Our Shoe4Africa public kids hospital is up and running: SEE PICS CLICK HERE
Official Race entries available for the Half and Full Marathons>Email the team< and join our driving cause.
10/07 Marvelous Mo Farah! At Wilson Kipsang's hotel with Charles Koech & Mary Keitany.. at 20km every one had to pick a winner. I was the only one for Mo, the Ethiopian and Galen Rupp were the room faves, but Mo was a class apart, at any stage in the race.
Earlier on we were at the Special Day celebrations at Mindiliwo Special School; great to see so many people contributing to help the disabled community here in Kenya.
In the women's race good to see our neighbor Florence Kiplagat get back with a fine fourth place after some frustrating injuries.
No rains in Kenya, has been dry and dusty for long. Not good for farmers.
9/20 In an article in August in Kenya, The Daily Nation, we mentioned that Paula's time of 2:15 was equal to 2:01 - of course 'we' used some literacy licensing to state this is a general view, it was actually our own. Well, now Eliud Kipchoge has done it! Well done Eliud. Link to the Mary Keitany story.
The race was absolutely remarkable, and shows how close Eliud is to breaking 2.. in an official race.
09/09 Nice running news - Sir Mo storms to his 5th Great North Run victory in 59:26(!) and Vivian Cheruioyot, on her birthday, takes the women's in 67 mins!Meanwhile I got the chance to watch the US Open yesterday. Being a big fan of Serena I was disappointed but I was also amazed to see the play of Naomi Osaka; surely the new generation is here; what play! What a star.I went to the run center of the NYRR. Great to see all the staff there and listen to the inspirational Gabe Grunewald. What a story!And yesterday, the fab Rhonnex Kipruto whom I predict will win in Tokyo 2020 the 10,000m stormed to the second fastest ever 10k on the roads, 26:46, two ticks off Leonard Komon's WR.
09/04 How very sad to hear today of the passing of Paul Koech, one of the Kenyan greats from the 1990's. A good friend, I was with him in January, now I read, he is gone.
Life is too short. Shocked. RIP
08/08 Working at the hospital today in Eldoret. Drove back to hear the Nicholas Bett, the World Champion 400H from 2015 died today in a road accident on the Kapsabet - Eldoret road near Lessos. A bad road with lost of Speed bumps that are un marked that look like they caused his car to roll. Sadly no seatbeltt. Weird day, my car also had a mechanical mis-function and we had to be towed back to Iten.
08/07 A day in the life... Got up, drove to Eldoret with Mary Keitany and husband Charles in a nice car. Charles jokes the registration proves the car is for him - it has his and Mary's initials, then here marathon time, followed by the letter L for London. Suits me because it is a comfy car and we have been making this trip and further a few times and it is a lot nicer in a comfy car! First stop we are going to a tailors. The tailor, a lady called Ezea something is Mary's tailor. I immediately start talking about the collars of a shirt that does not endear me to Ezea. Charles and I are the same shirt size, we are both getting measured up. Charles buttons are wrong Mary notes.
Next, after a trip to the bank we are off to Mary's home. It is a drive of two hours plus. Although I know what I am going to see I am in awe when we arrive.....
The road was horrendous. What am I saying, the road. That is the wrong word. The rocks and boulders that we bump over. She was born ontop of a hill you can't reach by car, or reach unless you are an active person willing to climb and scramble over rocks, brambles and boulders. She had to climb 2km down the hill to go look for water, and carry the water back up, run 10k to school and then back... but saying 10k gives the wrong impression. Like an obstacle course.
Following which we met many people who were in her life history, and she had not seen for years, then we went to the new school. This has been built in the last few months and has shocked the locals who are not used to such things.
Next up we drove about 20-minutes to her parent's home to meet again with her Mother, Father, Brother, sisters etc....
07/24 Out of the loop. My friend George sent me this link. It is 23-minutes long, but if you ever liked the Beatles, and a tour of Liverpool.... <"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QjvzCTqkBDQ">(link). Great show.
07/23 Rain in NYC, and humdity. It is actually not bad, I don't like cold rain. I could never understand the Florida-ites but now I do. The mood of a bright blue sky and a radiant sun is seldom gloomy.
In the running world we see an amazing run by Kenyan Beatrice Chepkoech of 8:44 which all but wipes out the memory of Ruth.. the Kenyan Bahrain runner who won the Olympics and disappointed with an EPO bust. But in terms of running the record is more inline with the Men-Women ratio - 7:53 to 8:44. The flat men's/women's times are 7:20 and 8:06. Women's records are understandably being broken with bigger chunks than the men's. But the men's distance track records are not really moving. There's a T&F reporter who has written a huge 'what are the odd's' article on the 3000/5000 men's times that is rather interesting.
AGUA Swimmer Empowers Children in Eldoret, Kenya 23 July 2018 LINK Swimming World News. Thanks to Shari Pire and her son Harrison for this! Great help for us.
07/16/18 World Cup over... Congrats France on superb and strong, and consistent play. Congrats Croatia, a small, new country, with amazing team work and talent. Shocking, and a well played final.
Watched a Documentary called What the Health on netflix by a guy called Kip Anderson. Pretty incredible with facts hard to dispute. Anyone watching this then putting a steak in their stomach is a brave person!
Unbelievable that Wimbledon came and went... The power of the world Cup? I only saw the news of the final results.
07.02 Kudos Japan, what about the most improved team award. Now they just need the same endurance the women's marathoners display.
In Manhattan we have an 'Excessive Heat Warning index' it is 105, they say stay indoors and avoid outdoor exertion. Hm, living in a studio with one window & little airflow I think it is stay outdoors and start running! Will take this weather over a NYC January/February any day.
World cup fever - no Spain, Argentina, Italy, Germany, Portugal... yikes. C'mon Sweden!!
I woke up yesterday, went for a run, at the end of the run I realized I had got up one hour earlier than I thought. What a glorious moment, I felt I had won one hour!
I had the pleasure of meeting a lady I heard about maybe 8 years ago. She was made unemployed at the age of 42, a national health service nurse. She did what most 42-yr old lady's who are about 5-foot tall do (not) She bought a bus, she then drove that bus up and down. When a flat tyre came she mended it. Then she bought another bus, and another. Today Ann Gloag is one of a few billionaires in Scotland. A billionaire in sterling (more than an American billionaire)! What a story.
06/02/18 Nice dinner at Mamma Mia's with Claudio Berardelli & Claudia. A nice restaurant in Elgon view that has been here forever. Spent the next day walking round Eldoret doing jobs, carrying bags, back to the hospital, then back to Iten. Tea with Mary Keitany & Charles, looking at properties, then Gladys Cherono & Francis came by, also Gabriela - Italy again!
Mary is going to NYC also Betsy Saina, another local champ.
Speaking of Iten at the hospital I went around the wards and was surprised to find a few neighbors from Iten here.
Anyway Claudio is doing the works to pull together a Great Global Running day event, it will be held at the school where Amos Kipruto schooled, in Nandi
5/8 As the Hope & Possibility is only one month away.. and days counting we get ready for which guests will attend. Jon Stewart always kindly turns up with his son Nate, then apparently we have a newscaster. A couple of years ago we had Eric Schneiderman who hits the news today (read The New Yorker). So sorry to read this, and being a friend of Michelle (in this article) I feel sorry for the ladies involved.
Bizarre, an old email was resent back to me from 2006 no less. It was an email I sent to the club I was coaching called the New York Flyers. They asked for a post for their newsletter, so here is what I wrote. I invented the TMA!
The Moaning Athlete
"Heavens Above if there ever is an athlete who was known to moan. My first ever introduction to TMA (as he/she will be known aka The Moaning Athlete) was in Sweden. We had a group coach for the club I ran for, Sparvagen. After the races conclusion I happened to be standing behind him undoing my laces. Athlete after athlete came up to him with excuses, pains, and reasons why they did not perform as well as they wished to.
Wow. Later, in his confidence, whilst drinking coffee at his house he told me the job is a lot like being a fostering teacher, "You listen to them,and you listen." He told me. Well it is pretty universal, moaning that is.
The five best moans explained:
#1 'Coach, I raced on Sunday so can I take it easy today(Tuesday?)'
Well, if you raced on Sunday morning, and it is Tuesday evening the chances are you are ready for another session of hard running. If you take it easy on Tuesday night, then you'll probably not feel for running hard on Wednesday, "Well I had speed work last night..." the body will say to itself.
Solution -- Train hard!
#2 'Coach, I can't keep up today with the others as usual.'
Don't fret about it. Think biorhythms. One bad day for you is your neighbors great day, nobody was born at the exact same moment under the same alignment of the stars.
Solution -- Push on through -- bad days tell more than good ones anyway. Anybody can push when they feel fantastic.
#3 'Coach, we did this workout two weeks ago.'
Roger Bannister used to do the same workout every single week, for months on end, until he broke the four minute mile.
Solution -- get back to me when you break the four minute mile.
#4 'Coach, hills are not speed work. can't we do speed?' (the first coach moan I heard!)
Quite possibly hill work is the best form of running you can do. In the high (geddit?) lands of East Africa there is barely a level road.
Solution -- sprint harder up the hill and feel the speed!
#5 'Coach, please don't tell me not to talk during speed work, I want running to be more social.'
"Every club has its talkers. That is fantastic, all the time except whilst the speed work is going on. For the small percentage of the week when you concentrate on pure speed (unless you are out clubbing) you really should do a favor to yourself and save all your oxygen for its primary purpose -- to fuel the pace. Often the problem with talking is the talkee distracts (ruining) other people's, who may be a bit more polite than the coach, work outs.
Solution -- talk on the warm up, cool down, in your sleep, but not in the middle of 5 x 800m!"
"But my fellow athletes please see this as a tongue in cheek article, not meant for anything more than to let you ponder, and let the mind self reflect, perchance, for a second or tongue. thus making sure the next time you do a TMA your brain will be in gear before the mouth is in motion.
Let your legs do the talking at workouts!-- End of Post.
5/4 Sad news for Kenya when Asbel Kiprop came up as a positive EPO test. The news also brought out a whole news series of claims. The claims include Asbel being asked for money, from the drug testers, and Asbel paying money, to the drug testers which does not look good for either party. First question, how much was paid as this will give an insight to why a payment was being made...There is much info about this that has been hidden, from the last five or six years, I wonder now if it will surface? Also some 'obvious's' that have not been noticed. Let's hope justice prevails. Kiprop talks to Reuters (LINK)
5/1 Shocked to see Gibson guitars, 500-million in the red, have filed for bankruptcy. An iconic brand with an iconic sound. #Petergreen.Over in Nairobi -- MANY thanks to Joyce Nduku, Jael Amara, Rose Sang who held a fund raising run for the Shoe4Africa Kids hospital today with former World record holder Patrick Makau and Nairobi women's rep Esther Passaris.
4/30 Sad for the passing of Bruce Tulloh, a man I met back in racing days in the 90's, an author and the coach of man, like Mike Boit. He brought training to Kenya in the 60's and worked with Peter Foster. In 2010 Bruce walked with his wife Sue on the Marathon to Athens course to raise funds for the Shoe4Africa Children's Hospital.
My racing partner, the Chairman of the NYRR, and a legend in the running community, George Hirsch decided he did not want to run the Healthy Kidney 10k, he was more focused on going to Yankee Stadium with his grandson Rhys to watch NYC FC. Mary Wittenberg, another stalwart name who was holding a brunch later that morning at her apartment, and her new apartment (at the exact same time, work that one out if you can!) also did not want to race. So I ended up going for a solitary jog in the park early. Although it was an hour and a half before the race I chose to run on the West Side of the park as the course was to be on the East Side. The Healthy Kidney 10k route had changed; runners would start on East 69th and do a counter-clockwise loop of the park meaning that both the Cat Hill and Harlem Hills would be included on the course. This is the toughest course in the park. Approaching 85th St on the dirt path two Kenyans came bounding along, I say bounding in that their strides were like springs, not in speed, they were just warming up, and of course in a nano-second I recognized them to be direct form Kenya, not local runners born in Kenya. They smiled and I merely thought, �mm, looks familiar.�
Long story cut short yesterday, I later found out that in the park, Ronex Kipruto (remember that name!) and Matthew Kimeli, whom some may of heard of before, ran together for Ronex to break the course record and the park record, plus record one of the best ever road performances given the demanding route � 27:08 10k!! (Kimeli a world class 27:19) The last time I saw these two was a few months earlier at Brother Colm�s training camp dinner in Iten. To see them now on the US roads running like this�. Well if I had a dollar to bet on the 2020 Olympics.
Huge business - - 'After years of talks and two break-ups, T-Mobile and Sprint finally agree to their $26 billion telecom merger.' That is another wow, and a big congrats to John Legere who has worked tirelessly to make it happen.
4/26
Serving for a cause � business leaders teams up with tennis pros in charity tournament for Shoe4Africa�s first children cancer hospital in Kenya
New York, 25 April 2018 �� Peter Worth and former pro tennis player Juan Carlos Parker took home the �Shoe4Africa � Aces for Africa� title on April 25, fending off challenges from a strong field of 14 pairs of tennis enthusiasts from the business sector and accomplished professional players.
All former champions of the tennis tournament, including last year�s winner and Player of the Match Ron Sussman from Sussman Education and former pro player Jonas Mouly, returned to the City View Racquet Club on Long Island this year.
The Worth-Parker duo knocked out renowned philanthropist Whitney Tilson and former pro player Will Boe in the semi-final, before they went on to defeat Lee Rubenstein and former top 100th ranked ATP player Fredrik Jonsson to claim the trophy.
Aces for Africa is a brainchild of David and Zeynep Siegel to raise funds for Shoe4Africa � a non-profit organization aiming to construct a cancer hospital in Eldoret, Kenya, adjacent to the first public children hospital in East and Central Africa that it opened in August 2015. The event has raised over USD 150,000 since its birth in 2016.
�For the third year in a row we were able to support this wonderful cause with an extremely competitive group of tennis players,� said David Siegel, chairman of Shoe4Africa. �Fortunately, we are happy to shine a light on the children of Kenya who desperately need someone looking out for them to improve healthcare and educational infrastructure. Zeynep and I are looking forward to growing the tennis tournament and raising awareness in years to come.�
Eminence Capital CEO Ricky Sandler and Impulsive Group CEO Hank Freid were also among business leaders who joined the event this year. While the professional field were made up of star players such as Julien Morel from France, who played on the ATP tour until 2001, as well as Kyle Keigerman, Jon Pastel and Mary Clayton � who played for Princeton, Davidson and Duke respectively.
Tilson, who won the Player of the Match title in 2016 and participated in all three editions, said he �had a blast� every year. �It�s such a treat playing with such high-caliber players � many played in college or on the tour � and it�s all for a great cause,� he said.
Toby Tanser, founder and CEO of Shoe4Africa, echoed Tilson�s comments. �The standard of play at this third edition was first class, I can't believe most of these guys have real 9-5 jobs and play at this level. It is heartwarming to see these players stepping up to help the less fortunate kids at our public hospital in Africa.�
Built on the success of the 150-bed Shoe4Africa Children's Hospital in western Kenya, which has treated over 110,000 patients last year, Tanser and Siegel aim to break ground on the country�s first pediatric oncology treatment center by raising USD 2 million.
�We've proved that we can build a hospital and get it running. It is a travesty that 9 out of 10 kids diagnosed with cancer are dying today in East Africa, and we have the interventions to do something about it,� Tanser said. �The goal is to start operating the cancer facilities 24 months from groundbreaking. This building will, at once, start drastically changing the odds for the better for those kids.�
About Shoe4Africa
Shoe4Africa is a 501 c3 not-for-profit based in New York City and Eldoret. For the first 19 years of operations it was 100% volunteer base. The project management fees for the Shoe4Africa Children's Hospital were less than USD 15,000, far below any reasonable standard. S4A also has five government-accredited schools in Kenya, and a thriving women�s empowerment program. All projects exclusively use local workers; 100% of the projects are driven from Kenya.
4/22 Amazing Eliud Kipchoge. Boom. Out and our the best marathoner ever seen. Amazing Vivian Cheruiyot. And amazing Mary Keitany -all three amazings... Boiling hot yet Mary said, let me attempt to go where none have been before, as did Eliud. Congrats also to Abel Kirui, and Mo Farah.. more amazings. And over in Vienna, a lady who won the Wien marathon, but was training in Kenya and went to the world Juniors back in 1995... Nancy Kiprop!
4/21 Glad to see the Parks are finally going to say goodbye to cars inside NYC's premier park, at last.
back in the early 2000's I was invited to Grace Mansion to meet the Mayor. I took a proposal, it was called Stamp Out Smoke. The logo was a runner striding ontop of a giant cigarette. The rational was to ban cigarette smoking inside the world's greatest park. My main argument was runners take much deeper breaths than non-runners, yet we both share the same space in a crammed city. At that time it was an unheard of concept. I got an official letter of thanks, and silence. Yet seven years later - boom! It became illegal to smoke in the park!
04/18 London Marathon - bizarre! A few days to the actual race and the organizers are yet to tell her what pace the race's pacemakers are going to run at. The London Marathon and its line up is the Marathon of 2018 as far as the elite field goes.Boston Marathon - how can someone be in #7 place with one kilometer to go, then not finish! Bizarre. In a never see again race the ladies top five was... never to be seen again!
The men was a little more normal and was reminiscent to the time Robert Cheruiyot won in 2:14 (was it?)
Expect nothing like that in London!
London Marathon men's elite field (LINK) London Marathon women's elite field (LINK)
04/02 RIP to Winnie Mandela, passing over in South Africa.
04/01 In Kenya age is just a number used to fill in a space on a form... (LINK) - Commonwealth Games 44-years old marathoner Kenneth.
03/25 The last Male White Rhino on this planet is dead. Two females remain.. then extinction. Soon it wil be the tiger in the wild. Who is to blame? Before we start pointing fingers remember that the massacres of wildlife, then called Game Hunting, was done by Westerners where, for instance back in 1909... "(T)Roosevelt and his companions killed or trapped approximately 11,397 animals. " Smithsonian Institution Archives. Retrieved 10 April 2012. The hunt began a long time ago, and for the White Rhino it seems the final chapter is coming.Other better news Geoffrey Kamworor destroys the world in the Half Marathon Champs, winning for Kenya in 60:02, in front of another Kenyan running for Bahrain was it? There was a new destroyer in the women's race who front ran in the wind on a harsh conditions day when Ethiopa�s Netsanet Gudeta broke Kenya�s dominance in the World Half Marathon Championships winning in 66:11, although someway short of Kenya's Joyciline Jepkosgei, who holds the overall world record of 1:04:51... and was second in this race. Ethiopia was winning the team races with some new names, as per usual. However, if Eunice Chumba, born in Kenya, lives and trains in Kenya and Kenyan until a couple of years ago, and Abraham Cheroben, born in Kenya,
lives in Kenya, trains in Kenya, hadn't boith changed their citizenship to Bahrain then Kenya would have won both Team Gold's.
03/18 In NYC the American Ben True won the NYC Half with Ethiopia�s Buze Diriba, whilst sadly Wilson Loyanae of Kenya, a drugs cheat, won the Seoul Marathon.
The winning times in NYC of 62' and 72' appear to be the slowest of the last few years for this event.... Olympic Gold medalist Vivian Cheruiyot, who dropped out, past the 10-mile marker way slower than 6-minute mile pace..
Meanwhile over in LA - Weldon Kirui in 2:11 won for Kenya and Sule Utura in 2:33 for the women... Back in Kenya about four days ago, on Thursday night, I met Jane Kibii, who has won this race adn was flying to go and race this weekend. She had missed her flight on Wednesday night to get to LA (A long long trip from Kenya). Now we are boarding a flight from Eldoret to Nairobi that was supposed to leave at 5:30pm so she could catch a 10pm flight from Nairobi to Dubai for leg one. The plane keeps on getting delayed. Finally at 7:30 we board, bear in mind it is a 50-min flight and then she must race from domestics to International, along with her 4-yr old daughter Belvia... We all get on the plane so relieved as 18-people are going to make International connections that night from Nairobi... so we must all leave Eldoret ASAP. We belt up wait as the pilot fires up the proprellor plane engine. The guy next to me has an 8pm flight to South Africa, he is praying it is delayed as this flight is. Then the pilot says, "Sorry, we can't go, the weather is too bad..." Dejected Jane realizes the race is further away that it appeared. Not surprised to see hat she did not make the top three.
02/26 Best news of the day - Nigeria And Jamaica Just Made History With Women's Bobsled Teams at the Winter Olympics!Worst news of the day - toothache. I have had it for two weeks. Last week it got worse, but manageable. Last night I could not sleep as the left side of my face swelled up and throbbed, finally around 5am I fell asleep only to wake at 7. My eye was puffy. I was hoping to hold out till I went to Kenya, I guess I can't.
Winning the Glasgow indoor 3000m was Justus Soget, of Kenya... the son of one of the most talented runners who never appeared on the world stage, if I am not wrong, Christopher Soget. Another star from Iten beating the world.
02/25 The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo? Nope it is the Lady with the "I don't dope" sweatshirt, a bobsledder from... Russia, who has now got caught at the 2018 Winter Olympics, to go with the Russian Curler. LINK
Congratulations to both Dickson Chumba who won the Tokyo marathon in 2:05:30, and to Amos Kipruto, who finished in third place (2:06:33) earlier today. A wonderful result for the 2 Running Club. The first of the year�s major marathons.
Dickson and Amos were at the Shoe4Africa Children�s Hospital handing out gifts to the sick kids recently. They made the kids day by walking round all the wards, talking to the kids. Today it as their day. Congratulations!
Dickson Chumba taking a gift to one of the kids, Amos behind in the Red T shirt.
02/22 Two signs of the times: 'Louisiana doctors wrote 4.9 million opioid prescriptions in 2017. As Governor Edwards pointed out today, there are only 4.6 million people in Louisiana.'
Russian Curler... loses medal over doping? Nothing more than that one sentence, after the ocean and volcano of CAS supporting overturning Russia's ban says a volume. My sympathy is with all the hard working athletes who every day give all to fight in a sport whose governance seems questionable at best.
I flew to Seattle. After a two hour delay we boarded the flight, the attendant gets on the mic, 'Good and bad news. We are finally leaving. Bad news, the new pilot doesn't have enough hours to fly to Seattle. You are going to Denver.' #travelwoes
02/21 What a hero! Read on USATF that Julia Hawkins has recently taken up running... she is 101-years old!
Beyond what we call inspirational. Good for Julia.
RIP Billy Graham, someone wrote - "Graham embraced politicians but was never political." I think, with an opinion, we are all political, but I feel more than politics, to be an influencer without a political bias is a much needed attribute these days.The Ethiopian team is named for the World Half coming in Valencia next month- Men: Dawit Fikadu, Betesfa Getahun, Getaneh Molla, Jiksa Tadesse, Jemal Yimer. Women: Ruti Aga, Meseret Belete, Bekelech Gudeta, Zinash Mekonnen, Zeineba Yimer.
The USA team is as follows, Men: Samuel Chelanga, Diego Estrada, Leonard Korir, Bernard Lagat, Jared Ward
Women: Sara Hall, Jordan Hasay, Natosha Rogers, Elaina Tabb, Becky Wade... sorry to see that Haron Lagat, despite having one of the fastest times ever in the USA history, despite being a US soldier and citizen, is not listed.
Update: Check out this petition to get Haron to the world's at Change.org HARON LAGAT.
02/9/2018 Congrats to Mary Keitany, the world's fastest Marathon - half marathoner... she now sits at #3 all time at the Half marathon world list that is totally dominated by.... 1)Joyciline Jepkosgei (Kenya) 64:51
2)Fancy Chemutai (Kenya) 64:52
3)Mary Keitany (Kenya) 64:55
4)Peres Jepchirchir (Kenya) 65:06
5)Caroline Kipkurui (Kenya) 65:07
6)Florence Kiplagat (Kenya) 65:09
7)Violah Chepchumba (Kenya) 65:22
8)Joan Chelimo Melly (Kenya) 65:37
9)Cynthia Limo (Kenya) 66:04
10)Gladys Cherono (Kenya) 66:07
We will soon be opening the Shoe4Africa Mary Keitany secondary school in Baringo county, Kenya.
01/31 Today is the day for the #Brooklynhalf, the magazine Runner's World has tips how to get into the race. LINK. I think I will pass on this one. I am guessing I might have the record for the last place finisher in the race that came only a couple of years after I was the first placer finisher... and it was a solo run into a 25 mph headwind. These days they have, gladly, reversed the course.IN other more interesting news I read that the most generous Ernest and Everlyn Rady gave a whopping $50 million USD to help the homeless on the West Coast through the Salvation Army. What an amazing and fab gesture.
This day is called... -- not in my wildest imagination -Next up: Community Grants: Grants of up to $75,000 will be awarded to programs that strengthen the economic security of low-income Korean Americans in the greater New York metro area... when I saw this in my inbox I thought great, a grant I can apply to... then I realized it was 7 am and I had not had my second cup of coffee yet... and Korea is not Kenya...
Meanwhile La Vie en Rose continues to play on auto repeat.
01/30 Track Meet hosted by Urban Athletics (read tons of good stuff, drinks, prizes etc and fun)
I woke at 5:45 am this morning. I have been working all day at the computer, and it is now 9:58 pm and I am still going.. but the odd thing is I have had my Windows Media Player playing on single song for all this time, all this time. It is a 7-minute 30-second rendition of Grace Jones' La Vie en Rose. Now I do the maths I realize I have been sitting here for sixteen hours and I am not tired yet! And how comes it has taken me four minutes to write this post and it is now 10:02 pm... Go Grace!
01/29 Well I guess I did not get the invite... David Beckham announces a ML soccer team coming to Miami in 2020 today in Miami, getting a stadium maybe in 2021... the announcement was not made on Miami beach but I must say that I enjoyed running along the beach in the beautiful sunshine listening to the crashing waves on my right and not thinking about the New York weather! #EdenRoc Since the 1990's peeps have been saying that 'football' is going to take off in America yet to penetrate the big sports like Baseball, Basketball and American Football seems a long shot? Hmm, especially not helped by the USA not qualifying for the World Cup 2018... bu the village of Iceland (population half the size of Staten Island) does.
01/28
Miami Marathon, many amazing stories out on the course. Team Lifeline defeating the odds. On the run hearing some heart rendering stories.
01/20 The London Marathon, as it (almost) always does, makes other Elite fields look tatty. With Mary Keitany Vs Tirunesh Dibaba and Eliud Kipchoge Vs Mo Farah and Kenenisa Bekele we can safely say, in January, there will be no marathon close to compare to this one in 2018. Well done London.
01/19 The man who was controversially left off the Kenyan team last year... 'UTEP's (Kenya's) Michael Saruni recorded the fastest time ever for an indoor 600m, 1:14.79'
01/18
For the last few days I have been in Denver Colorado. What a nice place, especially where I am staying! Thanks to Doug and Kim, in a beautiful (mansion) house... in Castle Rock. I glanced on the Internet, after giving a speech about Shoe4Africa and saw this:
In 2017 Kenya had an amazing year in Athletics, with the Sublime performances of Eliud Kipchoge, the world's greatest marathoner, and the amazing Mary Keitany breaking the women's world record. On the track they had gold medal winners aplenty in the world championships.
Kenya like most countries has its own Athletics awards night and it was heartening to read: "Paralympian Samuel Muchai was Wednesday night named the 2017 Kenya Sports Personality of the Year at the annual awards ceremony held at the Kenyatta International Convention Centre.
"Muchai waylaid stiff competition from three other category winners � world champions Conseslus Kipruto (3,000 metres steeplechase) and Hellen Obiri (5,000m) along with Deaflympian Beryl Wamira � to triumph."
Quite possibly the greatest ever Toyota commercial of all time, that Toyota did not pay a penny for. LINK
01/14 Minus 7 celsius with 10mph winds... New York City. Yuck.01/13 When a person writes an article in the newspaper and their only aim is to promote a book they have written, or slide in facts about themselves... #overdone #boring.
NYC is cold, grey and people tell me "You should have been here last week...
Apparently 'they' had the coldest winter in 100-years.
2018 Doha Half Marathon Results saw Alex Kibet win in 61' mins... We will have to wait for the Great Mo' on the road results.
Meanwhile over in Edinburgh Iten resident of HATC Amos was #3 (Running under his Turkish name - Ali) - way to go for this hard working Nandi Warrior!
Loving to See the CEO of T-mobile, John Legere, giving us a tweet! A friend with a big heart and a big helper too! Amazing man.
01/10 What a week; running around, doing everything!I certainly should write a proper blog as every day in Kenya is an event and a half, right now I am posting collective thoughts in differing forums.... Briefly, thanks to Betsy Saina (#5 in the Olympics 10,000) and Caroline Rotich (Boston marathon winner) for their recent visit to the hospital to visit our kids.
Caroline and Betsy - fast runners!
Thanks to Olympic Champ Peter Rono for volunteering at our feeding program... Thanks to Alyssa O'Connor and Andy Arnold for starting the Ruby in the Rift program at the Shoe4Africa Martin Lel school... Congrats to our women's group for completing the Beans Project in our Women's Empowerment project... Thanks to Nathan and Novartis for their visit to the hospital...
Lots going on this year, I have a feeling it is going to be a fab one for Shoe4Africa, or should I say I hope so!
01/01/2018 Spent the afternoon with Charles and Mary Keitany as we plan the next school. An exciting new project that is bringing secondary education to an area that needs it.
A couple of days ago I met the Governor of Baringo at a function for the 1988 Olympic Champ Peter Rono, so we discussed the school there too. A nice event with people such as 1984 Olympian Edwin Koech, also Charles Cheruiyot from the 84 + 88 Olympics, Matthew Birir and Abel Kirui who is training withe Eliud Kipchoge as they will both race in London.
Bob Tahri, the French steeplechase legend a a friend since 1997 is here, in Iten. We also met Caroline, who paced Mary to the world record in London and will soon, with her 14:27 5k speed soon become a Kazakhstan citizen!
Good news; I spoke with Kuki Gallman (I dreamed of Africa) who was a victim if that terrible attack in April... she is sounding really recovered with her positive spirit and heart.
Shoe4Africa wishes you and your family a safe, healthy and happy holiday season!
We are so grateful for another year working to advance the health & education and make changes in the community empowering people in Kenya and her surrounds. Thank you for all the support you have given Shoe4Africa this year. Our work would not be possible without our supporters.
12/25
Full article here on the Daily Nation - LINK It was a great day at our hospital when Olympic Champion and Mr. Sub2 Eliud Kipchoge, 3X NYC and London marathon winner and world record holder Mary Keitany, Olympic Champion Matthew Birir, and Olympic Silver medalist Sally Kipyego came to hand out the gifts to our kids; over 450 gifts!
The little girl in the picture, Sasha, is from Soy, Kenya but lives in Mombasa. She was visiting her grandma when she fell and broke her arm.
12/19 Father Christmas is at the Shoe4Africa Hospital, says he is also coming on Thursday...
"Justin Gatlin, the world 100 metres champion, is at the centre of a new doping scandal after members of his team offered to illicitly supply performance-enhancing drugs." Sad truth about this man is again all about the drugs!Mo Farah wins Sports personality of the year after not finishing in the top three last year doing the Olympic Double Double. Nice that he is finally appreciated.12/18
What a line up! Better than a Diamond League! We had a visit yesterday to the Shoe4Africa Children�s hospital by a group of very fast runners who kindly brought a ton of gifts to the kids! Thank you to all, from left:
Alfred Kirwa (Olympic Bronze & World champ). John Kipkoech (12�49� in 5000m). Now going for road. Jairus Birech (Steeplechase 7:58 African Games champ). Pauline Korikwiang (World JXC Champ, black nike t-shirt). Betwel Limo (behind Pauline. brother to Janeth. not an athlete). Margaret Agai (marathon. PB: 2h 23�. Winner of 2017 Seoul marathon).
Barselius Kipyego (behind Margaret, 59:14 � half marathon).
Eunice Sum (world champ 800, Commonwealth games champ).
Dickson Chumba (won the Rome, Eindhoven, Tokyo, and Chicago marathons, PR 2:05:42). Edwin Kibet (behind Eunice and Dickson. 2h 08� marathon. 59� in half).
Geoffrey Saurei (guy behind Dickson with cap. Camp Cook).
Felix Kibitok (Next to the cook. Winner of 2017 Nairobi half).
Viola Yator (next to Dickson. 2h26�. Winner of 2017 La maraton Vert in France). Asbel Kipsang (behind Viola. Not much visible. 2h 07� guy). Hellen Chepkorir (next to Viola. 2h 34� marathon PB). Akopesha Abraham (Behind Hellen. 2h 10� guy. 60� in half). Dominic Letting (left side of Akopesha. Up and coming athlete).Jonathan Kitilit (next to Hellen. 1�43�.05 in 800m). Betty Lempus (next to Kitilit. 2h 29� marathon). Evans Chebet (behind in the middle of Kitilit and Betty. Marathon�2h 05�30�. 2nd in 2017 Valencia marathon). Cyprian Kotut (2h 07�. 59�. Paris Marathon 2016 Champion; Martin Lel�s brother. Next to Evans). Solomon Kirwa (next to Betty Lempus, in front of Janeth. 2h 07� 13� in Paris 2017. 3rd position. 58� 44� half marathon). Janeth Jepkosgei (World Champ 800). Patrick Siele (next to Solomon. 3rd in 2017 Nairobi half). Margaret Chelimo (behind Patrick next to Janeth Kossy Jepkosgeih. 5th in London in 5000m. 14�31� pb). Jackline Cheron (next to Margaret. up & coming athlete).
Barnabas Kipyego (next to Patrick. 2015 junior world champion steeplechase. 8�09�pb). Claudia Ekai. Down from left: Amos Kipruto (2h 05�43�pb). Benson Kipruto (2h 07�21� pb. Chumba�s brother). Daniel Cheribo (marathon coach). Thanks so much to the 2 Running Club and coach Claudio Berardelli for coming and gifting and lighting up the faces of the little kids!
12/16 Last night with Paul Chelimo, Haron Lagat, Brother Colm, Kip Evans & Joan, Conor, then Visiline Jepkesho came along as we were dining with Colm's Junior Team. As usual he has a new hoard of stars, like Rhonnex, and Mathew Kimeli - the two best 10,000m runners - a most fun night.Congrats to Jon Dunham... "Lionsgate has just released BOSTON in 96 countries! This is the biggest release a film about running has ever had. It is now available on every major platform e.g. iTunes, Amazon, Google Play, etc. Here�s the iTunes link:
https://itunes.apple.com/us/movie/boston/id1313896334 - Welld one Jon!
12/15 Oh my goodness - Mary Keitany does not win Kenya's athlete of the year, and she does not even win Kenya's road runner of the year... AND Eliud Kipchoge does not win Kenya's athlete of the year, and he does not even win Kenya's road runner of the year... At the Athletics Kenya Gala last night.
Mo Farah announced at the jan 12th Doha Half marathon in his build up for London. In Iten the former room where Mo used to stay is called the Room of champions, in the home of champions... meanwhile the government are building a new road that will link Iten to Kaptagat... where Eliud Kipchoge lives for most of the week... a place that can also be called a Home of a Champion.
At a charity event, held by Purosangue - they are holding a series of kids running races at a local public school. Great job educating the kids to #runclean. This is an Italian Org and they are holding five events in Kenya. the org is run by Nico Pannevis and Max, formerly of the Rome Marathon. Good guys helping out. I git invited as the guest and I am ashamed to say I arrived almost 90-minutes late as was held up with other issues!Had a wonderful meal at Mary Keitany's house with husband Charles and his mother Catherine, and their kids. Plus a lot of conversation with Charles's uncle on agri-mthods... Meanwhile our women's empowerment group are messing up their bean project, I think I need to give them a few tips on work hours!
12/14 A few years ago, maybe two, we held a talent race at a primary school where a young girl showed true grit and determination digging deep and winning a race. So we have been following her for a couple of years, promising that when she comes to the secondary we will support her.
Her family is very poor, and there are many hardships she has faced; yet she is a good fighter. So this week, to get her feet wet, we took her to the famous Brother Colm training camp. It is three weeks but she�s just going for four days, to meet the girls, she the work, with the hope of next year going for the entire camp.
I have a feeling that Lydia�s destiny will be dramatically changed by her running, for her and her community. Time will tell.
Pic shows Lydia leaving the farm and setting off to chase her future.
With Moses Kiptanui, at his supermarket - a man who excelled in both running and in business... and we are talking about Water tanks for an avocado project to empower women and feed kids at a hospital.
12/13/2017 True story a famous athlete, Male, Olympic champion, walked in to a doctor's office. He wanted an asthma inhaler. The Dr. told him, I am sorry, after your test you do not qualify. The athlete asked his manager for another referral. The second Doctor had a large poster of this athlete competing on the track on his wall. You need an asthma inhaler? What type?
Until we have independent doctor's on the job the drug testing game continues to be a joke...
Reading today about Chris Froome's double over the limit dose of medication. ink to the British press (LINK) I am sure if it was an American athlete the story would not be written as it is...
12/11 Want to read about all the good tips of Why you should run? Nice to read if even to reassure yourself - LINK here 35 Amazing Health Benefits of Running, According to Science (+10 Tips for Beginners) by Jacky Anderson.The Shoe4Africa team is 75% full for the United Airlines NYC half on March 18th, 2018 - be quick to grab a spot!Mama Rosie doing amazing things for 5,000 kids in South Africa. Read more on the CNN Heroes. LINK "I called them in, and we sang rhymes, and I gave them bread and something to drink," said Mashale, a former schoolteacher. "And that was the birth of the daycare center." Pop into Bread Alone bakery in Scarsdale to learn more.
12/09 Competition in Iten, nice to bump into and have a long chat with Paul Koech, the one from the 90's. Missed almost all the races talking to the new Deputy Governor, Brother Colm, Koila... a lot of friends there. Nice to see them all. Even the famous Italian coach, Renato Canova - it was like the old days! Brother Colm revealed his new secret Kenyan - Rhonnex kipruto who won the Junior men and will be a big name in the future...
12/08 I wish Runner's World had created a library of all the 'A brief chat's' done over the years to have created a true running library... Ten years ago I interviewed Shalane Flanagan for Runner's World. Ten year later I thought I wonder what the answers were... all gone, deleted into cyberspace.
Is anyone an expert with google adwords? Looking for advice.
At the airport for check in and the lady tells me, "The plane is leaving one hour late, at 2pm." I said, do you mean three, the designated time was 2pm. She then replies, "Oh no, we changed the flight yesterday to leave at 1pm." Geez, good job the time got changed back. As Leonardo Di Cap is famously known as saying, TIA.
12/05 At the Chai Life ball - amazing things happening at Camp Simcha and around the world for sick children.European Marathon record finally falls.. to a Norwegian! Congrats to Sondre Moen; no stranger to Kenya!Learning about the great work the Kitale Project are doing for street children! Check them out at thekitaleproject.org "If only one man dies of hunger, that is a tragedy. If millions die, that�s only statistics.� Today hundreds of children are dying in Kenya when diagnosed with cancers. What is treatable in the West is an almost death sentence in East Africa. 9/10 kids diagnosed with cancer are dying in East Africa. When the West has successfully got these numbers down to 1/10 why can't we have the same interventions to make the same outcomes?
11/30 Last day to enter the lottery for the United Airlines NYC half!
Biggest match up of 2018 for the running media starts today and ends at London - Eliud Kipchoge against Mo Farah. If you look at Mo's stride he takes less steps than most top marathoners (when in half marathon mode)... He needs to shorten the stride and quicken the turnover. If he is able to do this, and transition to the road it is clear that he is in the 2:03-2:04:30 range. On paper he is equal to that performance; but paper and performance is thrown out of the window on the race day. Great for the sport! Needed for the sport.11/29 #GivingTuesday - is there anything better than saving children's lives?11/28 A little late for Black Friday but finally got to see what it actually is... albeit in Seattle... in the rains.Coming up: The United Airlines NYC Half non-guaranteed entry drawing will take place on Wednesday, December 6, 2017. On this day, your organization will be listed on the United Airlines NYC Half charity webpage and you will get access to your invitation codes in My NYRR so you may invite runners to register... come run with us!
11/08 Sumgong's excuse - link... Not valid, there is no record of her being at the hospital at that time. No record, and no one single person that can vouch for her. No excuse.
So the situation now sits as Sumgong apparently (being?) sorry... Unless there is a financial payback a sorry means nothing to the women whom she displaced with her cheating. Let's see. Sumgong, it is time for you to step up and do something... positive... oops!
Finally... ADAK sanctions Jemima Sumgong with a four year ban. The first reigning Olympic marathon champ to be caught. Such a huge shame for Kenya that an individual brings down the name of the other runners.... When Justin Gaitln gets caught (the first or the second) no one says 'Ah all Americans are dirty...' but when a Kenyan gets caught...
11/07 What a marathon weekend!! Too much fun and greatness.
Derick Wittenberg & Mary, Pieter Langerhorst, Lornah, Paula, and I.
From the start (meeting my international running friends on Wednesday) to the finish (dinner last night at the NYRR chairman George's house who was kind enough to come out in the rain on race day and meet me at the finish) it was a spectacle event. My ace Shoe4Africa team, the great team breakfast's, the parties... our fab post race party at a button factory! And more... all the stories etc.
I go to the RunCenter for my Kenyan Running talk... here are the people I had to follow.
Haile Gebrselassie, Paula,
Bill Rodgers, German Silva, and Ryan Hall. Anyway we had a Kenyan talk with Lornah Kiplagat, Peter Rono, Starbucks and I. Peter Rono, Olympic Gold in the 1500 is going home to Kenya in December after an absence of 15-years,
it will be a big welcome for him!
daily Nation, �My success has come as a result of high standards of discipline inculcated in me at the camp. We followed strict instructions from our coaches and the management at the camp,� Geoffrey Kamworor, NYC winner 2017. Lifetime amazing result by Shalane Flanagan to win the women's race... can she double up in Boston? Mary Keitany had a bad day and that shows the caliber of the athlete as she still finished second. Every one in NYC, from taxi drivers to street hopping ants is ranting, "American woman... won!" Shalane has done something amazing for the women's sport of distance running in the country.
11/04 If you are a Team Shoe4Africa runner tomorrow you get 40%, yes 40, off all running gear (all brands)!! Come to our morning run.In Marathon week in NYC everyone comes to town. Even the people you don't expect. More managers; I met Brendan O'Reilly, Tom Ratcliffe, Michel Boeting (whom stays 50-meters from me when he is in Kenya), Hawi, Hicham, and quite a few more... then runners aplenty; met Abdi who is looking great - he was #3 last year, Edna Kiplagat - who won Boston earlier this year and Gilbert who are here with their family, Michel Butter from the Netherlands who is often in Kenya and has been going to Kaptagat before it became the popular place to be (and is the undisputed Ping Pong Champ of Iten), Haron Lagat - a long time friend and a Cherangani neighbor, good to see him, I had no idea he was here, along with the US army team, and Paul Chelimo, a great guy from Iten who grabbed the Olympic Silver behind Mo. Diane, Burundi's best runner, and Betsy Saina again. Funny to think how the city comes alive with all the runners, then goes down on Monday when the event is over.Sad to hear that Tanzania's Nat. record holder in the Half Marathon, 59:30, Ismail Juma, died in a road accident. He won the Istanbul half earlier this year and was Tanzania's most promising athlete for a while.AIMS marathoner of the year - Nov 10th - Mary Keitany and Eliud Kipchoge. No one can dispute that result. (even though it is yet to be announced).
11/03 Amazing line up-- come by and say hello
Who is not at the NYRR RunCenter this Saturday? Come on down, it is free and join us - Haile Gebrselassie, Bill Rodgers, Ryan Hall, German Silva, Paul Tergat, Jenny Simpson, Lornah Kiplagat, Kathrine Switzer, Emma Coburn, Deena Kastor are all coming into town to be there this weekend. Along with Gordon Bakoulis, Alison Desir, and me... and Mr. Starbucks too. It is going on at the NYRR RunCenter, 320 West 57th St.
11/2 NYC marathon - we went to see Mary Keitany and Charles. Great catching up with them. Also Betsy Saina (my sister-in-law) who is here making her NYC debut. Then, at the Hall of Fame, Starbucks and Lornah (who was getting an award), and Paula Radcliffe, who is traveling like crazy these days, seems to be everywhere, and looks great... and of course all the NYRR peeps. Bumped into Hawi, Meb's brother who does all the management, and speaking of which great to see Luis Felipe Posso - one of the legend Managers who is not looking day older than he did back in the 1990's! Meb of course yesterday getting the top NYRR award of the Abebe Bikila prize... well deserved, iconic USA runner of the century!
Mason, Mary, Charles, David, Samantha, and Jared.
11/1 Run Clean, a campaign started in Kenya in 2015...
One wonders just what was Jemima Sumgong, top left, thinking as she smiled.... Jemima, busted early this year whilst preparing for the London Marathon, did so at a time when Kenya was calling out for "criminalizing doping"....
The truth of the matter is up till today, Nov, Jemima still hasn't received a ban, right? If so exactly how long and starting when... Despite, the #RunClean was a great Kenyan initiative started in Nandi County.
10/29 News from Liverpool (BBC) - 30% of our 11-year-olds are obese.
10/28 Vivian Cheruiyot wins her first marathon, 2:23, on a bad weather day - LINK. The Viv that won the Olympic Gold last year in the 5000m...
10/28 Fingers crossed for Martin Kosgey - running Frankfurt tomorrow. A recipient of Shoe4Africa shoes back in the day when he had no shoes! Last year he was #2 in 2:07:22 - let's go Martin!
With Martin at the airport!
A picture from an incredibly talented friend - Jonas Leriche!
In 2010 when Kenya went to the referendum vote Western media and countless other news channels came to Kenya. There was no killing, violence or troubles. Cameras filmed whatever they could "Watch out, maybe just soon..." Nothing happened. Ditto in 2013 - the world went back disappointed. In 2017 any person that died in Kenya became a victim of the elections. Also any person that died was automatically killed by the 'other side' (without trial or reason. On Aug 8th Kenya went to vote, Jubilee won by a landslide, and also won in the majority of the counties (makes sense). Let's just call it 8-mill vs 6-mill. before the elections the opposition had stated, the same as 2007, that if it lost it had to be rigging.
In 2007 when Kenya burned the opposition kept quiet as thousands of Kenyans went to the streets, most jobless machete wielding thugs will to die "for Raila". The educated, the working and the respectable stayed off the streets. the self proclaimed 'baba' could have stopped the killings with one speech; he remained silent for long. 600,000+ displaced, well over 1,000 needless slayings. Where was King Solomon we ask?
Anyway, fast forward to the 26th of Oct. President Kenyatta again gets another 7-mill votes (more than Raila in the first round).
"Turnout for the constituencies counted so far was 43 percent. That figure is likely to decrease when it includes returns of 0 from least 23 constituencies where authorities were unable to open even a single polling station because of protests by Odinga�s supporters." Sad to see the opposition again use excessive violence and force to keep people away from the polling stations.
Congrats to Team Uhurutto, the majority of Kenya has overwhelmingly spoken.
10/14 Went to the Ndalat XC race in Nandi. Good to see my in-law Eliud Kipchoge the greatest marathoner, also Abel Kirui back from Chicago, Janeth Jepkosei was there with Eunice Sum, also Ben Limo, Alfred Kirwa, and many others. Even when we left the VIP area (thanks Solo) we bumped into Olympic Champ Nancy Lagat. It was a crazy day with so many great runners.
10/13 Lunch with Lornah Kiplagat and her mom! Her mom gave us Mursiik - the Kenyan secret! Rotten milk - well cultured!
10/08 Watching the Chicago marathon with Mary Keitany and husband Charles at their house in Iten. Great race, was fun! An unknown Kenyan lady grabbed second - a room of runners and no one had heard of her despite she ran the first 25k at 2:17 pace!
10/07 Met Edna Kiplagat and Gilbert on the road in Iten! They are soon coming to the New York Marathon... and staying in America a little longer. They want to start a school in Kapkoi - we will visit soon. Edna almost won her 3rd title this year in the World Champs.09/16 Thanks to Seattle Green Lake Running Club for the 12-miles today. Great to meet the group and got to run with Jules and Kenny - trying to get everyone to come run in Kenya!
Watched an amazing Doc. on netflix called ICARUS - it was eye opening to say the least, what a superb job by Brian Fogel. Spurred on we next went on to Matthew Mc (complicated name) with Gold - another good watch. I rarely get to watch films but these two were worth the minutes.
09/12/17 Nice to meet Jesse Itzler (http://www.the100mileman.com/living-with-a-seal/) at an event Survive & Thrive, organized by Marvelous Marva and her friends up in Kent CT. Jesse used to volunteer with an Org I am affiliated with and then his staff contacted me a while ago ago about training for a 24-hr relay race... Anyway he is a great speaker; super enjoyable.
At the https://surviveandthrivetoday.com/ event there was a host of fun people doing a lot of exciting things and it all happened at an adventure park - good to meet the Tech world people of tomorrow... today!
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