At, any rate, the psyche was high. With Kirer and Borura, we joined Mutwiri about 1Km ahead. The route we chose has an incline for the first 1.8Kms. Then it flattens for about 900 metres then downhill for about 4Kms and another flat for 800 metres. So we took it easy for the first 1.8K and at the flat area, picked up the pace. We were setting the pace with Kirer and we got it going quite well and caught up with Masinde after 4K and we cruised untill the 5th K mark (Rafikis) where we slowed down and regrouped at Sunshine (6K) then we went down with Mutwiri beset with stitches till Highrise and we turned back. At turning back, Kirer and Masinde decided to let Borura to set the pace and I followed and we picked quite well past TMall and Thomas Barbnados. Then at Wilson, pacesetter hit the wall and did what people who hit the wall often do. So I encouraged him and backpedalled and we moved on until we lost sight of the rest of the team. We cleared with Borura after about 93 minutes and the rest came after about 102 minutes.
We stretched a little (I noticed this team was not very keen on stretching, which speaks volumes about their experience - they just wanted to get their breath back, rest and soak in the self-torture they had just put themselves through).
Then we walked down and had a serious breakfast. Guys were in such a big hurry they didn't eat much but they ate kiasi. It simply proved they had not done much (15.4Ks is very little). I remember after clearing 27K, we used to fagia anything Sikuku placed in front of us, uji, chai, soda, mkate, maji, mandazi, ndizi...anything. We gave new meaning to the term "clearing and forwarding". Hawa walikuwa wanaringaringa na chakula kama wasichana. Anyways...
Lessons learnt.
1. Make sure you have everyone's CORRECT number, especially the organizers number before race day.
2. Confirm or disconfirm your participation. Only GK, Kirer and Mutwiri did this. I had to follow the rest.
3. Register. Damnit. Commit yourself so that your self-doubt and fear dont take over. Even Phantom injuries will creep up on you and convince you not to go for the run. Kirer knows this now.
4. We are too slow and we are too nice to ourselves. We need to push ourselves hard. There is nothing as pleasurable as aching muscles and feeling dead-tired after a tough run. If we want to feel nice, we should pick something else, like choir practice or watching EPL football matches for fun, not running. Remember, running can't kill you because before you die, you will pass out. Plus, hard work doesn't kill people. People die of worrying na shida za maisha, not running.
5. Due to 4, and due to large public demand and the absence of Sikuku, GK and Gach, we will do the same route again but add 4K to it, making it 18K on 15th May 2011 we will call it Exodus because with it, we are leaving the land of Amateurs behind and getting serious. After this, we must do a 22K on June 5th hosted by Sikuku. That we shall call Destruction. It will destroy any weakness or fear of the distance still lingering. From then on, the sky is the limit.
Au sio?
Today I did a 40mins run. I am faster. And glad. The splintered shin is still peeping at me from around the corner. Here is Ryan Hall, a veritable Pacemaker at this year's Boston M.
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