By Lutangu Lungowe, Lusaka Fitness Club.
HELLO
Around me, I see my friends.
Most of them are doing what I am doing.
A few are helping me to do what I am doing.
All my friends are people.
All but one – the darkness.
It helps me to do what I am doing.
It keeps me cool.
It helps me half the time I am doing what I do.
Then it abandons me slowly.
Banished gradually by its enemy – the sun.
Its enemy is also my enemy but only when I do what I am doing.
It makes it difficult for me to do what I am doing.
It heats me up.
It makes me feel tired.
In my ears is a sound.
A sound that lightens the burden of what I do.
It gladdens my soul and lifts my spirits.
As I do what I do, I see other friends at regular intervals.
They help me do what I am doing.
They give me water.
They give me fuel to continue to do what I am doing.
They encourage me.
They take pictures of me.
They remind me of my loved ones.
I leave my loved ones at an early hour to do what I am doing.
They worry about my safety.
They want me to stay home with them.
But they let me go so I can do what I am passionate about.
Some passers-by cheer me on.
Some stare at me dismissingly.
They wonder why I even bother to do what I am doing.
Few understand me.
They look at my shirt and my bottom.
My shirt is made to help me perspire for hours and be comfortable as I do what I do.
It is branded for that day or for the days before it like that day.
It is branded with the name of the people who brought me and my friends together.
As I do what I do, I gaze.
I gaze at the road just ahead.
My gaze is punctuated by quick glances at my shoes.
My shoes grip the asphalt firmly.
They, with my thick socks, keep me comfortable and shield me from injury.
Each step I take is harmless on its own.
But the thousands of steps I take as I do what I am doing can injure me.
And they do injure me often.
I stare as I do what I am doing because I feel like I am walking a tight rope at a great height from one skyscraper to another.
I must concentrate.
Though I concentrate, I must beware.
For I have 3 more enemies.
One for is not flesh and blood but is controlled by flesh and blood.
He comes in hoards and hoards.
That enemy has wheels
Almost always his wheals are 4 but only rarely 2.
The enemy with 2 wheels sometimes has no engine.
My enemy with wheels comes from my back and from the front.
I have no choice but to share the road with them.
That enemy has injured many of my friends.
But to stay safe from the foe I must do what I do facing the enemy head-on.
The other enemy is on all fours.
But he only does harm when unleashed, un-gated and uncaged.
Even then I can be safe from him by ignoring him.
If that enemy is wild, I will have few chances to survive him.
My fourth enemy is like me.
Except he wants to take what is mine from me.
But I can elude him.
If he finds me, I have to fight him with my hands and my weapons.
As I do what I am doing, I respond to greetings hastily.
I glance at happenings around me quickly.
Then I go right back to concentrate.
Most passers-by never get me.
Because I suffer as I do what I do.
But it is suffering I enjoy.
It is suffering that brings me good health, good looks, and a longer life.
As I do what I am doing, the flow of blood and air to my brain, muscles and organs is much better.
I have thoughts of better quality.
Often I ruminate in torrents.
I become more alert.
I can function for longer hours with less sleep.
As I do what I am doing, my watch counts many numbers.
I care the most about one kind of number.
The kind that tells me how I take to cover a distance.
When I do what I do, I cover many distances.
But only one distance validates me.
It makes me bona fide.
42.2 kilometres.
It is the distance an ancient covered delivering a message about a victory in a battle at Marathon.
He died from moving that distance.
Many others have expired that way.
Hello.
I just thought I might introduce myself.
If that is okay.
My name is Lungowe.
I am a social runner.
I am from the Lusaka Fitness Squad.
