Weighty Issues...

Get Fit

Day 2: 3^rd February, 2013: Same speed as last time in the initial stages but don’t make it to the final km – 25km in 2:10, the remaining two kms is a complete drag coz of dehydration, maybe I should carry water so as to increase my distance inorder to strengthen my legs – my leg muscles still need some work although I had an easy climb on upper hill. To also fast track my speed and get back to my original weight by starting my mid-week runs this week.

Back to Basics

Day 1: 27th January, 2013: Resolve to get back to my form after staying off the road for two months. Check in with the Doc on 24^th Jan, 2013...given a clean bill of health, breathe a sigh of relief. I have gained a cool 4kgs and my muscles are all flaccid. Leave the house at 5:45am with my morale under my feet. I have the Ironman triathlon watch which I resolve to put to use.

Here we go again!

It’s darker than usual and it makes me recoil. If my body doesn’t want to do it then I will drag it all the way to town and back if I have to but today it must put some distance…I am talking to myself. This is the problem with starting over. I am so out of it, feeling soft and heavy – my body and mind are completely out of sync but after this I will sure put them back together again. I have to do something about this vile invasion and savage attack on my fitness and health.

Decide to skip the formalities of 5kms, then 10kms and so forth and focus on 21km. Start slow becoz I want to at least do a complete 21km run. With my weight and unexercised muscles, going for the Upper hill climb is a sure way of courting an injury. Pass City Stadium in 35mins (7kms) maintain the 5min/km tempo so as not to burn out too soon. Burning out early is a morale killer – trekking back on the first day is a no no for me. Get to railways roundabout in 45mins (9kms). After Haile Selassie, plan to turn to Uhuru highway and then to Industrial area but on reaching the H/Selassie roundabout, that question that misleads people with perfidious innuendo pops up in my head ‘what are you half assing about?’ Slow down and look at Upper Hill, see some two guys doing a slow climb and ask myself ‘what’s the worst that can happen?’ It’s good to think before you act, but the thinking has to be of finite duration and action must follow…failure is not an action with consequence. Inaction is and besides, I have wasted two months already.

I will pass out before I die so it can’t kill me after all. I plunge myself headlong and charge towards it with renewed vigour and this hill surely gets its sweet revenge for all the past I’ve been cruising on it as if it didn’t exist. It makes me embrace new, honest and unadulterated views about my fitness, endurance and physical strength. We get well acquainted – takes a tidy amount of my time and a lot of air out of my chest. Reach City Mortuary in 1:02 (12kms) that’s 4 minutes less my last run of 2^nd Dec, 2013 with my feet buckling and lungs in my mouth.

Get back my breath in the Mbagathi downhill stretch. Reach Nyayo stadium in 1:25 (17kms). Join the Lungalunga stretch in 1:47 (21kms) completely out of breathe with 6kms to go. Damn, this road is the longest. Upper hill was a very bad idea. Come to an abrupt stop after 25kms (2:06), I am completely dehydrated, the sun has drained me out. Walk and run the remaining two kms…’there is no such thing as a bad run’ is a good motivator quote.

My muscles are now warmed up and ready to take the next challenge….to lose the extra 4kgs by mid next month and then hit the road. Let the games begin!

Saved by the Rain

Correct!

2nd Dec, 2012: "I am not out for revenge because revenge is a confession of pain. I am not in pain...I am hungry!" - Ryback (WWE). This is what I woke up to at 5am. Have a glass of warm water to boost my electrolyte level and to warm up my body. Stretch and put on my gear. Adjust my ipod to HipHop Remixes of 90's and 2000 and set the right volume. I am out of my crib by 5:45am and get hit by the morning breeze on my face...its heavenly!

Feeling pretty light because my feet were well rested the previous day. I clear 6kms in 26 minutes - realize I am moving too fast for a 31km stretch at my level...tremendously slow down not to catch my breathe but to save some energy for the last 5km notorious Outer Ring road.

The Upper Hill climb still shocks me - remains untamed, pushes me to new boundaries still unexplored. At City Morgue in 58mins and T. Mall by 1:11 and suddenly it began pouring down. Reach Nyayo Stadium by 1:20 and make a mental decision on whether to run through the rain for another 90mins (Mombasa Road) or just cut through Industrial Area and clear my race in the next 45 mins. The rain is now relentless, shelve the Mombasa road route and decide to fight another day- divert into industrial area. The rain becomes more intense and I decide to seek shelter. That 'there is no such thing as bad weather' phrase doesn't cut on this one.

Sweat mixed with rain water - no one knows it but me. The rain subsides after about twenty minutes. My muscles are becoming stiff again. Begin running slowly to warm up my muscles but its such a drag because of the drizzle. The dirt roads are muddy so I divert back to Jogoo Road - its footpaths are tarmacked. Run with pain on my foot (it has never healed - maybe I should go for an x-ray or something) compounded with the boiling rage in my heart. That Mombasa Road / Outer Ring route got lucky again...this time saved by the rain. This beef ain't over...

Keep Running!