My journey to the Stadium....or not.

We decided to do this months ago. My brother and I. You would have thought with months of resolve would come months of practice but alas! We did practice though. Sporadically and schedule-less. But we did practice a little. That was my journey to my half marathon at Nyayo Stadium yesterday.

My reason for doing the half marathon was pretty simple. I needed to prove something to myself. My birthday is coming up, I'm turning a very old age and when I look back at the year, I really needed to say to myself, I managed to do something new.Something different. Something that will show me that I am changing, growing. This was my first step to change. I was going to ditch the 10 km run for a proper adult "panting fest". And I was as psychologically prepared as I was physically unprepared. And I was very physically unprepared but perception is everything so I wore my most sporty looking clothes and off to the stadium we went.

I always do the marathon. I have very bad eyesight and I run more like a bribe to God to not take the eyesight I have left away.

So we assembled at the assembly point where we stood with people of all shapes, sizes and dress codes. When you see someone in leather shoes with no socks, you figure you're not too badly off. That was of course until the buzzer went off and people excitedly lifted their hands and started running and the people in leather and jeans left me behind. At 7.20 a.m, the weather is great for a run because there's this lovely breeze that counters all the heat you're producing. and my body was producing a lot of heat. Here's a tip for all non-marathoners out there. Conserve your energy throughout the run. I have never done half a marathon before so this was not something that ever occurred to me. I was excited and running like the wind. Ok! maybe like a very slow breeze but it was the wind non the less.

That was the first 6 kms and then my chest started burning something fierce. So I slowed down but I was determined to finish inside that stadium. It's always been a really really big desire for me to run inside the stadium and hear people cheer for me like I've been cheering for everyone in the past.This was my turn. So I pushed on. Somewhere on the like 8 km mark, some thin men and women who were doing the 10 km run came passing me like an avalanche. A very brightly dressed avalanche. They were all in these luminous clothes that were barely there and boy! were they fast. What shocked me was this particularly tiny woman in a luminous yellow net top thingy. She was talking to some guy on the chase bike about her age and how long she's been running. How do you run at 100km/h and still have enough energy to talk to the guy chasing you with a bike. It was ridiculous.

I hit the 10 km mark about 55 minutes later. Which would have been great time if I was still doing the 10km run. That's when I met a particular Asian guy who told me he has done 10 half marathons.5 here and 5 in Denver. He was the first person to ever tell me to pace myself. He said after a couple of marathons, you start to learn your speed. He learnt his pace so I decided to try out his pace for another km. That was before his pace started making my thighs feel like they were on fire. That was about the time I started panicking. I had left my brother at the First Aid tent so from here on in, I was my own moral support. The Indian guy had left me behind and I could feel every muscle on my back, on my thighs, on my calfs and there were some strange small and very annoying stones that had made their way into my sneakers. I hated those stones.

45 minutes later I hit the 16 km mark. There's that beeping sound it makes when you cross it that made me almost scream with joy. Almost. I had no strength. A little after that is when the muscles surrounding my spine decided to bunch up in a tight little ball and cause me untold agony. People doing the marathon are actually quite a nice bunch. A certain small sweaty woman helped me to the nearest first aid tent that felt like it was another 15 km away. She sacrificed her time for me. (Time is everything in the marathon.Every minute counts). The sun had come out with a vengeance and there were beautifully dressed, nice smelling people crossing the road on their way to church. I disliked the fact that they could walk back home and I had to eventually make my way back to the stadium, 3 hours away in the hot sun. It was only 5 km away. The longest 5 kms ever.

After a short stint at the first aid tent, they told me to slowly walk to the stadium. It was one painful step after another from there on in. But I was going to make it into the stadium, cheering and all. Those 5 kms took almost another hr. The sun was beating down on me, my muscles were pulling my hips, bum and spine together but I had to make it to the stadium. The 42 km people came swishing past me. The sun on their luminous clothes almost blinded me. But there were these 4 kalenjin looking chaps who eventually started walking really, really slowly. They were of the bright coloured clothes calibre. I could have hugged them. They had already done 38 kms. They figured walking the other 4 to the finish line won't hurt. I hang out with them for a bit.One of them had an "Inchary ya ham-string!". They slowed down some more so I walked a bit faster. Not a bright move.

About 500m to the gate of Nyayo, my back finally gave up. I could barely stand let alone walk or even run around the stadium. There were all these other runs telling me "you're almost there". They had no idea how much I wished I was there. The car was 200m away, the gate was 500m away and there was still an extra 400m in the stadium to the finish line. I got to the car and collapsed. I couldn't do it. I couldn't will myself to do those last 700m. I tried. My body just couldn't do it. That's where my brother found me a few minutes later. In a bend-over position by the passenger door.He giggled, helped me in and we drove off.

Will I do it next year? Probably. With my affinity to self-torture. Most probably. But next time I'm running in the stadium and people will cheer at my great achievement. 20 kms wasn't too bad for a start. Next time I'll do all 21. Like Obama said "Yes I can...but maybe not right now!"