Having made made a 3:25.20 debut over the classic distance in last year’s Dublin Marathon Meghan O’Keeffe was focused and determined to take a chunk off that time last month in Berlin. Meghan prepared and planned diligently for months and months, everything went according to ‘the plan’, except for one slight deviation – a two-week training camp in Kenya in September, that was certainly something which was unplanned. Nevertheless like all good plans there was room for flexibility and adaption. ( Meghan produced a 15 minute PB, a superb 3:09.28, in Berlin) Meghan takes up the story….
Ever since reading ‘Running with the Kenyans’ by Adharanand Finn a few years ago I’ve wanted to visit Iten in Kenya. I dreamed of running on dirt roads with local athletes and becoming immersed in the area’s rich running history and culture. Last month, I spotted a last minute annual leave opportunity at work and decided to act on my dream.
Welcome to Iten
Before arriving in Iten I researched accommodation and training options. I came across an organised two-week camp that suited my availability called ‘Kenya Camp’ and reached out to the owner Hugo van den Broek to enquire. As I was travelling by myself, one of my main priorities was personal safety. After a few emails with Hugo I felt confident of the set-up and booked a place at the camp.
Hugo and his wife Hilda Kibet own and run ‘Kenya Camp’. They are both former international athletes and know how to balance running with rest and other activities. Ahead of camp we received a timetable of runs and events which was handy to have for planning my training with Super-Coach Noel Guiden. I think Noel was a little apprehensive about this trip as training had been going so well at home and by heading to Kenya I was introducing many more variables into the equation. A minor fact was that I was to run the Berlin Marathon the weekend after the training camp in Kenya finished, so Noel’s initial doubts were justified! Was I about to throw away all the hard work of the past few months?
After three flights and two car journeys I arrived at Iten, ready to run. During the camp there was good variation in run type (i.e. easy, tempo, intervals, long, progressive, strides etc.), and also running location and terrain. As with most training weeks, easy runs made up the bulk of the time running. We heard about the term ‘intensity discipline’ from coach Hugo; i.e. having the self-discipline to run an easy/recovery run at a pace that is actually easy on the body. These runs started punctually at 6:30 am and we ran together with Kenyan pacers on the surrounding dirt roads. “Pole Pole” (In English: “Slowly, Slowly”) was the mantra said aloud to encourage running at a relaxed pace. These jaunts were an ideal start to the day. The birdsong and nature were a treat, unpolluted by headphones or traffic. I felt grateful to be able to run with a great group of people from Kenya and afar, all united together to run.
Pole Pole at dawn
For training, almost everybody in Iten joins a group for the morning runs and sessions. Each day at sunrise, packs of runners congregate to get the work done. The athletes I spoke with tend to do all morning runs, sessions and long runs together within a group. The only runs they routinely do themselves are the easy second runs in the evening time. It was noted that Kenyans usually run together in long distance races to empower one another and reach their potential. As members of Clonliffe Harriers know, there is great strength to be found in a strong group that supports one another. When hard work is done together it feels a bit easier.
‘Umoja ni nguvu’ (‘unity is strength’)
Iten is located 2400 metres above sea level. After the first few days of relaxed easy running at altitude I thought I had somehow managed to rapidly adapt to altitude. This perspective was challenged during the first speed session at camp: 6 x 5 min on, 2 min off, on a hilly Kipsoen Road. I realised that there was definitely room for further altitude adaptation when I felt an unfamiliar pang of seasickness-type queasiness reaching a hill summit on the third rep. “Vumilia” was the excellent advice I received from my pacer and new friend Betty as I threatened to veer off pace. “Vumilia” means “persevere”, and we did.
Vumilia!
Besides running, there were a variety of different activities organised by the camp including some excellent seminars, an overnight safari, a chapati cookery class with chef Edwin, and visits to; the homes of aspiring and already successful athletes, local primary and secondary schools, an overnight safari, a local waterfall hike, U.S. student scholarship race trials and a local Kalenjin hut with music, dancing and food shared. Through these activities I learned more about the area, its people, and how a strong running culture prevails.
Though we did meet one athlete who was a member of the Maasai tribe, the majority of Kenyan people living in Iten belong to the Kalenjin tribe. The Kalenjin tribe has a history of producing brilliant running people; Faith Kipyegon, Beatrice Chebet, Eliud Kipchoge and Patrick Sang to name a very few. Throughout the camp, we learned about this tribe by speaking with members, visiting a traditional hut, sharing food, singing and dancing. The people welcomed us warmly and with genuine kindness. We heard different theories behind the athletic success of the Kalenjins including a long history of pastoral farming, generations of lives lived at altitude, bare-foot running on stony dirt roads, a high hardship threshold, a firmly rooted running culture with history of success, and a good physical education programme at schools.
Ugali is a dietary staple in Iten. It is a good source of carbohydrates, fibre and B vitamins and can fuel a runner very well. Murisk is a traditional fermented milk, an acquired taste..
The commute to and from school was also mentioned as a possible Kenyan running success theory, and everyday we saw children of all ages walking or running their way there. When we visited former Olympic and World medalist Sylvia Kibet at her home, she highlighted the importance of her journeys to and from school. Sylvia is the second born in a family of ten children and her main chores growing up were to look after the younger siblings before school and clean up after everyone’s breakfast. As a result, Sylvia says she was always the last kid to leave home in the morning. She couldn’t afford to be late for school as she might be strictly punished, and so got in the habit of running the ~3.5 km to school to make it to lessons on time. At school, the children typically return home for lunch. For Sylvia, this meant running home again for lunch to help prepare the meal before making it back to school on time for the afternoon classes. Sylvia thinks that having this consistent base of 10+ km days of barefoot running from a young age helped nurture the beginnings of her world class running career.
Doing the school run!
On the subject of schools, St Patrick’s High School in Iten is one that is synonymous with education and training of world class athletes. Imagine having a whole wall dedicated to the names of Olympic and World Champ Medallists and participants who attended your school! Brother Colm O’Connell from county Cork has made a huge impact in this school and has been described as ‘The Godfather of Kenyan Running’, coaching a number of athletes to the pinnacle of success in our sport. In Iten when I mentioned coming from Ireland, locals eagerly asked if I knew Brother Colm, who seems to be highly regarded in the area. There is even an ‘O’Connell Street’ named after him! I was eager to meet this man but soon learned that I had just missed him: he was back home in Cork for a few weeks. When I returned home to Ireland, I endeavoured to meet Brother Colm, who kindly fitted me into his Dublin day trip itinerary, and we shared a lovely conversation and coffee in the Phoenix Park Cafe.
 |  With Brother Colm at the Phoenix Park and O’Connell Street, Iten. |
I feel grateful to have met some truly inspiring people, and this luck continued. During the last rep of my first track session at Kipchoge stadium, I noticed someone who looked like Faith Kipyegon doing warm-up drills on the back straight. I rationalised that it couldn’t be her as it was the Tuesday morning after her Diamond League victory in Brussels and we were all the way in Kenya! When we found out that we had in fact been running past the world-record holder I was very happy that I stayed on Betty’s pace for those last few reps, it’s good for Faith to know what she’s up against for L.A. 😉 Faith took a small break from her drills for us to greet her and was humble and kind. At the track, she was just like everyone else: there to get the work done. Judging by her drills, Faith seems to be a fellow disciple of the dynamic ones the Clonliffe Harriers Senior Ladies team do, just like our Ladies Captain Jenny first co-ordinated for us in Portugal a few years ago.
Faith Kipyegon eyeing up the competition for L.A.
In a continued theme of talking with powerful women, we met with Sharon Cherop who is a former Boston marathon champion, among many other accolades. Being a Mum of four children, Sharon spoke about balancing pregnancy and motherhood as she continues to compete at an elite level into her forties. She clocked a 68 minute half marathon last year. Sharon was strong and confident and spoke passionately against corruption and doping, while also acknowledging the complexities of Kenya’s problems.
Throughout the two weeks, the murder of Rebecca Cheptegei was mentioned and discussed. Significant measures of change need to be implemented and I pray that nothing like that ever happens again.
As part of ‘Kenya Camp’, we visited a house of aspiring women athletes who had come from surrounding areas to train in Iten. Rent and living costs money and some of the girls mentioned the considerable sacrifices their families make so that they have a chance at fulfilling their dreams. A few days after the house visit, we had the opportunity to watch the girls in action at a US scholarship race trial in Eldoret. The German company ‘Scholarbook’ held the competition and full scholarship packages were on the line. The pressure to run well and ‘make it’ was palpable.
When speaking and running with local runners I got a sense that many have very strong reasons to run. One former elite athlete described how the running of one individual can greatly improve the living situation and opportunities of that athlete, their families and possibly even the larger community. Running is an established career path and most people seem to personally know at least one athlete who ‘made it’, as well as routinely seeing elite athletes train locally. A culture of belief is fueled. A belief perhaps not dissimilar to that felt at Cathal Doyle’s return to the Clonliffe grounds after his performances at the Olympic Games in Paris. The club listened as he described his visualisations as a younger athlete, someday willing himself to appear on the wall of Clonliffe Harrier Olympians in the clubhouse. Club members of all ages looked on, thinking to apply the sentiment to wherever our own running and dreams are at: why not me, why not now?
Nil Desperandum.
60+ Years of Women’s Athletics at Clonliffe Harriers represented at Kamariny Track
Note: Hugo and Hilda’s accommodation was comfortable and clean, there was a gym on site and the full-board food was great. Chef Edwin baked his own fresh bread and cooked up an array of mainly local meals as well providing plenty of fresh fruit, coffee and chai to keep everyone fueled and hydrated. Vegetarians catered for.
It’s also possible to stay at ‘Iten Accommodation’ full-board without engaging with an organised camp. For more information on accommodation and camps, check out https://www.itenaccommodation.com/ and https://www.kenya-camp.com/. Discount codes available.
