Shifting Goalposts

Build-up
I jogged about 8.8 km on Saturday, including a 3.8 km non-stop stretch that took me about 23 minutes. Monday's rain disrupted my schedule. On Tuesday, it looked like it was going to rain again and I decided to jog alongside my wife as she walked in the estate. Wednesday, I basically sat around the house and did other exercises. Thursday daytime, my leg muscles were feeling a bit tense. I feared that because of the two-day breaks between my jogs and the unstructured run on Tuesday, I was losing the gains I had made so far.
Time Limit
We had a group coming for Bible Study at my house on the said Thursday, so I had limited time to jog. I decided to run 5 kilometres, and if I would be able, to run 20 minutes non-stop like I had done last week. I was not sure I would manage this, though, and I was ready to try at least 11 minutes non-stop.
Off!
I usually warm up with a little jogging on the spot and brisk walking for 5 minutes or so. This usually means that the total distance I cover usually includes the 5-min walk distance. I wanted to actually measure my 5K time this time. So I did a brief warm-up within the compound and left the gate running. I felt ok. As I approached Mombasa Road, I started feeling a bit strained, so I figured that I was going a bit too fast. I slowed down. The footpath was rather crowded with people walking, but not too much.
Uphill Task
Ahead of me , on Mombasa Road, was the bridge that goes over the railway line. That meant a climb. That meant strain. I jogged on. The uphill jog wasn't too difficult. I had decided not to check my stopwatch (Read: my wife's phone) until I had crossed Enterprise Road. I would then have covered about 1.7 km and would have jogged about 10 minutes. (Wikimapia.org and Google Earth have been very useful in measuring distances.)
Target Ahead
I got over the hill okay, passing the working nation walking home. On my left were cars on the road. The descent was okay as well, and I was still in good shape. I crossed Enterprise Road, still feeling strong. The length of Sameer Business Park was next. My turning point lay just after, at Tulip House. I decided to try and at least reach Tulip House still jogging.
Right, left, right, left, I jogged on. An occasional sip of water.
Sipping water becomes quite a task when jogging and thus breathing more heavily than usual. You have to take a breath, take the sip and coordinate breathing through your nose while keeping your mouth shut and then swallowing.
Turning Point
Tulip House was here. 14 minutes and some seconds. I decided to jog till at least a round figure of 15 minutes. Left, right, left, right. I passed Tulip House a little and turned in a curve to avoid actually stopping. Not yet 15 minutes. Ok, let's try go for 20 minutes then. That would be 60 X 5 which would be 300 seconds right? I started counting.
Passing Sameer again. Passing pedestrians again that I had passed while going the other direction. Right, left, right, left. 180, 179, 178, 177... Right, left, right, left.
I Know I Can
Did I start counting at 300 or 240? Doesn't really matter, the counting is just to guide me, and also importantly, to distract me. Mind games.
I decided to continue jogging at least until I again reach Enterprise Road. Part of my concern was that I wanted to jog a distance that I would be able to measure easily. As I got nearer, I felt I could go on beyond the Road. But there was the hill again in front of me. Of course I can make it to the top of the hill, I told myself. Thank you Lord that I can make it. I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me. 20 minutes had certainly passed, but now I had a new objective. Let me just jog till the top of the hill.
As I approached the main ascent, some guy joined the path from the left, jogging in a bouncy manner up the hill. Showing off, eh? You have just started jogging moments ago, so of course you can bounce along. He jogged away. I followed at a slow pace. I passed him and other pedestrians a few metres ahead. He was walking. Whassup homey! I said to him in my head.
I managed the climb and descended happily. Some guy had a jacket with a pocket that reminded me of a kangaroo's pouch. His was on the back side of the jacket. In the pocket, he had one of those rectangular, transparent, plastic containers that you can buy some foodstuffs in. I passed him. Another guy seemed to be sagging his jeans, but he did not look the type to deliberately sag. I figured he was just shaped like that, with nothing much to hold up the jeans. I passed him too.
The End
At the bottom of the descent, I felt energised. Maybe it was excitement. I can actually push this till home! I thought. Let me at try at least till the gate. Left, right, left, right! Cars, pedestrians. Left, right, left, right! Look at the road behind, cross. I was now at the gate. I can actually do this! Guard at the gate waved hallo. I waved back. I jogged on. The straight stretch. Left, right, left, right! Excitement! Left turn. Reach for phone in pocket. Refrain from checking the time. Reached our gate. Stop the phone's stopwatch. 5 Kilometres. 30 minutes, 01 seconds! Non-stop! Yesss!!!

Lessons From The Road

I have been jogging since Dec 13th last year. That would be a little over 8 weeks now.
It has been interesting. During the early weeks, I Googled something I had seen asked by someone else on the Web: When does it get easier?
I identified with the askers. I was following a run/walk program and sometimes I was struggling through the run sections.
The answer was that it gets easier after something like 6 to 8 weeks.

When I worked my way up to running 8 minutes at a time, I was elated. I was actually a bit surprised as well, considering how I had been finding 5 minute runs difficult.

On Monday 7th Feb, I ran about 21 minutes and 30 seconds non-stop. I was very excited. I could actually run 20 minutes non-stop! This was one of the requirements in one of the training programs before training for a half-marathon so I considered it some sort of milestone.

I have learnt a few things from all this:
1) Gradual change does indeed add up. I actually moved from running 2 minutes at a time to 20 minutes, through gradual and regular increments.
2) A written plan is good. There are many free training programmes out there. I got and followed one. It felt good to cross out the days I had run and mark my time and distance. I am not sure I would have continued running if I did not have a definite programme I was following.
3) We need fans. I noticed with some amusement that whenever I was passing people, whether or not I knew them, I would try to run a bit faster or with a straighter posture. I guess we all want to look good to others. But maybe it's just me. No wonder someone said that if you want to go faster, go alone, but if you want to go further, go with others.
4) Sometimes it indeed is mind over matter. Sometimes the reason I was eager to complete my run stretch and walk was simply that I was counting down to it. At the end of my runs, many times I was not feeling completely exhausted. I tried mental games but did not get far. If I had other things to occupy my mind, I could probably run longer before feeling the 'need' to stop.

I also learnt that there are very many products out there for runners - from fuel belts to energy gels to heart rate monitors. I wonder which of those are used by Kalenjin runners.