Mohave Mirage

It is 3.30pm and I am in the Mohave Desert. I have been walking for days, it feels like weeks, months, years. Little food, little water, I do not really know who I am any more. I don’t feel like my old self, don’t look like my old self. It is an out of body experience that is hard to describe unless you have experienced it yourself. I’m emotional but numb, physically and mentally. I can’t talk. There is nobody to talk to, and I don’t have the energy to talk even if I could. I haven’t seen anybody for miles, nothing living anyhow, I haven’t seen any sign of life or any landmarks or anything. Is there any end to this journey….wait. What can I see in the distance? There’s a building. An old dusty old building. I get closer, I see a sign. The signs says ‘We sell Boddingtons here – barrels and barrels in stock!’ The first sign of life I have seen for miles and they sell my favourite beer. I pinch myself, I am awake. I cannot believe this. If this is the way I leave this world, let the last mouthful I take be a gulp of room temperature Boddingtons. Heck, it could be even be cold, I’d take that after being out in 45c degrees heat for so long. I break into what feels like a sprint but I know deep down it is only a jog. The pub is drawing ever closer and I can see the door only metres away. I stop and pause, can this really be happening. I rub my eyes and re-open them. The pub….the pub is now miles away in the distance. It is getting further and further away.

Me and my girl run once or twice week together. We need to do more, and sometimes run separately if our schedules do not suit. We have one particularly route that we do every so often – our apartment, to Lutry and then back along the lake to Ouchy. It is approximately 9km, and it can be shortened or extended depending on whether HJ feels like Paula Radcliffe, and whether I feel like Hicham El Guerrouj. The first 3km is reasonably pleasant, a fair amount of it is a slow downhill run which breaks my sensitive body into the run slowly. I can deal with that. From around 5-8km, we run along the longest road in the world. The Mohave Desert. We run along the road until we reach a set of traffic lights eventually and we turn left at that point and down to the lake. When I run, I look for milestones and landmarks, it keeps me motivated. On this long stretch of small inclines and bumps, there are four sets of traffic lights. I am struggling at this point and I hope and pray that each and every one of them is the final one, which means the run is almost over and there is light at the end of the tunnel. Disappointment comes with each traffic light which does not signal the left turn. Then, we run round a corner and see the lights. The lights. I see them now. This time, the lights do not disappear in the distance. There is life back in these old heavy legs of mine, and I can see the lights.

Nobody said getting in shape was easy and nobody said running was pleasant. Well, maybe they did, but it wasn’t Robert Christian Esteva. Still, the end point is very enjoyable. Sitting there, having accomplished a reasonably solid run, is a great feeling. It is that final sip of Boddingtons, that is just so sweet after the trials and tribulations to get to that stage. I will be making more regular visits to the Mohave in the coming weeks – don’t knock it until you’ve tried it.