In order to ready about Day 2, it would help matters if you had the background, by reading what took place on Day 0 and Day 1. Go there and then hurry back.
Day 2
It’s my birthday today; I am steam rolling towards a benchmark age for human achievement, at least by the capricious measure of societal standards. I stay up till midnight for two reasons: so I can test the strength of my relationships based on the people who will call me at the stroke of midnight and because I am strictly following tradition (and stern instructions) by checking a gift someone got me, at midnight exactly. I field a few phone calls, one longer than the rest. I am still on a birthday high so I dabble in episodes of Frasier before I eventually shut down at about 2 am. I am keenly aware, this might not bode well for my scheduled early morning run but who cares? I am up by 8 a.m. and also bask in the birthday messages from my less committed friends. It is bright and sunny outside which is fine if you planned a wedding, but it isn’t giving me any impetus to lace up and run. Eventually, at 10.30 am, there’s a slight drizzle, a considerable chill and I realize that if I don’t run now, I shall miss a day. And yet, Day 2, is arguably even more important than Day 1 because follow through is everything.
I take a deep dive straight from the gate to get a sense of how my legs are feeling and the response is immediate. There are thick knots and the fearsome stitch isn’t far behind. Setting my music as the rain drops make the touch function on my phone a nightmare is not helping matters, but I am on the move now with no hope for return. I dig deep in the first few metres and kilo metres and eventually when I get to 3, I know I am in there, neck deep. My route is not pre planned so I am trying to avoid hills but that is hard to do in this city. I venture into the Naalya Estate which is thankfully flat. My decision to go there is hugely rewarded when I run into my friend Priscilla, who lives in the estate and is also doing a brisk walk in the hood. We walk and talk for close to a kilometer. She makes me laugh. We made plans.
I have found some new energy from this encounter and I use the Naalya Estate maze to track some mileage, but eventually make an exit. The rain is picking up now; my screen is now in total revolt. I am listening to the wrong songs but that’s not my biggest problem. I still have 3km to go and I am shivering from the cold, I am late for an appointment and the salad I had the night before isn’t holding up. My tummy is howling for remediation which sadly is not forthcoming. I get out onto Kyaliwajjala-Naalya road and just put one foot in front of the other mechanically. That gets me gloriously onto the Northern by-pass from where I can see that the finish is nigh. My work friend Harriet Achieng drives past taking her kids some place and waves frantically. People you know wave a lot when they see you running. It happened yesterday as well when Anthony, another work friend, saw me on Lugogo by pass and gave me not one but two thumbs up. I decide that I like this feedback. If for nothing else, it breaks the ruthless monotony when you run distance. My mind wanders to Kenny’s Goatee and I wonder how it was always so straight and thick as opposed to mine which is wispy and erratic as if afflicted by some rare recessive gene. I desire to know whether it was natural or he had helped it along. The most bizarre thought I now realize. I had always meant to ask him that though.
I get home sometime before midday and realize that: yesterday where I thought “this was easy”, today I know for a fact, that it is; easy. Just as long as there’s a god enough reason for it to be. Today, I am optimistic and grateful to God that my life is a going concern.
End of Day 2
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![ONE HUNDRED KILOMETRES FOR KENNY [10*(10K4K)] – Day One](https://kiwanukaokot.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/kiwanuka-okot.jpg)