Liz Mokamba

Two minutes after finishing my first Nairobi City (Half) Marathon in September 2024 and setting a PR of 2hr.35min, I felt the need to challenge myself more. It was such an incredible improvement from Kilimanjaro (Half) Marathon where I had set my PR at 2hr.58min. I had averaged a pace of 7min.18sec which seemed like a miracle to me. I had basically conquered the world.

I heard about the Mountain to Mountain Ultra Marathon featuring an 80km route starting at Mt. Kenya Naromoru gate to Aberdares Wandare Gate. There were however options for 50km and 25km just that the starting points would be different. It was happening two weeks after the Nairobi City Marathon. I asked a few friends about my intentions of attempting a 50km and whether it is too soon. Luckily everyone around me is as delulu as I am and the answers were all positive.

Mistake number one, I did leg day at the gym a few days to the ultra (in my defense, I didn’t know my thighs would still be hurting! Okay… okay, I dint know what leg day was) Mistake number two, I only carried one pair of running shoes. (Okay I am a minimalist packer) Mistake number three, I absolutely knew nothing about preparing for an ultra, I was just happy to be there. (LOL)

Still, an over thinker. I scavenged strava and stalked those who had done the same ultra-marathon previously and studied the 50km course. Starting at Chaka town and rising 1300m to Wandare Gate, Aberdares. My only consolation was that I had 12 hours to do that. I looked forward to the day and feared a little bit. Was it too much too soon?

4.30am, September 21, 2024. I woke up at Chaka. Took a shower, made sure my watch was at 100%. Logged onto X to catch up on latest gossip, ate a banana and an orange and thought about my friends who had already started from Naromoru as I waited for the day to break. I left my room at 5.50am and headed to the start point located 5 minutes away.

Oops, my foot pinched. Holly f*ck! I packed the wrong shoes!! For a few weeks I had tried removing a thorn (or something) stuck to the inner sole of this shoe which pierced my foot when I stepped in a certain way. I had completely forgotten about that when I packed the shoes. I however had no alternative at this point but to proceed with the said shoe.

The race started at 6.00am, starting with gentle hills, a few drops and flats and progressed into meandering trails within farms leading to unforgiving, unending hills. Suddenly, my hurting thigh muscles didn’t hurt anymore, my shoe didn’t pinch anymore, twenty kilometers in, thirty kilometers in, I ran, I walked, I checked my phone to make sure I’m not lost.

My energy got renewed at 40 kilometers when I caught up with a group that left me at 15 kilometers. The last 10 kilometer stretch which comprised of a 600 meters’ elevation gain tested every ounce of energy I had left in me.  I let my legs do the moving and my mind do the wondering.

I thought about myself, running along statehouse road while in campus, and wondered why my mind always blocked those memories. I thought about my two year running hiatus when I finished college and life became real life. I thought about my father’s (untimely) death and my mother’s (unexpected) open heart surgery, two events that happened within two months, which made me think about my health and come back to running just post Covid. I thought about my beginner 5km runs and how far I have come.

With every step I took, every foot of elevation I gained, every other annoying KWS signage I passed by, I knew the only way I will stop moving is when I hit 50 kilometers.

I hit 48kms, 49kms and finally 50 kms. Wandare gate was nowhere to be seen. It took another 0.6kms, about 7 corners and 3-4 business days for the gate to appear. The greatest high of all was stopping my watch at 50.6kms, 8 hours 15 minutes later.

And just like that, I fell in love with ultra-running.

Sincerely, Ultra-Curious Liz