ONE HUNDRED KILOMETRES FOR KENNY [10*(10K4K)] – Day One

In order to ready about Day 1, it would help matters if you had the background, by reading what took place on Day 0 here. Go there and then hurry back.

Day 1

As if payment for referring to my previous location as “remote”, I have come under a bout of cough, flu and good old fashioned malaria. This trinity threatens to drain my positive energy, in conjunction of course with the 8 hour journey back to civilization, Kampala. But, I have somehow arrived at the idea that physiological conditions are subject to our psychology. This idea, scientific or not is what I rely on to schedule an early morning run for Friday despite a calamitous health situation.

It’s Friday and the medicine I self prescribed and overdosed on the night before has ensured that I sleep well through my alarm at 5:00 a.m. When I finally wake up at about 7:30 a.m. I am consoled by the fact that it’s still pouring rain outside. As a result, I might not be able to get my morning run in, and fail to cash in on the favorably cool conditions. Add to that, I have a To-Do list longer than the Age Limit ruling. So I make the calculated decision to first go about my day and handle my to-do list (Mwami Sentema, mbela mu city daily) after which, I would brave the evening heat to file this inaugural 10km.

My day is going like a dream, I am killing tasks like its nothing and at 5 pm I am ready to hit the road. The first 1 or 2 kms are always nasty especially if its hilly terrain, your legs are cold, your shorts feel a little too tight; but I am excited to be running at 5 pm while other less fortunate sods struggle to clear their desks so they don’t have to work over the weekend. I do the Kampala Marathon circuit with slight variations for convenience. The usual travails of evening running begin to bear, the boda bodas, traffic, kids heading back home from school (I charge into an absent minded one from Kitante Hill around Café Javas). The Acacia avenue hill takes a big bite out of my energy reserve but I trudge it nonetheless. I am rewarded when I corner into Kololo and run into Sexy Lizard(not real name) , my team mate from the Kampala-Jinja Relay and certified Kampala Hash Harriers Wanker(ess). She is the most vivacious human being I have ever met but the Kololo hills had taken their toll. So we caught up briefly and I was on my merry way maximizing my downhill momentum.

Things turn sour 8km in, the fact that I have only had Oral Rehydration Solution (experimenting on advance replacement of electrolytes lost during distance running) and medicine throughout the day starts to show. My heart is good, the cardio is willing me forward but the legs have developed extra kilos. The 2 hills up from Kololo High to Kiira Road and Kiira Road up to the traffic lights warranted a music change on my limited playlist. I was desperate for some external justification to keep going.

As is common, when you accomplish something, you think to yourself “That was easy”. Without that mental misdirection, we probably wouldn’t go far with anything. So today was fairly easy. Tomorrow morning, right on schedule, barring rain or any other unforeseen circumstances, I shall be on the road, happily adding another 10k on the tab; for Kenny.

End of Day 1