Prime Business Africa
By Osita Chidoka
Today in for the first time since 2022, I ran 21 km in 2 hours 53 minutes, at a pace of 8:10 per km, keeping my average heart rate at 137 bpm.
It meant slowing down deliberately (running and walking at intervals)to keep my heart rate under 140.
After years of running fast, I am now learning the discipline of running slower.
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It feels strange sometimes, even frustrating. But the body must be reconditioned if it is to last.
This phase of my fitness journey is not about speed. It is about reconditioning.
From time to time, people on my page ask why I am so committed to this routine. Why the early runs. Why the data. Why the persistence.
The answer is simple: Chief Ojo Maduekwe. He exercised every day. In his younger years—his 30s and 40s—he ran the Lagos Milo half marathons.
But the moment that changed my life came in 2001 when he rode his famous bicycle to the Federal Executive Council meeting.
I joined him on the ride. I was 31 and he was 56.
Within minutes my heart was racing wildly. Twice I had to climb down from the bicycle to catch my breath.
Meanwhile, the Honourable Minister pedalled calmly ahead—talking as he rode. I made it to the villa in a pick up.
I went home that day humbled and determined to fix my fitness.
Years later, when he served as Nigeria’s High Commissioner to Canada and I was Minister of Aviation, we rode together regularly in Ottawa.
By then we were conditioned riders—laughing, gisting, and completing 50 km rides with ease.
Chief Maduekwe inspired my commitment to fitness, wide reading, and the courage to ignore the tyranny of public opinion.
He lived that way. He did what he believed was right, not what others expected.
I am still on that journey.
If my own small example now inspires someone else to start their own journey, then the lesson continues to travel.
Chidoka is Nigeria’s former Aviation Minister and former Corps Marshal of the Federal Road Safety Commission.
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