At 4am, God unleashes more angels into the world

It takes a rat about 21 days to carry a pregnancy to full term. This means that during the 21 days I wasn’t running from mid-October to early November, thousands of rats were born in my home city of Nairobi.

On this day, 8^th November 2022, I was jogging past a fast food restaurant in Komarock when I saw three potential mothers of newly born rats. The three rats were scurrying along the restaurant’s counter, unafraid of the nearby flame or the glaring light.

I will never buy chips from these roadside restaurants again! I thought as I jogged down the deserted road’s gentle descent. From the corner of my right eye, I saw a middle-aged lady in a white polo neck walking briskly towards my direction; a dark handbag swinging over her shoulder. I guess she is going to her workplace. I wonder whether she likes her job. I had realized after interviewing dozens of friends and acquaintances that most employees have complicated, unhappy relationships with their jobs.

By the time the 4.30am breeze blew away this unhappy employees thought, I had already turned around was now running back home. For a few moments, I focused on the tap-tap sound of my shoes smashing into the uneven tarmac.

I approached a tree (sorry I don’t know its name) and slowed down to marvel at its broad leaves as they danced gently to the 4.32am breeze. Then I noticed something more about those leaves. Something that made me stop running and gaze up with a big smile. The full moon was peeping at me through these broad leaves. It’s light enabled me to see a small bird –  the size of my fist – balancing on one of the tree’s dozens of twigs. The bird appeared to be staring at me. Despite the bright moonlight, I could only see its silhouette, so couldn’t tell what color it was.    

The last time that I had run was October 17^th. Three weeks earlier. What a run that had been. I had averaged 7.05 minutes per kilometer, my best time in the last one year.

That’s a very slow speed! You are probably exclaiming as you shake your head.

7.05 minutes per kilometer is indeed a slow run. But remember, I usually take about 30 second breaks every kilometer. This bites a huge chunk of time from my final pace. Soon, I will drastically reduce these breaks and you will be reading about my dazzling speeds. But I also have to reduce the stubborn kilos that have parachuted into my stomach causing my waistline to expand to 40 inches.

Read about one of my best running records.

Back to 8^th November 2022. When I slumped into bed the previous night, I didn’t really expect that in a few hours, I would be waking up to a run. Not only was I rusty, I had also lost a lot of momentum and therefore wasn’t in a hurry to resume running. I had spent the entire previous week in my rural home and had relaxed immensely. While there, I had been waking up between 4AM and 4.30AM.

4AM sits on the cusp of night and morning. At this hour, late night’s deep silence is still lingering in the atmosphere. But at the same time, early morning’s sheer freshness is already sprinkling into that same atmosphere. Actually, I think God sends extra angels into the world at 4AM. He gives them clear instructions – pump peace and positive energy into the atmosphere so that my people can walk into this peace when they jump out of their beds.

Oh, what a beautiful, peaceful atmosphere to wake up into. The only problem is that most of us never pause to tap into this peace before proceeding with the day.

Wherever you are, 4AM bristles with a refreshing silence. But in the pristine arms of my village, 4AM also infuses into you a refreshing energy. That’s the energy that tugged at my heart every single day during the ten days that I was in the village.

3.26AM, 8^th November. I was pleasantly surprised to find that 4AM was still more than half an hour away.

That means that I can make it for a run today, I thought. That split second that this thought cascaded into my mind is all it took for me to make the decision to go for a Tuesday run. I jumped from the bed into my black track pants then slipped into my specialized red bike jersey. After that, it was time for my feet to step into my worn out Nike sneakers. If you saw me in these sneakers, you would easily assume that I have fallen on hard times and can’t afford a new pair. But am just lazy to go and find a new pair. In my defense, it takes most men a long time to buy for themselves a new pair of shoes.  

Finally, I slipped into my navy blue track hoody.

There was still one final item before I could dash out – emptying my bowels. A rumbling or full stomach is the last thing you want when you are running for 12 kilometers.

4.03AM. I stepped out of my gate into the full moon’s soft glare and the morning breeze’s gentle whisper. When I started running five minutes later, I felt good. So good that my legs kept going for more than a kilometer before I paused for a walking break. I punched my fist into the air, pleasantly surprised that I was running this well despite not having run for three weeks. But by the time I finished the second kilometer, my energy started draining.

Almost one and a half hours later, my right leg was hoisted up the steel railing of the Outering road flyover as I stretched my weary legs.