Stanchart Marathon - 28th October, 2012
The day that I've been waiting for finally came. Woke up at 5 am with fears about my right upper thigh muscle injury. In a dilemma whether I will withstand the pain for the entire distance - too nervous I don't even take breakfast despite having it in front of me for a whole half an hour. Get into my gear and take half litre of warm water, stretch my legs and head out at 6am. Say goodbyes to my family
'go get them...give them hell babe' says my wife and i am like 'mmmh, I wish I could'.
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| I didn't have an answer to this. |
Arrive at Nyayo in time - around 6:45am, cant see anybody. The weather is just perfect, the right temperature for a P.B. Where ma dawgz @?..after 20mins it dawns on me that I will not have the before photos as per our ritual. At exactly 7:15am head to the luggage area to keep away my other accessories that I wont be using during the race.
I decide to push ahead of the line and inch close to the elite runners and up ahead I spot Jack, he gives me the headz up. Good, I have a running partner - this will be good. I set my watch at 0:00 waiting for the gun and in an instant everybody is shoving and pushing. Even those that are overweight and cant run for a consistent ten minutes are equally eager to leave ahead of the pack. Someone next to me laments 'let them go, you will find them taking water at Uhuru Park' but even that comment was too optimistic for one of the guys as per my observation.
The gun went off and it was all systems go - 'catch me if you can'. On the Uhuru highway climb i heard someone chant behind me 'twende' and I thought if Jack has caught up with me despite my speed then he is actually going for sub 20mins in the first 5kms as promised so 'lets dance'. I increased my speed as if I was doing only a 5km run. The muscle pain kicked in and i decided to give a good show while I still can. I knew I would be stopping anytime soon.
I went through Uhuru park and on my way out, I saw Jack coming in then I wondered what happened to the guy who was just breathing down my neck a few moments ago...am I moving too fast or what...? and at that very moment our 1:38 guy just cruised past me. I was like damn, not again! I kicked up a notch to catch up with him. He played the rabbit from Uhuru highway, University way, Kenyatta Avenue and into Haile Selasie. He turned back and realised I was inching closer to him. He felt threatened and decided to shake me off. When I was about to join Uhuru highway from Haile Selasie Avenue, I saw Jack heading to Agip petrol station, which is next to Times tower. I thought he had a problem but I realized later that he was just following up on his strategy which equally yielded good results with a new P.B. to boot. I checked my watch to establish how many minutes I had already taken. I am shocked to realize it got stuck at 00:00:52, damn I ve been running blindly thanks to the shoving and pushing at the starting line.
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| After the race - next to the Poolside Bar |
Our 1:38 guy gave me a good gap when we joined Mombasa road, he dropped me off like a bad habit and I had to contend with a pace that I could sustain. My muscle pain was back with a bang because my distraction was gone. Based on the distance I had already covered I decided I might as well walk to the finish line rather than drop off midway. When I was just about to shelve my sub 1:40 ambition another runner behind me urged me on - to just slow down but not stop. He slowed down to accommodate my speed and had some small chat. Maybe he was also tired. He had suffered a stitch too and after a short while, about 5 mins or so he felt better and asked me to try and push on that it is now ok. I increased speed and it was okay, I asked him he knew and he just said its a thing with muscles. His explanation was given amid gasps of breath so I wasn't able to make out his explanation. We ran side by side and crowned it with a dash inside the stadium. What a finish!
His watch wasn't functioning either so we didnt know our finishing time. I had to wait for a friendly face and two runners came by later. One insisted on 1:35, the other on 1:36 so I am stuck in there or around those times. I met our 1:38 guy very relaxed and composed. He said he did a sub 1:30 but his watch malfunctioned when he was about to finish the race. Check how relaxed he is, I am just blown away checking his photos from his camera.
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| "Are you sure you did a sub 1:30 in this race?" |
I kept prodding him on how he did it because I just couldn't believe it. I kept asking him again and again " are you sure you actually did a sub 1:30 in this race?".
One thing I realized is that he started a year earlier than me (us - me and Jack). When I was at 1:59 he was at 1hr and fourty something minutes. When I moved to 1:47 he was at 1:38, now I am at around 1:36, he has moved to 1 hr twenty something minutes - its like I am behind with a full season / year. One huge question for 2013 - can I / we catch up?
I was so engrossed with our guy that I even forgot to remove my phone from the bag and just saw Jack's missed call about an hour later. He had already left the grounds, too bad we will not have a group photo this year. He should've witnessed our next target tell me as it is. He beat me fair and square - he didn't need to say it.
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| "Yeah, I did it!" |
I couldn't talk about my pain or injuries because as the saying goes "you can either have excuses or results - not both". There is always a next race anyway.
He earned the right to say it proudly - "yeah, I did it". This also opens a new world of possibilities. I am now sure that we will get to sub 1:30 next year ( Jack and I ) but I am also convinced that I can get to 1:20 by next year once I sort out my injuries and get down to some serious training. This year wasn't so good. My training was inconsistent - plagued by injuries and career issues and I was also out of training for a whole month and half after being admitted in hospital so no regrets to what I got in this race.
Its unfortunate our longtime arch rival never showed up - or maybe we were too good to even notice him. We will now be looking past him, not at him. Lets wait for the official clock from Stanchart.
With all the pressure gone, now I can start testing my new routes - the flat course of 31 km and the hilly Kangundo route starting November - make hay while the sun shines, its never too early to start training.
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| Till we meet again. |
Stanchart later confirmed my new P.B. as 01:36!
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| My new P.B. - 01:36 it is! |
