A couch on the back of a motorcycle. The funny thing is that we saw another motorcycle with even more furniture on it later in the day.
crappiest matatu ever. Every time we hit a bump our seats would move and dust would fall from the decorative ceiling carpet.
How you like me now
Mzungu: White person
Today is my fourth day in Kenya. My first day was spent walking around Nairobi for a few hours and then hitting up the treadmill in the hotel because the streets there are busy and polluted. I was glad to fly to Eldoret and make my way to the HATC (High Altitude Training Camp) in Iten.
There are about 70 people staying here at the HATC and another 30 runners staying at Kerio View (just over 1km away), it seems like there are a lot more Mzungu’s here this year than last. There are some fast Brits staying here too, Paula Radcliffe, Mo Farah, Hanna England, Helen Clitheroe to name a few. Paul is also here with me for 2 weeks doing some filming, so far he has some good footage.
Today I met up with about 50 Kenyans and a few other Europeans for an hour and 10 minute run. We met at 6am when it was still dark but by 6:15 it was light out and we started our run. The first 2km was really easy at 5:00/km, followed by 2km around 4:00/km and then it got pretty serious after that. By 7km all the other Mzungus excpet Arne (13:26 5000m) and myself were gone, so were the Kenyan women and about 15 other guys. After 7km there were about 25 of us running about 3:30km over hills at 7800 feet.
In one section the road was flooded and we had to make our way around in single file, I was towards the back and once I got around the water the leaders were way ahead and I didn’t feel like runnig any faster to catch them. I kept running around 3:30/km and passing all the guys falling off the pace. Finally I reached a group of 5 guys (there were still a handful 400m ahead) and I ran in the last 5km with them around 3:50/km. These guys were really surprised when they saw me catch back up to them, like they saw a ghost, haha.
I had a big breakfast, now it’s time to sleep, eat some more, run some more, eat some more and then sleep some more. Run, eat, sleep, you get the picture.
Take the world
I was going to write some sort of running-year-in-review for 2011 because I was pleased with how the year went but what I’m really excited about is 2012. The next few months look really cool… a training camp in Kenya, a 10km XC race in Luxembourg, my first Around the Bay 30km, a training camp with the Speed River crew in Flagstaff and another Toronto Yonge Street 10km. Then, in May, it will be time to start the marathon build-up for London (that is if my time holds up in the top 3). I’m also really looking forward to the US Olympic trials as well as Simon, Dylan and Rob in their marathons.
I just got done reading a Chuck Klosterman book and I thought I’d come up with my own hypothetical question.
Look at these two runners over a 4 year span.
Runner A: Seasonal 10km bests: 28:40, 28:30, 28:20, 28:10. Runs about 12 races each year. Finishes between 3-5 at Nationals on the track and XC each year. Goes to World XC twice, year 1 and 3. Runs pain-free all four years.
Runner B: Season 10km bests: 28:40, 28:00, injured, injured. Runs a few races in year one, 12 races in year two, no races in last two years because of injuries. 3rd at Nats year one, wins nationals in year two. One World XC in year 1 and Commonwealth Games 10 000m in year 2. Lots of x-trianing in year 3 and 4 with sporadic weeks of running here and there.
Which career would you choose? A ‘slower’ runner with consistency or a better top-end with more frustration. For those of you who chose runner A, does your answer stay the same if Runner B went to the Olympics in year 2 instead of CWG?
If I had to pick my favourite song of 2011 it would be “Take the World” by She Wants Revenge, although that changes all the time. Favourite albums, “5 Easy Pieces” by the Sheepdogs and “It’s All True” by the Junior Boys. My favourite 2011 book was “The Sisters Brothers” by Patrick DeWitt. I’d add “Unbroken” by Laura Hildebrand although technically it came out last year. I can’t pick any movie because I haven’t even seen three of the movies I really want to see (Moneyball, Sherlock Holmes and the Inbetweeners).
Next up Toronto Midnite New Year’s 5km!
Thanks for reading and have Happy and Healthy New Year!
It makes no sense, no, it makes no sense, but I’ll take it free any time
The annual Athletics Canada award nominees were released a few days ago (winners are announced Dec 21st). When I saw this I opened the page hoping to see my name under the Fred Begley trophy (off-track award) but as I scrolled down I first saw my name under the Jack W Davies trophy (overall athlete). I had to take a double look to believe it as it never even crossed my mind that I would have been up for such an award. I’m 100% sure that I won’t win the overall award (Dylan Armstrong is ranked 1st in the world) but just to be nominated is an honour in and of itself. Christian Brennan, the teenage sprint phenom, is also nominated which is cool because that’s two athletes from Hamilton. I’m up against two race walkers for the Fred Begley Trophy. Speed River is also represented by Kyle Boorsma for the University athlete award and Dave Scott-Thomas for coach of the year. There is a typo though, it says 3-time Canadian Champion for the year even though I won 4. However, it’s not like that’s a deal breaker.
It’s December 19th and there is still no snow accumulation in Hamilton/Guelph. This has been great for running in the trails although it would be nice to see some snow for Christmas. I could deal with a week of the white stuff before 6 weeks of the red stuff…
Just the mentioning of
I took my little point and shoot camera to the track yesterday to watch the Eggnog run go down knowing that there would be some funny ass footage. I actually missed most of the good stuff because guys were pulling up about 200m into a lap and I was too far away. James got a lot of good footage following the race on a bike so maybe I’ll make a complete video or I’ll send him my clips and he can make a complete vid. Anywho, here’s some of the stuff I got. Enjoy.
I was overwhelmed, and I’m sure of that one
This year I had my best North American ranking ever, with a 3rd in the marathon (Ryan Hall and Meb Keflezighi are ahead of me). I thought maybe it was a weaker year because most marathoners didn’t race this fall in anticipation of the US Olympic Trials Jan 14th. However my 2:10:55 would rank anywhere from 2nd-4th in N.A. in any of the past four years. Needless to say I’m very happy about how my races (and training) went this year. In a similar theme to Vankayak’s recent blog, I’m overwhelmed with the all of the media attention that I and the marathon in general are getting in Canada. It’s great to have Canadian marathoners getting ready for the Olympics once again and that people are excited about us.
On the other hand I have been underwhelmed (if that’s a word, I know it’s not ’cause I looked it up) by the coverage from the Hamilton Spectator. I even Tweeted about it last week “2011 articles mentioning me: Globe and Mail 12. Guelph Mercury 18. Hamtilton Spectator 2 (one written by Guelph Mercury). @TheSpec”. In the past I would never have wanted to ruffle any feathers over at the Spec because I wouldn’t want them writing even less (if that’s possible). But it’s been so many years of omissions and so many other outlets are genuinely interested about marathoning in Canada I can’t be bothered to waste any energy caring about what the Spec wants to write about in their sports section (I really like the rest of the paper and former track and field athlete Cecelia Carter-Smith although she is pretty much retired from the Spec). I get it when there is absolutely no coverage of a race, that typically means a result is not newsworthy, and that is fair enough. But when national papers and other city papers are covering my races and my local paper is not, well then, I’ll poke fun at the Spec via Twitter, haha.
Gillis and I had an interview and photo shoot with Sportsnet Magazine yesterday in Guelph, look for the article on shelves in the coming months. Sounds like they’ll be covering a lot of Olympic athletes/sports in the build-up to London, should be interesting. The reporter stuck around to watch our workout on the XC course in Guelph and interview Dave. It was fun to get back with the main group and roll some faster intervals and get my ass kicked a bit. Which I guess isn’t anything to be ashamed of when it’s by a 3:36 1500m runner and an 8:19 steeplechaser!
FLOAT ON 