Iten Adventures (part 2)

Throughout our time in Iten, many runners approached us to chat...simply wanting to know why we were visiting and wish us well on our travels. They smiled, joked with us, and wanted to know about America. It was so incredible to witness their modesty and genuine character. I mean, we were in the city where almost every runner runs a sub 2:15 marathon, and they weren’t the least bit interested in broadcasting their accomplishments. So refreshing!

p.s. We met and chatted extensively with Henry Sugat, a 2:06:58 marathoner and winner of the Vienna Marathon—twice. He didn’t mention any of that while in conversation…

Back to Robert:

I asked him what his marathon time is, and he exclaimed “it’s SO slow!!!....2:17!! His half-marathon time? 62 minutes. That’s 13.1 miles at roughly a 5:10/mile pace. So naturally, my next question was: “Hey, want to take us for a run in the morning?!”

We met Robert at 6:50am and ran a good 56 minutes with him. He told us “I’ll go your pace.” Thanks, Robert. If you want us to go more than 100 feet, you’d better go our pace J He’s a 28 year old who has been running competitively since 10^th grade. Such a sweetheart. He took us back to his “training center” after his run. A one room house with a bed, 3 or 4 outfits, a charcoal jiko stove, a few pots, dishes, & a gorgeous garden out back. He wanted to make us tea as a recovery from the run, so he ran to his Guernsey cow and fetched some fresh milk. It took about 45 minutes until the tea was ready, because the jiko took forever to catch fire. He has a degree to be a chaplain, but is focusing on professional running at the moment. He’s been at it for 3 years, and his days consist of eating, sleeping, and running. REPEAT. After he walked us back to where we were staying, he was off to run another 30K with his friends. No big deal.

Yesterday we joined 14 of E’s students at the National Music Competition, held in Nakuru. It’s similar to our national music competitions, in that you have to go to counties, districts and regionals before you can go to nationals, but unlike the US system, the students go in groups from their schools. It is a 10-day event, where each school performs in many different categories. You can sit in some of the sessions, so E and I saw many deaf schools performing local tribal dances. It was super impressive to see how well they were choreographed, considering their hearing is impaired.

We took a matatu home with 20 people crammed into the matatu, including a large man who pretty much sat on E’s lap. We arrived home after dark with no power, so unlocking the room was a challenge…especially since the kiddos had stuck a stick into our lock, making it impossible to unlock. Thank goodness for safety pins—after about 20 minutes, we were safely inside.

Clarissa comes to visit from Zambia on Thursday! We’re taking 7 days to travel around Kenya, since E is sort of on break. She won’t be with C and I for the whole trip, but she’ll join us when she can. It works out beautifully that she has to be back in Machakos for her VAC meeting so we can meet and stay with her host family from PC training!

Tonight is dinner with MC and his family---MC has the most impressive garden collection of fruits and vegetables I’ve ever seen. No wonder---their growing season is 12 months long! Dad, don’t worry—I took lots of pictures J Dinner is always collected from his organic and sustainable garden, so I’m beyond excited. Plus, his wife, Mama Reidy, is teaching me how to make Green Grams and ugali tonight.

A funny sign on the road to Eldoret: “Clean toilets make life fun.”

Love you – see you soon!