I’m bound to keep on riding
Final Kenyan update
pics http://www.reidcoolsaet.tumblr.com
Last year when I came to Kenya I was coming off a six week period where I ran a total of 60km, basically what I do in two days. Last year’s trip was all about getting back on my feet and enjoying a new experience. By the end of my trip I did a few workouts but no real quality.
This training camp in Kenya I was able to train hard. This past December was a productive month where I had a few weeks around 200km and a bunch of decent sessions. I was able to take it up a notch over the past 5 weeks here in Iten and truly get a taste of Kenyan training. After last year I knew this was a brilliant place to train but I didn’t realize it’s full potential until the past weeks.
On Tuesday afternoon I was running with Pieter Desmet and this guy was running pretty fast coming towards us and Pieter thought it was Abel Kirui. I agreed it looked like him but couldn’t see him wearing an old, faded red jacket.
On Wednesday morning I ran one last time with my regular homies. At one point we were passed by 6 guys and the guy I was running beside said, “that’s Abel Kirui.” I looked over and saw an old, faded red jacket fly by us.
And to make it a true typical Kenyan run after I parted ways with my group (I only wanted 18km in the morning) a guy (Eliud Kirui) caught up to me who had finished finished 6th at the 2004 World Cross Champs in Brussels, he beat me by 45 seconds. We also crossed paths with the guy who finished 5th that day too, (Shaheen). Yes, there are a lot of fast runners here.
Tomorrow evening I fly from Eldoret to Nairobi. Then Nairobi to Amsterdam overnight. Amsterdam to Brussels the next morning. And finally a couple of trains from Brussels to Diekirch via Luxembourg.
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FLOAT ON 
safe travels dude
I really appreciate you sharing all of your experiences, through your writing and via your pictures. Always wishing you the best 🙂
Thanks for keeping us up to date on your adventures. Awalys something new and interesting!
All the best man. It was great reading your blog. Please do let us know how your race goes. Yes, to me, amateur armchair analyst, when I compare Mosop to Abel Kirui to Geofrey Mutai and Patrick Makau, Abel Kirui is the slowest among them. But he is the hardest guy mentally (though I believe he had a DNF last year?). Abel Kirui embodies Sam Wanjiru’s mindset in my view: he is bold and fearless. Mutai is the swiftest of them and he is also hard but he has trained so hard that he makes hard things look simple and he doesn’t have to draw from his mental strength. Makau is fast but more tentative and sort of disciplined and a reflective runner. he is the most experienced road runner among them in my view. Mosop is a hard guy whose element is gruelling, fast races. He thrives in them. I dont know how Kipsang will fare whn it comes to selections for the Olympics. End of rant from an ignorant Kenyan.
good analysis. It will be interesting to watch Rotterdam, Boston and London and see how the team selection plays out.
You write so hneoslty about this. Thanks for sharing!