Oxygen!!

After a really good couple of months out in Iten I'm now back home in the UK. I finished my training in Iten with a mega positive 10km tempo run, nearly 3 minutes quicker than I have ever run 10km at altitude and I think quicker than I have ever run a 10km tempo in training anywhere, so I'm really excited about racing now!!

As always with the Kenyans it was a rush to Eldoret airport to catch my flight as Edwin and myself took a detour on route to say goodbye to Ken Kibet and family and Mary Keitany and family. I took the opportunity to get Mary to sign an Adidas vest for Toby Lambert at Alton Sports.

Mary with the vest

I did my first run back at sea level this morning and it was an absolute joy! My friend oxygen was readily available and it just felt so nice not to struggle on an easy run!! The only problem was I couldn't feel my hands by the end of the run, far too cold!!

Usain Bolt Spotted in Eldoret, Kenya...

I was in Eldoret last week with coach fantastic Gavin Smith buying some bits and pieces and we spotted this guy driving a Jamaica coloured matatu and he was the spitting image of Usain Bolt (although the photo below doesn't do him justice). I'm not sure what Usain was doing in Eldoret driving a matatu and unfortunately didn't get chance to ask him (too fast I guess)!!

Usain Bolt in Eldoret???

After a good Christmas and New Year I now have less than a week left in Iten before my return to the UK. Training has been very good and today I did my last track session at altitude (for a while anyway) of 10 x 1000m. It went really well, definitely one of my best at altitude. Only one more tough session left. I trained at the Chepkoilel track in Eldoret which was remarkanly quiet for a Tuesday morning but I still spotted Asbel Kiprop (World & Olympic 1500m Champion), Florence Kiplagat (Berlin Marathon 2011 Champion) and Saif Saaeed Shaheen (3000m S/C World Record Holder)!

I tried out a new place for lunch today and it was a good choice. I ordered Giteri and two ndazi, coming to a total of 30KSH (about 20pence). and got two chapatis thrown in for free, not sure why but I didn't complain. I will definitely be going back there again!! If anyone is ever in Iten, the "cafe" is called "Nest Cafe" and it is very near the Runners Point shop.

The Generous Nest Cafe

The Wedding of Charles Koech and Mary Keitany

As the wedding started at 8a.m. I had to make sure I was up nice and early to get training in beforehand. Luckily my training for the day was just two easy runs so I didn't have to rush too much to get ready. As anyone who has been to a wedding in the UK knows, if the wedding starts at 8a.m. you have to make sure you are there before 8a.m. I arrived at the Catholic Church in Iten at about 7.55 and although I wasn't the first there, there weren't many people around, then I remembered that I'm in Kenya!! At about 8.30 the wedding cars started to arrive with Edwin Kipyego given the job of official driver of the wedding car.

Photos in the Church Gardens

We then made our way into the Church and for some reason I seemed to get seated right in the middle of the choir! Not sure why, as if any of them had every heard me sing they would have made me sit as far away from the choir as possible! The Church service was fairly standard if not a bit longer than the weddings I've been to in the UK. At just after 10a.m we made our way out of the Church to be confronted by quite a few people turning up thinking the wedding was meant to start at 10 (the invite did say 10a.m. But was changed at a later date), this general chaos seemed to be quite a theme of the day and very in keeping with the way Kenyans live their lives so I wasn't that surprised, in fact I would have been more surprised if everything had run smoothly! We then took some photos in the Church gardens before more chaotic events trying to fit everyone Into cars for the next part of the wedding.



From L to R, Ken Kibet, Charles Koech, Lillian Rotich, Mary Keitnay and Helen Kimutai

Once allotted a seat in a car we did a strange convoy tour of Iten, from St-Patricks (where the Church was) down to the viewpoint and then back up through Iten to Kerio View for the official photos. By the time all the photos had been done it was time to go to Charles and Mary’s house for the reception. Edwin had told me that there would be a lot of people at the wedding but at the Church there was less than one hundred, now the reception was a different story, half of Iten must have been there! They had a number of Marque style tents set up around a field with a stage in the middle, each tent had a different group of people in, i.e. friends, family etc. and I sat in the athletes tent along with many of the top Kenyan runners including, Geoffrey Mutai (Boston and New York Marathon Champion 2011), Emmanuel Mutai (London Marathon Champion 2011), Wilson Kipsang (Frankfurt Marathon 2011), Edna Kiplagat (World Marathon Champion), Janet Jepkosgei (Former World 800m Champion) and probably many more that I didn't recognise! There was a huge feast of really good Kenyan food put on with more than enough to feed the 500+ people that had turned up. After eating we were treated to some live Kalenjin music by the famous Kalenjin singer Lillian Rotich, this was followed by the traditional cutting of the cake which was distributed amongst the crowds. After the cake we moved on to the speeches, and anyone who has been to any sort of event in Kenya knows that Kenyans love a good speech! These must have gone on for about an hour or so before we had some more live music from Lillian.

Edna Kiplagat handing out the wedding cake

After some more food I said my good byes and took a slow walk back to my place, ready for a good night sleep after a long but thoroughly enjoyable last day of 2011.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

Christmas Day

My Christmas day started early, rising at about 5.40a.m. to start my run at 6a.m. Two and a half hours later I had finished my 35km run and could breathe a big sigh of relief that for the rest of the day I could relax. After a cold, refreshing shower and some breakfast my next port of call was to all the kids that live close to my house. I had purchased about thirty packs of biscuits and handed them out to all the kids. They all seemed really happy to be getting a little present no matter how small, as I'm pretty sure for most of these kids it was the only present they would be getting. All the parents that I saw seemed really happy that I had given their kids something and they all wished me a Merry Christmas.

That was my good dead done for the day, next stop was to the Run-Fast camp to meet Edwin before we went to Kens house for our Kenyan Christmas dinner. Edwin told me we would leave at about 12, but in true Kenyan fashion we left closer to 3p.m.! Whilst walking up towards Kens house his neighbour drove by and offered us a lift which we duly obliged, we stopped off at her house and were soon presented with a meal, I though this a little strange as we were meant to be eating at Kens but obviously couldn't say no. After finishing up our food we said our goodbyes and walked the rest of the way to Kens. On arrival we met Ken and Helen (his wife) and had a walk around the farm collecting some fruit for our meal, we then went inside to be greeted by Kens children and a few other close friends and family. about 2 hours after finishing our last meal we were presented with our main meal, it was a bit like having a late lunch and an early dinner, I ate as much as I could but was pretty stuffed and couldn't indulge in as many chapatis as I wanted, never mind!! After dinner a large range of fresh from the farm fruits were laid before us, one of which I had never seen before. Edwin said it was a "sweet tomato" but he didn't know the Kenyan name for it. You had to bash it up a bit then bite off the top before squeezing the insides into your month, and it was delicious, I must try and find out exactly what it was.

The selection of fruits (with the "sweet tomato" on the right)

After all the food the children entertained us with a little play which was nice. I must say it was a lot more "Christmasy" than I thought it would be, Ken had a Christmas tree in his house and a few decorations and to spend the day with him and his family was great fun, I felt really privileged that I had been invited to spend such a day with them.

Ken drove us all back home just after 8p.m. and it wasn't long before I fell asleep after a thoroughly enjoyable Kenyan Christmas day.

Merry Christmas

My big news on Christmas eve is that I got my official invite to the wedding of Charles Koech and Mary Keitany.

My official wedding invitation

It is being held on New Years Eve and I am really excited for a number of reasons. First, I've wanted to go to an African wedding for ages as they sound as though they are really good fun. Second, it's a proper celebrity wedding as in Kenya Mary is a huge superstar (and well know in most running circles around the world). I have been told that many of the top Kenyan athletes will be attending so I must make sure that my camera is fully charged. Third, it will be a great way to end 2011!

After receiving my invite I realised that apart from running gear (not very appropriate for a wedding) I had nothing to wear! So I took a trip to the market in Iten with Gavin and got myself kitted out in a nice suit (Hugo Boss!) and shirt for the horrendously expensive price of about £6!!! Now I'm all ready to bust some moves on the dance floor come the 31^st of December!!

Looking very smart!!

Talking of Mary Keitany, it was the Shoe 4 Africa Women’s 5km in Iten today and probably one of the only chances that any women would get to beat Mary as she jogged round near the back with some of the children! It was a really good event, all the entrants were given a free t-shirt and the first 10 finishers got some good prize money, including $500 for first place and a $1000 bonus for breaking the course record (which the winner did today). We did see one women cheat and jump in for the last 100m but she duly got disqualified. After the race they have a raffle where all the raffle winners get a pair of donated shoes.

Mary jogging the Shoe 4 Africa 5km

For a treat on Christmas day coach Gavin has given me a 35km run but once I finish that I get the rest of the day to relax :-) I have purchased loads of packs of biscuits for all the kids that live near me and will hand these out some time in the morning as I bet most of them don't get anything. I have also been invited to have my Christmas lunch with Ken Kibet, Helen Kimauti and their family which should be really good fun.

I hope everyone I know has a really good Christmas. To all my Kenyan and international buddies keep training hard and to all my friends in the UK I will see you in 2012!!

Quiet Days

After my few sleepless nights all is back to normal again, thank God! In fact I would say that Iten is quieter than normal, it seems that quite a few of the athletes take a short break at this time of the year, maybe a week, to rest up and visit family for Christmas. The Run-Fast camp is closed up as Ken Kibet (the coach) gave all the runners the week off and told them to go home. Saying all this there are still hundreds of runners whenever you go out running so I'm not getting lonely!

I've been trying out some new places to eat recently to try and get some more variety in my diet. This (the variety in my diet bit) is proving difficult as everywhere serves the same thing. The more "high class" establishments like Kamogich or Sitet for example will have a varied and extensive menu but more often than not you will only have the choice of a few things, generally beef stew, chicken fry, liver fry or ndengu, these come with a choice of either ugali, chapati and sometimes rice. The not so "high class" places like the one I went to today which are very, very cheap normally only have one option, in most cases this will be githeri and chapati which I really like but after a while you do want something different. One funny thing about a lot of these places is that they have menus with lots of stuff on them, none of which they serve. One place I ate in had a menu and the only thing being served wasn't even on the menu!! But when you get an entire filling meal plus a drink for well under 50pence there is no need to complain!

Today's "fine dinning" establishment

Running has been tough over the last few days as recovery from hard sessions takes much longer here at altitude and I really pounded my legs in the tempo run I did the other day. I probably need another day of easy running before I attempt the next hard session. still hot and sunny here and no sign of the Christmas rain that I am told will be coming. That does remind me it's Christmas day on Sunday, it's so different being out here compared with being back in the UK around this time of year. Back home you are constantly bombarded with reminders about Christmas, buy this, buy that etc etc. Here if you didn't know it was coming up to Christmas you wouldn't have a clue, I kind of like it in a way. I'm told Christmas out here is a really big family occasion so I'm looking forward to spending it with Edwin and the rest of my "Kenyan family".

Sleepless Nights and Nearly a PB....

For the last two nights I have hardly had a wink of sleep, this is not because I'm worried about anything, not because I'm not tired from training but because my neighbour is a drunk. This has been my worst experience in Kenya so far, the night before last was truly terrible. This guy came back steaming drunk and for the entire night had the biggest domestic ever. We had furniture being smashed, the wife screaming, the children in hysterics, the only half lucky thing was that there was no violence. The next day the wife packed her belongings and fled with the kids and who can blame her, there is no excuse for this type of drunken behaviour.

Scene of the crime, "highrise 1" my luxury apartment

Last night the guy came back to find he had lost his key and who did he decide he was going to ask for help, that's right, me. I was very rudely woken up by a stinking, covered in sick, drunk guy banging and shouting at my door “Kiprop”, “Kiprop”, “I need help, I can't get in”. I told him that I couldn't help and he eventually left in the search of a hammer to bash his lock in. Thirty or so minutes later he had found a hammer or maybe just a rock and started repeatedly smashing his door, not what you want to hear in the middle of the night! It all went quiet and I assumed he must have got in. Unfortunately not and again I heard “Kiprop”, “Kiprop”, some more shouting of “no” and “go away” and he left me be to get on with some more smashing and bashing. Eventually it finished and luckily the landlord came round this morning to inspect the damage and to evict him, hopefully tonight I will have a peaceful, long uninterrupted nights sleep!!

After the past two nights I wasn't expecting to run to my full potential on my 8km tempo run today but I was in for a shock as I nearly broke my pb, my sea level pb that is! Running 24.31 which at this altitude is really encouraging and I think proves that the training that Gav Smith is giving me is working, I really hope I can turn this good form into race results when I'm back in the UK.

A few days of relaxed running now before my next tough session which I have been advised will be 90 second hill repeats, sounds fun :-O