running has been part of my life so much that i think if i had lived in the ancient times i would have made a good messenger delivering messages from Europe to Asia on foot and horses would have nothing on me. so my participation in the marathon this year came as no surprise to me this year i mean am the best there is where i work being the reigning 100m champion in our little world called Quality Chemical Industries some where in Luzira.
a month ago together with other officers from our little world we started preparations for this years MTN marathon, i started to prepare for what was going to be one of the most draining thing i was going to do this year. i have attempted to do this before back in my university days on the athletics team but i failed to finish the challenge of running 21km call it biting more than you can chew. i ran daily after 5 to be able to do 1o km on the day when most socialites were going to stay away from church on a Sunday morning not because of hang overs from well spent Saturday nites but b'se they had to run da marathon. i ran the hill s in luzira and mutungo to be ready together with other wannabe runners we visited corners i n Luzira i personally never dreamed of reaching at least not in this life time out own Maximum prison.
i was ready for the task ahead or at least that s wat my muscles and lungs told me, the mood in office was that you find in sports bars on those days when two English clubs are going to be playing one managed by a Scot and the other by a French what an irony, any way every one promised to out run the other some even claiming that they in it for ambition[ how wrong they were]
d day and every thing seemed fine save for the gray skies until when i arrived at Kololo Air strip the venue for the marathon , the egoistic rabble was still going on on trust me dressed in my Masaai garment i made way to the company tent, every one seemed happy to be about to tire their bodies out. i had arrived trust me am one optimistic being especially in sports activities but i got the pre game jitters, mentally i was ready but my body was in doubt, the longest i have competitively run was 800m way back and the best i got was 2 runner up not bad for a sprinter but here i was going to take on 10km, this was not my thing its a thing reserved for fellows like Anguyo and Kayongo former head prefects in my high school fellows who ran and made it seem like they got two pairs of lungs. this was not helped by the arrival of a friend of mine Collins Assimwe who laughed his lungs out as though telling me that i was on a suicide mission but his taunts would not deter me, i had prepared for this hence my hard work would see me through although i must admit that seeing Collins a guy who i know for doing things because they are done by the elite stay away from running in the marathon kind of gave me second thoughts ultimately worsening my pre game jitters though stil it motivated me to run and have the last laugh.
in the call area one got the feeling they get when down town in Owino market where no one trust no one and u think every one is out there to pick pocket u yes i had money in pockets to jump on a boda boda home in case i failed to make it,we were so many running in my category although the sight of people i clearly knew not as sportsmen kind of eased the tension and i gladly hugged them women and men convincing my self that they would be some one trailing behind me. the drama was yet to start cause when the starting gun was fired some bro of mine dashed for neatly maintained garden to take a leak{ i call them bros c'se of the bond and equality the marathon developed in the participants and along the way we encouraged each other like we knew each other}
i managed to run the entire marathon in one hour 19 minutes and overall arrive 4688 out of the very many wannabe runner clearly when u arrive after 5000 u register as a wannabe. it was a great experience especially the home run to the finish line as the joy of stopping this torture is beyond definition. i beat many and next year it wont be for fun i think i will go for ambition for they say experience is the best teacher. to you dia reader the marathon will leave all your body aching and hating you for putting it through a lot but your heart will silently be glad u did it.
