Nobody really knew what time it all kicked off but the general consensus was that the 10,000m would start at around 9.30a.m. I arrived just before 10a.m and had only missed the first few laps. Not a very eventful race but one of my friends and former Run-Fast camp member Eliud Kipserem kicked away on the final lap to win in around 29.40. Surprisingly during the race people that were getting lapped too many times were “red flagged” and pulled out, I'm not sure this would catch on in the UK due to sportsmanship but it's a good way to keep the timetable to time (not that they had a timetable here). Following the men's 10,000m was the women's 10,000m, this was very dull with only 5 or 6 starters, for supposedly the heart of distance running in Kenya and possibly the world I wasn't very impressed with the standard!
There were some highlights of the day, Asbel Kiprop just winning the 400m (I did get this on video but can't upload it for a few weeks), a muzungu (one of the New Zealand twins) nearly winning the 1500m and the crazy drop out rate. In the mens 5000m there must have been 25 starters and even after 300m people were dropping out! I think over the day there must have been a 50% drop-out rate! How can you only make 300m in a 5000m race??!
Anyway it was a good days entertainment, if not the quality I had expected. Next week is the provincials which should be of a much higher standard.
I did my first long run yesterday, a steady 30km in two hours, feeling fitter with every run now.
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