… and life gets back to normal. 

* https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/

** https://www.who.int/publications/m/item/draft-landscape-of-covid-19-candidate-vaccines

WWB, the Coach, Nairobi, Kenya, Nov. 21, 2020

Ending October with Numbers, Distance and Str-wrong medicine

Ending October with Numbers, Distance and Str-wrong medicine

Today is the end of month.  Despite being end of October, the corona pandemic has taken no cognizance of the end month joy.  It has instead continued to pour misery upon misery onto humanity.  The number of COVID-19 confirmed infections stands at 46,053,200 worldwide, with 1,195,935 fatalities and 33,322,659 recoveries.  That puts the mortality rate at 2.6%.  Kenya can also not celebrate end month, since at number 73 on ranking based on total infections, we now have 53,797 confirmed cases, with 981 deaths and 35,876 recoveries.  Our mortality rate stands at 1.8%.  Is there anything to celebrate given these numbers?

Of course yes, there is reason to celebrate.  First and foremost, the fatality rate of corona aka ‘the thing’ or TT in short remains low.  2.6% is bad, but lower than had been feared.  I remember during the earlier days of the pandemic, one of my pg-classmates on the WhatsApp group stating that we shall hit a million infections by six-months.  

I had really questioned him on that assertion, since I had informed him that the mortality rate was just about 2% and 1M deaths would mean that 50M infections of Kenyans (all Kenyans!), which I told him was just impossible in six months.  Well, that was a discussion in April, the early days of TT.  We are now six months into the prediction and our mortality is 1.8%.  I am glad that I believed in the strength and resilience of humanity, unlike my colleague who was on the grim-side of things.

Is there reason to celebrate?  Of course, yes!  Life continues and streaks of good news still come our way despite the pandemic.  We have many vaccines on trial with some already on use to first line workers in some countries such as Russia.  Many more vaccines are on phase three trials aka larger population trial before it can be rolled out to the masses.  This is quite good news.  

Management practice for TT are also now well established and even in Kenya we do have home-based-care for COVID-19 patients, as the first line of management, with hospitalization being the last resort for only severe cases.  This means that we are progressively managing and soon conquering the TT thing.

I had my own instance of celebration this week.  It was raining on Monday and could not go for the customary Monday run.  I was therefore confident that the substitute run on Tuesday would take place.  I had later on gone to town to send some item by courier since the run of this Monday was already not possible.  Though going for a medical was not in the works, I just did a spur of the moment decision after the courier visit to take advantage of being in town to also got to the clinic.

I had decided to pass by the health centre to check on my left wheel which has been disturbing me for a while, and I have written blog upon blog about this particular heel, that hinge that gives me pain during and after every run.  However, it does not pain on the days that I do not do my runs.  It was therefore not aching on this Monday, since my last run was on Friday.  I was even having self-doubt on the wisdom of visiting the clinic on this day, but I found myself matching to the clinic building anyway.

What would you do if you went to the doc with a stomachache and got treated for a headache instead?  That analog depicts my experience at the clinic on this Monday.  As usual of any medical, I had to have the vitals checked first.  While at the cubicle for the checks, the nurse did not believe that I had a painful leg at all.

“Are you sure?,” she asked, “You have no lift whatsoever!”

I did not know what to say.  I should have not come here in the first place.  I knew that this would happen.  I was now sure that this was a mistake.

I would soon be called to the doc’s place.  The clinic had very few patients on this day.  I could only count three.  Business must be bad!  If people are not falling sick, then corona is really bad!  Most of the medical staff, including the doc whom I was now talking to, had most of the time on this day been glued to the TV screen.  

It was the occasion of the unveiling of the BBI* document at Nairobi Bomas venue.  The meeting in Nairobi had attracted national following.  This clinic was no different.  The president jibing his deputy about the deputy being impatient and seeking the big seat too early had caused lots of laughter even here at the Eldy clinic, almost 400km from the real venue of the meeting.

*Building bridges initiative, a document detailing constitutional reforms for Kenya, aimed at averting the post-election political unrest

I was not at the doc’s cubicle.  The doc looked at the papers from the nurse and without much enquiry started, “Oh, I see why you are here, these numbers are high!”

“What numbers?”

“These vitals.  We need to deal with this.  It is good that you came in at this point,” he continued, while still affixed to the numbers on the papers.  I could see some two numbers were written in red amid the lots of text that filled the paper.  I did not decipher what the numbers meant and why they were in red while the rest of text was in black writing.

“Let me send you to the lab,” he added, then as if on an afterthought, “Any other problem?”

Very funny!  I thought.  

“I actually came here because of a persistent pain on my left heel”

“You mean not for this?,” he pointed at the card.

I would soon be out of the doc’s and it did not take long to be through with the lab thing.  I had been referred to another hospital, about 2km away, to get an x-ray of the feet.  I walked and was at that hospital after about ten minutes.  Despite the number of people being so few at that hospital, their reception area was so disorganized that it took me over thirty-minutes to get a booking.  

The x-ray process was however very fast.  Despite this, it was just past five when I finally got that A4 size negative film that they call x-ray film.  By then the principal clinic was already closed.  I would have to continue my medical journey on the next day.  What a wasted day… and a missed run day.

So, I missed the Monday run and was still due for another trip to the clinic on Tuesday.  I still have a Tuesday meeting from ten, and hence had to visit the clinic in the afternoon.  The doc looked at that dark film and nodded.

“There is nothing to worry!  All is normal!”

That was music to ears.  No wonder I had not wished to come to this place in the first place.  Nonetheless, I still have this pain to deal with and I was now hoping that the prescribed drugs would ensure that I do not ever visit a hospital because of a leg.

I was therefore doing the Monday run on Wednesday, and as a consequence, was now doing the Friday run on Saturday.  Yes, today being a Saturday, I did my Friday run.  I just repeated the routine runs that I have done in the month of October.  Just running the trail, the mostly uneven trail, for the five circuits.  I was just glad that the run ended at some point, since it was a tough run on a hot day.  This was also a run of significance – the last run on the last day of the month.  After 2hr 16min 26sec, I was done with the last run of the month.  I was 6km short of the 31km that this day commemorates.

WWB, the Coach, Eldy, Kenya, Saturday, Oct. 31, 2020

Robbers and Heroes – the Mashujaa Day Experience

Robbers and Heroes – the Mashujaa Day Experience

“Shika huyo mwizi!”

I thought that I heard that shout from ahead.  This got me from my otherwise preoccupied mind.  I am usually preoccupied with scanning the road and ensuring that the stepping action is working well.  That is one of the perils of doing a trail run.  Your adrenaline, that triggers alertness and eventuality, must be on the max.  Unlike a road race where you just let go and enjoy the comfort of the road, the trail needs a different strategy – concentration, observation, adaptation and usually reduced speed.  But you get to enjoy the sceneries and nature.

I was once again doing my trail runs on a loop, which I now call the ‘Big Circle’, though the mapping looks more of a big triangle.  This circle runs partly next to Sosiani river and then the uphill from the river to the tarmac to Kipkenyo, at the primary school, then a turnback all the way to the starting point and repeat.  It is a 5.5km circuit that would take about 30-minutes.  It would otherwise take a shorter time to go round if it was a road race setting.  A trail run gives this route a differing time – a longer time.  The ground is never tarmac and it mostly uneven.  Speed is never your aim, nor is it even possible to speed along anyway.  The previous day’s rains did not help the ground condition either.  The mostly dry weather roads had dried up into uneven rumble strips through most of the circuit.  It was a difficult run.

I was now on the second circuit, and had just done about 8k, with Kimalel primary school just behind me when I had this encounter.  I was to go straight on, through yet another dry weather road, full of unevenness resulting from the recent grading and subsequent rains.  There was an open field to my left.  I have run diagonally through that field before.  I now avoid it just to increase the distance, by doing the run round the almost three sides of the playing field to emerge on the other side of the field.

I was immediately brought to my senses.  I had to forget the concentration that I had on the running trail.  My eyes which were behaving like dipped lights, good for close observation, would now have to headlight much further to scan my surrounding and decipher what was going on.  I would momentarily see a motorbike starting to traverse the playground on my left.  It was coming from ahead but not running on the road.  It was running on the grassy edges of the field, heading towards the centre of the field.  On the motorbike was a passenger.  I would soon realize that it was this passenger doing the shouting. 

The motorbike of two was now just about five metres from the road where I was running.  I would now have to process the happenings and try to make sense of it.  My continuing run was not making things any better.  I would soon decipher a third person running just ahead of the motorbike wishing to disappear deeper into the playground.  It was not long before this third person would be intercepted by a stranger who was walking from the centre of the field towards the fringes.  This fourth ‘interceptor’ would be the blessing that the motorbike passenger needed, since this interception allowed the passenger to jump off the bike, run towards the person being chased and grab the runner from the hands of the person who had first caught him.  Shouting, exchanges and commotion had just erupted.  

I would now be forced to turn my head back to see the unfolding drama, since I had not stopped running, and the drama was now progressively and surely fading back behind.  I would have one last moment to see the passenger wrestle the alleged thief to the ground, while the motorbike driver and the person who intercepted just stood there to watch the two fight and roll on the grass.  I would soon be out of observable view as I did my left turn, then later another left turn, to emerge on the other extreme end of the playing field.  With my turning points dotted with buildings all around, I would not be unfortunate enough to witness the end of the drama.

Meanwhile, as I kept running, the happenings of a few minutes ago starting to fade as new material started getting my attention.  I would momentarily hear the unmistakable voice of the president as he gave his speech at Gusii stadium during the commemoration of the Mashujaa aka Heros day.  I could not get the details from the mostly muffled sounds, as I had to keep running past these stationary radio points, or past the receding motorbike radios.  

I kept to my trail circuits and would soon be on the third loop.  However, by this circuit, I would not find anyone at that playing field where there was drama hardly thirty minutes prior.  I hoped that it had ended well.  There is no hero in theft.  Nor is there heroism in taking the law into one’s own hands.  That is why we have law-enforcement.

I would however not dwell much on these thoughts.  I still have to concentrate on ensuring that my taking-in of the running path was perfect.  Especially today…

I had just bought a ‘new pair’ of second-hand running shoes the previous day.  I was taking them to the trail.  The trail is the real ground for a shoe test.  And the test results wouldn’t have come any sooner!  I had noted from the first circuit that the wheels were a bit tight.  I already know and have advised as such, that new wheels are not the perfect choice for a long run, until they finally get in shape.  You would usually take them for a short spin to let them assimilate to the new settings of feet and track, before you trust them for longer distances.

I was operating against my own advice on this Tuesday, and I was already having a sharp pinch on my right big toe as I started the third circuit.  I hoped that the pain would subside, though I knew with certainty, as certain as this day being a holiday, that the pain would only get worse.  And it did get worse.  The pinch and pain on that right toe persisted and kept getting worse with every step.  The last half of the run was done in pure pain.

The only reason why I kept going was just to keep with the tradition of the day.  There is a hero in each of us.  The hero that has the power to survive the worst of situations.  There hero in you to do what you are determined to do.  The hero that does things for the good of self and the good of others.  That hero in you, who recognizes that you are a real person, with good times and bad times.  You are a hero.  The very hero who is human, not a miracle worker – just a simple being – with needs, wants and feelings.  That hero, you, who remains a hero whether you are told about it or not, the fact is not changed.

I treaded on and would finish the run after doing four full circuits and a final bonus run that cuts out the Sosiani river section but maintains most of the trail to the end of run.  I did a 2.15.18 on this day when I was celebrating the hero in humanity.  Last Friday I was on the same route and did a 2.17.37 – but it was not heroes day on that Friday, was it?  What other reason is there to celebrate the hero in us!  Of course, I had to kick off the shoes immediately upon finishing the run and subsequently walked around with a limp throughout the day – but isn’t that what is expected of the hero in us?

So, as we celebrate the hero in humanity, even COVID-19, which has now infected 40,986,632 with 1,128,223 deaths and 30,576,827 recoveries cannot shake our resolve.  Even the Kenya numbers, at rank number 72 on the listing by total infections, now stand at 45,647; 842 and 32,522 respectively, does not dampen the heroism in humanity.  But it is not all groom.  There is a hero in all of us and there is a hero in the researchers doing something about this corona thing.  If you have misgivings, then have a look at what COVAX is all about.  This corona thing is being defeated progressively... and soon.

WWB, the Coach, Eldy, Kenya, Oct. 20, 2020

Forgiveness at 16k – with schools on, and marathons on (not)

Forgiveness at 16k – with schools on, and marathons on (not)

“Raiz aliompa ara-Rudo msamaha, imachin!,” a heard from a boda rider, who was in conversation with another two riders.  The three had congregated under a tree to shield themselves from the mid-day sun.  They were just standing to my right, on the edge of the road under construction, where I was now on an uphill run.  In a few moments I would pass besides Pioneer police post on my right and then immediately pass by Kimalel primary to my left.  After that I would hit the main tarmac road that goes to Kipkenyo, where I would turn left and then back left again to continue doing my loops around the trail.

I had just hit 16k, being my third circuit on the planned five circuit run on this trail, when I encountered the riders.  This trail was about a 5k loop and it had all the ingredients of a ‘real’ trail, from uneven roads, stony paths, roads under construction, muddy patches, rocky sections, hills, downhills, overgrowths, farmlands and even crossing of streams, albeit formative ones.  It is a trail that has finally tamed me into the reality of what a ‘proper’ run is all about.  Forget about those smooth marathons that we run back in the city, where they even close roads and divert traffic to allow us through.  This trail was the real ‘down to earth’ run – down to the earth, literally.

I remember seeing this group of riders at this very spot on the road the previous two times that I had gone through this circuit.  It was just coincidental that they were on loud talk this time around as I passed by a third time.  I had noted that they tended to keep quiet as they observed my approach.  They would then start talking when I was gone just beyond earshot.  I knew that they were discussing my run and how crazy it was to run in this hot sun.  I knew that they were doubting my sanity, due to the ‘ndio huyo tena’ statement that I could overhear, with strained ears when I was passing by.

I believe that on this Monday, the politics of the previous Saturday was just too hot to keep cool.  They just had to politic over this issue that had occurred during the National Day of Prayer held on that Saturday.  On that Sato, the national leaders had gathered for the prayers and the prezi had asked for forgiveness, but had also forgiven.  The boda group did not want to hear the ‘forgiven’ part.  They were more interested in the ‘forgive’ part.

But the boda people were not the only ones discussing the forgive/forgiven dichotomy.  I had heard on a radio talk show that same morning about the intricacies of this issue.  The radio people in fact brought a twist to that statement and said the forgiveness was conditional.  It was a ‘If I have wronged …’ conditional, meaning that it was not blanket.  They were also quick to point out that the counter statement did not have an if, it was unconditional, ‘I forgive’ (no ifs on this).

The boda people could hear nothing of any analysis on the statement.  They knew that they had achieved what they wanted – an ‘unconditional’ asking for forgiveness, for what they perceived to be harassment of their very own leader.  That is what counted.  

I was still engrossed in this forgiveness thing when I soon passed by Kimalel primary to my left.  I could see the students starting to stream out of the gate for the lunch break.  They were supposed to be having their face masks on.  I did not see them in any.  They were supposed to walk singly, without crowding – the so called ‘social distant’ walk (SD walk).  There was none of that.  I observed them hi-fiving each other and walking in groups as they headed out of the compound.  Corona prevention best practices were not working with the young ones.  Only the Most High would continue to see us through this pandemic.  This is beyond human effort – it would not be by power, not by might.

I would continue with this Monday run and add to it the last two laps.  I finally brought home the run after five loop round the trail.  I was tired, but running at the ‘backyard’ keeps me going since I know that I can easily drop out any time.  I keep running for as long as I want and this is good motivation.  That comfort of being able to drop out is responsible for the final tally of 25.6km in 2.16.26 done on this Monday.  

My average actually improved to 5m 20sec per km, over the last Friday run when it was 5m 29sec.  As I said, the trail has humbled me.  The high altitude has not made things any easier.  I have built up my resilience from the usual 5min average to the 5m 20sec on the high altitude.  I am improving, hard to believe but from 5min to 5min 20sec is an improvement – all factors considered.  It is hard arithmetic but get pen and paper and you shall be able to calculate that truth for yourself.

It is now a Wednesday.  I have had two days of rest.  Schools have reopened for three days, with class 4 and class 8 now being regulars in primary schools and form 4s being in session in secondary schools.  Universities and colleges started their reopening earlier in the month and they are progressively allowing their students back.  Restrictions on sports events are also being lifted.  The country even hosted an international athletics event two weeks ago.  Restrictions on marathons have however not been lifted, but it is no longer all gloom.  

Very soon life shall be back to normal and corona shall come to an end.  The very corona virus that causes COVID-19 whose global numbers* stand at 38,433,470 infections, 1,092,083 deaths and 28,888,220 recoveries.  The numbers in Kenya are 41,937; 787 and 31,340 respectively.  We are ranked 71 on the global list of 216 countries, based on total infections.  The numbers may seem high, but this pandemic shall soon be tamed – watch this space.

*all figures from worldometers website

WWB, the Coach, Eldy, Kenya, Oct. 14, 2020