Not even Triple halfs could tame TT – making 19 to be just a number

Not even Triple halfs could tame TT – making 19 to be just a number

When I finished the Friday run on May 1, 2020, when the world should have been celebrating International Labour day but the world was not, I did realize that many of my runs in the month were done chasing the wrong target.  The TT target was a goner!  It was useless chasing it.

The nation was set for ‘going back to normal’ on April 27.  However, it did not come as a surprise when on April 25 we were officially informed that we would be subjected to an extended lockdown and curfew.  We were given another three weeks to do things ‘indoors’, stretching our breaking point to May 18.  

But as said, it was no surprise.  The trend the world over was to extend the lockdowns, then to extend them again.  I therefore shall not hold my breath over when this lockdown shall end.  I am not hopeful of anything good coming out of the May 18 date.  Remember, the tendency is to ‘extend and extend again’.  

Since March, I have been having a competition against TT, the Thing, the virus whose name I refuse to state.  Yes, the corona virus, that causes COVID-19.  The very same virus which is technically called SARS-corona virus version 2 of 2019.  

I had initially thought I would run a few runs and keep TT at bay, in terms of who ultimately wins when life goes back to ‘normal’.  I knew that TT would cause misery by partial lockdowns, as already done in Kenya.  Now there was even possibility of total lockdowns as we approach that May 18 date.  TT is not a worthy adversary.  I am no longer holding my breath over that May 18 date.

I thought that I could win three runs every week, since mid-March, and build a good lead in the winning streak.  I thought that these accumulated streaks would beat those that TT would garner when it eventually started curtailing my runs.  The thought was good and reasonable when I thought of the April 27 date as the end date.  

That extension to May 18 got me thinking in a completely different direction.  It was futile pegging your very plans based on TT.  You may have temporary wins, but we know who the real winner shall eventually be.  

TT is a slow actor.  

Takes its time.  

Even appears invisible.  

Hits when you least expect it.  

TT makes believe you all is well, only to realize that all is not well when you look at the dashboard of infections around the world.

Take the Sunday, May 3, 2020, statistics from JHU.  The total infections on planet earth stands at 3,462,682 out of which 244,911 had passed on.  My own motherland had 465 cases with a mortality rate of 24.  These figures indicate a global mortality rate of 7% in five months since December.  

The numbers have kept rising.  I know this because I made the mistake of tracking the numbers.  The very thing that I am now contemplating on stopping.  TT has a mind of its own.  Let it be.  It shall do what it wants to do.  We cannot live our lives in fear of TT on a daily basis.  This feeling of fear is not good for the heart.  It is not good for the blood pressure.  It is not good for the mind.  It is not good for the body!

The numbers have kept rising.  Take that first time that I did note down the figures on March 26.  On that date we had a total of 521,086 infections worldwide, with a mortality figure of 23,568.  The mortality rate was just 4.5% globally at that time.  My own country had 31 cases of confirmed infections.  37 days later and everything is gone crazy!  

The only encouraging number is the mortality rate that has risen from 4.5% to 7%.  Tracking these numbers is vanity.  I am done tracking.  I am done worrying about TT.  I am living my life as best as I can from now on.  We are going to live with TT for a long time, even for life!  We better even become friends.

So, last week when I was doing the three halfs, I thought that I was increasing my winning streak, but I have just realized that I was giving TT the glory.  I was just overworking the body for no good reason.  I cannot do three halfs just to prove to TT that I am on a winning streak!  That is not good reason to subject the body to three halfs!  

I have resolved that from today I ain’t doing nothing to prove nothing to nobody no more.  I shall do my runs at my own terms.  I shall not let fear of TT influence my runs.  I shall not care about any total lockdown brought by TT.  So what if the total lockdown comes?  Let it come!  

Let TT take some wins for crying out loud!  

Let what be, be!  

So what, if we are locked-down for long, without the runs, due to TT?  

Nothing shall happen!  

Life shall continue, even without the runs!

Those three halfs were however quite something, despite them being done for the unappreciative competitor called TT, whom I am not doing anything for, from today.  

The Monday run was in the evening.  I started off at three.  The evening rains over the week before had shown a tendency to start as early as five.  I therefore had to have finished my runs by five.  The Mary Leakey route and three Vet-loops made for the 21k on this date.  

This particular route ‘persuades you’ to run on it, since it is ‘just at the backyard’.  It does not even seem far.  It does not even look like a half… but add to it those Vet loops and you have another different type of run on the cards.  Additionally, the trail by the University farm after Mary Leakey school was muddy and almost impassable on this Monday.  The run ended well.  I hit 21.23km in 1.39.18.  It was a fast run by any definition.  It later rained in the evening as I rushed home to beat the 7.00pm curfew.

The Wednesday run also started just after three.  It was a sunny afternoon but the dark clouds were already forming at the Ngong hills.  The route was the same as the one for Monday.  The route condition was the same due to the daily rains that kept the muddy trails muddy.  The intention was the same half marathon.  This run ended in 1.42.38 over a 21.26km distance.  

The crowning moment came on Friday, when I started the run at noon – yes noon.  Even by then it was already as dull as if the rains would fall within the hour.  I was just risking the run and hoping for the best.  Such risky runs usually fill my body system with so much anxiety until I can feel the pain!  

I was especially afraid of running through the University farm should it rain during the run.  That road is already muddy and slows you to a walk… without the rains.  How about if it was to rain!  It did not rain however, leading to yet another smooth Friday lunch hour run.  I would finish this run in 1.43.03 over a distance of 21.65km.  Of course, it did not rain at all that day, despite the change of weather around noon and my being forced to start the run early.

The experience of last week therefore convinces me that there is no need to make any bets with TT.  

Why I am even counting a 19-win streak after that Friday run?  

Just because I made a bet with TT?  

All bets are now off!  

TT is silent, pretentious, scheming and ultimately wins in its own ways.  Why should my life revolve around TT?  

What shall be, shall be!

I am not pulling off any three-halfs for TT.  I am not daring the weather with a mid-day half just because of TT.  No way!  I am done.  My next runs are at my pace, at my schedule at my dictate.  

I shall run when I want to.  

I shall take a break when I need one.  

I shall run a half when I believe it is the right day for it.  

I shall run longer if it is appropriate.  

I shall run short runs.  

I shall do another three-halfs if I feel like it.  

I shall do things for me, not because of TT.  

I shall do what I want to do going forward – TT or no TT!

WWB, the Coach, Sunday, May 3, 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