Chapter 1 – Three missed runs
First miss
This story starts on Friday, July 26, 2019 on the day that we did the seventh monthly IKM international marathon. That is when it dawned on me that I shall surely miss three international marathons, being the August, September and October monthly runs. It did not seem like a very serious issue when I casually wrote about it on our marathoners WhatsApp page. It became serious when I realized that this was a reality and that the countdown was already on. I would be out of the international circuit in 2-week time. This was irreversible and I just had to start accepting the reality as it was.
But wait a minute! Was it not a good realization that I was surely not going to be available for these three runs, by knowing about this with such an advance notice? I had just clocked another international half-marathon run in 2hr 30min a week before? I now had 14 days after that last run to either do something about the situation or just accept my reality.
I would miss three marathons, no doubts, but is it even possible to think about doing them in advance in the available time? Three marathons within fourteen days? That was a stretch. That was wishful! That was not something for the amateurs. In normal times, we do our marathons monthly, but we still feel its effects 30-days later! How about three marathons in 2-weeks? That is a marathon every 4 days! That is mission impossible! Bad idea. Do not try it at home, or on the racing track.
A few days later… I found myself on the 21k route on Wednesday, July 31, just 5-days after our group international run of Friday, July 26 aka ‘the unveiling’. While the group run saw the B-n-B team finish in 2.31.42, I did this solo run in 1.43.27. I had pushed myself to the brink and could really feel it after the run. I had just clocked one international out of the three that I was targeting.
“At least I did one run. I shall now only miss two runs,” I told myself while recording my time on the online calendar.
Then I immediately started imagining doing the balance two runs in 10 days – which was just the time that I had left. That thought was quickly brushed aside as I dragged my tired body and tired legs, to the washrooms to take a shower. However, time was not standing still. I was still tired by weekend and even more tired when I resumed duty on Monday. I was just too tired to imagine another run, with only five days to go. I skipped the otherwise customary Monday run.
Second miss
On Tuesday, after missing the Monday run, I did take out my running students to the same Kanyariri route, for an 8k circuit run. That ‘sweet’ Kanyariri hill still gave me memories – good and bad. Good for the energy that sometimes just kicks in in response to the hill. And, bad for how the body feels, especially the legs, over the prolonged 4k hill.
It is probably the ‘sweet’ hill that brought me back for a second international 21k marathon the next day, being Wednesday, August 7. I finished this international half marathon on the usual Uthiru-Ndumbo-Kanyariri-Gitaru circuit in 1.43.25. That was the exact time that I had done run when I did the same route just seven days ago. Is it that I had crammed this route or what? Same route, different days, with different weather conditions, but same exact run time?
“Lightning does not strike a tree twice,” I remember my parents saying, as a way of education and warning against some things that should not be repeated.
“You cannot run the same run time twice,” that is what I borrowed from that saying and had instilled the same to my students of the run over time… but that saying was now coming back to haunt me.
With only two days to go, would I be lucky enough to prove lightning wrong and hit a third marathon? That was not to be. As I took the students for the ultimate run on Thursday, on the Wangari Maathai route for another 8k circuit, I could feel that my body was completely drained. There was no chance of doing a final third marathon. That was it! Boots should now be hanged. Runs should now be done with. It was time to close the ‘marathon-compensation’ chapter, with two out of three runs squeezed in a two-week period. Somethings are meant to be, others not.
On Friday, August 9, I did my own ultimate run over a 10k distance during the lunch hour and called it quits thereafter. But would I stay quit for long?
Third miss
Things started heading south when I found out that the contact desk of the employer contracted taxi service was already closed for the weekend. I had all along assumed that that desk operates to late, at least I have observed their staff on that desk as late as eight. But on this day, no! I had made no effort or thought that I would miss a guaranteed taxi.
I had assumed that I would just pass by the taxi helpdesk located at the exit gate and book a taxi for eight. However, I was facing this disappointment at seven. A call to our contact person with the taxi company did not help much. He stated that I could only get something for earlier-than or later-than eight. I was stuck. However, I still had an hour to get to plan B. I walked home and packed the last remaining items ready to start my travel.
“Who has Uber?,” I asked the teenagers, “Try book a cab.”
Few minutes later, and we were moving from app to app.
“Even Taxify is not working!”
“It is no longer Taxify, but Bolt,” I corrected, assuming that that would help matters.
“Yes, it is the Bolt that I tried. It is not working”
“Give a try at Little!,” I panicked.
I had all these apps myself, but many things were now happening at the same time. I had hoped to get a taxi by 8.00pm. It was now 8.15pm. I still had 20km to cover in usually heavy unpredictable Nairobi traffic. I had to be where I had to be by nine. This was getting worse with every passing minute.
“I keep getting a message to wait”
“Me too,” the second teen affirmed.
“Let us just go,” I told the three who were to escort me, “We will figure out something out there”. The matriarch was not impressed at all. She was completely fumed-up, “These last-minute arrangements!? I hate last minute things!!”
“Let us just go,” I said. I was preventing my own anxiety from showing. I would be the worst affected by a delay. However, ‘mwanamme ni kujichocha’ and you cannot show emotions. Kama ni mbaya, ni mbaya.
We were now all outside the house, at the parking yard. All panicked and no taxi hailing app working.
“Hello, is that Pato,” I reaffirmed before continuing, “Are you able to get me a taxi now? Urgently?”
“Woyi!,” he shouted, which was quite something from a man, “Imagine niko Ronga. Siwes make!”
My goose was cooked. I was done. Finished. I would never make it. Trip and journey were now as good as cancelled.
“But, I have this guy,” he started after a moment of silence, “I can send him over.”
“You sure? Now?”
“Yes, just now, I promise”
The four of us continued the wait at the parking lot. All our taxi apps were still showing driver availability of over ten minutes from current time. Pacing around become the norm, though it did not seem to help, until a strange vehicle was let into the compound and soon the driver rolled down the window and asked for us. We got in. It was now 8.30pm.
“Utafuata Kikuyu bypass,” I offered free advice.
“Sawa, lakini tuta tumia bypass ya 87,” he assured confidently.
We would soon let him take over the route and kept the hope that all factors would play out to our advantage to ensure our successful arrival in time. And… he did not disappoint. He surely took the 87 bypass and we were soon taking the many sharp turns on that road before reaching Dagoretti. From there we faced the minimal road blockage at the Dagoretti market, but were soon past it, to join the main Southern bypass highway. At the highway we were cruising with no hinderance at all. We just made it to the first checkpoint at nine. We made it. Relief was evident on the five faces.
