Running with the Kenyans

    I was woken up the next morning far earlier than I cared to be by a whistle and someone yelling it was time to go running. Judging on the late night from the night before I figured we would get a more leisurely start in the morning but apparently there's no rest for the weary. I rolled over and hoped the noise would stop, but it only became more insistent so I reluctantly crawled out of my sleeping bag and threw on my running shorts. Roger was already up and another of the women with us (she'd be upset I can't remember her name) that had been the one yelling at me. I wondered how they were up and alert because they had still been going strong when I went to bed, and it was 8:00, but Roger was showing no ill effects of the late night festivities. The whole group from the bank was there and most dressed in athletic wear, and Roger announced that I would be leading them on a warm up jog out to the "tarmac". Tarmac is used to describe in paved road, which took me a little bit to catch onto, but now I love the usage. It was only about half a mile, but even then the people covered it more easily than I would expect a random group of bank employees to do so in the US (or even be able to do).

While they went off to do their team building activities I headed out for my weekly long run, which I usually do on Sunday. I would have preferred to eat before going for a long run, but Roger had told me this would be the best time to run and I didn't feel too hungry. I headed out along the main road, which had a generous dirt shoulder perfect for running. We were near Kaptagat, and Roger and Allen had both told me that this area was home to a lot of the fast runners the Rift Valley is famous for. I explored a couple side roads, but all ended in private property. This was yet another place that reminded me of rural Montana, full of large fields and grazing land for cattle. About 30 minutes into the run I was running along the main road when I saw a runner who looked like he couldn't run a marathon slower than 2:15 if he tried coming toward me, so I crossed the road and asked if I could join him, to which he welcomingly agreed. He said his name was Said (that's my best guess of how to spell it), and when I asked him about what he was training for he mentioned going to Qatar to race in a couple months, and that was good enough confirmation in my mind that he was one of the elite runners that was feared and respected by runners around the world. He seemed pretty shy about it, and if it weren't for me asking him specifically about what he was training for, he could have been just a pleasant guy out for a Sunday morning run. That's not really true though, because you could tell from his running form and build that he was elite. If you've seen world class runners before I think you what I'm talking about, and if you haven't, the best way I can describe is that they seem to barely touch the ground, they just float along unbelievably smoothly and effortlessly, almost ghost-like. And also, as you might guess of elite Kenyan runners, he had thighs that looked like they were about the same thickness as my arms, almost impossibly skinny. I was surprised with how relaxed the pace was, really not any faster than I had been running on my own, and still very much conversational even for me. I wondered how far he had run though, thinking back to Manuel the day before. I had many more questions for him, but he stopped, saying he was done with his run in what looked to me like the middle of nowhere. I wondered if he just wanted to get rid of me, and whether that was the case or not, I figured I better get going, so I thanked him for letting me run with him and turned back to run farther down the main road. After I left and I was thinking about it, I realized I hadn't gotten his last name, which I kicked myself for a little bit because I wouldn't be able to look him up later. It was weird to think about making sure I could have people's last names so I would be able to google them to find race results later. I hadn't run too far along the main road before I came upon another pair of decidedly elite looking runners. I asked them if I could run with them, and they agreed but much more timidly, and maybe reluctantly, than Said had. They ran completely in silence, with one of them giving me subtle hand signal of when a puddle was coming up and we needed to hop up onto the pavement. They stopped at the same spot that Said had, making me think maybe there is a bunch of runners that live right there. When they stopped running I thanked them for allowing me to run with them, and they were much more cordial now that the run was over. Their names were Justin Kipchembei and Abraham Yan (I doubt those are exactly right, but that's my best guess). Abraham said it was a pleasure running with me also, and when I asked which way was better for running they pointed me back toward the resort where we were staying. I didn't run into any other elites the rest of the run, and the interactions I had were pretty unspectacular and unenlightening. The thing I found the most interesting was that they ran at such a relaxed pace. I don't know how far they were going but they weren't running any faster than I run on a standard long run, and actually a little bit slower. I must say also that watching them run is absolutely beautiful. They remind me of gazelles, gliding along so effortlessly it seems they could run forever at any pace they pleased.

I followed the main road past the resort and kept going, taking the first side road I found and running along that, quickly picking up a crowd of kids coming back from church. This road might have been about as remote as anywhere I had run, and I was kind of worried about dogs but that didn't turn out to be a problem. I had two boys, maybe eight years old, on my way back to the main road that ran with me for over a mile, one of them in rubber mud boots that didn't fit that well, which made it pretty impressive he was able to keep up even by my standards of footwear here. Several of the girls that ran with me were running in their Sunday shoes. As I was coming back to the road up to the resort, I noticed on the sign for the resort announced that the elevation was 7742 feet. I had guessed that I was at maybe 7000 feet or a little under, so I felt that much better about the run knowing that it had been that high. I think that also means Eldoret must be higher than I thought it was because I thought Eldoret wasn't any higher than about 6500 and I didn't think we had climbed very much. I'll have to check that when I'm online again.

I got back to the tents and the area where they had all the games stuff out to find the whole area deserted. I drank the water I had in my Nalgene, but I needed more and I knew I really needed to get some food in me after running for an hour and 45 minutes. I asked one of the employees that was down by the pool where National Bank was, and he said it was a long ways from here, and then told him I was looking for the bank group that was there, which turned out to be Family Bank, and I was delighted to hear they were eating breakfast right now. I headed up to the extravagant main lodge, and quickly found Roger and Allen in line for the incredible breakfast buffet that was sitting there. I grabbed a couple of glasses of fruit juice and some water, then went back to the tent and changed then came back and gorged myself on mangoes, cereal, an omelette, and chocolate milk. It was probably the best post-run meal I've had since I've been here and was all the better for the fact that I had been worried about if I would be able to eat anything right away. I did go a little bit gung-ho, particularly with the mango, and I felt like a python that's just eaten a deer, but a very satisfied python. It had turned out to be a pretty sunny day and I went down where they were doing the team building and laid on the grass. The bank people were in groups doing an activity and Allen and the lady-who-is-not-named-but-should-be go a huge kick out of me wallowing around on the ground complaining about how full I was and how I couldn't move. They went to help some of the teams with the activity and I fell asleep on the grass.

I spent the rest of the morning and into the afternoon hanging out with Mr. Mayaka and another of the I-should-probably-know-her-name ladies on the deck by the pool. It was weird to be doing the typical tourist thing, and I felt kind of out of place. Roger and Allen came over at lunch time and we ate another meal of chicken and ugali and I'm starting to wonder just how common that is. Throughout the afternoon and into the evening Mr. Mayaka launched into the lyrics of the song "One More Night" (I don't know if that's the actual name but that's the main lyric), which was hilarious every time. Mr. Mayaka and the other lady told me about how I was "strong" for getting up to run in the morning, and that Allen and Roger were strong too for getting up. I've really enjoyed the usage of the word "strong" here, it's used a lot more often as a compliment for someone being persistent, or in good shape, or setting a marathon world record, or in this case for being willing to get up early. After lunch I crashed for a nap, definitely feeling the combination of the short night and the long run. When I woke up in the evening most of the other tents had been torn down and I felt bad for holding up the show if everyone else wanted to get home, but I should have learned by now that I would have to try a lot harder to ever be the one holding up the show. I packed up my stuff and took down my tent then joined the other sitting out on the grass. It was one of those perfect, laid back times hanging out with friends when you wonder, "Why don't we always do this?" Roger and his friends were super fun to hang out with and it was all the better sitting around relaxing and watching the sunset. To me it was the epitome of what I loved about how laid back Kenyans are about time. Everyone had to work the next morning, but no one was in any rush to get out of there, everyone just wanted to sit and watch the sunset and talk, and we'd worry about getting back to town after that. We got back probably around 9 or 10, put things away, then ate a late dinner and went to bed.