Graphic designer in love with marathons

On the second floor of one of the old buildings on Kweria Road off Globe roundabout, Nairobi, Barbara Adell leans against a black wall in her minuscule office.

Her laptop is playing rhumba, as the 38-year-old, web and graphic designer prepares wedding cards for a client.

But Ms Adell is also preparing for something else.

“I have a marathon in Amsterdam this October, I hope my visa will be out in time,” she says, pausing from cross-checking the cards.

She is not an elite athlete but rather a recreational runner who fell in love with marathons.

“This is a marathon season for us (her and friends) we have about five marathons coming up this October; Chicago, Amsterdam, StanChart in Kenya, Berlin, and Sanlam in South Africa. So we’re in preparation mode. We train together as a group and then someone makes a decision on which marathon to participate in,” she says.

Ms Adell, who is also a biker, admits that she only got into this form of fitness so that she could explore the world, however, over time she has got addicted.

The craze began in 2016 when a friend convinced her to do a Kilimanjaro marathon in Moshi, Tanzania. She struggled to finish the race but loved the experience.

Then followed Jinja and Kampala marathons. By the time she did her second Kilimanjaro Marathon, it was now a duathlon.

“We rode bikes to Moshi from Nairobi then took part in the marathon then rode back on our bikes. I have also done the Kigali Marathon and the Victoria Falls Marathon in Zimbabwe,” she says.

Having met and interacted with many runners during these escapades, that’s when Ms Adell found it easy to travel abroad.

“It’s easier to travel abroad when you are a recreational runner. We know how getting visas to visit these foreign countries can be a challenge and sometimes they get cancelled. But we realised an athlete’s visa always gets approved, this is why I want to do the Amsterdam Marathon. I want to explore the Netherlands,” she says.

But she will also be targeting to run her personal best in Amsterdam.

“My current personal best for a full marathon is four hours 55 minutes, which I did last year in South Africa. I did that run with minimal training, you cannot compare with current preparations,” says Ms Adell.

When I booked this interview for morning hours, she asked for a reschedule to the afternoon.

“Right now my schedule is jammed. I wake up every day at 5am to do short runs or long ones, which is anything over two hours,” she says.

To demonstrate her level of enthusiasm, determination and drive, Ms Adell has hired not one but two coaches. These two experts formulate programmes and training regimes that she challenges every week.

“The running coach gives us a weekly breakdown of what we are going to do then assess us later on for improvements. The strength coach comes for my body conditioning,” she says.

The recreational runner describes her current level of preparation as “advanced”.

“What I’m doing now is advanced. I never used to have a strength coach, it’s been a year now and I can attest to great improvement in my performances,” she says.

Since getting a strength coach, joint pains from the runs have eased up. She has also become more leaner as her body now burns fats at a faster rate than before.

“When I started running I used to gas out a lot (run out of breath), injuries were the order of the day but not anymore. Now I can run more and faster,” says the graphic and web designer.

Ms Adell credits these improvements to the cross-fit and weight training exercises that have enabled her not only to gain lean muscles but strengthen her bones, minimising injury risk and improving her endurance.

“When you start running, you lose a lot of weight. Your muscles also wear out and become susceptible to injuries. That is why a strength coach is important to help you navigate that,” she advises.

Ms Adell meets with her strengthening coach once a week but interacts with her running coach daily.

Diet is also equally as important as training in preparation for a marathon.

“When you are a runner you are hungry every time and for you to avoid eating the wrong foods that can gain you weight, you have to be meticulous.

When you are targeting speed weight is the biggest deterring factor. The lighter you are the faster you go so your food matters,” says Ms Adell.

For her breakfast, she does a power smoothie blend based on water plus bananas, pineapples, chia, sunflower, pumpkins, sesame seeds, baobab powder and maca powder.

“As runners, we are also encouraged to eat meat with a lot of fats, eggs and avocados. These are what constitute my meals generally. I enjoy a lot of chapatis as well,” she says.

But all these come with a dent in her pockets. Besides the food budget, a sizeable amount also goes into her training and racing gear.

“Shoes are very expensive bearing in mind that we don’t have good running surfaces. Most of our runs are on tarmac, which tends to wear off the knees, so you need good quality shoes to avoid injuries. A good pair of running shoes will cost you nothing less than Sh15,000. Then there are the race shoes which are nothing less than Sh20,000.

My favourite new race shoes are Asics, which cost me Sh19,000. However, Brooks are my favourite because they are long-lasting and you don’t feel the impact of the tarmac,” says Ms Adell.

There is also the issue of fixed costs of travel that include visas, air tickets and accommodation whenever she travels abroad.

“For the Cape Town Marathon, a good budget to sustain you should be not less than Sh300,000 because again you aren’t going for a long stay. When I took part in a duathlon in Spain in 2021, I had a budget of about Sh400,000 and I am looking at a similar amount for the Amsterdam experience,” she says.

Ms Adell describes herself as a ‘cheapy’ to emphasise how frugal she is when booking overseas.

“Over time, we have learnt a few tricks of cost effecting these trips and have an easy time. For instance, online reviews are the best way to get information and then make a decision.

An app like TripAdvisor has enough information about accommodation and the distance from where you will be staying to the venue. We also have apps that give us notifications of affordable air tickets or whenever they are on offer,” she says.

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