The next day I discovered a great new café up in Harlem. I was to meet George Hirsch, a man I am honored to know for over fifteen years now. It was in a café called Avrita and I was looking for the place asking people on the street and I bumped into Pierre the Pusher (massage therapist) and his uncle. Anyway I finally found the place; I only coffeed so I can’t give a food review, but I must add that the ambiance was spot on, a great place, 110th ST west.

In the evening I went to a new place with Susan; Channai – an Indian vegetarian restaurant on First Avenue. I can’t remember the names of the dishes as they were the chef’s recommendations, but I do remember chick peas and tofu were the two themes. They did not have my fave Indian beer (5000), but they had Kingfisher. But back to the food; the dished were really good and tasty, and along with the lemon rice (super) it was a really tasteful meal… more should I say flavorful.

One of Tom Sachs’ whales, being built by Aimee (in the pic).. and on Wednesday night she is running on the track, probably wishing she was with the whales… now a Shoe4Africa runner! Last night was the opening of five sculptures in NYC, and of course Aimee helped make those too.

I went to see George Hirsch today who is a man I have felt lucky to know since the 1990's, in his new apartment... wow, what drop dead views -- he is on the 16th FL of a building that overlooks Central Park from a new angle, and I have never seen a nicer view. When I was in his apartment I was thinking 'hm, perhaps it would be nice to won this... I think I have to start learning how to play the lottery.'

Everyone knows who this is!

The real Express, Janet Jepkosgei, World Champ 800m – the Eldoret Express, you don’t get a cooler nickname than that… well, it is on par with The Simba. Speaking of which I would love to see Janet run a 5k on the roads.

Awesome 10,00m runs in America – Buster Motram winning one of them, easily, and the other to Shalane Flanagan Nike 30:34.49A 2 Kim Smith Reebok 30:35.54A 3 Sally Kipyego Texas Tech 31:25.45A 4 Sabrina Mockenhaupt Koeln Marathon 31:27.05A

Sally might get a spot on the Kenyan team for this, although I believe it is 31:25:00 for Kenya, but no-one is flying to a great time as yet from Kenya. Good to see Mocke in there for fourth.

I have a great feeling about Sleepy plucking a medal in Beijing, here’s hoping!!

As they say the reservoir rose up and hit me. Anyway, I was at a meeting (ho ho) for the hospital building project with my crack team R2, Rick, Susan, and Tony (who had just done the five boros, and well done to John Hanc who stormed on the 6th boro of LI to a half marathon year’s best of 1:28!!), and anyway I walked in in sunglasses to try and hid my bruises, but it just so happened that a healer from Ireland, Joe, was there, so (with Susan’s help too) I did get patched up, enough to find my Thai food on the table and locate the beer bottle that is.

But anyway, the exciting news is the hospital squad is the best, I could not ask for a better team, and this thing is going to happen!

Meanwhile on the phone to Kenya, talking to Chris Cheboiboch who told me his marathon plans, and say the rains that are hammering Nairobi have not hammered Iten as yet.

Hilda Airlines pounding the roads in Kenya, training hard – fastest time this year for the 10k! 31:01.

IN fact that was the night I went to the Picasso apartment, but moving on from that—I started with the Paulotano Salad that has a tremendous presentation – the tomatoes are on a bed of toasted cheese, and still on their vine, I think roasted in olive oil… well there was a tad too much lettuce, and like Joyce Cheppy~Chumba I never touch the stuff. For the main course I had a shrimp stew that was served in a big cast iron roasting pot that tasted delicious and had strawberries swimming in there with god knows what else but some rela flavor popping out the pan. Slightly disappointing was the “recommended” dessert – yeah I must have been a sucker, some pineapple bland thing with coconut ice cream and a sauce. I was persuaded to drink the “local” Brahma beer that tasted nothing more than I imagine fizzy Budweiser to taste like.. but all in all great – this place has atmosphere like few other places on the Upper East Side Lex & West. The staff are outstanding, the taste is really there, and it is a knock-out joint, what can I say? Thumbs up!

If you visit the Shoe4Africa web site you’ll notice a new red tab on the nav bar. It is the hospital idea I have been talking about, and I am still a couple of months away from being ready for the launch. This boy was inside the church, trapped inside, and pinned to the back of the church by arrows. When the fire raged, and the roofs fell he crawled through the fire on his hands and knees to escape the madness, below the eyesight of the mob. This photo was taken ten weeks after it happened, he is still in hospital. After he escaped from the church he ran a few kilometers, on those burned feet, to the road where he managed to flag down a bicycle. He sat on the back of the bike as the cyclist took him to the hospital.

Working hard; Chris from the Flyers with her new mizuno’s “feel like springs under my feet” Rick whose goal is Falmouth, Ron who had his head down, Joya out on a wave, ChuckyChina who was just not in his sandbagger’s gear this night, Commander Kevin looking like he is ready to start the work needed, excellent session by Abs – outdid himself! Trackman Dave managed to get the spirit, and AmexChris got the mechanics, Tamar continues to work towards killing a session, Thingeymajig did okay, John the closer did just that, John from SRZ arrived at the close, bill was showing his Boston fatigue… but all in all a good work out on a cold cold night.

“From Dialogue to Action” Fighting words huh? At breakfast (without the muffins) we had our second meeting - R2 bringing in American marketing, Susan with professional fund raising, Kevin bringing in European marketing, Rick with the legal, Tony with a host of talents, and I was there to make sure no one drank too much coffee. The action part came in the evening, when after coaching the Flyers (and receiving a loaf of bread–thanks Lloyd!) I zipped down to Carnegie Hall for ‘An evening of Music at Carnegie Hall.’ The Schneider family built a children’s hospital in Israel, (250 beds – is this fate or what??) and were hosting a concert with the American Symphony Orchestra conducted by emmy winner Glen Roven. Arriving late, I ran in with my loaf of bread, up the stairs to the box office and listened to some delightful music, especially an amazing violinist Hagai Shaham. Cameron the model was up in the box, along with Jeanine when I got there – good job as they lock the boxes once you are in them!

Tony was a reader, and he came out and read his piece, very nice before the intermission (told ya I had a great team) so of course at “half time” the Schneiders’ came up to thank him for being a part of it so I got the opportunity to ask them if they had a handbook on how to build a hospital. Sadly they thought I was joking (not about the hospital, but the handbook). We also met the Israeli Ambassador. After the intermission (they promised us there would be desserts at the after party as Cameron discovered there was no real food) Glenn Close did a reading, about a rabbit. She spoke a sentence, then there was a long musical interlude, then another sentence, and very dramatic music—especially at the beginning when the rabbit had yet to do anything dramatic. But we had a good time watching the orchestra, and they were very well oiled. In the aftermath party Susan said all the right answers (another expert) whilst I tried to explain how collecting shoes turned into bricks, as Bailey told me about his great new 12:35-pr for the Rez, and I found out Jeanine, whose birthday it is today, is allergic (like Susan) to Kiwi (the fruit). And Cheryl, who is Tony’s Tennis business partner who has a company with split personalities called Grand Central on Broadway made the astute observation that I was definitely not needed; the first bulls-eye of the evening. However, by this time I was sampling the beer, and wondering if this was the normal what was the light whilst pretending I was a mystery food inspector sampling each type of dessert that was the A-Z of foods covered in chocolate.. which was quite the theme as when I started pulling hunks off my loaf of bread, thanks Lloyd, I discovered that it was a chocolate loaf from one of my fave shops (that is also Kyomi’s faves) Agata & Valentina on First @ 72nd.

So there you go, day two – today is what to say to the Russian General Consul.

Marko Joseph -- Shoe4Africa, Tanzania.

Speaking of which I was in a restaurant downtown last night, a big place but of the owner was moaning, “I hate Monday nights” as they often do. So we start talking and she says that she is simply waiting for her daughter to finish school before she sells up and moves. Moves to Amsterdam. She has two places here in NYC but wants a small home cooking place in Amsterdam just to go to ‘relax to’ and enjoy Europe (She is European). So, As I went home later that night, walking inside the rain I was thinking about what now seems like a million years ago, when I lived on Prins hendriksgatte in Amsterdam. When I ran away from home at the age of 15 and ended up in the center of one of the fun-nest cities in Europe. Not really sure that I could go back and live there again but if there was ever a city to pass the times then Amsterdam has to be. Mind you they say these days it is quite industrial, as for me and my memories of Fat City, The Milky Way, The Future Café, etc etc, I find that hard to believe. Tangled up in raindrops.

Shoe4Africa Motor news!! Alvaro Parente wins on GP2 debut in Barcelona.

We went to the afterparty and I am thinking I have been here before… and low and behold it was held at the old original Two Boots that Smokin’ J used to work at when he could run, before he got fat & sucked on Marlboros. Nowadays it is some vegetarian East Village place. Anyway kudos to Judd, he did a great job with the film! And gave us great seats too.

“World cross country and 10,000 metres champion Tirunesh Dibaba is also in the Ethiopian team for the championships that start on Wednesday at the National Stadium in Addis Ababa. “ This is fine for Ethiopia, and natural of course because they are the hosts, but I guess early enough on for other African countries to not have the program interrupt the Olympic calendar – it reminds me of a couple of years ago when the Kenyans were told to run the Champs, then the districts to qualify for the nationals, then the nationals, then the nationals, then the trials –and for someone running the 10,000 that would be a grueling number of laps. In fact the Tusker meet, in Nairobi, for May 11th has been postponed… “Most top runners want to save their energy for the Olympics. If they run at high altitude they will need a lot of time to recover. We want to spare them that agony,” (Isaiah) Kiplagat said. (He’s the Boss of AK).

Jamaica Kibet slices up last night’s Ugali for breakfast in Eldo.

Want to see a race with the most sub 2:09’s ever? Simple, get Kenya to adopt the Olympic trails format the US uses, then bring the trials to a low altitude venue and watch! In Vienna there were nine Kenyans & one Ethiopian in the top ten.

The Queen of American Running.

The Queen of Boston.

Second place is definitely winning at the Olympic trials! Magdalena.

Sometimes the pains of running are just to much to handle – Mary Akor giving her all at Boston.

A Surge and a Kick Decide Men's and Women's Races The story of Boston!

Back from Boston—As usual I had a ball, more photos to come, but here are a few from the days there. I can't believe how fast this year is rattling on! I went into Central Park last night and it looked like the summer that will be here tomorrow. Alem shouts out, "Ethiopia rules Boston!" And you know what, it was a touch of the changing of the guards as only one Kenyan man made the top five. Good news from Nairobi, I think it has just been confirmed Robert, Sammy, and Martin for Beijing! In other stunning news, watch out at the Barcelona GP this weekend -- The Shoe4Africa logo makes its mark in motor racing! We are branching out.

More photos tomorrow.

Watching the race itself is always fun, and what races they turned out to be; Robert really stormed the event, and the women's race was a street fight. Tune is very sweet and it was great to see how excited Fatuma Roba was when the two met after the finish line.

Rita was very disappointed, and kept her head up -- in the press conference she spoke in English and they had a guy translate, but he kept on getting all the words wrong, she said 'happy' he said 'not happy' and some of the stuff that he "translated" and I use that word as a joke... continuing with Cheruiyot, strange as Robert speaks perfect English and he was really butchering what Robert was really saying -- Federico Rosa, the manager of Robert, was standing next to me and we were amazed, 1) that he was doing it, and 2) he was saying so many things wrongly! These were supposed to be quotes, not surmations of what he thought he heard!

Breakfast with Fatuma Roba, she has a funny story on how she got to the Olympics! Imagine as 1996 started, the year she won, her PR was 2:39! Read more on the Runner's World Boston site with a number of other stories I did, on Cheboiboch, Kwambai, Saina, Chemjor, William Kiplagat(did you know Lornah gave him his first training schedule?), Askale who is a really sweet Ethiopian lady... and more... then onto the press thingey I met Lorraine Moller, Boston Billy who tells me I am too young to stop competing -- he's loving it, Amby Burfoot who is competing tomorrow, Talked to Abderhamine who has snagged the last Olympic spot on his country's team after Jarib & Goumri, talking to Federico Rosa about Kenya, Valentjin about Ethiopia, then Shawn about them both, Always a lot of news here. More talking, less coffee drinking Greg M, Mary Queen of the NYRR is here and 'da' team including Krafty Krebs who is running on Monday, Joan Benoit who was telling the story of when she won in 1984, "My mother said, "I hope this is the end of it (running career)"... It was an emotional day for Joanie who said she is very happy now to have discovered that giving back is the big part of the sport that has given her so much. I met Jim from NYAC who runs for CPTC, goodness Boston is the closest community of runners there is. An a text from Starbucks, "Straight from the High Altitude Training Centre we are having the Shoe4Africa Boston party!' Ah, and there is a good group of Iten runners here. I went strolling with Magdaline, she wanted something with Boston written on as a memory of coming here, but liked nothing and did not want to spend $20 on something junky. We walked along the last mile of the course so she could plan her tactic, it was nice in the Sun.

04/18
So now I know the scoop, I can tell you that the winners of the Boston Marathon are Robert Cheruiyot and Jelena Props of the Boston Marathon... If the rumors of invincibility are true.

Robert Cheruiyot walks by and they have him dressed up in a T shirt saying Boston is better than NYC.

In the day time, at the press things, I met Jonathan from Running Times who gave me a couple of their magazines as I had things in them -- With the picture of Martin Lel a did-you-know, the poster that is posted on the wall of his shop is of Elijah Lagat, a former winner of Boston!

Anyway I happened to see the great story by Brendan Reilly about Japanese running, what a fab article, and I bumped into him too, he is really happy at how the article turned out of course, "I'm retiring now!"

Also met Tom Ratcliffe who is a manager that certainly gives back and supports "Roots Kenya."

I met the Russian Rocket with his slue of Russians, and talked with Jelena and her husband Aleks who is a nifty runner, they were talking about why they are missing the Olympics this year, and also the stress of life on the road.

Chatted with Federico Rosa on travel and $50, and those sorts of things.
Earlier on in the day I met the NYRR crew, with Queen Mary looking like she is an athlete and not a race director. I also saw the new front cover of Liz Robbins book that is all about the New York Marathon; that will be a spiffy must read to be released in October (in time for Chicago we hear).

Talked with Rita about her form, life and the way things go, she is looking very ready and has the eye of the leopard. "45 km in 2:51 with final 5k in 17'28", another time 6 times couples of 3000m in 10'02" > 10'15", rec. 200m in 1'25" average, 1000m in 3'10" > 3'16", with rec. 400m in 2'30" / 3' between every couples (this means 6 x 3k + 6 x 1k = 24km of tests, and 6 x 200m + 5 x 400m = 3.2 km of recovery) on track."

lidiya is looking good, and she is a quiet one so you never know with her what her form is like... The women's field is pretty open this year. No idea what the weather is going to be like. Deena sounds very confident for the Sunday run, I am quite out of the loop for that one.

Talking to Rachid, who has gone from a volunteer at the marathon, to now being a manager of three runners in the race including two 2:08 runners. I asked him if it was taking up his time, "Yeah, full time now, and a lot of traveling (that is what kills you)." So I asked if he has given up the catering business, "Yes, well unless anyone calls."

Moses Tanui is a legend -- he ran a 56-sec last lap in the 10,000m world championships 1993 trying to retain his title with one shoe! For lap after lap Haile Gebrselassie had clipped the heel of Moses, till finally he pulled the entire shoe from Moses. I think that has to be a world record for a world championship last lap with one shoe off... when many said his career was over he pulled a 2:06:16 from the bag, 15-yrs after he first appeared on the scene... and how he won a medal at the East African 1500m championships is the story for me -- read about it in More Fire! I used to stay in his garden for a while and train with him, for the preps he was doing before he won the 100th Boston in 1996; drank lots of tea, heard lots of great stories.

Speaking of England... Got an invite to go to the South of France today, to stay in a house of a dead Lord. The house is supposed to be drop dead beautiuful and near a beach... I certainly feel like I need a holiday!

NEW YORK, NY (April 14) � Chinese megastar Liu Xiang and world-champion sprinters---Veronica Campbell-Brown and Lauryn Williams � whose photo finish at 100 meters provided one of the most-dramatic moments of the 2007 World Championships � will be among the headliners at the Reebok Grand Prix on May 31, organizers announced today. On the heels of a sell-out last year, 1,500 seats are being added to Icahn Stadium to meet the expected demand in this Olympic year.

What a weekend for running �meanwhile, up in a sleepy part of CT, in a house nearly 280 years old set in 20-acres of peacefulness, planting spinach and pansies, sitting in a Jacuzzi, drinking a beer, playing football, eating salmon and drinking red wine, visiting the country starbucks, going for a run in a forest, taking down the primitive form of double glazing, and watching a first cut of an unreleased movie� and I did run up a big hill. The country life, who�d have thunkit?

Martin Lel has all but wrapped up the world majors $500,000 in the first race of the year! With 75-points, and Goumri way behind with 40-points, it is all but money in the bank! the women is looking a bit more open, but Gete is a clear fave to repeat.

Meanwhile over in Kenya, starting again��Riots also broke out in Kisumu, in western Kenya, where witnesses said hundreds of angry opposition supporters blocked the road to the airport and stoned cars.� That�s why I travel on a motorbike!

Yup, in about three weeks I am back over there � like a yo-yo this year. I know the airports so well.

With Goumri and Hall just behind there is becoming a certain group that is looking like the men's marathon in Beijing will be perhaps the strongest ever line up, as there is no way Lel & Wanjiru can not be selected now... you think that notion strange? Well back in 2004 this same scenario happened to Felix Limo & Evans Rutto. Robert Cheruiyot will now have to do something special, and also Rotterdam has not been run as yet, plus Mr Consistent Sammy K, the elder, ran 2:07 last month, and Moses A ran 2:06 last week!

MARTIN LEL!!! 2:05:15 London Marathon winner. Sublime, superb, and just what everyone in Nandi wanted.

Also, just one month to go till the Martin Lel Shoe4Africa race.

---

Now Fred used to be the street sitter of the running community. The half brother of Mike Kapiai, who was a standout for the first Fila team, "If Mike stops making money, then let me try hard training..." he would joke. Mike got injured, Fred ran 2:06. Fred's house is in the better area of Eldoret, a runner scoots by the car taking the inner lane, I glance across and look eye to eye with Felix.

Now Felix is something special, a humble man, and one who will ask you not to say too much about him. One who realized his 27:04 10,000m speed was never going to be enough to mak it on the track, "If you aren't hitting 26's why bother?"

We park the car and alight, I see the dark dot of Felix disappear into the distance. One man is chatty, and that's the man they call Jamaica. Now Jamaica is the new kid on the block, but he already has some major wins on the US roads under his belt, not yet a marathon...(to be continued)

04/11
Cristiano Ronaldo plays soccer (click on the picture and see how). The skills of this guy are sublime. Being touted as the world�s best player. Of the world�s biggest game. I am actually thinking about going to the world cup in South Africa 2010, it should be immense, and Nelson Mandela is getting behind the event to take it to a higher level. have some great connections over there too.

Lornah's Mum! Does this make her the Mama Simba? Back in 2006 she won the age group award for the Shoe4Africa race!!

One of the cutest kids in Kenya.

Lest we not forget, the big, big race this weekend!! I have some faves here too that I hope perform well. We heard, via email, the scoop today -- sounds great, don't want any jinx's so I'll shut up now.

The Limb of a Simba.

She has won the world cross, world champs on the roads, the last time in a world record, and has about a third of the top twenty times over the 10k on the roads, is virtually unbeatable in her series of signature records � and her only �failing� is a 2:22 marathon� we all know she can run much faster than that. And in fact when we were running this very morning discussing the training I really think her next marathon after the Olympics will be her breakthrough of the 2:20 barrier. We run along the roads, we talk about The little Simba, who back in 1987 went to the district championships in Kenya won the 1500m, won the 5000m, ate a lunch of maize and beans before running the 10,000m and throwing up.

But what differentiates the Simba from so many others? Why has she had such a long and powerful career? �People talk shit about me, they say drugs like any athlete who runs, but I don�t care, I know it is hard work, and my hard work. I have always proved this, and consistently. It is the same when I help people, when I ask one thing of them and they don�t help back... like people who have been living in my camp for years, one day they go and then never give back. They see me and say nice things, but behind my back I hear things. I know just by being me good things will continue to happen, and when I finish my running, maybe in 2012, I will just have fun, like I am doing now.� Good luck the Simba, who runs on Saturday in Istanbul! Go Simba.

It was a trip of a beginning; I went to the church where as many as 50 women and children were burnt alive at Kiambaa village, a few kilometers outside of Eldoret town. The church, basically a mud and wooden hut, was burnt to the ground, only debris remained -- like a burned children's shoe, and a tinged headscarf. It was the first time in history, I think, that a church where women and children had sought sanctuary was set alight with blatant intent of cruel murder.

Standing in this field in the middle of the Kenyan countryside a Kikuyu man came over and started talking; one of the very few Kikuyu's who remains in the area, "They (the locals) have chased us all away. People spit at me for staying, but after burning our church I don't think they'll harm me. They have moved their cattle to graze on my lands, and all our homes were burnt to the ground, but I don't think I am in danger now."
He pointed to a woman who had walked to the area, "She was inside the church when it happened." So I go over to talk to the lady, who looks in her mid twenties and impoverished.

"The mob came screaming and yelling, with weapons. They drove us into the church, we were only women and children, one woman was in a wheelchair. When we were inside the church they drove us back with bows and arrows to the rear of the building. Then they piled mattresses up in front of the door and the windows to block us in. Someone poured petrol (gasoline) onto the mattresses and set them alight." Then smoke and confusion, and death raged. The woman managed to fight her way out of the church. She then realized that her child was inside, her three year old daughter. Grabbing a blanket to wrap around her head she ran back in. The church was very small and she found her daughter, nobody stopped her from running in. However as she tried to get out then she had problems, but through desperation managed to wrestle her way out, her dress in tatters from people clinging on to the cloth.

Once outside the blazing structure the mob grabbed her child from her, and threw the infant back in the blaze, to her death.

The woman was trying to make sense of this occasion, and she was asking God for a purpose. Looking at the lady you could easily surmise she was not a political activist, and probably had not even voted in the Kenyan elections -- blamed as the catalyst for this outbreak. And what about her three year old daughter.

As we stood another lady kept her distance, but stood watching us. "Her husband is currently under arrest for being one of the mob. She hates us." The Kikuyu man said. The daughterless child told me know she lives in a tent on a camping site, lucky to get one meal a day from the refugee center. Owning nothing but the raggedy clothes she stood in.

That afternoon, at Moses Tanui's cafe, Pieter & Lornah suggested we build the Shoe4Africa children's hospital in Eldoret.

So, the following day I went to see the institution (Moi Referral Hospital) that is looking to build a Children's hospital in its expansive grounds. There is an Ampath AIDS building, and several of the large facilities are American funded by Pepfar or Melinda & Bill Gates. They have the blueprints and a $15 million dollar budget for this building. I saw each bed where currently two mothers and two children are stuck in the women's ward as a children's hospital is lacking. I saw one bed with five bodies, "There was an abandoned child dropped here when Koffi Annan was in town, so we call him Kofi, we'll look after him," said a woman lying on her slither of a bed.

By coincidence, when the Kiambaa church burnt, on New Year's Day, the front page of the newspaper had featured a grandmother with arms aloft screaming. I had saved this newspaper. Standing in the hospital was this woman, Elizabeth Wangui. her grandchild had been inside the church too. On his hands and knees he had crawled through the flames below the eyes of the madmen to safety. Outside the church he had ran to the road with toasted ankles. A bicyclist had stopped and given him a ride to the hospital where he still remained after ten weeks. The grandmother told how she had been back to visit their home, "We have nothing, they burned our home and even pulled the corrugated iron off the roof -- the only thing that was not burnt. After this hospital I don't know where we will go, probably to the refugee camp." She again asked, "What is the meaning of this madness?"

The meaning was maybe the spark that made me think, think that the $15-million hospital was not impossible, make me think that it was also the biggest impact I could make to help the healing process� as I began to think, I thought of the network of people I know who can help me make this happen� it then became like a no-brainer.

On that note, sitting around drinking coffee all morning, drinking coffee and toasting Eli�s healthy loaf, when Jeanine walks in to the Kitchen (Tony�s wife who built Stila amongst other things), �I have just earned $3000 this morning. What have you guys done?� Urm, drank all your coffee and eaten all your bread � that�s all we ever do.

Buy it soon -- More Fire, the book about Kenyan running. And remember if you buy this book then every penny is going toward the latest and greatest new Shoe4Africa project to be announced this summer... but by far the most ambitious one we have ever done, and costing $15-million I need to sell an awful lot of books! So, please buy generously -- y'know as SaladGirl always used to say, "I like to read things in the dentist chair."

And at a 10k road race in Holland showing he is in top shape for the track this summer: Moses Masai (Kenya) 27:22 2 Micah Kogo (Kenya) 27:29 3 Joseph Ebuya (Kenya) 27:33 � Moses can be seen a few times in the train hard win easy youtube � on the track, then in the race, then the last runner seen jogging on the track where you can just see what a fantastic form this runner has � a big guy, but one who floats along the ground, not runs onto the ground.

I had the greatest luck after the workout, after a bit of bad luck that is; I was whizzing round a corner on my bike, and my keys that I balanced on the brake lever stem fell off, and disappeared down a drain! Unfortunately the drain was in the middle of one of the three lanes on first avenue. Well, when the lights were red I peered down the drain and thought I could see my keys.. then I wiggled the grate and realized it was liftable! At that moment Rich and Vickster came down the road, so we quickly lifted the grate whilst a passerby stood in front of us to alert traffic. When the grate was open I swooped down the drain and when I was down there Rich was shouting, "Toby, Toby, there's a bus coming!" I was inches away, so I swooped and grabbed the keys, zipped out, but luckliy the bus switched lanes! All on a NYC evening -- and thanks to Vickster & Rich of course!

The biggest problem of the night was trying to see if there was any difference in Cotton Lloyd's movements when he alternated between buttkicks and high knees.

Anyway the kid nearly jumped out of his bed at the hospital when we pushed the bike into his ward, he was speechless � poor thing has zero possessions, imagine, even the corrugated iron roof of his grandma�s hut where he lived before the clashes was stolen!

Super late it was an in and out zapper as Joyce had been calling asking (quite rightly) Where are you?? We picked Joyce at the bus shelter on the Uganda road about ten minutes out of town and drove to her new farm. It is in a village where Moses Tanui comes from, and where Salina Kosgei has a most beautiful house. Joyce moved here to avoid the troubles during the clashes as before she was in Nakuru and wanted to be out of town. To find this place you have to be a detective, or be traveling with Joyce. She likes the place and will stay here.

Earlier I had been talking to Claudio Berardelli about displacement in the clashes. I had invited him to come to Iten when he was in Eldoret, then Iten exploded and in fact when I had been phoning him people had been shooting, �Perhaps better not come here.� So Claudio had pulled a fridge across his front door (that was a wedding present to a runner who is yet to install electric in his home) and waited till a police escort had driven him to the airport. Claudio is the resident coach for Dr. Rosa�s team, now that the Doctor himself is very rarely in Kenya.

Joyce�s farm is amazing; she has done a really good job, and gave me a tour including a well that she found � they had dug all over for water with no success when Joyce had picked a spot, �Try here� and she was right on the money� water. She has about 24-acres at least here, and this is just a slither of the property she owns in Kenya, a most successful lady. Anyway, as far as running is concerned she is making a comeback and will be looking for a half in May � I suggested Goteborg in Sweden, and she pointed to two trophies on the mantelpiece, those are from winning Goteborg�. Funnily enough I remember the second time. She was together in the hotel room with crazy Grace Chebet, and I wonder what has happened to her, we used to call her the Window runner for stories concerning certain nocturnal habits.

It got late at Joyce�s and she suggested staying over, but I wanted to get back to Iten as it was Mark�s birthday party and it was Chapos and cake for supper. I hate traveling by road in Kenya in the dark � there are no street lights, huge potholes, then a car dazzles you (as they invariably only have a hi beam) and before you know it there, in the pitch black, is a tractor with no lights on the road traveling at 5-miles an hour in front of you! Stopping at the butchers was Nicolas Kemboi � the guy that nearly beat Geb the other year in the 10,000m running a 26;30�

March 17th, ran with The Simba today, it was really nice and again we chatted about a mountain of things, and then some. A long breakfast, with Jeroen coming round to drop off his pictures from the race which were very impressive, then to Eldoret with Simba dn the Starbucks in their new Prado. In Eldoret I went to lunch with the first Kenyan lady to run the distance in the Olympics, Tecla Chemabwai�of course she was coming to the race on Saturday, but then had to go to the hospital, so I took her lunch at the Sirikwa hotel where she told me some wonderful stories about the old days, and some plans for the new ones. I went to visit Mary in the shoe shop, and tried to sell boot polish to a few customers, to no avail � people who laugh and go out of the store, so then I tried buying shoes for customers instead, one got very confused, picked up the shoes and ran out of the store very fast.

Then, as it was Hilda�s birthday, I went shopping or a present, I could not think of really what I wanted to get her, so in the end I decided on some Kalenjin music, so when she was far from home (over in Holland) she could listen to this to remember the goodness of the Rift Valley, also something to do with a bible and a lady. Then, I got round to meeting Simba n Starbucks at Moses Tanui�s caf� where we ordered about fifty cups of coffee and had the poor waitress running up and down, down and up like a 400m runner. Silas the butcher arrived, more running! Then it was back to Iten. I was just walking out the house to drive to Hilda�s place to sing her happy birthday when I spied her coming from the gym, so I took her back on the motorbike, with the guitar, drove through Iten, to the gates of her house, where the next door neighbor had just killed a porcupine with a panga!

Coconut the photographer�s picture cutting off the top of my head.

So, as we stood around the dead porcupine, on the ledge of the Rift Valley, with the Sun going down, I sung happy birthday whilst strumming on the guitar. On verse number three the neighbors finally caught onto the catchy �Happy Birthday� part of the song. Timothy then started asking if I could get him this and that, so I kicked the bike to a start revving the engine at 8000rpm and quickly set off over the hills and far away. Also because I had a special guest arriving for the evening who I had invited, the SRC (National Security Commissioner) who has in a short time become a good friend of mine.

Thanks so much: Nicole who was up there when we arrived at 9AM, I went up with Tony, Esmee & Bailey, his two kids, and Lyric & Liam, two friends. Then Amy, Jamie, Abs, Joya, Erin & Chris, Cameron (on Vogue) & Anamayaa his girlfriend (a super nice Spanish model), and Sizulu came along, their friend Mark, and Dena and her German friend, and also R2 came up, and PonyTail Ted and his son John. A huge thanks to West Farms storage, who have been absolutely great & cargo ventures too for their superb support.

5000 pairs packed for Kibera! 5000 more to go!

Later that night, I was watching a film at Tony�s house, and as he is a member of the Academy he gets every single film sent to him, it was like being in Blockbuster,and the film was a reflective one, and I could not help but think about the random acts of kindness.. people like Amy, Dena, her friend, Nicole� people I have never met before but they made their way up to the Bronx, in the middle of nowhere to help out.

I also had a good talk with Jack & Grete Waitz � we plan to be doing some good things later this year, stay tuned as they say. Then I went to work � work giving out water to the runners at an aid station manned by the Flyers (namely Pat the Piper & Deb), we had a fun time giving out water to the runners.

Kudos to Steph racealot Hodge who won the race!

You want the stark reality of Kenya running? Do you think Moses with 2:06 stands a chance to run in the Olympics? I know it was Hosea�s goal.

It is a distance of twenty miles, starting at 1990 meters altitude, and finishing at 2400m. The road is bumpy, even if you are to drive, bumpier if you follow the up and down path that runs, for the most part, by the road (tarmaced in most places). The first ten K blew by, as did the second�

Needless to say I was half staggering when I came to Iten. I remember ending at Brother Colm�s garden. I had missed lunch, so I wandered over to the cook�s room at the school and got a big plate of maize and beans; it was the most satisfying meal one could imagine. Strange though I was not super thirsty. Unfortunately Douglas still wants to do the run� I put that down to his Japanese training roots, where he grew up thinking 50km before breakfast was normal, �And no, I did not drink water�� And that as breakfast.

Wow, the day after the race was like a tidal wave had passed by. It was a big breakfast, then I drove into town to buy some newspapers � we were on the back page and then a big section in the sports pages. I had wanted the front page but due to the violence that had outbroke in Mt Elgon that was out of the question. Kenya was fighting again. I got a text from abroad wanting to know if things were okay. I replied that Kenya was peaceful, that the fighting was only in the Western region. Well, we were in the Western region, but Mount Elgon is about three hours drive to the West from Iten. It seems the Government is trying to bomb the areas where they thought the troublemakers were from � however from the footage they were doing a bad job as women and children were running from burning buildings. The newspaper cover had a soldier with a gun and the words, �A crisis, a country at war.� And here was me hoping for A country at peace.

On the way back from town I popped in to see Rita (I was going to see her parents this weekend, but some things came up). After that, morning coffee that rolled into a meeting with Katwa, and Starbucks, for the formation of a company here we are registering. Then it was to the airport to drop off Sylvia and Katwa. In the airport we met William Rutto, who was flying to Nairobi, so I told him to save the date of December 06th for the Kibera project. Then, back in Iten, I talked to the Simba for quite a while about certain things, including how money affects people and their lives�you get some vivid examples in this town.

In the late afternoon hours I went in to Iten, and around the Eldoret road to look at the houses that had been burned during the clashes. It was strange to remember that only a few weeks ago how at night the sky was lit up with fires and how the air was tinged with smoke. Then I went to see Rebby who is having breathing problems when she runs. Sally Chepyego, who ran on the national xc team in 2006 came by, she now has a baby. In the evening it was Chapati�s with Douglas, Simba, and Starbucks. Francis came round with some footage from the race.

The NEW BOOK, coming out this Summer. The book on Kenyan running � 100% of all the money from the book is going to Shoe4Africa, 100%. It was the intention for me to write this book a while ago to make money so I could afford to run Shoe4Africa, but what the heck, I decided last year to make this a fund raiser! That way I don�t have to run the Chicago Marathon! So, in advance, please buy ten copies each! you know what, in ten years they'll be saying "More Fire, that's a well known Kenyan phrase." Like is oft said now for Train Hard, Win Easy. Y'know, prior to the book coming out in 1997 Train Hard Win Easy diod not exist... so, give it More Fire! Runnign hard? More Fire. Intervals? More Fire. So you think you are racing, then... More Fire!

To describe the day, the schools singing and dancing, hugging each other, laughing, shouting Amani Kenya (Peace in Kenya). To see the old international athletes come and hug each other, some of which had not seen each other since the 1960�s, to see the current athletes coming in� wow. We gathered all the international athletes in a group with Douglas Wakiihuri and Luke Kibet at the front, two world champions in the marathon, the Kikuyu tribe and the Kalenjin tribe holding the Kenyan flag, all the others standing behind with a twig of the Cyprus tree � the sign of peace.. then walking through the town with all the school children singing walking following. I mean only a few weeks before this, this concept would have been labeled ludicrous absurd. The kids, on their own initiative, started chanting �Shoe 4 Africa, Run for peace, shoe 4 Africa, run for peace��

You must remember that the tension, the clashes had deeply affected all � one girl who was walking with me had hidden in the bush for two days whilst fighting and burning had gone on in her home. One of the world champion athletes at the front had a father killed. It was truly a day to celebrate peace. Coming onto the field we lined the school children up. Moses Kiptanui gave them instructions. Chris Cheboiboch and Timothy Cherigat ran fifty meters ahead to act as a �lead vehicle� and 600 young runners stormed off. Paskalin Kosgei took first place, and as she was running �unattached� then the second place finisher, Chelimo Ng�etich, 12, of Kiptingo Primary school, won the jackpot prize of a new Windows Vista computer, with Gladys Cherop, 12, in third from Kamariny Primary winning $200 worth of school text books. All three girls won sports watches, and a afuther prize was given to the fourth placed girl, $140 worth of school books. All 600 finishers, teachers, and more, received running shoes, an exercise book, and a pencil.

Following he race was the presentation where the elite athletes handed out the prizes to the young stars. The elite athletes had also been standing on the side of the finishers funnel giving out the shoes� can you imagine a young 8-year old remembering that World record holders Lornah, Moses Tanui, Moses Kiptanui, or Yobes Ondieki for example, gave them their first pair of shoes??? Holding the finishers tape had been Douglas and Luke.

Then after the athletes introductions, I asked Douglas to sing Jambo Kenya, and after he sang a song in the Kalenjin tongue that he had written which the kids though really funny and brought smiles to their faces. Afterwards we gave sodas and half a loaf of bread to all participants. It was a superb day. I am not really sure how to best sum it up, maybe the ears in peoples eyes, maybe the trembling lips when people came up to say something, or perhaps hours later; I drove into town to give a T Shirt to Irene Kwambai who had not gotten one in the afternoon. She lives down the St Patrick�s road and as I parked the bike a man came up to me. He is always drunk, shoeless, and never has any money. I was sure, having seen the giving out of over 700-pairs of shoes and over 1,200 T shirts he was going to ask for something, especially as I had a new T shirt in my hand. Instead he came up and said, �Thank you for putting on this race, it is what we need.� And walked away, perfect.

Good job I am still not exercising very much (I worked out I have average a minute a day for the past 21-days) but I did pop by the gym mainly to drop some stuff off for Rose, chatted to Francis and Jeroen.

Arriving exhausted back at the camp my work was not done, I had more stuff to do, but instead I went over to Rita’s for tea. Imagine, some people do this kind of stuff for a living.

My second run, a little longer, not far – still ok, very beautiful running, then after breakfast (when my motorcycle disappeared for repairs) I went to see Katui for tea, Christopher Kandie dropped by too and I heard that Shaheen is determined to run in the world cross this year (did not happen). Then, when my motorcycle returned I went to see Rebbie Koech at St Patrick’s school, she is a top road racer with much success in Europe. Following which I went to see if Sleepy Sylvia was home yet – reaching her house I found that she was still on the road back from the World Championships in Valencia, but Mary Jepchumba (who is living with Sleepy) invited me in for a soda. Thereafter I realized the m/cycle had not been mended properly (a flat), so I drove carefully (getting practiced) to Chris Cheboiboch’s house as I had had a plan for lunch with him. After lunch with Chris we drove out to his school where I talked to the teachers and the pupils. Then also went to the District Commissioner for the Keiyo region to introduce myself and make sure I had permission of the race, I also sent someone to talk to the Education Officer—all going to plan. When I returned Pieter and Lornah had returned in their brand new Toyota Prado top of the line zoom-mobile. So we had tea and chatted about stories left right and center. I talked with Paul Koech about his team that he will bring from his school, poor Paul lost a father in the clashes. He is a Captain in the Kenyan Army, the highest ranked runner here – he is just back from Darfur. He won the world half in 60:00 back in 1999, and a couple of years ago ran 2:07 for second at Chicago.

One of the nicest things with doing this peace race was uniting old friends - Maiyoro and Yobes Ondieki.

Then my first official guest for the race came – Imagine, the FIRST ever Kenyan to run internationally, the only Kenyan to represent Kenya at the 1956 Olympic Games Nyandika Maiyoro! The newest Shoe4Africa Ambassador! He came also with Kefah Kerero, who holds the Urban Athletics marathon record, a time of 2:13. Maiyoro arrived in Iten wearing a blazer from the 1954 British Empire Games, a cap from the same era and carrying a small leather suitcase he’d bought on his first International trip to London n 1952. A wonderful character who is becoming a Shoe4Africa Ambassador. He told me the best prize he ever won as an athlete was a goat, “And they were very cheap back in those days.” The usual prize was a blanket. Back in 1960, barefoot, he ran 13:51 for the 5000m. he told me some great stories from his pioneer days, and I taped an interview with him – he also was the coach for Naftali Temu. I phoned another S4A Ambassador, Ezekiel Kemboi Olympic Champion, and he will be there! I gave out a few T shirts, two to my friend who will put one up on her wall at home as they are so nice looking. Tomorrow I have to go and pick up my motorcycle at the garage, I will do it after the morning run – imagine I am going with the Simba! Gosh, I hope the pace is low.

The run with the Simba as fine, no problems, and the whole day was taken by setting up the race, talking again to all the people one has to when putting on an event. Visiting a few people, and setting up the field. Sylvia arrived from Nairobi and I spent most of the day with her, buzzing around on the bike, really helped. When we were coming back for the last time someone flagged me down and it was Matthew Birir, so I went back to a café with him and Sylvia and talked business.

Then I took a trip to go and see Rita, and sat with her for a while talking about stories about life.

I got a call to say Wilson Kiprugut, Kenya’s first ever Olympic medalist had arrived, so I went to meet him. Great news, when I was in Kericho I was campaigning to get the town’s stadium named after Wilson. I went to see the district chiefs, the mayor, etc etc… and now I hear it is going to be done. Rose Tata also arrived.

After breakfast talking to Rita before I set off for Iten center I met Paul Kimugul who is one the top half marathon runners, in fact tomorrow he goes to Rome, a city where he has run one of 60-minutes halves. He asks me for my sunglasses, “Can it be Sunglasses4Africa?” I also meet Mrisha from Tanzania – we talk about all the joint friends we have other there, she is also running a lot of races in Sweden, so we talk about that place... ah, the memories, I can’t believe I was running in Scandinavian races back in 1990! My best years, running wise.
In the social spirit I pop by to say hi to the Kimbia guys. Here I met another Tanzanian friend of mine I have not seen in a long while, John Yuda. John tells me his wife is training well for the World Cross and phones up Max back in Arusha (who organizes the S4A races there), so I get to talk with Max, who has just had a visit from the minister of education at his school. Ben Maiyo is there and I ask him is it true that he is top shape now, and ready for Rotterdam, he denies and laughs, but he looks in shape. Baba is saying he wants to promote running in Meru, “They can all run there but they don’t know running.”
Next up I drive off in the direction of the camp, but decide to stop by Hilda’s. On the way I am zooming along the road on my motorcycle when there is a big clank and the bike stops; the chain has jammed itself in the drivewheel, luckily I pull the clutch in and never worry I don’t fall off. I sit with Hilda in the living room, “Imagine, the house is falling to pieces, look at the window, it has gone!” We laugh about the fact that now she is Dutch but still uses her Kenyan ID card to gain entrance to places where being a Kenyan pays. She will run a 10,000 on April 12th so we talk track – it is the qualifier for the Olympic Dutch team and the Simba will be her pace maker. Hilda likes the freedom of a Dutch passport when it comes to customs, I can tell you from traveling for many years with Kenyans that for a Westerner it takes 1/20th of the time to get into any country. Imagine even for this recent $300,000 half Marathon Salina Kosgei was not allowed a visa… but Hilda, now Dutch, Hakuna Matata.

Rodgers Rop, training for Rotterdam.

After lunch to Eldoret to work!! First buying exercise books, 120 pages, and 560 of them, then getting 560 pencils, then getting 200 worth of scratch cards to give out. Coca-cola for 720 bottles, and lots more. When we were loading the T shirts onto the roof of the truck I pulled out one T shirt to have a look at the quality, holding it up the very first lady who walked along the road came up and asked if she could buy one. Then, as the last box was hauled up I heard someone shout ‘Shoe4Africa’ behind me, and it was Moses Tanui! Back from Nairobi. After talking to Moses for a wile I went to have a coffee with the other Moses, Kiptanui, and chat about certain things; like the new Kenyan Athletics Welfare Association, and its goals and initiatives.

When back in Iten I went to see Rita Jeptoo for tea. Funny story, riding the motorbike earlier that day and the police were stopping the traffic outside the police station. I however continued along the road, but pulled over onto the wrong side of the road. The commander in chief put up his arm to stop me and I shouted out, “Can’t stop, no brakes!” So he looked at me and yelled out, “Okay, keep on going.”

In the evening, after I met and chatted with Renato Canova, then later back at the camp we pinned the numbers on the T shirts, and ironed on transfers – Thank you – Rose, Jebiwott, Dorcas and Pineapple who stayed up till 01:50-AM!!

And reported in Kenya-- Euro Senior athletics officials will hold a crisis meeting after this weekend’s world cross country championships to address the decline of cross country running throughout Europe. Amazing Germany and other countries don’t field a team! Yet they do for the European XC Champs! Sad that countries are now dodging the greatest running spectacular for a lesser one.

Christopher Cheboiboch

After breakfast I went to see Brother Colm and have a chatted with him about the state of the world. Then I went to Gianni Camp and met Jeroen, before driving down to the track where Peter Tanui was coaching the Kimbia group – Baba, Cheboiboch, James Kosgei, and Timothy Cherigat – all waiting for Boston. They were running 6 x 1-mile with a slow 600m recovery. Cheboiboch was by far the strongest (4:45) with Baba not looking so smooth (5:12). Never worry, being a Kenyan means in two weeks he might be flying. Tomorrow is a 35km long run, “But easy easy.”

Then I popped up to the Gym where I met John Litei who is training for the African Champs selection in the 800m. Chris Cheboiboch came round and we drove to Eldoret – otherwise known as the King town of athletics. I wanted to go to the Klique to see a friend I am forever missing by one second – Rodgers Rop. It was good to see him again, and just in time as he is leaving tomorrow for Korea. Watch out for him in Rotterdam, and of course another athlete who is training here and in great shape – Ben Maiyo. Then, as Klique is central Eldoret, I decided to drop by Moses Tanui’s house to see if I can get him to come to the race as I am on a roll with recruiting right now. I found only Thomas Kiptanui, better perhaps known as father to Moses. Moses is in Nairobi, so we got him on the phone, and asked him to come – he is coming. Next stop Noah Ngeny, cover of Train Hard Win Easy, Olympic legend, he is also in Nairobi and till Monday, so I told him he has to come back early, and he will try. We got back in the car (phoning Felix Limo who is training for London and will also try) and then drove past Eldoret’s town hall where Joyce Chepchumba happened to be sitting in a public park with her new son, Ryan. So I went and sat with Joyce who happens to be one of the world’s greatest ever marathon runners, nobody has more Sub 2:27’s than her, plus major wins at Chicago, London, Tokyo, and New York. Of course now Joyce has to come, she also invited me to go and stay with her at her home – I used to travel around a bit with Joyce in the mid-nineties, and I can tell you no-one dances like Joyce at a post race party. We tried calling Tegla, but Tegla is in Dubai right now. As we lay in the Sun Mafia, Cheromei came by – Cheromei used to be a top runner in the nineties and he had just returned from coaching his younger sister, Lydia, the world’s youngest ever junior XC champion over a 20km run.

As I mentioned earlier in the blog the older runners are coming again – We have Sally Barsosio now getting back in shape, Joyce is training now and will soon be back, and now Lydia… and Lornah and Catherine still carrying the flag.

Then we drove to Chris’s school to check on a few things before he dropped me back in Iten, at a friend’s house, and off I went. This is Kenya normal.

Back with Joyce Chepchumba, a lady who I have more stories with than I can related… needless to say when I was cropping this picture I searched Joyce in the computer and came up so many pictures from different stages of the last umpteen years I fely ancient(!)

What else did I do in Washington? Not sure, but Kenya?
Kenya Continued—It really does feel like home being back in Kenya. I went across for breakfast after spending last night talking to Rose & Pineapple until late. Like I have never been away, even the dog ate one of my running shoes in the night. So I spent the morning unpacking, and sorting things out. Feels funny to be here and not running. I have to go and pick up my motorcycle from the Petrol Station and I tried to check my emails, but I have way too many to wade through – when it takes about 7-8 minutes per email you lose the incentive! Kenya is still on the 28.8 modems with Atari like computers up in the Rift Valley.

After lunch I went to see my good friend Katui, a man who ahs remained the same; before being an international athlete and afterwards, or should I say during as he has just returned from the military games where he finished second behind Albert (who runs for Qatar and has a 26-min 10k, pretty damn snappy). Also I met Kenneth Kandie who pace makes for Shaheen who still continues to be injured, going on two years now. Katui also has done pace making and in fact when Paul Koech ran 7:56 Katui took him though 2k in 5:17, imagine—many runners would be happy to have run 2k on the flat nevermind over hurdles. I talked to Moses Kiptanui about Saturday, and got an email from the other Paul Koech, the one who was the world champion in the ½-marathon, and for a long time had the #2 time in the 10,000m 26:36 who is coming to the peace race and bringing some children from his school.

I met someone I have not seen for a long time, Christopher Kandie (no relation to Kenneth). In fact the last time I was with Christopher he had this young runner staying in his house who was an ‘up and coming athlete’ and sure enough today he has made it, but back to Christopher, he pace maked Paula Radcliffe to her marvelous 2:15. He is training for a Spring marathon, probably Bonn in Germany.

We then went to town and drank tea at the Hotel and talked with Pius, the race director of the Abu Dhabi $300,000 first prize half marathon. I drank about fifteen cups of tea today, and was eating an egg when I looked out of the window to discover that it was getting dark – very important because I had to go and pick up my motorcycle and it has no lights, and as Iten ha no street lamps driving in the dark could be a disaster, nevermind the fact it does not have brakes.

03/30
Rest in peace: Louise "Pinkie" Clark -- just heard about it, my thoughts go out to her family. Died too young poor thing, very sad news.

Funnily enough I was in starbucks that morning in Penn Station eating a cinnamon scone & drinking a naomi when I read the sign, "Our Promise, your drink should be perfect each time. if not, let us know and we'll make it again." I read this when I was eating the scone... hm, enough (not) said.

The group run, and guess who jumped on the motorcycle! Sleepy Sylvia, Hilda Airlines, and Irene Kwambai in there!

The next day, after fighting with one hundred and one mosquitoes in the hot night, and let�s hope non had malaria as I never eat malaria medicine, Douglas and I went to the track to watch a track meet. The KCC first track meet of the year at Nyayo Stadium. Arriving there we met Boniface Merande � a name from the past who was one of the top Kenyan XC runners in the 1980�s, and ran at the Olympics in 1988 in the marathon (see photo below), �I�m doing nothing, living in Nairobi and getting fat!� My twin!

Then I bumped into Paul Tergat�s first Nairobi coach, the famed Willy Komen, who was there officiating. Komen used to be the coach at Ngong when I lived there. Also who came running over, in a cowboy hat no less, than Rose Tata, who still holds the Kenyan 400H record, & reminded us of it. We sat trackside with Sylvia on the steeplechase barrier and watched the track meet. For the men�s 800 Asbel Kiprop, the world junior XC Champ won with an amazing come from behind kick. It was a fun morning!

Later that day I spoke to Martin Lel on the phone, he�d been training well and was going to fly to Holland in a couple of days, so we arranged to hook up in Eldoret, and also Ben Limo, Martin Keino, and a few others. Then it was to the airport. Douglas dropped me right at the Jetlink stage so I could fly up to Eldoret �thanks to Jetlink they really, really cut the price for my excess baggage, as you are only allowed 5kgs per person on these small planes. Never worry that I had over 50-kgs! And, great timing, Chris Cheboiboch called and said he�d drive to the Eldoret airport to bring me home to Iten! Sweet landing. Ah, life was working out good.
With Chris we drove back to his house for dinner, he is looking in tremendous shape for Boston � very thin. He�d just down a 37km run in 2:05, with the next runner from his group being 6-min back. I spoke to Kimutai on the phone, and also to Katui who is training hard for the World Cross later this month. We discussed the lawsuit that the athletes have now brought against the ICG for stating that they were funding the riots � stupid accusations.

03/27

Cristiano Ronaldo of Manchester United.

Talking of which -- Go Hilda Jepchumba Airlines. Now running for Holland, making her international debut, at the World Cross!

The reigning champion, The Simba, has retired from cross country. That has to be the most classy entrance to cross country, and exit, in the history of the sport... In 2006 The Simba went to Japan, when there she was asked by Benita Johnson if she was there just to spectate(!)

The Simba ran, and finished second behind Tirunesh Dibaba, "I made a mistake, I did not push hard enough in the early stages." Nevertheless she won the silver medal.
It was the first time the majority of the world had ever seen the Simba on the cross country circuit. In fact, it was only practice; the reason the Simba entered in Japan is she wanted to get some "experience" over cross country, "I wanted to win the world cross country, in the home of cross country running, in Kenya. I was in Japan only for looking"

After Kenya had absolutely dominated cross country running like no other country could ever hope to emulate over the past couple of decades, the idea of a championships finally in Kenya was too much for athletes born in that country to handle; a legend would be made who placed first in Mombasa...

On a day in March 2007 The Simba made the world's best look pedestrian as she did what only Grete Waitz had managed in the event's history --- destroy an international field. The last time international star Burka of Ethiopia met the Simba she wagged her finger, "You, you killed us!" She laughed. And, indeed on a certain day in March 2007, it was true. Moments after crossing the line The Simba announced that she would never again compete at the world cross country championships proving her status as not only simply the best, but simply unique.

Day one, the 7th, it was to Kibera, but first I had to wait for Sylvia, who is my Kibera on the ground project manager. Then we set off for Kibera. However I also had to meet my friend Geoffrey who lives in Kibera but was in Nairobi� finally everything came together and we walked through the largest slum in Africa. Very sad to see were the places where a home had been and was now burned down. The mood, although buoyant again, was not as buzzing as it had been in December. Nevertheless it has done a great job of putting itself back together. I went to see where the church had been that was torched � nothing remained. Next door had been a nursery � nothing remained, only a square slab of concrete to where the building had been erected.

Then it was to Kibera Primary School, which is the proposed site of the Kibera Project. The school was full this time, not empty as it had been in December and thousands of little kids milled around screaming and yelling as we went in to the admin office. After looking through the documents, and learning the step by steps the headmistress returned so I went to introduce myself to her, helpful as that the school knew about Shoe4Africa.

Next up it was to town, and we were going to take the bus, but as we were running late I suggested instead we took a taxi. Of course the price was increased by 33% as I was there� but what can you do.

The taxi barely managed to start the engine, and we were lucky all doors closed. It was the least of the three decrepit taxi�s we�d take that day, but it looked as if it had been the bouncers car in the roller-derby for the pat thirty years � my head barely fit in the vehicle. When we came to town the driver got nervous as he did not have any papers, insurance, or permits to be driving the thing, but as it was a miracle we�d actually go there, and barely missed being side swiped by a army truck nobody complained when I suggested that we outpaced the street traffic and walked the last couple of blocks.

The meeting was at the Stanley, a famous hotel in Nairobi, steeped in history, and generally speaking the central meeting place for all colonials. The fist person to meet was Katwa, the lawyer and friend. He brought over the papers for Shoe4Africa and was laughing about a sign he�d seen when running the Michigan Marathon, �The Kenyans are only round the corner.� He said, �People shouted at me, �You�re not a Kenyan� and he laughed about he fact everyone sems to think all Kenyans can run like the wind.

Next up Elias came by, Elias another friend works at the Kenyan newspaper, the Daily Nation � we discussed the peace race, and I phoned the Athletics Kenya to invite them to the event. Isaiah Kiplagat, the CEO, was in Valencia watching the world indoors, but he told me that he�d be back on Monday, to call him on Tuesday, and he�d gladly come.

I also called Robert Cheruiyot, who was in Nairobi, he was going to be in Portugal though, and would miss the event.

Taking up my usual habits the lunch took five hours, before we moved on to the next place, Fiesta, to meet Kiprono and his friends � Kiprono is doing a health project for he peace race. We are trying to get free tampons from Nakumatt, and for the stingy amount we are getting I wish I had just bought them instead, we also looked at the price of stationary and books for the schools as prizes � I brought a new laptop too to give one school.

M A R T I N____L E L

It is always a hypothetical question; who is the best. Is it the London Marathon winner, the Boston winner, the Chicago winner, or the New York winner. What would happen if, a month before the Spring Majors you would get the Winners of all these races from 2007, and why not throw in the runner-up from Boston, and a few other talented guys too, and have a race. No appearance money, no prize money, no press� in fact just a dirt road setting early, early in the morning when the Sun is barely alive, but lungs would be burning. The race would be 18km, run at altitude, and the Lords of the Marathon were all their on the starting line� This, this is Kenya.

World Champions Douglas Wakiihuri of the Kikuyu tribe, and Luke Kibet of the Kalenjins, lead a troop of athletes on a peace march through the streets of iten.

Thank You to my guests:
Olympic Champions
Amos Biwott, Olympic Champion 1968 Steeplechase
Matthew Birir, Olympic Champion 1992 Steeplechase
Ezekiel Kemboi, Olympic Champion 2004 Steeplechase, three time world championship silver
Wilson Kiprugut, Olympic Silver1968 & bronze 1964 800m
Benjamin Kogo, Olympic Silver 1968 Steeplechase
Douglas Wakiihuri, Olympic Silver 1988 Marathon and world champion 1987
Moses Kiptanui, Olympic Silver 1996 Steeplechase and world champion 91, 93, & 95 (world records 3000m ST, 3000, 5000m)
Mike Boit, Olympic Bronze 1972 800m, Commonwealth Games 1500m Champion 1982
Joyce Chepchumba, Olympic Bronze 2000 Marathon, winner of NYC, Chicago & London marathons.
Moses Tanui, World Champion 1991 10,000m, & '95 half marathon. (World record half marathon).
Daniel Komen, World Champion 1997 5000m, world record 2-miles & 3000m
Christopher Koskei, World Champion 1999 Steeplechase, World silver 1995
Paul Koech, World Champion 1999 Half Marathon and Silver cross country
Lornah Kiplagat World Champion 2006-07 Half Marathon, & 2007 cross country (world record half marathon, 20k, & 10m)
Janet Jepkosgei, World Champion 2007 800m, African Champion
Luke Kibet, World Champion 2007 Marathon
John Yuda, World Championship Silver cross country and half marathon
Japheth Kimutai, Commonwealth Games Champion 1998
Yobes Ondieki, World 5000m champion. World record: First man to run sub 27-minute 10,000m
John Litei, Commonwealth Games bronze 800m 2006
Barnabas Kinyur, Commonwealth Games bronze 800m 1994
Luke Kipkosgei, Commonwealth Games bronze 5000m 2002
Sylvia Kibet, African Games & Championships bronze 2006, 2007
Irene Kwambai, African Games Champion 10,000m
James Kwalia, World Youth Champion, Asian record holder
Duncan Cheruiyot, ParaOlympics Double Gold 2004
Katui Kipkemboi, (Jamal Salem) Asian Games Silver 5000m 2007
Timothy Cherigat, Boston Marathon Champion 2004
Chris Cheboiboch, Fastest ever runner up at New York Marathon 2002
Stephen Kiogora, Runner-up NYC Marathon 2006
Ben Maiyo, Runner up Boston Marathon
Rose Tata, First Kenyan female to run in the World Championships
Jonah Birir, 5th Olympic 1500m final 1992
James Kosgei, 4 x Road Racer of the Year
William Koila, former world junior 1500m record
Kimutai Kosgei, Amsterdam Marathon Champion 2:07
Fred Kiprop, Marathoner 2:06
Christopher Kandie, Marathoner 2:08
Hosea Rotich, fastest ever marathon on Kenyan soil
Fatwell Kimaiyo, Kenyan record holder 110m hurdles
Durca Mana, World Juniors Bronze steeplechase
David Kiptoo, 800m 1:43
Kenyan Internationalists Sammy Maritim, Paul Cherop, Rebby Koech, Kefah Kerero.

***CLICK FOR THE SLIDESHOW***

Life at the camp is back to normal, yesterday morning I was visiting Hilda whose sister Sleepy Sylvia came #4 in the world's. Pieter & Lornah will get to Iten tomorrow, I bumped into Joyce Chepchumba also in Iten... Maiyoro is now on the road, Douglas Wakiihuri flies up tomorrow, and I am off to get working some more -- Amani Kenya!

Shoe4Africa, powered by Leppin, established the Run for Peace event in response to Kenya�s unbridled violence that started on December 27, 2007, and has horrified the world. Unicef states that more than 100,000 Kenyan children have been displaced countrywide and that it will take months to rebuild their lives. According to reports in the Kenyan Business Daily, preliminary figures show that 64,000 children are not able to attend school.

Toby Tanser, founder of Shoe4Africa, was in Kenya last December and after he spoke with a group of children about the ongoing violence, they asked him to organize an event for them, something to look forward to, and something positive in the gloom. "Shoe4Africa is recognized for promoting Aids awareness through sport", says Tanser. �We acted quickly to establish Run for Peace as need for peace and happiness in Kenya is more pressing now. This young community is excited about the race as it will lessen their pain."

Run for Peace is open to 500 Kenyan schoolchildren free of charge. Each participant will receive a Shoe4Africa T-shirt and will be asked to wave olive branches throughout the race. All students who finish the fun run will receive school supplies donated by Shoe4Africa. Additionally, Shoe4Africa will be raffling off computer supplies, which will go to one of the participating schools. International athletes, like former Olympic champion Matthew Birir, former three-time world champion Moses Kiptanui, and current three-time world champion Lornah Kiplagat will be in attendance and many others, and local Kenyan dancers will entertain race spectators. Nyandika Maiyoro, the first Kenyan distance runner ever to compete in an Olympic Games, will be the official starter. Wilson Kiprugut, the first Kenyan to win an Olympic medal, and Douglas Wakiihuri, Kenya�s first ever world champion at the marathon, will also officiate. �We are certain the organization�s Run for Peace event will bring positive awareness to Kenya�s healing process,� said Anthony Edwards, Chairman of Shoe4Africa. (Thanks to StuGlu for making all the edits!!)

SIMBA POWER -- Last three world championship events Lornah has run, Lornah has won! Go Simba!!

Leaving for Africa to hold my peace race someone asked, �How can I help the Kenyan kids?� How can you help? In a city that always helps we suggest instead you help someone doing something for the kids in the Bronx. In April Madame Mileage will be going to Boston, not to run a marathon for herself, but with the goal of raising the tuition for a student to attend CUNY Prep. Please consider sponsoring La Madame in her goal. Pictures here. Then please just mail a cheque to Eye Bois 150 West 95th ST, Apt 5D NY NY 10025. Merci beaucoup!

That evening I was in PT 212 again, and I must say it is becoming very popular these days. I started again with my usual Thai Chef salad, which is nice and tangy, then I went to the Manhattan roll, then to the Tiger roll, then as I was still hungry, had a third roll back to the Manhattan � I think it was just to decided for sure that I liked Manhattan more than the Tiger. AS that was only about 30 pieces of sushi I did have space for my usual dessert � the flourless chocolate cake which, I must add, is the best dependable in there. All of which was washed down with a few Heinekens that are always served ice cold. One day I must explore if they have other beers, but as everyone else was on the ice teas and green tea creme brulees I thought I'd leave my adventures for another night.

Let me tell you the next morning, when I went up to Starbucks to meet La Giugi, I did not feel that hungry for breakfast!

Anyway, I�m going out on a limb here and saying that I bet Gideon will win the World XC Champs. I know, I know, first of all I don't know as nobody does, but I really think, from my sofa view of sports, that he is going to do it. This is based on something that happened last year at the Mombasa Worlds with Gideon.

The Simba leading the way, as is her way.

Then it wqas down to 57th to get my hair clipped at Rodney's place 'Cutler Salon' and OzRod tells me he is expanding to bigger premises on 57th! Not to mention everywhere else where he is Broadway, and Miami etc. He had just got back from the Grammy's, so I had a good natter with him whilst he did the works.

In the evening it was to Cipriani�s on Fifth Avenue at 59th ST. It was my first time, and may I say all was fantastic there � the table bread was great, the Beet salad and goat�s cheese was awesome, the stripped bass with a chunky tomato sauce delectable, the chocolate cake was delicious, coffe excellent, the staff top notch! Highly recommended, also the gentleman on the next table sent over a bottle of champagne, very nice of him. All the nice things happen in nice places.

Set your calendars, March 07th The Montel Williams Show featuring Anthony Edwards talking about Shoe4Africa!!

And an absolutely fabulously funny set of short running videos�(click)Kate�s running journey! I loved the core training one. And the one making fun of a moi is pretty funny too! Kate is the athlete on the Runner's World program and I never saw onbe of her video blogs until two days ago. She has a huge talent for media!

Here is Precious Jeruto, our Shoe4Africa athlete! She�s only nine-years old, and to be honest I will be really happy if she just goes through her life having fun with athletics.

This picture is entitled five yards before you set a world record�

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IF he does not break 24:10 (and don�t count this out as he was clocking 6:10 miles at the armory the other night rumor has it) then you get 70% discount on all MIZUNO shoes that have any red coloring to them. Uptown only.

Chubbs tells me that business is great at his store, but his runners are doing terrible, "They do not get out there and do it... but to learn more the NY Road Runners are profiling me as Coach of the Century for their magazine, so watch out for that!" We will with interest!

Olympic GOLD medallist Matthew Birir says, "Count on me, I will be there for the Shoe4Africa Peace race!" Thanks Matthew. Chris Cheboiboch, who has the 5th fastest ever time at NYC, also!!

NUMBER one in the world this year, on the roads for 10km,the mini Simba, Hilda Crazy Kibet!! Thx Airlines!!

I am not particularly politically minded too strongly but I can't understand why people like "Yes We Can" Obama, half Kenyan, are not saying anything about the killings in Kenya when his own father is from one of the worst hit areas. Yes I can understand, right, it is all about votes, not lives. And I know the US has no interest in Darfur, or in Kenya, as I say, I don't quite grasp it. It is amazing, shocking, and past outrageous, that in this day and age we even have to think about saying 'Stop ethnic cleansing.' Stop people being hacked to death with a machete just because they were born on one side of the fence.

I know the defence, but someone who does nothing at the 'critical moment' rarely does anything further down the road. Reminds me of a time a friend of mine was walking down the street. He was at the prime of his running career; he'd just run a 13-min 20-sec plus change 5000m back in the day when nobody had run a sub 13:00 5000m and was hoping to go to an International Championships. Walking down the road he saw a large group of skinheads attack one guy. Now sanity would say 'This is not my fight, I should look after my body, I am a professional athlete.' Well this man was genuine, he ran over and helped the poor soul, and ended up in a wheelchair for his eforts. you either do it, or you don't.

Then the Ethiopians --MEN�s 1500m- Derese Mekonnen, Mekonnen Gebremedhin MEN�s 3000m- Tariku Bekele, Abraham Cherkose WOMEN�s 1500m- Gelete Burka WOMEN�s 3000m- Meseret Defar, Meselech Melkamu.

Got hammered for my anti-Obama comments. it is not that I am anti-Obama, quite contraire. I think he is a great guy, I am just surprised that is all that someone 50% Kenyan is acting this way, that is all. Maybe it is just I keep getting emails from frustrated Kenyans wishing they had a voice to do something, maybe not...

The first ever Kenyan to win an Olympic medal�

Last night I went to PT 212 on 24th ST... again. Well for startes I ate calamari, just because it was put on the table... not dazzling. But, when my choice arrived the Thai Chef's salad I was, as always, pleased, it has this good zang to it. For Sushi I had two rolls, the Manhattan (spicey) and the Tiger roll (I like the name)... and this is top rate sushi I can tell you. For the dessert I ordered the Flourless Chocolate Cake, but then heard they had a creme brulee green tea, so I tried both--I was not disappointed. For drinks I had multiple Heineken's -- the old standard, and orded two by two just to keep pace wit the Manhattan wait staff, and I can say (as I always do) in this part of town you are hard pressed to find finer for Thai/Nippon food. Thumbs up, although I was two kilos heavier when I left the joint.

Also in� ABU DHABI, United Arab Emirates (Feb. 16) - A license plate with nothing but the number "1" on it went for a record $14 million at a charity auction Saturday� Saeed Khouri, a member of a wealthy Abu Dhabi family, wouldn't say how many automobiles he owned or which of them might carry the record-breaking single-digit plate.

Breakfast at Starbucks! Starbucks drank all these over the space of a couple of hours! He has now started drinking the Naomi Campbell�s like me, and is off the fancy drinks. It was very much a liquid breakfast. For lunch we hoofed all the way up to Tony�s house through the very cold streets (at least the sun was shining). Lornah was minus twenty degrees inthe hands as Kenyans feel the cold a few degrees deeper...

This is the grandmother of a famous world champion. Answers on a postcard.

Thanks to Sam, an amazing, mindblowing number of shoes collected by her, and her kids!

12km Senior Men 1. Abebe Dinkessa (Prisons Police) 2. Demesew Tsega (St. George) 3. Gebregziabher Gebremariam (Ethiopian Banks)

Anyway, then I went down to this photo place with Tony and Dan the hairstylist from L.A. Wow, firstly we met Charles, the guy I was going to meet later.

This man took the first shot of Martin Luther King as an activist, when being arrested in 1958, then quit his job to follow King around and photograph him throughout his too short life.

The project is Tim Mantoani is photographing these famous photographers and asking them to come in with their most meaningful picture and be photographed with it, then they scribble on the photo why the photo is so meaningful. All this is documented on the world’s largest camera, check out the size of this apparatus!

Then it was down to Chinatown as it was Happy New Year Chinatown.

Tony in Chinatown, buying fireworks to take to his parents teachers meeting, where they serve martinis??

So we bought some New Year's stuff, got our eardrums blasted by symbols and drums before heading over to an old haunt to grab lunch – Café Habanna. Now I had been yapping on to Ian about how poor my diet is, and it is true apart from eating out, I only eat carbs – oatmeal breakfast, cinnamon raisin bagels lunch, and rice for dinner.. so when I eat out I try to eat other things; so we had fire roasted corn on the cob to start, vegetable quesadias with beans and rice, washed down with a couple of Cuban beers, what an upgrade! Lotta carbs. Oh yeah, we also met Jim Hancock who is the owner of Race of Champions, a super entrepreneur, and is trying to bring this concept to Yankee Stadium. It is huge in places like Wembley and in Paris etc..

Yesterday I got to meet Kenneth Cole which was a nice treat! He has a fabbo space over on the west side o’ town.

Going to see/hear Charles Moore a famous civil rights photographer who is 90-years of age+, and Henry Beguelin an Italian designer, and Alabama Chanin at Lisa’s place! I will be all arted out!

Liliya Shobukhova, her life, and her training, in NYC.

Martin Lel, and his brother, and his father.

Huge thanks to the NEW YORK FLYERS for raising just over $3000 with their silent auction for Shoe4Africa!!!

Tonight, going to the starting line, after eating all of this – Liliya of Russia, who won at the NB Games the other week, has set a WR and has a road PR of 14:45!

Anyway Tony came with me (as we are International business men, or at least pretend to be) and when we went to Steve’s office the receptionist looked at him and said, “You look really familiar..” to which Tony replied, “I was the fedex man doing the deliveries whilst you watched ER…” which really threw her.

Well lunch – I had the Chilean Sea Bass that was good but rather tasteless with spinach, very buttery, and hash browns, very buttery. The cheesecake was excellent, and the coffee was very good.

Howevere, if the coffee was to be judged by our next port of call, Via Quadronno. Good job I only drank a couple of more cups there, as next off it was off to Central Park to run with Craig Mottram – that was fun, but more of that later.

So I have some real ace footage from Kenya, and one of the good pieces is Douglas Wakiihuri’s interview when he talks about training and Kibera, and then I have great footage of the life in Kibera, of course before it burned down. But I hear from Salim today that things are getting better there!

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Anyway, above is Douglas, a former World Champ in the marathon, World Cup winner, Commonwealth Games Champ, won NYC and London etc etc, Olympic Silver, and a really interesting chap.

Everyone in Kenya these days carries knives.

Martin Lel gives his NY Shoes to Shoe4Africa.

From Pesach in the Miami Marathon – a man who lost pounds and pounds of weight, and raised thousands of dollars for Team Lifeline, “Mile 5- I see a man holding up a sign that says "I love you". I scream out "I love you too." His unprintable response leads me to believe that the sign was not intended for me.”

Anne Kugler wins the Manhattan Half Marathon on Sunday in NYC for the Shoe4Africa team.

Some called it a fluke until Mombasa when a trio of the top Ethiopians over cross-country were humbled to a mere walk as the Simba front ran the World Championships to win her second World title.

People now started to take note, then at the world road half marathon championships the Simba power was seen again -- a new world record and her second road world championships title.

CAn we say the best distance runner of the year for 2007? AIMS agreed.

Wins the Ozzie Open!! Novak Djokovic shows his potential.

I was in Miami and with Team Lifeline as their coach. I had an amazing time -- last year they had 60 people (when I took the job), then this year the numbers built up to 230. I have never been to such a pumped up pre-race dinner, the energy of these people was incredible. really, really inspiring, like Roy, who'd I'd guess is near 300-lbs. He threw up for 45-mins at Mile 2,and the POlice wanted to pull him from the course. Then when he joined back inthe race they gave him apolice escort as he was so far back; but he ran from there and finished just over three hours for the half. I was there when he crossed the line (snuck though security) and it was amazing, then doubled back and ran in with Shira again very emotional. I ran the first half with a couple of athletes and kept on whipping back. There is something amazing about people who come to running just to raise money for a cause then get hooked on the running -- the team made over $898,527 or Cancer help! The only bad part we had to get up to leave at 4:30AM and I left it till 4:15 or so I thought, but the hotel front desk rung me at 4:00 by mistake... I took a bagel and a bottle of water for breakfast, but ended up runnign with it the whole way as I never felt hungry -- who does at that hour!

Geez, after my words of wisdom both of these two got to the finals of the Australian Open this weekend! Yeah right.

Great being back in T shirt weather though. I have a fab Hotel, and I just got a text message from Kenya -- Martin Lel Vs Geb in Lisbon, march 16th, for the Half -- should be a great match up!

�Tomorrow I've organised five runners for a lovely event here - team event of 75kms over the Haj Mountains - so each team member only runs 15km or so - no big deal but some steep roads... We have banners and shoe4africa t-shirts... Just a fun run, no winners - but our 6 year old very keen to be pacer!� Thanks to Sam! Lots going on for Shoe4Africa there.

More news I have a great indepth interview with Douglas Wakihurii talking about all his training, his philosophies, the East meets Africa angle, how (as a a big guy) he trained and won the World Champs � thinking now I should use it for the Gerard book�

Other news � I am off to Miami, and more than that � The Shoe4Africa Kenya Peace Run, coming in March!!

So the next thing was to get things rolling, so I called nad chatted with Grete Waitz who of course is going to be big style in the book. If you have any injury questions ideas forthe ultimate book on sports injury please help me by emailing me/talking to me to help mold this project! Thanks!!

Next project is hte SHoe4Africa Peace Race -- I am quite at a crossroads here; at a time when a peace race is needed, a public event drawing all tribes together is not needed --working on this one, but in the true spirit of the show must go on, watch out for March 2008 becuase I have to go to Kenya and make something happen.

What else, I went to dinner at Donna Karan's studio the other night, and Donna weas there standing next to me and I kept on thinking this is the right moment to ask her to design a Shoe4Africa T Shirt... but it did not happen, luckily I have a few more ops. to make it happen!

I keep on getting a lot of text messages from Kenya, good news from there is that things are calming down, and deaths now are becoming more isolated -- they still remain very positive and upbeat. News on my motorcycle is that the tire has been repaired!

A huge huge thanks to everyone who wished me well, and also to the loads of people I have been talking to who emailed but things bounced; sorry I did not have email access over there, one of these days I will get one of those blackberry thingeys.

Too much to tell, and lots of great projects inthe pipeline. Pictures comign soon too.

For lunch it was Barney�s and on the next table when we sat down was a woman from Memphis who had rented a house to my friend Tony fourteen years ago, and she came up and reminded him! Anyway, the wine was good, the coffee was good, and the Fred�s Spaghetti dish was excellent! Two thumbs up! Highly recommended in the Toby Tagat�s Guide to eating in Manhattan. After that we went to the Apple store on 59th � the underground thing� we only set off one alarm in there (that has to be some sort of a record).

Ted Corbitt, a running legend � condolences to his family.

Sad passing yesterday morning of Ted Corbitt, a stalwart of NY Running, and indeed US running, he was the first ever President of the NYRR, and an inspiring man.

Happy birthday to Doris C. aka Sunflower. I saw she won the World Military Games 10,000m earlier this year in a CR of 32-mins! In some country that was not condusive to fast running either!

With Limo, Lel, Tergat and Wanjiru in the race it is looking like the Olympic Qualifier for the Kenyan team. No doubt Robert Cheruiyot will be running Boston.

Funny to think that this time next week I will be in Kenya. Especially so as I have been talking to people about all sorts of things today -- most sad is a friend of mine whose family lives in Molo, there is a lot of fighting there right now because of the election and she does not know if her family is safe, of big concern is a brother and a sister who are blind and can not see trouble coming.. reminds me of one day in Stockholm when I lived there. A night club was spiling out its people and a person inths treet yelled "get down, I'm shooting!" The man starting shooting a gun and accidentally killed a deaf person... anyway the next person I was contacting in Kenya was warning me, "Hey, stay away from Molo, when you go from Nairobi to Eldoret you should fly." And coicidentally the very next person that emailed suggested that (instead of flying) we go by road to Eldoret as he wants to stop by a certain place on the way there... coincidentally the place where I am trying to hold a Peace Race in 2008.

Who knows, then I start getting rumblings from people in Morocco about an event there in 2006.. sometimes I think life would be simpler doing other things, plus then I have the USA issues with shipping the shoes.. but coincidentally somebody emails and says nothing more than Keep going... not in relation to anything actually, but the way the contacts were threading yesterday. Anyway, what was positive is today going to the UN and Clinton's Office.

WOMEN 1. Linet chepkirui (Ken) 72:06 2. Mary Keitany (Ken) 75:10 3. Irene Kipchimba (Ken) 75:21

And talking Africa I watched the movie The Last King of Scotland the other night, not bad, not as good as Blood Diamond.

We are really happy to say that the affiliation woith the RAK Half Marathon is going great! They are being a BIG help and fitting us out with T shirts and banners!

Former World Champ Elana Meyer. I first met Elana in 1994, back in Oslo, what a nice person and what great work she is doing today down in SA.

Too much stress can ruin your overall physical health, as well as your mental health. See if you're just having a bad week or suffering from burnout.

And that from AOL, but in my life it is not so stressy right now; in the morning I had a meeting with someone who wants to do a book series, then lunch was at Rosa Mexicana hearing how Lisa snagged a $50,000 sponsorship from one of the top car companies for her next do, and how Donna Karan is going to give a bundle of shoes to Shoe4Africa(!), then in the evening it was a meeting at Bruno Jamais � a restaurant off 81st ST between 5th & Madison. Firstly kudos to the waiters/waitresses who knew how to keep the wine topped up, the starter, Goat Cheese Salad was nice, very fresh veg,the main course was Bass but I felt it was a little over cooked (the same was said of the Filet Mignon at the table, could be a theme, and the veg was sparce, though I believe it did compromise of two stalks of asparagus, and the dessert, well I should admit to desserts, was firstly a chocolate mousse flourless cake with some kind of condiment, then the second dessert was a mango sorbet with fresh fruits. Nice singer in the background, quyiet place, in fact you would not even know it was a restaurant driving past the place� anyway buckle back to Rosa�that was the one downtown; and if ever a place really tried to be Mexican, but failed, it is this place, though they do have excellent guacamole.. but the place on 86th Maza Mecal? Is so much better for its food. The coffee was a bit ropey, and the sauce for the main course tasted nothing short of �out of a tin� the kind of meal that could have been prepared in a truck stop caf�.. which incidentally was akin to the first place we went to, earlier that day� and the converse centered around a chance meeting, seven years ago, a string of diamonds, in India, and a NYC late breakfast. So what else happens in NYC?

Meanwhile at my gym, two 80-yr olds, "Who wants to be old? People today think that getting to 99 means 99-yrs of good health.. think of the operations, think of the pains to get there..." There's food for thought!

Nice little story about the third place, and first Japanese finisher-�Unless something dramatic happens in Tokyo and/or the Lake Biwa Marathon next year, Sato is likely to be selected for the team. After the race he said, �Although I could not win the race, I was able to race against Wanjiru and recorded a personal best in the low 2:07s, so it was a good race for me. I had so much trouble since 2004, I was almost ready to give up (the Marathon), but with the help of my coach (Yasushi Sakaguchi), I was able to make it to the top.� As the situation stands now, Sakaguchi could have two of his runners on the Olympic Marathon team. Another of his prot�g�es, Tsuyoshi Ogata, who finished fifth at the World Championships in Osaka, also has good chance to make the Olympic team. Samuel Wanjiru (KEN) 2:06:39, Debut, Course Record 2. Deriba Merga (ETH) 2:06:50 PB (also under previous Course Record) 3. Atsushi Sato 2:07:13, PB

What is happening in the sports world? On the local level it is the Hot Chocolate this Saturday, and Fukuoka in Japan � watch out for Sammy Wanjiru�s debut, it could be fast... the man from the Central Provinces trained by Stephen N.

Why did they even have the case to overturn the rule? It was so obvious from the outset � Fact; Britain is headed for the Olympics with hardly a SINGLE medal choice on the track, the only medal hopeful they have for the 100m to 10,000m seems to be Christine.

Kids from Long Island's Mt. Sinai who did a school shoe drive for the Kibera Project.

Speaking of which -- Looking for Office space, preferably between 80th & 90th Streets on the East Side. Does anyone havae any good contacts?

If Thanou gets the Gold medal it is ridiculous, because the IOC would be then setting themselves up for further embarrassment when (in thirty years let�s say), the trainer of Thanou (who of course was banned herself) comes out with the tell-it-all story.

We wander up First Avenue and it is damn cold, we go from being choosy to being �Did you ever think NYC was this cold? Let�s get inside!� We come to a place called the VUDU lounge, and four women are standing outside peering at a wooden door, they look like Martha Reeves and the Vandellas.. so in we go� There are two women sitting juts inside the door. Rather large women. �Urm, is this a private club?� I peer in and notice that Dorde and I are the only non Africans in the place. The woman replies, �It�s usually a club but we are having a slow night, you probably don�t want to come inside.� It damn cold, of course I do, so I edge up and try and squeeze past a man who looks like one of Eddy Murphy�s movie dinner guests at a Thanksgiving dinner. The woman at the door looks at Dorde, �I think there are some places up there (waves uptown with her arm) for you guys.� I then notice that half the women in the place look about 13-years old and appear to be wearing less clothing than more� which is why we found ourselves in the Coastal Bar a couple of blocks up the road.

The reason this bar is called that, presumably, was when we entered it smelled of vinegar and had white formica tables. We sat next to a golf machine where drunk 20�s who knew the lyrics to all the old Queen Classics (poor Steady Freddy), and talked past two-thirty into the morning. (yeah that bad of a place). It reminded me of a place called the Jack Russell that I think is on Second Ave, you went, you knew not to return, but it was cold outside.

It was like watching the last episode of a movie for me, and the early episodes for Dorde as we were talking about the same group of people we both knew and how I left them, and how he found them. We both agreed that someone in this group could write the world�s most interesting book on funny running stories (but she never would). Anyway, the night was best summed up by Dorde, �Tow big mouths and nothing done!�

Anyway at the next traffic lights the driver is asking, �Which taxi?� There were about ten in front of us, so we siddled up and drew along the guessed-to-be cab, and indeed it was Chubby & Cara�s. AS luck would have it both taxis were now on the front line of the road waiting for the lights to change. The traffic lights go red and our driver blasts out of the box like a S&H stuntman and we are now in front of all the taxis! I�m asking the driver, �How on earth can you follow that cab, he�s behind us!�

Sure enough we get lost from the cab that is aptly driving behind us but luckily, due to a crafty piece of in house google maps we get the address, make a very sharp right turn to right ourselves, and end up at the Temple.

The White Horse would have made a better choice; the Temple was closed. Not to be perturbed we found a bar called Milano which was as far removed from that fine city as a word from A to Z could be. Which in itself is the reason why at 3:25 AM I found myself back on first avenue thinking about the concept of time; nine hours and ten minutes earlier I had set off to have dinner and say hi to some friends. All in a NYC moment.

Earlier I was having coffee with George,the Chairman of the NYRR -- I love talking to George, it is like learning from the Professor. I tried out Starbucks Pumpkin muffin...

I was there in my filming capacity (making a documentary), just pottering around, I am still not really running � one day in 19-days, makes me feel like a slug now, plus my foot is not good, so� One of these days. I was hanging out with Ambrose Salmini, the guy who does most of the running filming on the NE side of America, nice guy and one who I hope is going to give me lots of advice!

Letura running the New York Marathon a couple of weeks ago. He is now back in the Masai Mara.

Other news in Kenya: In its fifth year, the Tegla Loroupe Peace Race which will take pace in Kapenguria, Kenya this Saturday (17) will, as in past years, provide a meeting point for Athletics, diplomacy and culture.

Meanwhile, sitting in the warm airport in Amsterdam Starbucks is delighted to let us know there is now a Starbucks in Schipol airport! �Finally!� Four hours later, Pieter is still in the starbucks.

And of which Beijing is trying to dampen the idea to their people that China will have a huge medal haul, �Mr. Chaoyi Luo was doing his best to lessen that personal pressure stating that "we will also strive for golds in women's marathon and walk in Beijing.�

11/13

If the race is not going to plan, then at least have fun with a friend! Erika and Mary running for Shoe4Africa in the ING NYC race.

Stace the ace won another Duathlon on Sunday, �A three-peat for me (along with the Spring Prospect Park Duathlon in March and the Mother's Day Duathlon in May).� The last one was in Central Park; that�s why we call her the Ace.

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How come every time they discover some old tomb/body/remains from 2000 years ago (Jesus�s time) the body is of a young person and we hear speculations that 20-yrs was the 60 years old of today, that everyone died young.. but everyone in the bible was super old?

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At Starbucks yesterday with Joy and Tony having a Shoe4Africa meeting, and planning the next steps for where we are going. Some great opportunities to follow. After hat I popped into Staples to buy a calendar I felt so organized! The truth of the matter is that 2008 is already filling up. Those guys were dipping digits into their i-zams, but y�know what they say about paper!

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Race to Deliver this Sunday--4 miler.

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Interesting jobs at my gym; with the strikes I found out that the guy two lockers down fro me writes Law & Order � he tells they have enough footage and scripts for months ahead.

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Talking order�Boqueria on 19th ST. I can�t remember why, was it the �finish-off� for the bet? But Todd was buying dinner and for the first time I met him in a non-running situation. "My girlfriend thinks you are a freak." Nice opener. Apparently when I met her I was wearing jeans and a shirt with a few colors on, and that qualified me as being a freak... anyway, So I found myself there last night, and RunBam came with Todd. The place has a very Euro feel, friendly too. It is a Tapas restaurant with over-priced wine, though all credit to RunBam he did find a bottle half the price of the one that Todd ordered that tasted twice as good. Ah, I bite my tongue, but the next time I meet any Australians�.

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Still losing weight, still not running - 15 days! It is like, "What am I going to do today with that extra hour?" It feels like a lifelong holiday!

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11/12

Kelly Bensimon on page 17 of the NY Post's Page Six magazine! I coached her for the marathon this year.

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What else? The Shoe4Africa song is now on the web.

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Rachel, from Shoe4Africa, on her fantastic New York Run. Good news from Van Cortlandt Park, Jamie, the Shoe4Africa Missile, was zipping round the trails today up at the NYRR XC Champs. Great team.

In the afternoon Jamie helped me take up all the shoes up to the Bronx. It is like another country up there, and we had a fun time finding the picturesque route! One of the storage units is so full we could hardly open the door! Or should I say close the door.

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Talking about Shiney it was his party the other night, and after watching Joss Ritter at the Webster Hall I went up there� Luckily the party was still going, and it was good to see him and Kate. Got a chance to talk to Monsieur Mileage who informs me that Madame Mileage is running a marathon. Where? �Ah, ah ah.� Never heard of that one. I also talked with Vinyl Jim who is doing well, and wants a coach to help him stop running (speaking of which my streak is 13-days now).

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The next day it was down to PT 212 and the waitress did the ordering, the one with the white watch that glows orange (just in case you dine there) and she made some great choices.. everytime my Heineken bottle got to half empty they were bringing me a refill. Something I don�t know about Thai places? Anyway the food was superb as usual. I am clueless to the names of what I ate but it was knockout! Thereafter we went down to Grand St to a party in a huge space that someone calls an apartment, anyway down there we did not find who were looking for � and thereafter began a big hike over New York. It really is a great city, especially to see by foot.

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Speaking cities�soon to Nairobi; for a change before I begin the race org bit I will be a week in Nairobi visiting friends, it will be a hoot, plus I have to persuade them all to come to the Kibera event; we launch the Kenyan bit this January over there.

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�Glasgow will host the Commonwealth Games for the first time in 2014 after fending off a rival bid by the Nigerian capital Abuja.� Good for G-town! Can�t help thinking about the five Robertson Brothers from the college days; did you see Animal House? These guys lived that life and used to be on the top floor of a big student house I lived in, and yes, one of them did get his motorcycle up the stairs. The meanest of the brothers was called �Chick� as he was the youngest, and the police would often call and ask if George Robertson lived at the house and I would always say no because nobody actually knew his real name at the time of knowing him�

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Thanks to Ken Trush & Danny for a donation to S4A� we have some great things happening at the moment with big leads� one day we might get an office!

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Mercy Cherono wins in the XC Kericho, Kenya, with Edwin Soi 34:44 at the 12km, Mercy ran 20:00 for the

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At the US Olympic trials there was a very large percentage of DNF�s, 26 with 104 finishers.

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And why not 2012? �Paula Radcliffe says she hopes to compete in the 2012 Olympics in London at the age of 38.� She'll be strong then as she will be in 2008!

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I was out at Sunken Meadow on Saturday for the NCJAA Regional XC Champs, my team always has the best time even if we do not act at all like the other teams! Usually the men support the women, then vice versa, but this time we missed the men�s race because we were on this bridge doing fashion photo shoots over this quaint river... well that�s the gals from the Fashion Institute, always looking to practice!

Anyway next week we have the nationals, but I told them the big comp is the talent show we will hold the night before the race! I have been getting them to practice for this all season; I am going to judge them on a one to five point basis, and the most outstanding talent becomes the F.I.T athlete of the year! Last year we had an eating competition, but they were lousy at that, so we did a switcheroo for this year.

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11/09
Went to the Candle Cafe on East 79th yesterday, what a nice place that was. We drank this beer called Snuff pig pumpkin organic something, and it was actually quite good. The potions were small but filling, with multiple ingredients to each dish. The coffee left something to be desired as its taste could have been described as... something to do with organic. The salad was okay, but a little too heavy onthe pulses and light on the nice fruity things that made it sound so appealing. The service was very good. So we'll give it a 'recommended lunch time dining' star.

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Thanks to Runner's World Daily for "Celebrities Contribute To Shoe4Africa's Kibera Project.
The goal of the project is to put running shoes on the population of Africa's largest slum, 800 acres where one in four persons has AIDS and 92 percent of the children have hookworm. The day after the ING New York City Marathon, Anthony Edwards (Dr. Mark Greene of TV's "ER'" ) stood on Central Park West with steeplechaser Delilah DiCrescenzo (the Delilah of "Hey There, Delilah") and Cara Buono of "The Sopranos" with a group of volunteers and collected over 11,000 pairs of shoes. Paula Radcliffe, Gary Lough, and Natalie Portman were some of the guests at the Kibera Project's kickoff dinner, where Edwards exclaimed "we need 1,000,000 shoes!" Elijah Wood, Jake Gyllenhaal, Ellen DeGeneres, Ashley Jensen, and Mario Batali also donated shoes. (PS, we have 11,000 as of this article's date).

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Anders Szalkai, one of Sweden�s finest long distance runners was here for the NYC marathon. Anders, who won Stockholm and is one of Sweden�s fastest ever, is now calling himself, �An elite-jogger� and has a very informative web site where you can see how he trains. Anyway, he was here with Malin Ewerlof; the first young lady to win the World XC juniors. We all run for the same team over in Sweden. Malin has not changed at all � those who know her there is a photo on the site. Anyway, Anders was very helpful with Letura at the ING Marathon.

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Last night, after a small lecture, I went to Anthony Stuart-C & Allison�s post marathon. I was three hours late but the party was still going. And the �going� gave me a chance to say Hi to the people as I entered and they exited. The popular tourist trip was to walk up the stairs and look at his, rather eclectic, art collection; a portrait of a Swedish industrialist, a photo of a flower, some abstract shapes, a woman in a pose that Allison explained, �After we had this in our living room a while I had to explain to Anthony that this is how women ___� and he also has a large original Andy Warhol; a red shape that looked like an anchor�it was a drawing with some scribbles and red paint. All exhibited under two of the oddest lampshades one will find. Anyway, thanks to A&A; twas a nice night.

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10/08
Shoedrive continues: This week please drop off all shoes at Urban Athletics who have kindly offered to collect shoes for us till Sunday.

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I heard John McManus was ill, the legendary John that goes to all the races. So I phoned the hospital and he�s now checked out, looking well apparently which is great news! He�s an 84-yr old wonder.

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�Addis Ababa, Ethiopia - Double World and one-time Olympic 10,000m silver medallist Sileshi Sihine will attempt to break the World 15km record at the 2007 Zevenheuvenloop �Seven Hills� in Njimegen, the Netherlands on Sunday 18 November 2007. The SIMBA will be there too! Hunting and getting the 15k WR � mark my words.

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I am sending out my Happy Thanksgiving cards out today, so I will be the first to do it.

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I can hardly type it is so cold in NYC right now� in fact I should say my typing is even worse now it is cold fingers. I belong to the one fingered typing brigade. I often cringe when I shoot off an email and see how bad my typing is, but what the heck, a case of the Mr. Polly�s to the pen, for those familiar with HG Wells. Back to typing a start would be closing the window right?

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A pregnant woman can legally relieve herself anywhere she wants, including in a policeman's helmet�Odd U.K. rules.

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So finally getting back into the groove, last night I slept 7-hrs and woke up a new person again. I have on purpose given myself a holiday this week to find a groove and clear up my apartment� wow, last week was a blast! Very sorry to miss a goodbye to martin lel because he could not get thru to the phone recording machine, because it was full, very glad to talk to many of the athletes, an odd week to say the least.

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As I mentioned I did not run, in fact I still have not.. and I was in a taxi with Mary who thought I had lost weight, so I stepped on the scale yesterday and shiver me timbers, I am lighter than I have been for months! Go figure! I don�t run for 10-days and I start losing weight! I am now on a streak to see how many days I can go without running.

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in the mailbag, from Nance Grapefruit, �Thank you for pushing me and for all of your support! This was a 10 minute PR from my previous fastest marathon (London) and 18 minutes faster than my previous fastest NY Marathon!!�

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SHOE4AFRICA on page 67 of People Magazine.. also check out the cover page of their website, we are on there-- who would have thunkit!! Great strides for a very small organization.

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Although the shoe drive has ended it has not really ended � we are still collecting this week�drop your shoes at URBAN ATHLETICS 1291 Madison until Friday! We are well over 10,000 now! Amazing. I spent three hours this morning answering 50% of the emails of people wanting to help/get involved! See for example, � �Hi Toby, Jim and I are coming to New York tomorrow (Tuesday) and heading back to Florida on Thursday. If you need some help with sorting, boxing etc. I could help for a couple of hours on Tuesday afternoon. Wednesday might work as an alternative. Sorry for the short notice but if there is something I can do I would be glad to do it. Vickie.

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The Lehman Brothers, with 1030 shoes, were the day�s largest donators. Thanks so much!! Thompson were close behind with 750 pairs ,the Steiner School on E79th was the top school.

But really it is amater of thanking eaach and every person who came by, people like Matt Taylor of Chasing Kimbia, Pat Duffy, people who took time out to be there, just because... the club the NY Flyers who did a big drive, the Rudolf Steiner School on 79th! The Spence girls who came and helped.

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I got interviewed today by the Bio man, Scoop Malinowski � a nice guy, and fun Q's!But here�s Paula�s one, a must read.

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From Don, �I'm very happy with a personal best of 3:14 (14 minutes better than last year). Don of the Wedzar group. Rachel Z from the Wedzar group had an 18-minute PR down to 3:01, Nicole had a PR.. there were lots of great stories flowing in�

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How crazy has this week been? I woke up today and realized that I have not run in a week, did not sleep earlier than 1-am, or get up later than 5-am, but it was a bunch of fun. The sweet ending was the shoe drive, up in the bronx now we have tons of shoes waiting for the next stage, to go to Kibera. My apologies if I was sloppy on the emails but I simply could not answer them quick enough. The last person to give a bag of shoes? Was two big bags; from Natalie Portman and her boyfriend Nathan. But to all people, thanks so much!

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11/05

Races of the year - Martin Lel and Paula Radcliffe. Read the Paula race story here!

So sad about Ryan Shay, so wrong in so many ways. My condolences out to his family and wife. R.I.P.

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TODAY on Central Park West and 64th ST, just up from Columbus Circle, we will be collecting shoes for Kibera. Clear out the closet and come on by, between 7-AM and 2-PM. Really hope to see you there! Scroll down to see some of the names involved, and growing!!

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11/02

I feel like a headless chicken, working from 6-AM till midnight last night - with 100 different things, people and places-- this is what happens... but it is all fun. In the evening I had three separate parties! Anyway, most of the stuff is on the Runner's World Blog -- loads of updates. A great story on Martin Lel and I suppose Cheruiyot!

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shoe donations from Elijah Wood, Jake Gyllenhaal, Natalie Portman, Ellen DeGeneres, Ashley Jensen, and Mario Batali in the non-running shoe4africa department. IF you can volunteer to help on Monday, pleae copy and paste ymc@courtines.net into your email sender and please let us know!

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