28th
April, 2013: A good day to die hard but after the last three attempts at the
city Mortuary route, I decide to run cautiously – with my body rather than
garmin. Vow to put my body before the garmin statistics. I start slow at
exactly 5:50am, the weather is just the right temperature. Running with the
Stanchart t-shirt, discard the jackets coz they always leave me dehydrated…way
too much sweat. I forget to cello tape my bleeding tits, this is gonna be good…
I
plan to do a complete 27km – so my plan is to start slow on the first quarter,
increase the tempo at City Stadium and save some energy for the Upper hill
climb and then gather speed at Mbagathi road and once I get to Lunga lunga its
all systems go.
 |
| You reap what you sow! |
The
3 runs (back to back) I had during the week for 17kms each gives me a
psychological advantage. I don’t care very much about my speed this time coz
all I want is to distance, pile more and more kilometers. Amazed when I realize
I’ve hit 3kms under 15mins. Hold back my anxiety and decide to slow down. Pass
City Stadium in the 33rd minute - 7kms. I don’t check my garmin much
coz I prefer to listen to my body more. But after Upper Hill just upon joining
Mbagathi realize I’ve managed a sub 60mins in 12kms and I still have some gas.
This is a good motivator once I realize the hill didn’t leave me in shreds.
Cruise
into Mbagathi and have a new record for my garmin – fastest kilometer at 4:07,
maybe it coz I haven’t been keen on having a fast one just yet. My third
quarter comes up quite better than I thought – my garmin temporarily hangs at
20.7 kms while I was at 1:38 or thereabout – I was keen on a sub 100mins in
21kms but it later jumps back into action at 21.11 – better luck next time.(upon uploading the run I realize it was 1:39!
Pull
a sub 2hours in 25kms - exactly 1:59:38…clear my yard (manyanja stopping point) which I am shocked is
a measly 26.82kms in 2:03, speed past it to Bee Centre and make a turn into
Umoja 2 to make the 28kms – I am finished but I have a good final km at 4:51.
Final result – 28kms in 2:14:05 – average
pace 12.52 km/hr. With this, I feel I have once again earned the right to
update my blog.This is after numerous trials and attempts as follows:-
·
25th
April, 2013 – 17kms in 78mins – average pace
12.92km/hr
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24th
April, 2013 – 17kms in 79mins – average pace 12.85km/hr
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23rd
April, 2013 – 17kms in 81mins – average pace 12.42km/hr
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21st
April, 2013 – 25kms in 2:04:14 – average pace 12.06km/hr
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19th
April, 2013 – 17kms in 78mins – average pace 12.96km/hr
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16th
April, 2013 – 17kms in 84 mins – average pace 12.06km/hr
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14th
April, 2013 – 20.75kms in 01:58:17 – average pace 10.51km/hr
I’ve
come to realize that the road is a good judge – if u don’t work your way it
also gives you only what you worked for. Running is the most democratic sport;
there is no referee who may be biased against you. The road is the referee and
the judge. I managed 3 runs of 17kms each (51kms) and 28kms – total 79kms in a
week. I will attempt to push it to 80kms soon enough. Keep running!.
