Diary of a 40 yr old runner
Right from my primary school days, I was never known to be a long distance runner. In fact, I was never a sportsman of any repute though I tried my hands at basketball and badminton. Nevertheless, I always thought I could perform better at distance running especially after I joined a house team in high school and completed the cross-country race in a respectable time without training at all.
Although I was a skinny boy throughout my school days, I piled on so much weight between 1997 and 2001 that it became a risk. I visited a doc who said that I was in danger of becoming hypertensive unless I reduced my weight. I am always ready for a challenge and I was not about to say ‘I cant’ this time. In 2002, I attempted to play badminton again but it did not seem to work (I now know that it was due to a host of other reasons too). In 2002 I embarked on a serious regime of gym workouts and nutrition and eventually managed to bring my weight down from a whooping 102kg to 78kg. While still in this routine, I registered for 10km (the first road race that I ever participated in) and completed it in 55mins. I was pleasantly surprised to learn that this was a good return for a 33-year old. From then on I combined my gym workouts with outdoor running and eventually run the 10km race in 49min (my PR to date).
After a series of 10km races between 2002 and 2006, I upgraded to the Half Marathon in 2007 and later to the full marathon in 2008. While I managed to complete both races in respectable times, I have since learnt that running more than 30km is punching above my weight. I have therefore abandoned running 42kms and settled for my favourite race of 21km. I have just completed the MTN Kampala Half Marathon 2010. The race came a few days before my 40th birthday, and after running 3 other similar races in the year. I am on a high because I think completing it in 1hr 55min after picking up an injury midway the race is a great feat. It is not better than my PR of 1hr 52min but I achieved that time in very challenging conditions – which makes me happy with myself. Since completing my first half marathon in 2007 at 2hr 17mins, I have managed to bring my time down progressively. This year I tried to get back to my PR of 1 hr 52min or even better but only managed I hr 56 (Nairobi Stan Chart Marathon 2010) and 1hr 55min (MTN Kampala Marathon 2010). Now that I am 40 years old, I may not be able to run faster than that, but I am not giving up yet.
Long distance running is one of my passions. I have competed in well over 20 races around the world and have logged countless kilometers. I have done over 1000km in training and races in the year 2010 alone. For the past 7 years I have remained relatively free from injury and been able to recover from the few that I got quite fast and easily. My work schedule involves a bit of traveling but I usually plan my runs at the start or end of the week and try to stick to my diary. I've a good network of running buddies all at different levels and I often run on my own too. I'm usually pretty disciplined so I try to stick to my training regime. It’s my diet that I struggle with. Once in a while I eat those forbidden foods, but thank God I don’t drink alcohol or smoke. I still have hopes of running 21km in 1hr 50min and I will.
Although I was a skinny boy throughout my school days, I piled on so much weight between 1997 and 2001 that it became a risk. I visited a doc who said that I was in danger of becoming hypertensive unless I reduced my weight. I am always ready for a challenge and I was not about to say ‘I cant’ this time. In 2002, I attempted to play badminton again but it did not seem to work (I now know that it was due to a host of other reasons too). In 2002 I embarked on a serious regime of gym workouts and nutrition and eventually managed to bring my weight down from a whooping 102kg to 78kg. While still in this routine, I registered for 10km (the first road race that I ever participated in) and completed it in 55mins. I was pleasantly surprised to learn that this was a good return for a 33-year old. From then on I combined my gym workouts with outdoor running and eventually run the 10km race in 49min (my PR to date).
After a series of 10km races between 2002 and 2006, I upgraded to the Half Marathon in 2007 and later to the full marathon in 2008. While I managed to complete both races in respectable times, I have since learnt that running more than 30km is punching above my weight. I have therefore abandoned running 42kms and settled for my favourite race of 21km. I have just completed the MTN Kampala Half Marathon 2010. The race came a few days before my 40th birthday, and after running 3 other similar races in the year. I am on a high because I think completing it in 1hr 55min after picking up an injury midway the race is a great feat. It is not better than my PR of 1hr 52min but I achieved that time in very challenging conditions – which makes me happy with myself. Since completing my first half marathon in 2007 at 2hr 17mins, I have managed to bring my time down progressively. This year I tried to get back to my PR of 1 hr 52min or even better but only managed I hr 56 (Nairobi Stan Chart Marathon 2010) and 1hr 55min (MTN Kampala Marathon 2010). Now that I am 40 years old, I may not be able to run faster than that, but I am not giving up yet.
Long distance running is one of my passions. I have competed in well over 20 races around the world and have logged countless kilometers. I have done over 1000km in training and races in the year 2010 alone. For the past 7 years I have remained relatively free from injury and been able to recover from the few that I got quite fast and easily. My work schedule involves a bit of traveling but I usually plan my runs at the start or end of the week and try to stick to my diary. I've a good network of running buddies all at different levels and I often run on my own too. I'm usually pretty disciplined so I try to stick to my training regime. It’s my diet that I struggle with. Once in a while I eat those forbidden foods, but thank God I don’t drink alcohol or smoke. I still have hopes of running 21km in 1hr 50min and I will.
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