What became of Christmas?

What became of Christmas?

It was either real, or I was dreaming.  I had tired my body to the max, to enable me have a completely restful sleep.  I had just done the 2hr 15min run on Thursday on the hot heat of Eldy to induce this tiredness.  Though I did not end up with a ‘long’ headache like what I encountered after the Monday run, I still had a headache nonetheless.  That was dehydration reminding me that water was essential.  The Thursday run did however have some short spells of cloud cover, hence the total run in the sun was reduced and so did the total headache after the run.

Anyway, the next day, a Friday, would be Christmas.  My plan was to take a good long night sleep and wake up late on Christmas day.  After all, wasn’t there a curfew on Christmas this time round?  Wasn’t Christmas even cancelled this year?  I thought I heard that bit of info on the news, where the powers-that-be dared anybody to dare get out at night in the name of Christmas?

It would be a matter of wait and see if Christmas-2020 would turn out to be a real thing.  For sure, there was no midnight shout to welcome Christmas, meaning that it was starting to appear like it would not.  I already know that there shall be no much shouting one week from today, when the New Year dawns.  We live in changed times, thanks to corona.  I will not even be surprised if the PTB shall cancel New Year altogether – just watch this space.

*PTB = powers-that-be

I was for sure in bed.  It was probably Friday… it was surely Friday!  I was getting back to reality after the good night sleep and was still unsure of what was reality or unreal.  I started regaining perception of reality and it seemed to be morning as the light seemed to fill the room from the large window just besides the bed.  I was however still kind-of-asleep and I had not yet had enough of my full intended eight-hours of sleep.  I still had probably another two hours to get to the expected dose.

So, who was daring me in this morning?  Why was I stirring in my sleep?  Why was Christmas waking me up by force?  By ‘2-10’ as my old folks would say!

“Una ni ita mlevi?,” I thought I heard or maybe I dreamt that up.

But it did not take long to confirm!

“We, Jose, unasema mimi mlevi.  Ulinipatia pombe mimi?”

This was reality.  The sound was surely coming from the next compound.  The sound was coming in loud and clear, into my second-floor apartment that overlooks ‘the den’.

I have known of this den since I started my stay here.  It is where local brew is made and consumed.  It is the only place where I hear of, “Nipe ya mbao” (serve me something worth twenty shillings).  I have heard noises and commotion from that joint before.  I can assume that noise and arguments is the expected daily routine.  Most of these arguments end up in some form of fight, based on my observations.  Was it not just last Tuesday that someone guy confessed to all and sundry that he had been hit by a glass bottle by Jebet?

Back to the present, reality was slowly sinking in that something was going on at the den.  The sound was loud and clear.  Soon the sounds would become many, mostly from the male side of sounds.  I would gather that someone had called another one a drunk.  That was the main contention at seven on this Friday morning.  Most voices were so slurred, loud and incoherent that I was convinced that they were under the influence, no doubt.  After all, normally speaking, how big a deal is it to be called ‘mlevi’?  To the extent of….

“Haki ya nani… Mungu moja… lazima… lazima tumalizane na… na Jose leo!”

I could hear sound like furniture moving around and a door being forced open.

“Ile changaa nilikunywa tangu asubuhi lazima itaishia hapa.  Jose atanijua!”

There would be sounds of items moving here and there, while in the whole mix I would also hear some voices like trying to separate some fighting motions.

The melee did not last for more than five minutes, since there after I could sense the end of the situation as the aggressor seemed to make amends….

“Mimi Mogaka siwezi itwa mlevi, hata nikunywe siku nzima!  Kwanza Madhe,” he paused, “We, Madhe… Madhe!...,” he seemed to be calling someone’s attention, “Hebu nipe ya mbao… Jose atalipa!”

The very Jose he had been fighting… they were still friends!

So, this is what was disturbing my sleep?  For crying out loud!  Can’t a drinker drink in peace and sleeper sleep in peace?  What has come to the world on Christmas day!  

I would soon drift back to sleep, that sweet morning sleep that is usually short but enjoyable.  However, as fate would have it, this sleep would not last for long….

“Haiya yaya yai – huyu nugu ana niita masikini!  Ati sina pesa!”

Oh, come on.  Are these people real?

“Mimi Oti!  Mimi!  Ati sina pesa – mimi!  Walayi huyu Njoro atanijua leo!”

There would follow another commotion with chairs being dragged on the floor followed by more shouting and more noises as the boys seem to come into the scene to separate the apparent duo.

It was hardly eight and I was now getting used to the den being active.  That must have been the last of the morning commotion, so I thought.  It was becoming quiet and I was about to make a third shot at sleep, when without notice…

“Merry Christmas kila mtu.  Leo ni Krisi!  Hebu tukunywe!  Madhela, hebu nipe ingine ya mbao…”

But that shout did not even end before a new development occurred.  I could hear a shrill voice of some seemingly agitated lady interrupt…

“We Mike uko tu hapa…. Umetuacha bila chakula… Una itisha tu za mbao!  Wuwi!!  Mike uneniua na watoyi!  Lazima turudi nyumbani utupatie Krismas!  Sitoki hapa bila Mike!”

More commotion and name-calling would follow as all and sundry got into the argument, some supporting the man, others supporting the lady.  It would get ugly!  U-g-l-y I tell you!  All gloves were off when they started abusing each other, as loudly as their voices could allow, on how the man was useless and could not provide for his family.  She even said his manhood has become useless.  U-g-l-y it turned, as Mike threated to show all and sundry the so called ‘useless’ manhood for all to see and judge…. Of course, with some supporting the move and others opposing it!

I was forced to jump out of bed after this episode.  My sleep had now been spoilt without any opportunity for getting it back on track.  Come off it already!  What has become of Christmas?  It is now a day for name-calling, abuses, fighting and a lesson in anatomy!  I am ashamed to say a Merry Christmas following everything that I have encountered so far… and the day is still young!

WWB, the Coach, Eldy, Kenya, Dec. 25, 2020

Running back is never easy

Running back is never easy

That Tuesday, December 15 run should have been the last run in the year.  It was a city run and it was the usual run through the Mary Leakey route and back to Uthiru.  It did not have anything unusual, apart from the blazing sun that contributed to the 2hours of misery on that route.  But was the sun any surprise?  No!  It has been a hot December and I do not recall any rain falling since the clock hit Dec. 1 on that Monday midnight.  

It is now just a matter of living with the heat.  It is likely to get worse as we head to January and impossible in February, before the long rains bring a relief in March.  That means that we better get used to the heat… and probably that is why Dec. 15 should have been the last run, until the heat dies down…. in March!

It was however not to be.  I found myself cutting my holiday short when I moved through the motions of dressing up onto the run gear and just leaving.  However, this was no longer a run in the city in the sun, this was a run in the home of champions… with the sun!  The 5km circuit that I have now established become the ‘new normal’ on this Monday, exactly one week since I had vowed to ‘retire’.

The route is established, hence I am now able to just set off on that circuit and just run it through, without much ado.  Much had remained unchanged on that route, apart from the drying vegetation and dried-up streams that would otherwise be forcing its waters from the soggy soil on the river sides onto the winding Sosiani river.  Their impression on the ground remained evident even as I ran through that part of the route.  Sosiani itself was not its old self.  It seemed a bit thin.  

The available water had retreated to the middle of the river course, leaving a larger than usual river bank on either sides, with stones and occasional tree stumps evident even from my running path some one-hundred metres away.  It was surely dry and drying.  I was surprised that there was hardly a rain in Eldy.  I had now stayed for five days and had not seen (or heard, if at night) any rain.  It was hardly last month when many of my runs would be rained through or cancelled due to mid-day rains.  This was a big change!

The Monday run went well by all definitions, bearing in mind the heat that prevailed over the lunch hour time slot.  I did not know that a run in the overhead sun could be that tiring!  It turned out to be!  I had initially thought that the tiredness was due to my coming back from retirement, but it seemed not.  The tiredness was a direct result of the heat.  I know this because I was having a headache by the time I had done the 2hr 15min run through five circuits.  

A headache after a run is a sure sign of dehydration.  But do not take my word for it.  I would find myself taking a litre of water, laced in Coke, rather Coke laced with water immediately after the run.  It was not long before I was taking another litre of juice in two large gulps, ‘just like that’.

It is now seven hours after the run and my thirst level remains fairly unquenched and the headache fairly unchanged.  This surely must have been the hottest run taken since retirement, though it is likely not to be the last one this year.  This is because a marathoner needs a ‘big tiredness’ in readiness for Christmas and another big one in readiness for New Year.  A big tiredness is also possible after a run.  Will there be any retirement at this rate?  Is there even need to retire, if we are kind-a-living one day at a time in these days of Corona?

Corona is so much in the air, and we even have a new ‘fast spreading strain’ that has ‘mutated’ from the original one that we know of.  This new one is believed to have originated in the UK just this week.  Getting Corona, whether the usual or the new one, would usually mean a compulsory 14-day quarantine – from all activities, including runs, that is for the majority of cases that do not end up in hospital ICU.  

Technically, these fourteen days should be the ‘holed up’ type, where you are locked in the house without a chance to get out of the house (if you follow the expectations of quarantine).  That means that we just need to keep running while waiting for that forced 2-week break when it comes.  A runner is in a better position when the runner has accumulated enough mileage, sorry, kilometage, before facing such a forced break.  That means only a two-week downtime since the last run.  The last run+2-weeks should remain your calculation on the duration of being ‘holed up’ when it happens.  The nearer the last run, the better for you.

So, what is the parting shot?  Corona numbers* are now 77,487,024 infections globally with 1,704,893 deaths and 54,379,440 recovering, while Kenyan numbers are 94,614, 1,644 and 76,060 respectively.  The numbers are bad.  However, we already have two vaccines approved in the US (read, approved for worldwide use) that are already getting into people’s arms in the US, UK and Canada (and Australia and soon rest of Europe-27).  These two being Pfeizer-BionTech and Moderna – the first with its neg-70 storage quagmire, and the latter with normal fridge temperature storage.  The third candidate, Astra-Zeneca is not far from approval in the US (read as before).  

That means that Corona is heading for a defeat – new mutant or not.  With the vaccine being a bit far from Kenya, a 14-day rest shall remain our immediate treatment for Corona going forward, in the unfortunate event that it hits us even after we face-mask, hand-wash, sanitize and social-distance.  Before then…. keep running since you never know when you shall be forced to take that ‘treatment’.

*source - worldometers website on 21-Dec-2020

WWB, the Coach, Eldy, Kenya, 21-Dec-2020

15km of pure pain – when you are stuck on the run… with no end in sight

15km of pure pain – when you are stuck on the run… with no end in sight

I just had to stop.  The pain was simply unbearable.  I have experienced such a pain before, but not this early in the run.  I had just hit the 8km mark at Mary Leakey school junction.  I was on a half-marathon lunch hour run.  I was now starting the second third of my run, which would take me to the turning point past Kanyariri market.  I would then make a U-turn and run the length of Kanyariri road all the way to Ndumbo and back to Uthiru for the last third of the run.

But here I was – stopping after an otherwise well-paced run.  Here I was – limping.  The pain on the right thigh was just unbearable.  I could hardly walk.  It was excruciating with every step, even though I was now just walking and kicking that leg as I limped along.

It was however too late to turn back and face another 8k already covered.  I could, but I really dreaded the 2km uphill from ‘the river’ past Wangari Maathai institute all the way to Ndumbo.  That hill on Kapenguria road would spell my doom with such a painful right leg.  I would instead easily keep going to the tank, to reach the Kanyariri road junction and turn left back to Ndumbo and Uthiru.  This would be a shorter route to the finish line, than turning back.  

After kicking that leg while limp-walking over a distance of ten or so footsteps, I did regain some relief on that leg, but my run was now done.  I could hardly accelerate.  In my view, I was running at the slowest pace done this year.  I would hardly do a 6min per kilometre at this pace – and that would even be a great achievement if it materialized.  

Resumption of the run reinstated the pain in its full pinch.  I could hardly fold the knee of that leg.  How was I going to make this run through?  I was still too far from the finish line, whichever route I did take.  I just had to endure a painful run for the rest of the run.  What a day!  What a Tuesday!

It is only by sheer willpower, and the fear of being stuck far from my finish line, that kept me running through my pain.  I would be better off collapsing within my home territory, not within the fields of the university farm or along the Kanyariri tarmac.  I just had to make it home.

I therefore kept running, albeit slowly, just to get myself moving and eventually finish this run.  This run was painful I tell you.  I was surprised that I still managed to turn to the right when I got to ‘the tank’ junction that joins Kanyariri tarmac.  Am I crazy or what!

I would have and should have just turned left and gone back to Ndumbo and back to the finish line but no!  I had to prolong the pain by turning right and extending my run past Kanyariri market, some three kilometres ahead, then had to run back same distance and eventually all the way to Ndumbo market and eventually to the finish line.

It was a painful run all through.  The muscle pull did not relent.  If anything, it got worse.  I grimaced and reduced speed to the bare minimum most of the way.  I was more of crawling than running.  Running any uphill stretch was the most painful!

Pain makes you oblivious of many going-ons around you.  The mind tells you to just be done with it.  I do not even recall seeing the Uthiru flyover now half demolished and the demolition now ongoing on the Ndumbo side of the bridge.  I was too concerned with survival despite the rumbling caused by the heavy machinery on top of the bridge as it knocked down on the concrete structure of the bridge.  It was working hard to get that bridge finally destroyed.

The pain would finally come to an end when I stopped my timer after 2hr 8min and 17sec.  I was so relieved that it was done with, even as I limped to the washroom and wash off the mid-day sweat.  It has been my left foot that has been a culprit of being painful with every run.  Today was different.  It was the right leg that did me in.  I hardly felt a pain on the left foot.

Lesson learnt – be glad when facing challenges ‘in advance’, since you have another day to make amends.  I shudder to think of what would have been if this day was one of those ‘real’ marathon days!  I would have probably recorded my ‘personal worst time’ (PW).  I am therefore glad that I did face this pain when there was no competition… in advance so to speak.

Talking of competition, do I see one such ‘compe’ when it comes to COVID19 vaccines?  The leading three vaccine initiatives – AstraZeneca, BioNTech/Pfeizer and Moderna are outdoing each other to see who among them shall launch a real ‘shot’ soon.  And the winner is…. 

The UK has officially started vaccinations of its citizens based on the Pfeizer/BioNTech vaccine starting today, Tuesday.  They shall target the over 80-year olds and the front-line health care workers.  This vaccine however requires a second shot in 21-days and ultra-cold storage of neg-70.  The same P/B vaccine is about to be rolled out for the citizens in the US by next week.  Though these three leading contenders are not the only COVID19 vaccines ready to roll.  Russia is already vaccinating its citizens with Sputnik V and China has Sinopharm in many arms at the moment.

So, before you shout out loud, over the chances that the vaccine shall permeate to the other parts of the world such as our motherland, have a look at this… The corona virus has now infected 68,126,444* people globally with 1,554,355 fatalities and 47,184,488 recoveries.  The UK numbers are 1.7M with 61,434 deaths, while the US numbers are 15.3M with 291,016 deaths.  Deaths per 1M population for the two countries are 903 and 877 respectively.  

Based on these numbers, maybe the UK and the US should be entitled to being in the rush for the vaccines.  Compare that with our motherland, where the infections are 88,579 with 1,531 deaths.  Our fatalities per 1M population is 28.  Nonetheless, loss of life remains loss of life and no numbers should be any good.  We too need this vaccine.  Surely, in the spirit of ‘compe’, one of the other top three, or any of the over sixty, should be looking our way.  Maybe our runs shall be back to normal, without masks and restrictions once we get our own dose of vaccines.  Maybe this wishful thinking shall be sooner than we wish to think.

*all data from worldometers website on Dec. 8, 2020 (4.00pm)

WWB, the Coach, Nairobi, Kenya, Dec. 8, 2020

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

A run in two cities… the winner is…

A run in two cities… the winner is…

It was hardly one week ago when I did that final run at the city of Eldy.  It was a Tuesday and I was set to travel back to the city on the very next day.  I just had to do that run because it was the last run.  I was now used to that 5.5km circuit around Pioneer estate.  Even the folks were now used to seeing me around.

“Ndio huyo mkimbiaji,” that was how my young fans around the 3km turn at the informal settlement parts of the trail would acknowledge me.  They, a group of three to five youngsters, hardly ten, would occasionally run along for about twenty-metres before giving up.  I liked the way they ran along.  They would sprint very fast ahead of my constant paced run.  They would then just drop out after running out of breath.  Both boys and girls would be in this group.  I would get them at the very same place for the other three circuits through this trail.  I liked them.  They seemed to like me.

“Kipchoge! Kipchoge! Kipchoge!,” that was the other group of totos who would acknowledge my run.  These ones would be waiting for me just after the church, before I would turn right to leave the main road and head towards the Sosiani river, where I would run along the river for about a half a kilometer, then take the uphill route through the rocky path.  These young ones just knew me as Kipchoge.  They made no apology or pretense.  I was their hero.  They were my heroes too.

As I was just about to finish a circuit, almost at my starting point, I would pass by this group of two or three motorbike people just hanging around the posho mill area, waiting for passengers.  The very posho mill whose operator now knew me, not as the runner, but as the regular customer.  Now you know what the run muscles are made of.  

Back to the motorbike people.  They would usually assume that I am beyond earshot, as they proceeded to bite-my-back (backbite).

“Huyo jamaa hukimbia kila siku!” (That person runs daily) 

Of course, that is not true, I only ran twice a week, but whom am I to say anything over a bitten back!

Once I did meet a fellow runner – just once in the whole month of October when I was on that circuit around Pioneer.  He was a few metres ahead when I was joining the main tarmac road near the Kimalel primary school.  He was enjoying his relatively fast pace.  I was on my own pace.  He kept going… ahead.  I kept following… behind.  That is how we did our run.  He would soon be gone.  

But it is not just while on the circuit that I did not meet runners, I also did not meet any runners even when I was running the 8km length of tarmac from Eldy to Kipkenyo centre and back.  I was a lunch hour runner.  It is possible the other runners were early risers or ran on different routes.  I never got to know ‘the secret’ of when the great world athletes do run.

“Leo ulichelewa kidogo,” was another comment I got one day, when I had just cleared the over 2-hours run and was heading home.  It came from a stranger who was slashing a fence edge.  I did not know him.  He however seemed to have known my start and end timings.  I am not sure whether he was factual but I accepted his assertions nonetheless.  What other reaction do you expect from a tired marathoner who is seriously struggling to hit that finishing line!

“Uko sawa!  Hebu gota!,” that was another encounter, when I was not even running.  I was just taking an afternoon walk when a stranger approached me from behind as I headed towards the Eldoret-Kapsabet road.  I would in a moment cross that road and walk next to Sosiani Primary school, and keep going through the posh side of Eldy, all the way towards Moi Teaching hospital about two kilometres later.  So, this guy was chasing me just to ‘gota’ me.  He would then clarify that, “Mimi naishi hapo tu next. Mimi ukuona manze. Unachapa tizi – hebu gota tena!”

I will miss Eldy.  I tend to think that Eldy will miss me too, if the above encounters are anything to go by.  But last Tuesday was the last run, in the high-altitude terrain, above 2,000m elevation above sea level.  It was a run I struggled with, but I ended up with a 4.58min/km average.  The first time I had hit under five during my three months stay in that home of champs.  Only one other time did I run a 5.00 during that October month that I did those twice a week runs on that trail.  I was a 5.20s person.  Those two records were music.

I was back to Nairobi on this Wednesday, just when the Government of Kenya was announcing new corona prevention directives.  To start with, curfew hours had been revised downwards.  The curfew would now start at 10pm instead of 11pm.  The end time remained 4.00am.  Facemasks were now a must, no more jokes, no more games, no more soft ball.  Immediate arrest and fines were now expected for any person found without one.  It was now going to be a stricter time, even for runners.  The new directives were to remain in force until end of January 2021.  This was now a corona with a difference!

I decided to rest for a week, especially to heal that left wheel, the one that was x-rayed hardly a week ago.  It was found intact, but why it still pains after a run remains a mystery that even the docs cannot resolve.  Maybe I am now destined to live with the pain.  I have adopted an ‘accept and move on’ for this left leg. (Accept and walk on!)

Finally!  It was a Monday, it was a run day.  I would be taking the first run in the city since August.  I hoped that the routes had remained the same, just as I left them.  It was 12.30pm and I was soon out on the same good old route from Uthiru past Kabete poly to cross Waiyaki way and run towards Ndumbo, then the Kapenguria road, to join Lower Kabete road.  

From that junction, I was to run the 800m to the left junction that would take me past Mary Leakey school, then onwards towards the University farm, and eventually back to the Kanyariri tarmac, at ‘the tank’.  From the tank, I would turn right and run about 3km on Kanyariri road towards Gitaru, but make a U-turn at the 3km landmark and start my run back to Uthiru.

The run remained true to description – just as the coach prescribed.  Nothing much had changed.  The hills remained hilly.  The muddy parts along the University farm remained muddy.  The route remained tough as usual and surely nothing had changed.  But there was some new road construction depot just across Kabete police, where I saw very huge godowns that are likely to be holding road construction materials.  I am aware that the road from the airport all the way past city centre to Uthiru and beyond shall be made into a double decker soon – and that soon seemed to be now!

My first Nairobi run since August would eventually come to an end at around 2.30pm, after a 1hr 56min and 21sec run.  The average time was 5.00min/km.  I was now convinced that Nairobi was not high altitude.  I did not feel that much run resistance in this trail, unlike the difficult run experience of Eldy.  However, let me not speak too soon.  I need to give this run a second try and confirm that it is not as tasking.

But can I forget this new corona directive by GOK?  I cannot!  It had hit me in the morning, some two hours before the run.  I was walking from home towards the workplace when I met a group of about fifty people kind-of blocking the road, just next to the roundabout.  

A police vehicle had parked on the right edge of the road, blocking oncoming traffic.  Just next to the police vehicle was a heavy machinery engine, a grader, I believe.  I was seeing so much that was happening all over, in such a short time, to even decipher what was going on.  My reading of the situation was that the grader was demolishing kiosks near that roundabout and the residents were protesting this move.  

It did not take me long to even think twice before…

“Kijana kuja hapa!”

I turned.  I was now just crossing the road, ahead of the police car that was blocking the road.  I was set to cross to the extreme end of the road and walk towards Nairobi Water treatment compound and past the roundabout.

It was not me who was being kijana-d, it was a mwananchi behind me.  I would soon observe him fall into the grip of some plain clothed person.  I guessed it must have been a policeman, by virtue of him holding a walkie-talkie and hanging around the road-blocking police car.

“Wapi mask!  Mbona unatembea bila mask!?,” the plain clothed policeman asked him.  

By this time he was tightly gripping the persons trousers on the waist area.  That was not a grip that he was going to get out of – no way.

I was already twenty metres gone, towards the roundabout to know how that episode ended.  The only episode that I would finally see was the corona numbers when I looked them up on the worldometers site.  Global infections stood at 50,961,502, with 1,265,101 death and 35,914,825 recovering.  That put the active cases at 13,781,576 as at today, Monday.  Our own country at no. 75 ranked by total infections, had 63,244 confirmed cases, 1,130 deaths, 42,659 recoveries and hence 19,455 active cases.

However, it is not all gloom.  For the first time we have a very promising vaccine candidate by Pfizer/BioNTech collaboration.  This candidate has an efficacy of 90%, and is likely to be rolled out to the masses by the end of the month!  As I said severally, corona is progressively going to be conquered and life shall get back to normal - the real normal, not this curfew-masks-normal, but the normal-normal.

WWB, the coach, Nairobi, Kenya, Nov. 9, 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