One week that I would like to forget

One week that I would like to forget

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

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

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


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

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


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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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


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

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

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

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

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


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

Finished.  Done.

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

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

November International boycott… when action is louder

November International boycott… when action is louder

The MoE* had communicated the Friday, November 25, 2022 date for the November international marathon as early as October, just after the Stanchart Nairobi International.  I was therefore confident that this scheduled run would attract many runners who had about a month to prepare.  The card was also full of choice – anything from 2km to the big 21km.  There was therefore something for everyone.

*MoE – Marathoners of expert, the committee that organizes marathons

Three weekly reminders later, and the day for the marathon was at hand.  This was the day.  It was a Friday with a good weather, unlike the evening rains that had ‘spoilt’ a few evenings earlier in the week.  A semblance of cloud cover brought about an overcast day in the afternoon, but the rain clouds remained absent.  The sun would force itself out of the clouds by four, and it remained bright thereafter all the way to sunset.

I expected a big turnout, but things would take a turn at about two.  Beryl was the first to make her way into my office, all smiles…

“I come in peace,” she knocked onto the frame of the open door.

“What a good marathon we shall have!,” I responded.  She surely must have been quite serious about the run to make it for the run this early, with two more hours before the start.

“I come with a peace offering,” she exposed a shopping bag and extended it in my direction.

There in lied the catch.  Nobody gives a peace offering when there is no war.  I however let it slip as I had an immediate encounter with Edu, who was just close behind.

“Coach, imagine I have a meeting at four,” he said in a manner of greeting, as Beryl took a seat.  I was now settled back to my seat.  Rummaging through the shopping bag.

I looked up.  He was still filing the door.  I had known that this type of statement would be coming sooner or later.  This is because Edu is usually the most enthusiastic of the runners in the team.  He would already have reminded me at least thrice that we had a marathon and that we shall be running.  He had done no such thing.  He had not contacted me at all since Stanchart.  

If anything, I had even met him on Thursday, just a day to the run.  I was finishing off my lunch hour run on the 17k, while he was walking leisurely with colleagues.  He would normally have even blocked my way and reminded me of the Friday run, lest I forget.  Not this time.  He just waved me along on this Thursday.  Those right there were signs that he was not running this international, but I still hoped otherwise.

Now it was all clear.  Edu was not doing the November international.  Edu would momentarily be gone, as I was now left with the peace offering to savor.

“Imagine I have to see my sis off,” she broke the silence, getting my attention off the bag of fruits.

“You mean!?”

“Yea, my sis is travelling abroad, and this is the day to say our goodbyes.”

Which coach in his right mind can refuse to grant a runner such a request? 

With no other confirmations for this Friday run, I knew that I was surely on my own.

When I started the run at four, I just left and did not look back.  I did not find or see any other runners, nor did I expect to find or see any other runner.  I was doing this on my own, for the team.  I was doing the run for all.  While the first 5k seemed relaxed and comfortable, as I run from Uthiru across Waiyaki way to Ndumboini then Kapenguria road, my real troubles started after the river on Kapenguria road.  My stomach just started paining.  I had not taken any other solid meal apart from tea and bread for breakfast, so this was a pain that I could not explain.  It was not a stitch, it would not be a stitch.  I wished it would go away.  It did not.

I was barely able to run as I traversed the university farm just past the 10k mark.  I was going to have quite an uncomfortable run, but it was now too late.  I would just have to endure to the end.  And the end was still far!  I was hardly halfway through.

Sheer willpower and pain endurance kept me going all the way to the turning point below Gitaru-Wangige overpass, before making my way back on Kanyariri road, to Ndumboini, then back to Waiyaki way and finally to Kabete Poly just 2k from my finishing point.

It was a relief to just somehow finish the run.  I did not care about the time.  I was just glad that I had done it.  The average run turned out to be 5m09s per km on the 24.5km course that took me 2hr 6min.  I was by now too thirsty having been unable to take any water in the course fearing the reaction of my stomach to water in my state of distress.  The thing that kept me going was the thought of the assortment of fruits waiting for me upon completion.

WWB, the Coach, Nairobi, Kenya, Nov. 27, 2022

Sprinters delight lives up to expectations… but wait!

Sprinters delight lives up to expectations… but wait!

The July international marathon of last Friday, July 29, 2022, had been publicized since the June international run.  We knew that it shall come to pass, and come to pass it did on that last Friday.  We were four when we started the 21k of the June run.  We had hoped for a bigger starting lineup in July, but that did not happen.  Even a 15-minute wait beyond the stipulated 1600hrs starting time did not improve the numbers.  Karl, Edu and I remained the only people still standing even at this delayed time.

We just had to start.  The day was cool, just about cold.  The ‘sprinters delight’ has been crafted by the MOE* as the day for runners to sprint away and break records, after the many group runs that have been done since March.  We expected PBs on this day, and we did not keep any secrets about this requirement.  We publicized this encouragement throughout the month of July as we sent email updates and reminders.  And… finally, it was the day to get it done.

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

Unlike a group run whose pace is dictated by the slowest runner, the sprinters run is dictated by the person running.  You ‘close your eyes’ aka ignore every other runner, and just go for it.  Of course, you need to push a little harder than usual during such a run, since you need to break some form of record.  That was our collective mentality as we started our run at 1615hrs.

I was on my own by the first kilometre.  I did not look back and kept going.  The weather was just too cool.  The run seemed easy despite the terrain that is hilly from the start, with just a short reprieve from Ndumbo past Wangari Maathai to the river, on Kapenguria road.  After that river it is a general uphill to the 13km turning point under the Gitaru-Wangige road.  Even after that turning point the terrain remains generally hilly until you get back to the tank on Kanyariri road, ready to do a short kilometre of rundown to the bottom of Ndumboini.  You then face the last major hill that ends at Waiyaki way, then it is generally flat to the finish line.

The terrain did not disappoint.  It remained heavy on the legs, but it was a sprinting day, and so the run continued at a generally faster pace.  I met Karl and Edu on my 14.5km mark.  They still had to do a 1.5km run to the 13km turning point.  We raised our hands through the air in a manner of acknowledging each other and we went our opposite ways.

My run on Kanyariri road back to Ndumbo then to the starting line at Uthiru was as expected.  You just need to survive that 1.5km Ndumbo hill and once on Waiyaki way you are generally done with the run.  I was therefore generally done with the run when I crossed Waiyaki way and just ran past the Kabete Police station towards the turning point at N-junction.  I was soon at the finishing line at 1751hrs.  The data recorded on Runkeeper was 21.27km, 1.41.26, 4:46 average, 408m climb.

The only explanation for the fast pace was the ‘sprinters delight’.  I had previously tried to prepare for this run by doing several shorter distances but could not get to under 4.47 average.  Even another test run, after the fact, on a 17k route today did not get me to 4.46.  I was still on 4.47.  With no other sprinters run until Nairobi International Marathon of October 30, I can for sure say that this was the best run in the year.  

However, I have seen the body behave in ways unimaginable.  I had given up on ever running under 5.00 average for most of the year, only for the booster vaccine to kick in and to since be under 5.00 on every run.  That means that you cannot predict what shall happen on the next run.  The impossible can happen.  Just be ready for it.  Enjoy it when it comes.  After all, your best run is on the day that you are running that run… that is when the unexpected can happen.

WWB, the coach, Nairobi, Kenya, August 1, 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

It rains when we run – the second international says so

It rains when we run – the second international says so

The second international marathon held on Friday, May 27 was not so much different from the previous one ran on April 28, albeit the first one being held on a Thursday and the fact that I was suffering a cold that had put me down for three days so far as I prepared for this May run.  The second run still started at the Generator at a few minutes past 1615hrs, despite the run being a strictly 1600hrs run.  Edu was there for this second one once more.  He told us to wait for a new comer whom I had not met before.  He introduced him before he joined us, as ‘he has ties to the team, real ties’.  I let that puzzle slip as I saw someone approach the generator.  He said a familiar ‘Hi’ to Edu, and a casual salutation in my direction.  We took the start-or-run picture and we were soon off for the immediate uphill that comes just 200metres from the starting point.

It was still hot with the evening sun hardly at the horizon.  We left and kept going at a relatively slow pace.  I led the pack as we headed to Waiyaki way past Kabete Polytechnic, and crossed the road at the Uthiru flyover to head towards Ndumboini.  We then went downhill past Wangari Maathai Institute to the river, and then faced the second uphill as we headed towards Lower Kabete road junction.

We just ran and ran in a relaxed pace.  We ran some one kilometre on Lower Kabete road, diverted to the left towards Mary Leakey school and finally got to the University farm at some point in the run.  We finally got to ‘the tank’, the point at which the usually muddy Uni road gets to the Kanyariri tarmac.  We had just done 10km and were almost half way through the run.

Going towards Kanyariri ACK and finally the right turn towards Kanyariri Centre on the Gitaru-Wangige road was our next course in the run.  It is just under the overhead busy road that we did the U-turn and were now headed back on same route to ‘the tank’, then straight on from the tank to Ndumbo.  All was well until the tank, when it started to drizzle.  We faced the Ndumboini hill when it was virtually raining.  However, it was short lived despite it having soaked our clothes and running shoes.

We finished the run in less than twenty-minutes after passing by Ndumboini on our way back.  I stopped my timer after a time duration of 2:24:43 for 22.33km in case, having starting before the starting point and finishing after the finish point.

It had hardly rained since the April run, when it had rained for the full day on that run day.  We only got a reprieve in the evening to have the April marathon, which was otherwise heading for a cancellation.  And keeping to the same tradition, it started raining just around eight on this Friday of the second international.  It was not past eight and we had now gathered for the ‘Lakeside evening’, where revelers get to partake of delicacies from the lake region.  That is the day I heard of vocs such as aliya, athola, obambla, cham, buss, osuga, akeyo, mtoo, apoth, ngege, omena and aluru (which was advertised but was not there).  It was still raining heavily at ten when I got a lift home after this May run and the subsequent party.

It has hardly rained since that May run, and I can for sure say that the next rainy day shall be June 24, when we shall be having our third international marathon codename ‘Divas International’.  But do not take my word for it.  Just experience it in the next three weeks.

WWB, the coach, Nairobi, Kenya, June 6, 2022

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The run to forget, unless it was corona

The run to forget, unless it was corona

If there is a day that I have ever been tired during a run then that day was yesterday, Wednesday.

“Oh emm geee!,” I had shouted out subconsciously, as I took the second step in the more that twenty-five thousand that I was meant to take on this run day.

If you are wondering what 25,000 means, then let me give you the mathematics.  If you were to count out one number in one second, then it shall take you 7 hours to count from 1 upto 25,000 – and therefore 25k is not a small number of steps.  And unfortunately, on this Wednesday, I was already tired on the very second step.

What could it be?  My stomach would soon start paining, hardly five minutes into the run and that would persist for the whole run.  Why I had the pain remains a mystery since I had just taken a normal breakfast, read, tea and bread, followed by a cup of hot water about one hour to the run.  So, the pain was a strange symptom.

Earlier in the day I had had a casual conversation with some work colleagues.  They had wondered why they do not see much of me in the office environment, of which I informed them that I had corona jitters.

“Watu wote walishapata korona,” the guy in the group of two other gals updated me.

“Kale ka homa kenye ulipata from nowhere, ilikuwa korona,” he continued.

“Hiyo ni kweli,” the ladies said almost in unison, “How do you explain nobody putting on facemasks out there and yet nobody is dying en masse?,” one of the girls asked.

“I have no answer,” I responded, “Maybe we are just lucky.”

“Don’t bring luck into the equation,” the gent told me, “You want to tell me that all children in the world are ‘just lucky’ not to get corona?”

I was taken aback on that.

The corona truth or myth was out there for all to decide for themselves.  How or what is it that is causing 237,241,246 infections and 4,843,732 deaths worldwide or 250,510 infections and 5,175 deaths in Kenya?  Isn’t there something out there for sure?  How else do you ‘mythify’ such numbers?

Anyway, that was about eleven.  It was now just about three-twenty and I was on the road for the run.  My inner spirit was urging me to abandon the run and take a rest, though my internal wiring was reminding me that it was yet another day for a weekly run.  I therefore kept going.  I just knew that I would not be turning back if I were to I get out of the compound in ten minutes.

And I got out of the compound in ten minutes and was out there onto Naivasha road and headed to Kabete Poly before crossing the Waiyaki way to the other side of it.  I kept running and my feet knew exactly where to take me.  I was going for the usual run through Ndumbo, Kapenguria road, then Mary Leakey school to enable me traverse through the Uni Farm and then join Kanyariri road for the run to the shopping centre and back.  This is a route that has become the default for the weekly runs but on this day it was just much more difficult than I had imagined.

Turning back was not an option, despite how I felt, and I felt tired, with paining legs and paining stomach.  It did not get better nor did my pace improve.  It would be a miracle if I even managed an average of 7-minutes-per-kilometer on this day.  It was that bad.  I was glad that it was not yet the date for the international marathon, that is set for the week of Oct. 25-31 virtually.  I would have posted my ‘best worst personal time’.

I struggled along until the relief of doing the U-turn under the Gitaru-Ndenderu road.  While it was a relief doing that U, it was a pain imagining that I still had another 10k of run to get me ack to the finishing line.  Anyway, I was already too deep into the mix that I just had to find the willpower to finish the run, however long it took.

I even had a flashback on that corona discussion and really thought hard about it.  Could I have been infected, hence my lethargy?  I had however passed two temperature checks within the day, and did not feel chills or pains on the chest or throat.

I finally made my way to the finish line by some miracle.  I was tired, finished and almost dizzy.  However, I was back to normalcy as soon as I had taken a short rest and a bottle of water laced with Fanta orange soda.  My legs would however pain through the night and my body felt almost malaise.  I even thought that I would have to seek medication for something that I did not yet know.

I was therefore quite glad to wake up on this Thursday feeling well and normal, the memories of yesterday’s run still lingering on, though I would like to forget that episode in a hurry, when I posted the worst run time of 5:58 per kilometre over that 24.5k distance.  It is a route that I have done before in just under 5:00 average at my peak… and that is why I want to forget this run very fast and concentrate on the next.  This run was quite a welcome to the month of October, being the first run in the month.  The very month when the Standard Chartered Nairobi International marathon awaits.

WWB, the Coach, Nairobi, Kenya, Oct. 7, 2021

When you have a good day, do enjoy it… to the max

When you have a good day, do enjoy it… to the max

It is long since I looked at the COVID19 numbers.  Do I even have the name of the website where I used to check the numbers from?  Or did I close that tab on my web browser never to reopen it?  I will be pretending if I were to bury my head in the sand, so to speak, and ignore the corona pandemic, in the guise of ‘being tired’.  There is no taking a break until we have corona defeated.  

This is not the time to be tired.  We have to keep keeping on.  We have to continue taking preventive measures that have been proved to work – masking, distancing, washing, vaccinating.  That is the only way that at some point we shall get out of the corona world and take that long awaited break.  The numbers shall not go down on their own without the participation of each one of us.  These numbers* standing at 174,964,775 infections, 3,771,572 deaths and 158,454,195 recoveries globally are huge.  Even the motherland has bigger numbers, being 173,661, 3,345 and 118,933 respectively.

*source: worldometers

I therefore feel for people when they behave ‘tired’ and walk around without a mask or a care in the world.  I feel for people when they have to congregate and throw away that ‘social-distance’ vocabulary.  It is human. I understand.  I judge not.  

I observed all these going-ons as I did my Monday run.  I was just about the 2km mark at Kabete Polytechnic when I observed the crowd of people that looked like students gather around the Poly gate, talking loudly, holding hands, hugging and all.  They were just being human.

I was hardly ten minutes into the run by this point in time, and I was feeling quite good.  The feel-good had started just as I took the first run step at about three on this Monday, three days ago.  It is long since I started a run feeling on top of my game.  I knew that there would be a special run in the offing on this Monday, if this feeling continued.  

However, there were two milestones that would determine if this was ‘the day’.  The first would be about the sixth kilometre as I faced the uphill after the river on Kapenguria road, towards Kabete Children home, and secondly, at the tank, when I emerge from the Uni fam to join Kanyariri road on the 12k mark.  If I would be feeling this good at those two stages, then I was going to break a run record on this sunny afternoon.

I was running quite effortlessly as I made these observations, all the way to Ndumbo market, where the roadsides were already filled-up with kiosks and buyers, while the remaining main tarmac road was blocked by matatus that had stopped in the middle of the tarmac and were now beckoning for passengers to town.  I was forced to squeeze within the sea of humanity, to just pass by that Ndumbo junction.  I knew that I would emerge from this very junction about one-and-a-half hours later, on my way back on Kanyariri road.  For now, I had to proceed on with Kapenguria road and aim for that first milestone that would start determining how my run would go.

The run continued.  My legs were quite light, my arms did not seem laboured, my breathing remained on the normal range, and even my stomach was not paining on this day.  The tummy was paining terribly on the last run of Thursday, four days before this Monday run.  I persevered with the pain for over ten kilometres in the course of that run.  It was not comfortable, though I still finished the run in an under 5-min average.  I was having none of that today.  I was surely having a good run day and there was no doubt about it.

I approached the downhill after Wangari Maathi institute at a relatively slow pace.  I did not want to sprint it off.  I knew that there was a hill coming up after the river.  I wanted to have enough energy reserves for that 1km of hill.  A downhill sprint would not do if I wanted a steady uphill run.  The strategy worked and I did the uphill with little effort.  I found myself emerging at Lower Kabete road and took the left turn, that would lead me to the Mary Leakey route then the Uni farm.  I was running on a route that I had used so many times that I could be blindfolded and would still make it.

The feel good would continue, with hardly any aches, even as I approached and passed by the 12km mark as I emerged at ‘the tank’ to join Kanyariri road.  

“This is it,” I did selftalk, as I started the 2km run on Kanyariri road, that would lead me to the U-turn on Wangige road, then back.

It is long since I enjoyed myself this much on a run circuit.  This was one of those rare occasions.  Such occasions are few and far between.  I just let myself go and let myself enjoy the run, the environment, the observations, the jostling for space with motorbikes at the potholed sections of the road.  I even battled for the right of way with the vehicles on the Waiyaki way as I crossed over towards Kabete Poly on my way back.  It was an enjoyable day and run.

It therefore did not come as any surprised when I finished the 24k run in just under 2hours, 1.58.31 to be exact.  It was a great day, and I am glad that I enjoyed the run to the fullest.  I know that it may take months to get such an opportunity again.  However, since tomorrow never comes anyway, why can’t you just enjoy every moment to the fullest as it unfolds and as it presents itself?  You never know if you would get another chance that has all the right combination of right conditions.  If you get it in the future, then good for you as you re-enjoy yourself.  If you do not, then still good for you that you already enjoyed what you had.  It is a win-win whichever way you look at it.

WWB, the coach, Nairobi, Kenya, June 9, 2021

Running two marathons in the name of MA+RA+TH+ON

Running two marathons in the name of MA+RA+TH+ON

Yesterday was a Sunday.  Sunday the twenty-third of May.  I know that date so well because I went to bed smiling, slept well, had sweet dreams and woke up today Monday still smiling.  This elation is unique.  It hardly happens.  And when it does, I usually know about it, and yesterday was one of such few days.  I knew that I was on top of the planet.

My marathon relay team of four had just conquered the world.  By random selection of team members by our NMMT organizer, we had somehow bonded, blended and beat the other teams in the NMMT formations.  It was something worth celebrating.  A conquest is a conquest, a victory is a victory.  Enjoy it.

The MA+RA+TH+ON event is a relay marathon formed by teams of four runners, each contributing 10.5km to sum-up the distance of the 42km full marathon.  The run is done by the individuals, at their own time, on their own routes, provided they do so within the 2-day weekend window.  For 2021, this run had to be done by the relay team members from zero hours Saturday, May 22 to midnight Sunday, May 23.

The problem with holding a run in two days is that each person runs on their own day and there is no stopping the early braggers from running their mouths after running their feet.  It is like facing one exam and being allowed to do it on different days, with those doing it first shouting about how they have passed!  Subjecting those who are yet to do that exam to so much pressure!

I had decided to contribute my 10.5km by running on a Saturday.  I did not want to risk it for Sunday and face all that pressure of running on the last day of the event.  I was already on maximum discouragement from seeing performance of others, even as I started the run at three.  By this time the early starters had already done their runs and posted their times.  They added injury to our legs by posting photos of their celebrations with nyama choma and chips, taken after their runs.  The run times already posted were just amazing.  Under 5s was all we could see on the WhatsApp postings.

I was doing this run for the team.  One of the few times in a marathoner’s life that you actually worry about someone else – three other people in this case.  A marathoner usually runs alone, for self-gratification and self-glory.  This NN-Maurten Running Team event was the only one that I know of, that had global following for organizing a marathon relay.  Our own marathoner Kipchoge was one of the promoters that was prominently shown on the NN-M frontpage of their website.  You cannot go wrong in a run with Kipchoge, can you?

I had already mapped my route during that mock run of Tuesday.  It was now just a matter of repeating the feat, without gadget failure, hopefully.  Talking about gadget failure brings me back to where I left off during that mock run (details here).  On that Tuesday the Strava app had failed and shutdown, not allowing me to know how much time, distance and average pace I had done for the mock.  I had seen a glimpse, but I would not have the opportunity to digest the details due to that app failure.

I was going to give Strava a second try despite that Tuesday letdown.  It was while starting the app in readiness for the Saturday real run that things happened.  The app started by showing a message that it was ‘recovering data’.  And… and sure enough, four days later, and Strava recovered the details of that Tuesday run, including time and map!  What a way to start a real run!?  

I however would be relying on it to do the right thing immediately by recording and saving the run on this Saturday.  Any stoppage and then recovering the run four-days later would not help, when I only had a two-day window to run and post the results with NN-M.  I did not even have much time to appreciate the stats of that mock run that turned out to be 13.12km at a 4.43km pace.  It was already time for the run.

I was readying myself for the real thing.  The mock did not count.  This Saturday’s run was all that mattered.  I was ready to give the team my very best contribution.  Same route, probably same effort, and maybe same or better average.  It is the average pace that would be posted online.  Additionally, the relay team’s performance would be based on the average of all their individual average speeds.  Did I not tell you that you cannot go wrong with Kipchoge?  When you have to do an average of the average?  What other way can one ever hope to have to be fair to all the teammates in this relay, other than this average of average?

The weather was just as good as it was on Tuesday, on this Saturday as I did the real run.  It was a bit sunny, despite the forecast having been cloudy.  I was already too deep in the run to even worry about the weather.  This was it!  I had to make it count.  Of course, I could have the opportunity to re-run the next day, in case something went wrong this Saturday, but I was not wishing for any repeat.  This was the run – the only run that would go to NN-M webpage.

The route had already been mapped on Tuesday.  I was just going on remote control, following the same paces, feeling the same runner fatigue and facing the same uphill and downhills.  From Uthiru to Ndumbo was a warmup phase.  I eventually started my Strava app just as I passed by Ndumbo market for the short downhill on Kanyariri road, before I would be encountering the long uphill that would generally take me all the way to Wangige road tarmac junction.  I was ready for this 5km uphill stretch.  It was the only one that I had to survive.  I would be OK after that, since it would then be smooth all the way down after that U-turn on Wangige tarmac.

I kept running without noticing much on the run route.  I finally got to the end of the loop.  It was the best U-turn that I ever did.  I was elated that I was now going back on a generally downhill all the way to the finish line for the NN-M event that was to hive off 10.5km from the longer route.  I was so relaxed on the way down Kanyariri road and would soon get to the junction to University farm where I was to turn left at this junction that we famously call ‘the tank’, due to… you guessed it, the tank that is prominently installed on the elevated metallic structure at this junction as you head to the Uni farm.

From my mock of Tuesday, I knew that the 10.5k point would be somewhere before reaching Mary Leakey school.  I powered the dimmed screen of the phone when I was at Kabete High School and glanced at the Strava app.  It was now showing 9.98km.  Perfect timing.  I now had just five-hundred metres to finish my marathon relay contribution.  I kept going towards the river that is at the lower turn of the road, where I once again looked at the information on the phone.  

It was now 10.45km.  Mary Leakey was just ahead to my right after a gentle uphill.  I had the liberty of stopping the timer in about fifty footsteps, which would be exactly on the 10.5km mark.  I instead decided to prolong the finish to just next to Mary Leakey School turnoff point.  I kept running even as I stopped Strava and saved the run.  It accepted to save without a problem as I kept running.

The MA+RA+TH+ON run had been done.  I however still have my usual run to do.  I was now going through the small Kabete shopping centre in readiness to join the Lower Kabete road for a run of about five minutes, before I get to Kapenguria road and turn right.  If Uthiru was nearer, then I would have reduced pace and probably walked home and started the celebrations for a run well done.  However, Uthiru was still over five kilometres away.  I just had to make the rest of the run still count, after all, my other timer in the name of Runkeeper was still active and timing.  This had not been stopped and it also expected me to record a good time on the longer 24km route that I was now doing.

Oh, that hill from the river, past Wangari Maathai institute to Ndumbo!  That almost 2km hill is a bad feature on that road!  I still had to face it despite the marathon relay conquest.  I could not wait for it to be finished, and finished it did after it had kept me sweating on it for over seven minutes!  Reaching Ndumbo was a relief, since Uthiru was now just on the other side of Waiyaki way right ahead.  I was however not doing any shortcuts and still had to prolong the run all the way to N-junction and Kabete Poly, before heading to the finish line.  

With the run done, I had to reflect on how the day had gone.  The 10.5km marathon relay, which was actually 10.8km had been a sweet run.  Strava had given me 49min 35s on that route, hence an average pace of 4:36/km was going to be posted on my team’s page on NN-M event webpage.  I had done my bit and I was happy with my input.  The full run over the 24km had been done in just under 2hours, with Runkeeper giving me a 4.48/km as the average pace.  Both runs went quite well.  Two marathons on the same day was unprecedented but nonetheless enjoyable.

While the Strava app automatically uploaded the results to my relay team page on the NN-M website, I did not post any ‘brag’ data on the social media circles.  I wanted all the team members to first do their runs by Sunday midnight before we could compare notes.  Two members of the team managed to run on Saturday, posting 4.36 and 5.16.  Our average was already 4.56/km by midnight of day 1.  We now just hoped that the other two would bring the run home for us.  I had monitored the social pages and the other teams were really struggling, after all, you cannot control the pace of your relay team members.  They just run their runs and you accept their results.

Then it came Sunday night and for sure all runs were now done in Kenya – at least the day time type.  With runs done, it was now time to confirm how the average paces were for all the various relay teams within our NMMT running group.  We also had to finally unveil our own performance for our ‘Team C’.  

It was Beryl of the now inactive B-and-B team who broke the news.

“Have you seen our performance?,” she sent a message on Signal, matter of fact, no greetings, no nothing.

“Hi there yourself,” I started, “I am waiting for one more team member to post his results”

“Coaches you can’t be serious!  All results are in.  We did it!”

I was taken aback.  I was for sure still waiting for Henry to post his results, after Charles, our other team member domiciled in TZ, had just posted his results.

“Let me check,” I responded on the Signal app and switched to the NN-M website and straight to the team page, which was permanently open on one tab of the browser.  I did not even refresh.  There it was – 

Your team: NMMT_TEAM_C_2021

Time: 5.07min/km average pace, 3.34.35 total time

Ranking: 813 worldwide overall, 396 in the category

Runners: (list of four)

With over 7,000 runners from 170 countries, we had surely outdone ourselves and made Kenya (and TZ) proud, considering that these were randomly assigned team members, each with their own paces.  3,900 teams participated in the event and the athletes covered 520,000km as per stats published on the same NN-M website.

Now you know why I went to bed on Sunday night with a smile that could not leave my face even when the new day started.

WWB, the Coach, Nairobi, Kenya, May 24, 2021

Birthday runs are not sustainable… just believe me when I say

Birthday runs are not sustainable… just believe me when I say

I have never had a busy Thursday such as what I had yesterday.  I had a meeting that was to have ended at one, but for my intervention to cut it short at 12.30pm.  I was then to send a surprise birthday present to the upcoming runner, WWB junior, who was turning a half-marathon.  My plans were to dash to Ruiru to deliver the package, then be back to the start line by four.  However, the timings did not seem to work as planned.

I was at Ruiru just about three, delivered my present in a hurry, and started my travel back.  Travel on Thika road towards city centre was quite smooth and I was starting to be confident that I would make it back to Uthiru by four.  My confidence would however soon wane when I got to the globe cinema roundabout, where the matatu came to a standstill on top of the flyover.  The road was jampacked.  I could see the fire station just ahead, besides which I would be getting my next matatu, but here I was, stuck in a long queue of vehicles in three lanes on top of the giant roundabout.

“I shall not make it for this run,” I told myself.

The jam would soon ease allowing us to disembark at Latema road, and I would momentarily get my next matatu at about three-thirty.  Maybe I would make it to Uthiru in time for the run after all.  I was once more relaxed as we left the city and headed to Waiyaki way.  Then it happened again.  We were soon in another big traffic jam that ran from Westlands all the way to ABC centre.  Though it eased after ABC, it was already heading to four-thirty.

“I shall not make it for this birthday run,” I told myself once again.

The matatu moved quite fast after Kangemi and I found myself alighting at Uthiru just about four-forty.  The earliest that I could start the run was now probably five or thereabout, and I already had a bad experience last Monday when I had a five o’clock run.  Would I dare a late evening run for a second time in a week?  Would that not be one dare too much!

I did dare the run anyway, starting off at five just as it started to drizzle.  It was just like Monday repeating itself, since on that day I had been rained on, though that rain started off about fifteen minutes into the run.  Today it was drizzling ab initio, from the first second.  I was already set for the run and nothing was stopping this run.  Did I even have a choice?  Today was the birthday day, and a birthday date is always fixed on a particular date, isn’t it?

The drizzle was however gone by the time I was crossing Waiyaki way to start my run towards Ndumboini, hardly fifteen minutes into the run.  It turned out that there was no rain at all for the rest of the run.  It was even a relief that the University farm earth road was even dry, the very road that got me stuck on Monday.

I was on the same route on this Thursday, similar to the run of Monday.  I was running from Uthiru to Lower Kabete road, then diverting to the University farm past Mary Leakey school, then finally joining Kapenguria road at the tank all the way to the U-turn some 3km ahead, then back.  The run was smooth and fairly enjoyable.  Maybe it was just enjoyable because I had no choice on this, and the more I enjoyed it the better I would survive it.

Just as it was no Monday, I would finish the run when it was already dark, just past seven.  I was to commemorate a twenty-one for the young upcoming runner and I did that half-marathon for this occasion, even managing to add an extra three ks for her benefit.

However, the lesson today is about these so-called ‘birthday runs’.  These runs are completely unsustainable.  I was on full struggle yesterday doing that half-marathon, simply because I was helping someone commemorate her twenty-first birthday.  Any run over 10km is already a struggle as it is.  By the time you get to the ‘Teenage runs’, you already need proper planning.  Additionally, these are not your typical everyday run.  Past teenage and you really need to think twice about whether you really want to commemorate a birthday with a run after all.  

Imagine how worse birthday runs get once you try being good to someone past-teenage years?  How about when they hit half-marathon and beyond!  That is not even all, birthday runs go to full-marathons and beyond.  I have already mentioned that any run after 10km is quite something.  A half-marathon is not your everyday run.  A full marathon is a run in just a different territory.  

Doing halfs and fulls and anything in between and even beyond, for purposes of helping people celebrate their birthday, is good motivation… but not is sustainable.  The body can only take so much, and you only have one body.  There is no second chance to replenish the body once you get it overworked.  My marathoners group even sums all birthday years and asks members to run that total number of kilometres, singly or within the month!

Nonetheless, I have good news for all those who commemorate birthdays by doing such ‘birthday runs’.  Do you recall that age is nothing but a number?  Why not run any distance that you want when you are commemorating someone’s birthday?  Just do your comfortable distance and then tell the person, “According to me, you are only ten years old, and I did a 10km run for you.”

Problem solved.

Alternatively, good old cake for a birthday still works – whether you are giving or partaking.

WWB, the Coach, Nairobi, Kenya, May 7, 2021

Rain and dark – the two enemies of the runner

Rain and dark – the two enemies of the runner

I have been resisting the urge to share my experience about the Monday run.  I deliberately avoiding this write-up on that Monday and did the same avoidance yesterday.  The urge on the fingers is just too great today that I have no choice but to talk about it.  I was ashamed to tell this story due to the bad choices that I made on that Monday, but you cannot hide from the truth, so here goes…

I was attending one of those online meetings when things go wrong for no apparent reason.  My computer decided to disable the microphone for reasons best known to itself, yet it had worked so well in a previous meeting earlier the same day.  I therefore could hear and see, but could not be heard (and seen, since the camera on the laptop is inactive when the laptop is folded and fixed on the docking station).  I was at least able to assure the participants that I was still with them by virtue of typing comments now and then on the chat box.  I would eventually excuse myself at five, while the meeting was still on, and start my preparations for the run.

It has already rained earlier in the day, with more showers manifesting around the lunch hour break.  I knew that the ground would definitely be muddy at some point in the run, but maybe it could as well have dried up, since it was now over three hours since the last showers.  My main concern on this day even as I started the run was the time.  I would be starting the run just past five and I expected to do a two-hour run.  That would mean finishing the run past seven.  That would be late by running standards.  Runners are not encouraged to run in the dark… for safety reasons and also for reasons of culture (think night + runner).

I leveraged on the likelihood of the darkness not being manifest until past seven as a an assurance that I would run in the dark.  Afterall, the earth’s revolution was still just around the equinox, and the daylight hours should therefore be longer.  I therefore started the run just about five-ten and was on the usual run route that would take me from Uthiru to Ndumboini, then down Kapenguria road to some part of Lower Kabete road, then I would divert onto the road towards Mary Leakey school, then University Farm and finally would emerge at ‘the tarmac’ on Kanyariri road.  I would then run about 3km to my turning point past Kanyariri shopping centre, and then start my way back straight on that tarmac to Ndumbo, and back to Uthiru.

This is a run-route that has accommodated my usual once-a-week runs.  It springs no new surprises.  It gives you the strain of the hill, from about the 5km mark at ‘the river’ and keeps the hill-pains burning until the U-turn point at the 15km mark.  The turnback is a relief, since it provides you with a downhill terrain all the way to the river before Ndumbo, where we face a final 1km uphill before you are generally done with the run of the day with those last 2kms.

I did not expect any surprises on the road, but I was proven wrong.  I had just passed Ndumbo market, hardly 30-minutes since I started the run, when the first drops of rain hit me.  I kept going with the hope that these were just intermittent drops from the earlier rain.  This wish was however not granted.  I had just started on the downhill from Ndumbo towards Wangari Maathai institute when the heavy rain started from nowhere.  I encountered a few passersby trying to run the uphill, with little success, while cursing the rain.

“Sasa huyu mbua natoka wapi yawa!,” I overhead as a group of three or so gents tried to run uphill, while I enjoyed the comfort of going downhill.  They looked like manual labourers going back home after a day’s job.

The rain did not relent.  I had second thoughts of whether to just do a U-turn and go back to Ndumbo, then either shelter at Ndumbo or run back and abort the run, but that did not happen.  What happened was that I kept going, even as a sheet of rainfall engulfed my whole body, blinding me even as I passed by Wangari’s institute.  The waters were cold and chilly.  I shivered as I kept going towards the river.  I was now completely at a point of no return.  I would not be encountering any form of shelter now, until I get to KAGRI and Kabete Children’s Home, some one kilometre ahead.  The last shelter was now equally about a kilometre back.

It was still raining heavily by the time I got to the river.  I saw a few people take shelter under the trees besides the main tarmac.  They seemed to look at me with some pity.  I did not care.  I was already having my own troubles with the soaked clothes and wet feet, after the running shoes had been completely flooded with the rain waters.  I was in a dilemma at to whether I would continue running in the rain or would have to give up at some point.  I now cursed that decision of keeping on with the run, when I had the option of turning back.  The only reason why I kept running was because I was already in the shower, “maji ukiyavulia nguo, ni sharti uyaoge”. 

I was starting my run on the uphill after the river when the rain started to relent and then stop, just like that.  I would soon meet a group of about five runners coming from part of KAGRI farmland, definitely having been taking shelter from the rain.  By this time, the rain was almost over.  The drizzles were few and far between.  I once again applauded my decision to continue with the run, since the rain would have soon been gone anyway.  I reached Lower Kabete road as the only wet and muddy soul on the road.  I did not give a damn at the stares that I got, in a manner of asking where I was coming from with all that mud.

The run went well until I diverted towards the left, from Lower Kabete road, to start onto the road that would lead me past Mary Leakey school, then towards the University farm.  This is a dry weather road and the earlier rains had made it a bit wet and slippery.  I kept going though at a reduced pace to try to counter the effects of the potentially slippery road.

It would get worse when I diverted to my right to start the over 1km run through the Uni farm.  I once again regretted taking this run.  I should have obeyed that first instinct when the rain started, and I should have turned back and gone home.  Now I was surely in the thick of things.  And I do mean ‘thick’!  A thick layer of mud soon engulfed my running shoes, and I could hardly run, leave alone walk.  Each foot felt like it was lifting a 5kg load due to that thick layer of mud.  I have never struggled with a run in my life!  Removing the mud was an exercise in futility, since the shoes would momentarily be muddy and heavy once more after only a few steps.  I tried my best to keep running despite the pain of the heavy legs.  It was painful I tell you!

Endurance conquered the day, and I would eventually emerge at ‘the tank’, to join the Kanyariri tarmac ready for the 3km run.  It was a relief to hit the tarmac.  I ran on the sides of the road to dip my shoes in the water puddles and through the grasses to clean them up.  The shoes were relatively free of mud hardly five minutes after hitting the tarmac.  The rest of the run turned out to be smooth, albeit the gentle hill.  It was just tarmac all through.

It came to me as a surprise when I did the U-turn after Kanyariri shopping centre only to notice that it was getting dark.  It was just too early for any darkness to befall.  If it was getting dark when I still had about an hour of run, then I would be running in total darkness for more than half of the remaining run!  I had not planned for this.  I had believed in the equinox.  It now seemed to have failed me.  Or could it have been the dark clouds in the heavens?  I did not know what to make of it, but I was nonetheless still worried about this sudden darkening of the evening.

I was right to be worried, since it was quite dark hardly thirty-minutes into my return run.  I got to Ndumbo river when it was already dark.  I faced that last hill in near total darkness.  I reached Ndumbo market when it was dark, with the traders having already lit their lanterns to supplement the streetlights.  I got to Waiyaki way when it was dark.  I could hardly see the run path as I crossed the highway.  The road next to Kabete Poly was at least lit, giving me some relief from the dark.

I finally finished the run after a time of 2.09.47, when it was quite dark.  I learnt my lessons on that Monday, two days ago – if you want to run, make your decision, stick to your decision and just run.  No two runs will ever be the same and you need to be ready for anything when you are on the road.

WWB, the Coach, Nairobi, Kenya, May 5, 2021