1 00:00:00,040 --> 00:00:03,440 You're listening to episode 304 of the Marathon Running Podcast. 2 00:00:03,760 --> 00:00:07,560 In this episode, we're going to do a recap of the Kenya camp. 3 00:00:09,080 --> 00:00:11,840 Welcome to the Marathon Running Podcast by Marathon Journal. 4 00:00:12,160 --> 00:00:14,520 Join us every week for the insights and inspiration you 5 00:00:14,520 --> 00:00:17,400 need to get from the starting line to the finish line and 6 00:00:17,400 --> 00:00:22,960 beyond. Hey runners, and welcome to 7 00:00:22,960 --> 00:00:25,440 episode 304. My name is Letty. 8 00:00:25,680 --> 00:00:28,000 My name is Ryan. And Ryan, it's been a while. 9 00:00:28,000 --> 00:00:31,800 I'm almost rusty with recording this Ryan, because as you know, 10 00:00:31,800 --> 00:00:34,480 we had pre recorded a whole bunch of episodes that hopefully 11 00:00:34,480 --> 00:00:37,880 all of you guys enjoyed. We had a lot of science on for 12 00:00:37,880 --> 00:00:40,400 the last three weeks. We had arch who helped me 13 00:00:40,400 --> 00:00:44,400 interpret studies that were done running related and they were 14 00:00:44,400 --> 00:00:46,360 really good. And we've received a ton of good 15 00:00:46,360 --> 00:00:49,440 feedback so far. So thank you guys, and I hope 16 00:00:49,440 --> 00:00:53,800 this episode can live up to the episodes of the previous few 17 00:00:53,800 --> 00:00:57,760 weeks, even though this is not anything science related at all 18 00:00:57,760 --> 00:00:59,480 whatsoever. So what are we doing today? 19 00:00:59,480 --> 00:01:02,280 So today we're going to do a recap and I briefly want to 20 00:01:02,280 --> 00:01:06,200 throw in here that if you are a visual person and you would like 21 00:01:06,200 --> 00:01:09,840 to see this Cam rather than just listen to an episode, obviously 22 00:01:09,840 --> 00:01:12,080 don't turn off the episode. Listen to this first. 23 00:01:12,240 --> 00:01:15,040 But if you are a visual person and you want to see some footage 24 00:01:15,280 --> 00:01:18,440 on how everything went, We have created a ton of content and 25 00:01:18,440 --> 00:01:21,760 most of it can be found on our YouTube channel which is at 26 00:01:21,880 --> 00:01:24,360 Marathon Journal. So there is that. 27 00:01:24,400 --> 00:01:26,440 I'm going to link it down in the show notes as well. 28 00:01:26,720 --> 00:01:31,080 So lady, this time you organized the trip with running coach from 29 00:01:31,080 --> 00:01:33,280 Kenya and had a group of people go with you, right? 30 00:01:33,600 --> 00:01:37,800 Yes, I had a coach that I had met and he had been a previous 31 00:01:37,800 --> 00:01:41,640 guest on our podcast who also owns a running camp and his name 32 00:01:41,640 --> 00:01:44,120 is Hugo. He was a 212 marathoner, now 33 00:01:44,120 --> 00:01:47,960 retired. And yeah, with him, we drew up 34 00:01:48,040 --> 00:01:53,040 an itinerary and tried to make as fun as possible, including as 35 00:01:53,040 --> 00:01:55,400 many things that I wanted my group to do. 36 00:01:55,440 --> 00:01:58,120 And let's hear how all that went. 37 00:01:58,120 --> 00:02:00,760 So did you get some exit interviews from the people that 38 00:02:00,760 --> 00:02:03,160 went? I did, and I'm gonna, I guess, 39 00:02:03,160 --> 00:02:07,080 play some of these at the end to also help promote next year's 40 00:02:07,080 --> 00:02:10,280 camp because, you know, Ryan, we're already looking at dates 41 00:02:10,280 --> 00:02:12,400 for next year. So if you couldn't make it this 42 00:02:12,400 --> 00:02:15,280 year, we're already looking at dates for next year. 43 00:02:15,520 --> 00:02:19,960 How many people went this year? I want to say we were 10:00-ish 44 00:02:20,520 --> 00:02:22,800 people. I'm saying ish because there 45 00:02:22,800 --> 00:02:26,600 were some campers that had already arrived early and some 46 00:02:26,600 --> 00:02:29,600 of them left early. So I want to say we were around 47 00:02:29,600 --> 00:02:35,240 10 people, which was a great number for a startup camp, you 48 00:02:35,240 --> 00:02:39,600 know, for doing it the first time, trying to help host it and 49 00:02:40,000 --> 00:02:43,000 manage groups. How many do you think that camp 50 00:02:43,000 --> 00:02:45,560 can hold at this time? I think we can hold up to 30 51 00:02:45,560 --> 00:02:49,400 people ish. Again, that is based on double 52 00:02:49,400 --> 00:02:51,680 occupancy. Did everyone seem to like it? 53 00:02:52,120 --> 00:02:54,800 Yes, I really think so. I think everybody had a great 54 00:02:54,800 --> 00:02:56,760 time. I think it did live up to 55 00:02:56,760 --> 00:03:00,440 everyone's expectations and even beyond, just because it was such 56 00:03:01,320 --> 00:03:05,560 a memorial trip. It was such a good group of of 57 00:03:05,560 --> 00:03:07,360 people. Everyone was so different. 58 00:03:07,440 --> 00:03:11,640 Also in a way of giving a huge shout out to them because all of 59 00:03:11,640 --> 00:03:16,000 them were very amazing people. So you had a few people from the 60 00:03:16,000 --> 00:03:21,160 United States, which includes my friend Manuel, who I know from 61 00:03:21,600 --> 00:03:24,880 media events. He also does media, and I had 62 00:03:24,880 --> 00:03:27,040 originally met him in Boston a few years ago. 63 00:03:27,400 --> 00:03:32,640 He was interested because he does humanitarian trips once a 64 00:03:32,640 --> 00:03:34,560 year. Usually he goes, you know, to 65 00:03:34,560 --> 00:03:37,880 build buildings, missionary type of work. 66 00:03:38,200 --> 00:03:42,080 And when I told him about our trip and the fact that we were 67 00:03:42,080 --> 00:03:46,320 going to visit some schools, he loved the idea of aligning that 68 00:03:46,320 --> 00:03:50,400 with his love for running and the interest in Kenyan runners. 69 00:03:50,600 --> 00:03:53,320 So that was one. Then we have coach Erica who 70 00:03:53,320 --> 00:03:56,240 also went, who she's been, you know, a couple times on our 71 00:03:56,240 --> 00:03:59,440 podcast. Then we had Lynn, a phenomenal 72 00:03:59,440 --> 00:04:02,280 person also from the United States, who was just a stand up 73 00:04:02,280 --> 00:04:05,120 comedian and of last. And then we had Dave from 74 00:04:05,120 --> 00:04:10,160 California who came and aligned this trip perfectly well to 75 00:04:10,480 --> 00:04:14,760 potentially, hopefully PR in his marathon distance once he 76 00:04:14,760 --> 00:04:17,040 returns. And I think he's actually still 77 00:04:17,040 --> 00:04:19,560 in Kenya and he wants to Boston qualify. 78 00:04:19,920 --> 00:04:24,160 We had Charlie from Seattle, who I called Seattle just because we 79 00:04:24,160 --> 00:04:27,480 gave everybody nicknames. And he was just really also an 80 00:04:27,480 --> 00:04:30,040 amazing person. He was very chill, very laid 81 00:04:30,040 --> 00:04:35,600 back, initially pretended to be shy, but really wasn't he. 82 00:04:35,600 --> 00:04:38,960 He had a really dry sense of humor and was just so much fun. 83 00:04:39,040 --> 00:04:41,720 Besides that, we had from other countries, Jude, my friend. 84 00:04:41,720 --> 00:04:44,800 Jude is my absolute favorite. You hear me talk about her all 85 00:04:44,800 --> 00:04:46,440 the time. If Judy and I lived in the same 86 00:04:46,440 --> 00:04:50,160 city, we would be BFFS. She is from Sydney and she is 87 00:04:50,200 --> 00:04:53,280 just amazing energy. You want to be around her. 88 00:04:53,560 --> 00:04:58,680 And then we had Livi from Germany, we had Liana from the 89 00:04:58,680 --> 00:05:04,040 Netherlands, who is a forensic Doctor Who also brought her own 90 00:05:04,040 --> 00:05:06,320 charm to the group. And I think that's just about 91 00:05:06,320 --> 00:05:08,000 everybody. It's fun to get to know some of 92 00:05:08,000 --> 00:05:09,480 those people when you have more time with them. 93 00:05:09,960 --> 00:05:13,880 Yeah, and it was, you know, one way of bonding over over a trip 94 00:05:13,880 --> 00:05:16,360 because everybody was kind of out of their comfort zone, 95 00:05:16,360 --> 00:05:18,120 right? We're all in Kenya. 96 00:05:18,120 --> 00:05:21,960 We're all kind of thrown into this trip by I guess we can 97 00:05:21,960 --> 00:05:25,320 start by talking about how we all arrived there, if that's the 98 00:05:25,320 --> 00:05:27,760 order that you kind of want to walk through this whole thing or 99 00:05:28,000 --> 00:05:29,360 how were you thinking? Ryan I. 100 00:05:29,360 --> 00:05:32,200 Like chronological order, just to keep some organization to it. 101 00:05:32,200 --> 00:05:35,800 So yeah, so I mean, the trip there was a little bit eventful. 102 00:05:36,320 --> 00:05:38,520 Yeah, the trip there was very eventful for me. 103 00:05:38,520 --> 00:05:40,600 And I'm going to spare you all the details. 104 00:05:40,600 --> 00:05:45,440 Just know that the original 3 legs that I was supposed to fly 105 00:05:45,480 --> 00:05:51,680 ended up being 6 legs because of a cancellation and because of a 106 00:05:51,720 --> 00:05:54,800 delay. And the whole country of Kenya 107 00:05:54,800 --> 00:05:58,280 doesn't go on strike. The whole aviation doesn't go on 108 00:05:58,280 --> 00:06:02,160 strike normally. But that's what happened with 109 00:06:02,160 --> 00:06:04,480 us. The entire trip that was 110 00:06:04,480 --> 00:06:08,200 supposed to take 30 hours ended up taking, I think about, I 111 00:06:08,200 --> 00:06:14,200 don't know, 50 hours because of delays and because of traffic. 112 00:06:14,320 --> 00:06:18,800 One of the legs was also turned into a vehicle leg, so we had to 113 00:06:18,800 --> 00:06:21,320 drive. But that's not the norm. 114 00:06:21,400 --> 00:06:25,720 Normally you make smart choices. You book a direct flight from 115 00:06:25,840 --> 00:06:28,400 whatever city you are in to Nairobi. 116 00:06:28,680 --> 00:06:32,360 And then from Nairobi there is one additional flight in a small 117 00:06:32,360 --> 00:06:36,080 plane called jumbo jet, which is a domestic plane that takes you 118 00:06:36,080 --> 00:06:39,680 to the city of Eldoret, which is just about 40 minutes from the 119 00:06:39,680 --> 00:06:42,800 final destination of a 10. So that's how it's supposed to 120 00:06:42,800 --> 00:06:47,600 go and hopefully for all those future travelers to attend, 121 00:06:47,600 --> 00:06:50,640 that's how it will go. We get to Nairobi and we first 122 00:06:50,640 --> 00:06:54,160 meet the group, that first group dynamic. 123 00:06:54,160 --> 00:06:57,680 They had been sitting in the airport, Ryan, for 12 hours. 124 00:06:57,680 --> 00:06:59,480 They were just ready for the driver. 125 00:06:59,480 --> 00:07:01,320 They were just sitting there waiting. 126 00:07:01,760 --> 00:07:05,440 So we got to know everybody a little bit and then we had the 127 00:07:05,440 --> 00:07:09,240 driver come pick us up and we went on our supposedly 4 hours 128 00:07:09,240 --> 00:07:14,680 but really 7 hour drive from Nairobi to E10, which was where 129 00:07:14,680 --> 00:07:17,040 we were staying. 7 hour drive huh? 130 00:07:17,680 --> 00:07:21,240 Yes, and it was kind of funny because I was calculating in my 131 00:07:21,240 --> 00:07:23,400 head when we were leaving. Oh, we'll probably get there at 132 00:07:23,400 --> 00:07:27,480 2:00 AM and by the time I get there, I'll take a four hour nap 133 00:07:27,480 --> 00:07:30,400 and then I'll be ready to do our track session because we had a 134 00:07:30,400 --> 00:07:34,120 really detailed calendar of the things that we wanted to do and 135 00:07:34,120 --> 00:07:37,840 I wanted to go to the track. Well, we literally arrived at 136 00:07:37,840 --> 00:07:41,000 sunrise. We arrived at 6:30, so everyone 137 00:07:41,000 --> 00:07:44,520 was pretty much awake the whole night in the car because it was 138 00:07:44,520 --> 00:07:46,400 a little bit bumpy. It was difficult to sleep. 139 00:07:46,920 --> 00:07:49,080 And the nice thing, though, Ryan Silver Lining did. 140 00:07:49,080 --> 00:07:51,840 You guys stop along the way or? Yeah, we stopped a whole bunch 141 00:07:51,840 --> 00:07:55,840 of times to bribe the police, I mean make donations to the 142 00:07:55,840 --> 00:07:59,760 police that was kindly asking us for money and also do restroom 143 00:07:59,760 --> 00:08:02,560 stops and stops at grocery stores. 144 00:08:02,560 --> 00:08:04,520 And you know, you haven't heard of people. 145 00:08:04,760 --> 00:08:07,560 You got to make everyone happy. So we did a quite a few steps 146 00:08:07,560 --> 00:08:11,880 stops and the silver lining of this whole thing though Ryan was 147 00:08:11,880 --> 00:08:15,920 to see the sunrise when we were arriving at the camp. 148 00:08:15,920 --> 00:08:18,000 That was just absolutely gorgeous. 149 00:08:19,320 --> 00:08:22,320 Most of us were in good spirits because of it. 150 00:08:22,320 --> 00:08:25,520 I arrived 6:30. I, Manuel had already arrived 151 00:08:25,520 --> 00:08:27,120 there. I said hi to him and I said I'm 152 00:08:27,120 --> 00:08:30,120 going to the track too. And a bunch of us just went to 153 00:08:30,120 --> 00:08:32,559 to the track for our first workout. 154 00:08:32,559 --> 00:08:35,640 So yeah, that was the arrival in Kenya. 155 00:08:35,640 --> 00:08:37,919 And I think that kind of set the tone for how everything else is 156 00:08:37,919 --> 00:08:39,240 going to. Go haphazard. 157 00:08:39,679 --> 00:08:43,720 No, not haphazard, just kind of. You gotta go with the flow. 158 00:08:43,720 --> 00:08:45,760 So how long did it take you to get over the jet lag? 159 00:08:45,800 --> 00:08:47,520 I don't think I got over it ever. 160 00:08:47,520 --> 00:08:50,000 I think I'm still jet lagged. So lady, after you got your 161 00:08:50,000 --> 00:08:52,160 bearings, why don't you go through the kind of the 162 00:08:52,160 --> 00:08:54,160 structure of the camp? Yeah, I can do that. 163 00:08:54,160 --> 00:08:58,960 So every day we're supposed to do either one or two runs. 164 00:08:58,960 --> 00:09:02,880 Obviously everything's optional and for every run we had hired 165 00:09:02,880 --> 00:09:05,760 enough Pacers so nobody would ever have to run alone. 166 00:09:06,280 --> 00:09:09,520 And normally the runs would be in the morning followed by 167 00:09:09,520 --> 00:09:13,520 breakfast and then there would be an optional second afternoon 168 00:09:13,520 --> 00:09:17,320 run and then mid morning we would do an activity. 169 00:09:17,320 --> 00:09:21,280 There's various activities that we did school visits, we did 170 00:09:21,400 --> 00:09:26,480 meet and greets, we did hikes. We also had time for massages. 171 00:09:26,480 --> 00:09:31,200 We had seminars and the camp provided everyone with 172 00:09:31,200 --> 00:09:35,440 breakfast, lunch and dinner. And then we had two times where 173 00:09:35,440 --> 00:09:39,320 we also dined outside of the camp and that was also covered 174 00:09:39,320 --> 00:09:41,320 by the camp. So that was also really nice. 175 00:09:41,320 --> 00:09:43,600 So did you have to buy anything when you were there? 176 00:09:44,000 --> 00:09:48,120 Not really unless you wanted to. So the optional add-ons were 177 00:09:48,360 --> 00:09:50,040 massages? Ryan. 178 00:09:50,040 --> 00:09:53,960 We were able to get massages by the Messer on site. 179 00:09:53,960 --> 00:09:57,160 Jonathan, he charged 1000 shillings. 180 00:09:57,160 --> 00:10:01,520 That translates into about 7 or $8 per massage, which you know, 181 00:10:01,520 --> 00:10:05,480 obviously with that rate everybody got multiple massages. 182 00:10:05,880 --> 00:10:08,720 And then the other add-ons were if you wanted to do laundry, 183 00:10:08,720 --> 00:10:11,480 that was 3 bucks. And then if you wanted to have 184 00:10:11,480 --> 00:10:15,800 your shoes cleaned, that was just about 200 shillings, which 185 00:10:15,880 --> 00:10:19,160 you know is, is is I think it is about a dollar or two. 186 00:10:19,160 --> 00:10:21,520 And so, like, how was the whole thing set up? 187 00:10:21,520 --> 00:10:24,000 Like it was kind of like a training camp, but also 188 00:10:24,000 --> 00:10:27,200 partially touristy kind of trip. Yes. 189 00:10:27,200 --> 00:10:30,560 So the way we had set it up purposefully was that we wanted 190 00:10:30,560 --> 00:10:33,760 to be for training but also a cultural immersion. 191 00:10:33,760 --> 00:10:36,800 Because really Ryan, if you are going just for the high 192 00:10:36,800 --> 00:10:40,800 altitude, you can probably find a high altitude area in the 193 00:10:40,800 --> 00:10:44,000 country that you live in. But we wanted to have it be the 194 00:10:44,000 --> 00:10:47,640 Kenyan experience, meaning we wanted to have a lot of cultural 195 00:10:47,640 --> 00:10:50,120 immersions. None of the runners presence 196 00:10:50,120 --> 00:10:52,640 were really anything that was elite. 197 00:10:53,120 --> 00:10:57,000 So most of the runners there were there because they wanted 198 00:10:57,000 --> 00:11:00,800 to have that immersion and learn about Kenya and understand why 199 00:11:00,800 --> 00:11:04,960 the Kenyans are so fast and just have kind of like a vacation 200 00:11:04,960 --> 00:11:08,680 getaway type of deal, which was you know, this is also why I 201 00:11:08,680 --> 00:11:12,000 picked E 10 because last year I was in cups of it and cups of it 202 00:11:12,000 --> 00:11:17,280 was very secluded. E10 on the other hand is a town 203 00:11:17,280 --> 00:11:21,240 that you can walk through. It feels safe and there's tons 204 00:11:21,240 --> 00:11:24,400 of runners from other countries as well, so that was one of the 205 00:11:24,400 --> 00:11:29,040 reasons to pick that particular area and coach Hugo's camp. 206 00:11:29,040 --> 00:11:31,320 Cool, so if anyone wants to go in the future, they can 207 00:11:31,320 --> 00:11:34,360 basically expect that you're not going to have a lot of add-ons, 208 00:11:34,360 --> 00:11:37,320 but you can have little stuff if you want, and massages are 209 00:11:37,320 --> 00:11:39,400 pretty cheap, but food's all included otherwise. 210 00:11:39,400 --> 00:11:42,080 Food is all included and then of course I forgot about the big 211 00:11:42,080 --> 00:11:44,920 add on the big add on came at the end of the trip for people 212 00:11:44,920 --> 00:11:47,080 that I had never been to Kenya or people that had been there 213 00:11:47,080 --> 00:11:49,040 before but wanted to go on safari. 214 00:11:49,600 --> 00:11:52,080 We, I had set up a safari to Lake Nakuru. 215 00:11:52,640 --> 00:11:56,320 Next year we're probably going to switch it up and have him do 216 00:11:56,320 --> 00:12:00,240 an add on for a safari to the Masai Mara, which is an even 217 00:12:00,240 --> 00:12:03,440 bigger safari and maybe even a couple more days. 218 00:12:03,440 --> 00:12:05,880 But that was completely separate from the camp. 219 00:12:05,880 --> 00:12:08,880 But obviously the camp facilitated the setup of it 220 00:12:08,880 --> 00:12:11,680 because they have the local connections and connections to 221 00:12:11,680 --> 00:12:15,200 drivers that can make all of that happen rather than you know 222 00:12:15,200 --> 00:12:17,360 how it is when you're a tourist and trying to figure out which 223 00:12:17,360 --> 00:12:19,600 is a legitimate company and all that stuff. 224 00:12:19,600 --> 00:12:21,760 So that that was one, one more thing. 225 00:12:21,800 --> 00:12:23,240 Yeah, that does sound pretty nice. 226 00:12:28,800 --> 00:12:30,360 I did everyone. You said some people stayed 227 00:12:30,360 --> 00:12:33,120 later, they can just go and stay as long as they want, but you 228 00:12:33,120 --> 00:12:35,600 kind of just had it there for like a week or and 1/2 or so. 229 00:12:35,880 --> 00:12:38,440 Yeah. So our official camp was a 10 230 00:12:38,440 --> 00:12:43,960 day camp, but then some people chose to stay longer, add on 231 00:12:43,960 --> 00:12:47,080 more time, etcetera, depending on what their training schedule 232 00:12:47,080 --> 00:12:48,800 was. And of course that's always 233 00:12:48,800 --> 00:12:51,640 possible, but then they wouldn't have access to the same program 234 00:12:51,640 --> 00:12:54,360 that we were trying to provide. And then also like if you really 235 00:12:54,360 --> 00:12:57,520 wanted the advantage of altitude or anything else, you would kind 236 00:12:57,520 --> 00:12:59,960 of have to stay longer. Yeah, I think you and I 237 00:12:59,960 --> 00:13:05,120 determined with research that the ideal time of being in high 238 00:13:05,120 --> 00:13:11,080 altitude is 28 days, four weeks. And yeah, so you, you wouldn't 239 00:13:11,080 --> 00:13:13,240 need to do that. But again, you know, the people 240 00:13:13,240 --> 00:13:16,560 that were attending this camp were more recreational. 241 00:13:16,560 --> 00:13:19,320 Of course, it'd be nice to get that benefit as well. 242 00:13:19,320 --> 00:13:21,960 But it's also a thing of of time, right? 243 00:13:21,960 --> 00:13:25,400 Who has four weeks to just take off and living in the country? 244 00:13:25,440 --> 00:13:28,840 Yeah, it's a long time, but I think it'd still be a fun trip 245 00:13:28,840 --> 00:13:31,640 regardless, and you can kind of see how you can learn a lot from 246 00:13:31,640 --> 00:13:34,000 the training I bet too. Yeah, absolutely. 247 00:13:34,600 --> 00:13:37,440 Especially when you see it first hand or experience it, then it 248 00:13:37,440 --> 00:13:41,120 kind of kicks in or maybe you've heard it or seen it on YouTube. 249 00:13:41,120 --> 00:13:44,200 But if you actually do it and you have coaches there showing 250 00:13:44,200 --> 00:13:46,200 you, it should help out. Yes, absolutely. 251 00:13:46,200 --> 00:13:49,360 And I think that's also another thing that was really helpful 252 00:13:49,520 --> 00:13:52,800 that each person had a pacer that was going their rate. 253 00:13:52,800 --> 00:13:55,600 I think we're going to improve that a little bit even more next 254 00:13:55,600 --> 00:14:02,000 year to help, because I think it was really difficult to adjust 255 00:14:02,080 --> 00:14:06,560 your speed or to understand what your speed from sea level would 256 00:14:06,560 --> 00:14:09,160 translate to when you're at high altitudes. 257 00:14:09,160 --> 00:14:12,280 For example, I went on a run on a Sunday and I was trying to 258 00:14:12,280 --> 00:14:15,080 push the pace, but I really kind of struggled figuring out what 259 00:14:15,080 --> 00:14:17,960 pace I should push. And I think we're going to do a 260 00:14:17,960 --> 00:14:21,560 little bit more in that area next year to help make it even 261 00:14:21,560 --> 00:14:23,120 easier for everyone. That's cool. 262 00:14:23,240 --> 00:14:25,760 And so I noticed you also. You did some other stuff. 263 00:14:26,000 --> 00:14:27,680 You went to a waterfall or something too. 264 00:14:27,760 --> 00:14:31,160 You have some bruises to show for it, So what were some of the 265 00:14:31,160 --> 00:14:32,720 excursions you went on? Yeah. 266 00:14:32,720 --> 00:14:37,400 So we had quite a few excursions planned, including runs. 267 00:14:37,400 --> 00:14:40,280 And I guess I'll start with the exotic runs that we did. 268 00:14:40,640 --> 00:14:44,600 There is a track in Eldoret that all the fast runners run at. 269 00:14:44,960 --> 00:14:48,120 And that was definitely one of the bucket list things because 270 00:14:48,120 --> 00:14:51,000 it's not just about, you know, doing a workout on a track, it's 271 00:14:51,000 --> 00:14:55,120 also absorbing what you see and, and like we said, seeing 272 00:14:55,120 --> 00:14:58,880 cultural immersion for us to see how everyone else trains. 273 00:14:58,880 --> 00:15:02,160 So this is a clay track in Eldoret at the University of 274 00:15:02,160 --> 00:15:04,440 Eldoret. And the runners that you see, I 275 00:15:04,440 --> 00:15:08,600 think we saw the cross country champion there and some 276 00:15:08,600 --> 00:15:11,600 Olympians and that was just really cool to see. 277 00:15:11,760 --> 00:15:15,560 So we got to run on that track. Another run that I had been 278 00:15:15,560 --> 00:15:18,120 wanting to do for a really long time and I didn't get to do it 279 00:15:18,120 --> 00:15:23,080 last year was Singer Forest, which is a forest in Kenya that 280 00:15:23,080 --> 00:15:26,240 is absolutely beautiful. I've seen it on so many 281 00:15:26,240 --> 00:15:28,800 different YouTube videos of just, you know, how the runners 282 00:15:29,080 --> 00:15:32,440 run through that terrain at 8000 feet of altitude. 283 00:15:32,760 --> 00:15:34,400 And so that had been on my bucket list. 284 00:15:34,400 --> 00:15:37,160 And that was really, really a nice run to do. 285 00:15:37,160 --> 00:15:42,120 Also, another run that we had put on there was the infamous 286 00:15:42,360 --> 00:15:48,720 Moabin run, which Moyven Rd. is a road that is super long and 287 00:15:48,840 --> 00:15:52,400 all the elite athletes and all the athletes of Kenya run on 288 00:15:52,400 --> 00:15:56,720 that road on Saturday mornings. And we were there as well, which 289 00:15:56,720 --> 00:16:01,000 that was also very nice because we had the van accompanying us. 290 00:16:01,240 --> 00:16:05,200 So we literally had Hugo in the van driving next to us as we're 291 00:16:05,200 --> 00:16:09,560 running, handing us our marked and decorated water bottles as 292 00:16:09,560 --> 00:16:13,800 if we were elite runners, all of us running with our distinct 293 00:16:13,800 --> 00:16:16,480 Pacers for that road until we turn around. 294 00:16:16,600 --> 00:16:19,680 I think a lot of people got about 18 miles and I think 295 00:16:19,680 --> 00:16:23,440 that's kind of right around what I ran as well, 16 or 18 miles. 296 00:16:23,960 --> 00:16:28,200 And that was just really cool. On that run, you saw so many 297 00:16:28,200 --> 00:16:32,720 famous runners including Bridget Kosigi who ended up winning the 298 00:16:32,720 --> 00:16:36,920 Tokyo Marathon the weekend after, and her sister and again, 299 00:16:36,920 --> 00:16:40,360 Olympians, all sorts of high level runners with their own 300 00:16:40,360 --> 00:16:43,680 pacing cars and all that stuff. So that was really, it was 301 00:16:43,680 --> 00:16:46,280 really, really cool. I got really emotional on that 302 00:16:46,280 --> 00:16:50,080 run, Ryan, because while I run in Fort Myers, FL, sometimes I 303 00:16:50,080 --> 00:16:53,560 listen to a Kenyan song and I think and pretend that I'm on 304 00:16:53,560 --> 00:16:56,000 Moiva Road, which I had again, never been on. 305 00:16:56,360 --> 00:17:00,960 And I picture, you know, a pasture with his cows on that 306 00:17:00,960 --> 00:17:03,480 road. And all of a sudden, I had a 307 00:17:03,480 --> 00:17:07,760 headphone in and that song came on and there was a pasture with 308 00:17:07,760 --> 00:17:12,280 his cows on. So I kind of started crying. 309 00:17:12,920 --> 00:17:16,160 My pacer said, are you OK? And I said, yes, it's all good. 310 00:17:16,280 --> 00:17:19,240 This is a good thing. And I kept on going my merry 311 00:17:19,240 --> 00:17:21,560 way. So that was yet another run. 312 00:17:21,880 --> 00:17:23,280 I'm trying to think what else there is. 313 00:17:23,440 --> 00:17:27,480 Oh, Thursday, fart legs again. 10 has this thing where every 314 00:17:27,480 --> 00:17:30,600 Thursday to do a fart leg, which is the entire city. 315 00:17:30,600 --> 00:17:34,160 It's a city of 10,000 people. Maybe 7000 of them are runners. 316 00:17:34,480 --> 00:17:37,280 Everybody comes out, not 7000, but you know, there's a big 317 00:17:37,280 --> 00:17:40,480 number of runners coming out to a certain spot to run a fart 318 00:17:40,480 --> 00:17:42,200 leg. Fart leg means speed play. 319 00:17:42,440 --> 00:17:45,400 So you don't know what you're going to run until somebody 320 00:17:45,400 --> 00:17:48,280 there announces it. We were lucky because the day we 321 00:17:48,280 --> 00:17:51,480 were out there they said it's going to be 1, one minute and 322 00:17:51,480 --> 00:17:53,880 1/2 on. So you run fast for that minute 323 00:17:53,880 --> 00:17:57,880 and a half and then you do a resting or an easy run for a 324 00:17:57,880 --> 00:18:01,480 minute and you continue doing that all the way until you reach 325 00:18:01,480 --> 00:18:04,320 the end, which is I think about 6 miles of that. 326 00:18:04,360 --> 00:18:07,720 And so the Kenyan fart leg was something we participated in. 327 00:18:07,880 --> 00:18:11,720 It completely kicked my butt, but I think by the end of it, my 328 00:18:11,720 --> 00:18:15,320 one minute on and off were kind of the same space, same pace. 329 00:18:15,640 --> 00:18:19,600 I was maybe swimming my arms a little bit harder to make myself 330 00:18:19,600 --> 00:18:22,720 look faster, but really the pace was one in the same. 331 00:18:22,720 --> 00:18:26,400 So that was one of those runs. And we're still talking about 332 00:18:26,400 --> 00:18:29,880 runs, right? So yeah, so track Moiben Rd. 333 00:18:29,880 --> 00:18:34,200 All of those other excursions included visiting the school of 334 00:18:34,200 --> 00:18:36,760 John Career. John Career is the Chicago 335 00:18:36,760 --> 00:18:40,600 Boston winner and him and his brother Wesley, who had also won 336 00:18:40,600 --> 00:18:42,840 Boston in the past, they founded a school. 337 00:18:43,080 --> 00:18:45,680 That school is called Transcend Talent Academy. 338 00:18:45,680 --> 00:18:49,920 It's about a 2 hour ride from the camp that we were and we 339 00:18:49,920 --> 00:18:51,840 visited it last year and it was amazing. 340 00:18:51,840 --> 00:18:54,160 So this year we came back to see the school. 341 00:18:54,520 --> 00:18:58,680 We had a few retired school teachers in our group that ended 342 00:18:58,680 --> 00:19:00,600 up helping teach some of the classes. 343 00:19:00,800 --> 00:19:02,680 Also Manuel, who had missed his calling. 344 00:19:02,680 --> 00:19:05,680 He he's not a school teacher, but he was really good at 345 00:19:05,680 --> 00:19:09,040 teaching. And yeah, so so we did that as 346 00:19:09,040 --> 00:19:11,920 one excursion. We did visitations of other 347 00:19:11,920 --> 00:19:14,640 local schools. And then we also visited the 348 00:19:14,640 --> 00:19:19,000 school that our camp owner, Hugo, he had helped found. 349 00:19:19,280 --> 00:19:23,240 And that was also closer by and really cool because this one was 350 00:19:23,240 --> 00:19:25,200 in elementary school, so that was really cool. 351 00:19:25,320 --> 00:19:28,240 Are those all the activities? No, Ryan, there's more, but 352 00:19:28,240 --> 00:19:30,120 again, you know, those are not mandatory. 353 00:19:30,120 --> 00:19:32,320 None of this is mandatory. If you wanted to sit at the 354 00:19:32,320 --> 00:19:35,600 camp, you can do that. But other activities included 355 00:19:35,880 --> 00:19:39,800 visiting elite runners, upcoming runners in their homes, 356 00:19:39,800 --> 00:19:42,560 seminars. We had many seminars. 357 00:19:42,560 --> 00:19:47,200 I think the total of 3 seminars that we had divided up because 358 00:19:47,200 --> 00:19:51,520 of lack of time. We had a visitation to Creation 359 00:19:51,520 --> 00:19:54,320 Hive, which is a place where chronic illnesses are trained to 360 00:19:54,320 --> 00:19:57,960 make fair trade crafts from locally sourced materials. 361 00:19:57,960 --> 00:19:59,640 So we did a little bit of shopping there. 362 00:20:00,000 --> 00:20:03,480 We also had a chapati making class, which chapati is kind of 363 00:20:03,480 --> 00:20:07,880 like almost like a tortilla style or pancake that people eat 364 00:20:07,880 --> 00:20:10,920 with in Kenya. So our cook gave us a chapati 365 00:20:10,920 --> 00:20:12,680 class. Well, I almost forgot. 366 00:20:12,680 --> 00:20:18,040 We also visited A Kalenjin Hut, which was interesting, and then 367 00:20:18,040 --> 00:20:19,360 we had a waterfall. Hike. 368 00:20:19,400 --> 00:20:21,760 So there was really, really a lot. 369 00:20:22,080 --> 00:20:24,400 We also had strength training on the calendar. 370 00:20:24,400 --> 00:20:26,800 We had I think a total of two or three sessions. 371 00:20:26,800 --> 00:20:29,320 And I really try to pay attention, right, because, you 372 00:20:29,320 --> 00:20:30,880 know, I don't love strength training. 373 00:20:30,880 --> 00:20:34,320 And I figured the best way to start is with body weight and I 374 00:20:34,320 --> 00:20:37,360 took a ton of notes and I think I'm going to continue on that 375 00:20:37,360 --> 00:20:40,040 regimen once my once my leg is healed. 376 00:20:40,040 --> 00:20:42,320 So what happened to your leg? So what happened to my leg was 377 00:20:42,320 --> 00:20:44,880 the waterfall hike. I hiked in a waterfall. 378 00:20:44,880 --> 00:20:50,520 I was rappelling down with a rope and I slipped and I hit the 379 00:20:50,640 --> 00:20:55,160 side of the of the rock and it kind of caused a bruise. 380 00:20:55,160 --> 00:20:58,360 You said it was a hematoma. Yeah, any bruise is just 381 00:20:58,360 --> 00:21:01,080 bleeding underneath the skin or anyway. 382 00:21:01,080 --> 00:21:04,360 But then yours is like actually a big kind of knot or swelling 383 00:21:04,360 --> 00:21:06,160 too. So I'm almost positive there's a 384 00:21:06,160 --> 00:21:08,920 little hematoma under there or blood tumor. 385 00:21:09,040 --> 00:21:12,680 Yes, I've been nursing that with heat and massage as instructed 386 00:21:12,680 --> 00:21:14,040 by my doctor. You. 387 00:21:15,600 --> 00:21:17,760 It's gotten better though. Yeah, it's gotten better. 388 00:21:17,800 --> 00:21:20,320 And yeah, so. So that's basically it. 389 00:21:20,320 --> 00:21:22,200 But you know that it's a lot, right? 390 00:21:22,520 --> 00:21:25,040 It is a lot. In our free time, we had time to 391 00:21:25,040 --> 00:21:28,400 relax and also walk around the city, go to the market. 392 00:21:28,400 --> 00:21:33,840 I took some time to take a motorbike and a photographer or 393 00:21:33,840 --> 00:21:37,800 videographer to take more footage for that ongoing 394 00:21:37,800 --> 00:21:40,800 documentary that I'm still producing after a whole year and 395 00:21:40,800 --> 00:21:43,360 hopefully, you know, getting to the end of it soon. 396 00:21:43,480 --> 00:21:46,840 But yeah, that's another thing that that we added on to our to 397 00:21:46,840 --> 00:21:49,800 our camp. We had a photographer for every 398 00:21:50,000 --> 00:21:53,840 running session with us, which was really nice because he was 399 00:21:53,840 --> 00:21:56,280 really good. And he I think did some heavy 400 00:21:56,280 --> 00:21:59,600 editing because we all look good in all of our images that we 401 00:21:59,600 --> 00:22:02,080 then were able to take home. And you know, it's, it's just 402 00:22:02,080 --> 00:22:04,840 really cool because you have that background of wherever you 403 00:22:04,840 --> 00:22:08,840 were running and that's your active running photo now. 404 00:22:08,840 --> 00:22:12,120 So that was really nice as well. So how are the accommodations? 405 00:22:12,680 --> 00:22:15,280 So the accommodations were great. 406 00:22:15,920 --> 00:22:18,880 The there's two different locations for the camp. 407 00:22:18,880 --> 00:22:21,560 One of them is called the Hub and the other one is called the 408 00:22:21,560 --> 00:22:24,480 Lodge. The Lodge has, I want to say 409 00:22:24,480 --> 00:22:31,520 about 7:00 rooms or more and the The Hub has about 7:00 rooms or 410 00:22:31,520 --> 00:22:33,400 7 accommodations. I don't want to say rooms 411 00:22:33,400 --> 00:22:36,880 because here's why. Each accommodation had either A1 412 00:22:36,880 --> 00:22:40,480 bedroom or a two-bedroom. So you have a little common area 413 00:22:40,600 --> 00:22:43,440 and then behind that you have either one or two bedrooms. 414 00:22:43,760 --> 00:22:49,000 Each bedroom accommodates 2 people, but since we were not 415 00:22:49,000 --> 00:22:52,240 that many people, most of us were able to just each get one 416 00:22:52,240 --> 00:22:55,040 room to the themselves. The pricing structure, the way 417 00:22:55,040 --> 00:22:59,680 we had organized it was that you paid for the base occupancy, 418 00:22:59,680 --> 00:23:03,840 which was double occupancy unless you paid extra and you 419 00:23:03,840 --> 00:23:05,840 would have a room for a single occupancy. 420 00:23:05,840 --> 00:23:10,160 And so I want to say there's three rooms that have just one 421 00:23:10,160 --> 00:23:14,080 bedroom and the remainder of the rooms they have two bedrooms. 422 00:23:14,320 --> 00:23:17,240 So potentially you could really fill that place up with a lot 423 00:23:17,240 --> 00:23:20,960 more people than we had. And each accommodation was 424 00:23:21,160 --> 00:23:23,800 really comfortable. They had solar powered water 425 00:23:23,800 --> 00:23:25,880 heater, so you definitely have hot water. 426 00:23:26,040 --> 00:23:29,360 The beds were comfortable. Each bed had a mosquito net 427 00:23:29,360 --> 00:23:31,920 above it. And I appreciated that because I 428 00:23:31,920 --> 00:23:33,680 heard one mosquito and you know how that goes for me. 429 00:23:33,680 --> 00:23:36,360 If I have one mosquito, I'm like kind of freaking out. 430 00:23:36,760 --> 00:23:39,680 And that was nice. But really mosquitoes were no 431 00:23:39,680 --> 00:23:41,040 issues. I didn't have a single bite. 432 00:23:41,040 --> 00:23:44,120 It was just one night. I heard one and that drove me 433 00:23:44,120 --> 00:23:45,760 kind of crazy. But yeah, no, to answer your 434 00:23:45,760 --> 00:23:48,640 question, you had a hot shower. You had literally everything you 435 00:23:48,640 --> 00:23:51,080 needed and it was very comfortable and it was very 436 00:23:51,080 --> 00:23:53,000 clean. Were the beds comfy? 437 00:23:53,120 --> 00:23:55,920 Yeah. Did you guys have laundry 438 00:23:55,920 --> 00:23:57,240 services? Yes. 439 00:23:57,240 --> 00:23:59,760 So the person on site, his name was Kevin. 440 00:23:59,760 --> 00:24:03,040 He was very sweet. He did our laundry. 441 00:24:03,720 --> 00:24:05,920 The charge for laundry was about $3. 442 00:24:05,960 --> 00:24:10,040 And you could, you know, also do it for cheaper if you wanted to, 443 00:24:10,040 --> 00:24:12,720 you could do your own laundry, but it was probably cheap 444 00:24:12,720 --> 00:24:14,080 enough. We just gave him laundry. 445 00:24:14,480 --> 00:24:18,480 He also was in charge of cleaning our shoes, so we could 446 00:24:18,480 --> 00:24:20,760 pay him a little bit extra. I think it was like a couple 447 00:24:20,760 --> 00:24:23,000 bucks. And he would literally scrub 448 00:24:23,000 --> 00:24:25,560 your shoes and clean them and dry them. 449 00:24:25,560 --> 00:24:27,440 And they look like brand new shoes, Ryan. 450 00:24:27,440 --> 00:24:30,880 I mean, after you run on those dirt trails and it gets really 451 00:24:30,880 --> 00:24:34,080 muddy, kind of hard to have these cakey shoes, right? 452 00:24:34,240 --> 00:24:37,240 But he did a super good job and he was very friendly and he was 453 00:24:37,240 --> 00:24:41,800 very quick with everything. They had a washing machine, but 454 00:24:41,800 --> 00:24:45,000 did it not have a dryer? So in typical style, anywhere 455 00:24:45,000 --> 00:24:48,040 else besides the United States, everything was hung up on a 456 00:24:48,040 --> 00:24:50,440 clothing line. As long as as long as they're 457 00:24:50,440 --> 00:24:52,440 clean. Yes, exactly and dry. 458 00:24:53,000 --> 00:25:00,840 That's true. So how was the food? 459 00:25:00,840 --> 00:25:04,480 The food was really good. We had a cook that we had pre 460 00:25:04,480 --> 00:25:09,400 informed about our allergies and respective preferences. 461 00:25:09,400 --> 00:25:11,520 You know, for me vegetarian, we had a couple of people that were 462 00:25:11,520 --> 00:25:14,400 gluten free and so everyone was accommodated. 463 00:25:14,400 --> 00:25:16,880 Everything was really home cooked. 464 00:25:16,880 --> 00:25:20,760 It was, it was very nice. It was very clean, cooking, good 465 00:25:20,760 --> 00:25:23,440 ingredients, everything tasted very good. 466 00:25:23,440 --> 00:25:25,920 All the meals were delicious. Really. 467 00:25:25,920 --> 00:25:30,000 I don't think anyone had complaints about the type of 468 00:25:30,000 --> 00:25:33,000 food that there was. Maybe I felt a little bit like I 469 00:25:33,000 --> 00:25:37,160 wasn't getting enough protein. I don't know why I felt a little 470 00:25:37,160 --> 00:25:41,000 bit weak, but lucky for me, somebody had left protein shakes 471 00:25:41,000 --> 00:25:43,480 in, in someone's room. So I, I kind of was drinking 472 00:25:43,480 --> 00:25:47,080 that and it was just kind of, I don't know, Ryan, if it was 473 00:25:47,440 --> 00:25:50,160 because of lack of protein, I was craving meat. 474 00:25:50,160 --> 00:25:51,760 So I'm assuming that's what it was. 475 00:25:52,000 --> 00:25:53,960 And I usually I'm very easygoing. 476 00:25:53,960 --> 00:25:58,120 I don't ever eat that much protein anyway, but I was I was 477 00:25:58,120 --> 00:26:02,600 craving something. So if you go to Kenya, it's nice 478 00:26:02,600 --> 00:26:05,720 that maybe bring something that you're familiar with if you want 479 00:26:05,720 --> 00:26:08,200 protein and stuff like that. It's nice to kind of pack your 480 00:26:08,200 --> 00:26:10,080 own snacks because you're not gonna find them down there. 481 00:26:10,120 --> 00:26:12,480 Was there meat for people? You're vegetarian, so you didn't 482 00:26:12,480 --> 00:26:14,320 want meat, but was there meat for other people or no? 483 00:26:14,480 --> 00:26:19,080 There was meat, umm, not every day, but I want to say maybe 484 00:26:19,080 --> 00:26:21,320 every other day. And there was always eggs as 485 00:26:21,320 --> 00:26:23,760 well. I honestly don't know why I was 486 00:26:23,760 --> 00:26:25,880 craving meat. Yeah, it sounds odd, but anyway. 487 00:26:26,280 --> 00:26:28,160 The last time I craved meat was when I was pregnant. 488 00:26:28,960 --> 00:26:30,800 What about entertainment? You had Internet. 489 00:26:30,920 --> 00:26:34,520 Yes, we had Starlink Internet, which was very nice for us. 490 00:26:34,560 --> 00:26:37,840 I think Hugo had communicated with me that just a month before 491 00:26:37,840 --> 00:26:39,800 we arrived, they had gotten Starlink Internet. 492 00:26:39,800 --> 00:26:43,080 So timing was perfect. Unlike my previous Kenyan trip 493 00:26:43,400 --> 00:26:47,800 that I didn't have Internet, it took I think 12 hours to upload 494 00:26:47,800 --> 00:26:49,840 a YouTube video, so I kind of gave up on that. 495 00:26:50,120 --> 00:26:55,520 This time we had Internet, other sorts of, I'm glad you brought 496 00:26:55,520 --> 00:26:58,720 that up. We, the group decided that on 497 00:26:58,720 --> 00:27:02,400 Saturday, after we did that long run in Maubin Road and we were 498 00:27:02,400 --> 00:27:05,000 going to have a day off on Sunday, we were going to go 499 00:27:05,000 --> 00:27:07,440 dancing. We invited the Pacers, or I 500 00:27:07,440 --> 00:27:10,760 guess we kind of used them as guidance too, to say, hey, all 501 00:27:10,760 --> 00:27:13,400 of us want to go dancing, where can we go? 502 00:27:13,680 --> 00:27:18,080 And so they took us to a Kenyan dancing club, which was an 503 00:27:18,080 --> 00:27:20,720 experience in itself, let's just put it that way. 504 00:27:20,720 --> 00:27:22,520 Did you feel safe? Though I did feel safe. 505 00:27:22,520 --> 00:27:25,280 I felt safe because we were always there as a group. 506 00:27:25,280 --> 00:27:28,240 It was not like, you know, it's just me and one more person 507 00:27:28,240 --> 00:27:30,920 going somewhere. We were in a good sized group so 508 00:27:30,920 --> 00:27:33,280 that that felt really safe. And you didn't get bored. 509 00:27:33,280 --> 00:27:36,920 I definitely did not get bored. I kind of almost wished that I 510 00:27:36,920 --> 00:27:39,200 had a little bit more time for boredom. 511 00:27:39,480 --> 00:27:42,480 But the activities we'd put together, they were also 512 00:27:42,480 --> 00:27:44,360 enticing. And you know, you didn't want to 513 00:27:44,360 --> 00:27:47,040 miss this and you didn't want to miss that, and you didn't want 514 00:27:47,040 --> 00:27:48,560 to miss a second run. But then there's strength 515 00:27:48,560 --> 00:27:49,880 training and then there's a massage. 516 00:27:50,240 --> 00:27:54,480 It felt like all the days were heavily packed, but again, 517 00:27:54,480 --> 00:27:58,440 you're only there for 10 days, so you gotta you gotta make the 518 00:27:58,440 --> 00:28:01,120 most of it, right? Yeah, then definitely. 519 00:28:01,120 --> 00:28:05,120 The late arrival and the jet lag didn't help because you know, 520 00:28:05,240 --> 00:28:07,360 you're you're there. The first night you don't sleep 521 00:28:07,360 --> 00:28:09,800 well, Second night you sleep well, third night you don't 522 00:28:09,800 --> 00:28:12,160 sleep well. I had this rhythm of 1 good 523 00:28:12,160 --> 00:28:16,040 night, 1 bad night and it was kind of bad or hard to break 524 00:28:16,040 --> 00:28:18,760 that cycle. And by the time I did, it was, 525 00:28:18,880 --> 00:28:21,240 you know, time to go home. Yeah, I mean, it sounds like a 526 00:28:21,240 --> 00:28:23,080 good trip. I mean, was there TV? 527 00:28:23,120 --> 00:28:25,640 I mean nowadays you can just use if you have good Internet. 528 00:28:25,640 --> 00:28:29,040 You could just stream stuff anyway if you have a device, 529 00:28:29,040 --> 00:28:31,720 but. There was ATV in the common 530 00:28:31,720 --> 00:28:34,920 area, but none of it, none of us used it. 531 00:28:35,720 --> 00:28:40,160 We were literally just really busy with everything that was 532 00:28:40,160 --> 00:28:42,880 going on. So nobody I guess, missed it. 533 00:28:42,880 --> 00:28:45,520 Nobody really wanted to watch TV. 534 00:28:45,720 --> 00:28:48,440 You know, we watched very little TV already. 535 00:28:48,440 --> 00:28:51,640 So it didn't really change that when I was in Kenya. 536 00:28:51,680 --> 00:28:57,080 Plus I'd already watched 17 movies on my 35 hour flight to 537 00:28:57,480 --> 00:28:59,280 to Kenya. I was kind of done with it 538 00:28:59,280 --> 00:28:59,840 anyway. I'm. 539 00:28:59,840 --> 00:29:02,560 Just kind of curious, so any final remarks? 540 00:29:02,560 --> 00:29:06,840 So final remarks, let me think. It sounds like a fun trip. 541 00:29:06,840 --> 00:29:10,160 I think it's kind of neat that you get to go on a vacation. 542 00:29:10,160 --> 00:29:12,320 It's kind of like a running destination vacation. 543 00:29:12,560 --> 00:29:14,920 You get to see some cool areas. Very different. 544 00:29:14,920 --> 00:29:18,520 So it's not like the US I think that, you know, obviously you 545 00:29:18,520 --> 00:29:21,920 get some of the top trainers training the fastest runners. 546 00:29:21,920 --> 00:29:25,080 So it's kind of neat to get their opinion about stuff or at 547 00:29:25,080 --> 00:29:27,200 least learn how to do some of the drills or other stuff that 548 00:29:27,200 --> 00:29:29,160 might help you. I think all that stuff is pretty 549 00:29:29,160 --> 00:29:31,160 cool. Did you run into any famous 550 00:29:31,160 --> 00:29:33,920 runners while you're there? In other words, did I run into 551 00:29:33,920 --> 00:29:37,160 Elliot Kipchogi? Ryan I did not run into Elliot 552 00:29:37,160 --> 00:29:40,880 Kipchogi, but I ran into Patrick Sang, his coach. 553 00:29:41,560 --> 00:29:46,200 I ran into him a couple times. The first time Hugo had 554 00:29:46,200 --> 00:29:48,800 organized a meeting because I had been wanting to see him. 555 00:29:48,800 --> 00:29:52,840 I'd see him in Sydney and in New York, so he popped by and said 556 00:29:52,840 --> 00:29:54,520 hi. I was very excited to actually 557 00:29:54,520 --> 00:29:57,840 see us in Kenya. And the next time, Ryan, I was 558 00:29:58,240 --> 00:30:03,200 literally flying from Eldoret to Nairobi on our way out and I was 559 00:30:03,440 --> 00:30:07,640 in the domestic flight and all of a sudden somebody covered my 560 00:30:07,640 --> 00:30:11,360 eyes from behind of my head and I was about ready to beat 561 00:30:11,360 --> 00:30:13,160 whoever that person was behind me. 562 00:30:13,480 --> 00:30:17,160 And then it ended up being Patrick saying his coach and 563 00:30:17,160 --> 00:30:20,120 that was really cool. We had a nice little chat with 564 00:30:20,120 --> 00:30:23,960 him and hopefully, you know, not promising anything, but 565 00:30:23,960 --> 00:30:26,800 hopefully we'll get something in the works for next year, for 566 00:30:26,800 --> 00:30:30,320 next year's camp that we can collaborate with him. 567 00:30:30,480 --> 00:30:33,160 That was cool. Obviously, I already told you we 568 00:30:33,160 --> 00:30:38,160 saw John career and we ran into what didn't run into, but we saw 569 00:30:38,160 --> 00:30:41,320 Bridget Koske running on Moiben Road. 570 00:30:41,320 --> 00:30:47,240 We saw Luis Orta, Olympian and some more people that, you know, 571 00:30:47,240 --> 00:30:49,320 names at this point don't make sense anymore. 572 00:30:49,480 --> 00:30:52,440 But yeah, I mean, it really, it really is a place where you see 573 00:30:52,600 --> 00:30:55,320 so many champions and so many undercover champions. 574 00:30:55,320 --> 00:30:59,000 In my head, Ryan, I was driving a cab or I was riding in a cab 575 00:30:59,280 --> 00:31:02,080 and I asked the cab driver if he was from the Kalenjin tribe, 576 00:31:02,080 --> 00:31:06,120 which is the notorious fast runner tribe, and asked him, did 577 00:31:06,120 --> 00:31:08,200 you ever run? And he said yes, but he retired. 578 00:31:08,200 --> 00:31:10,600 And I said, oh, you know, how fast was your marathon? 579 00:31:10,880 --> 00:31:14,720 And he told me, oh, he had one room before he was a 208 runner, 580 00:31:14,840 --> 00:31:17,880 but he was too slow to be running for Kenya, so he 581 00:31:17,880 --> 00:31:21,360 retired. So just the idea of, hey, this 582 00:31:21,360 --> 00:31:24,520 person is as fast as, I don't know, Clayton Young in the 583 00:31:24,520 --> 00:31:28,400 United States, who's one of the most celebrated 3 runners right 584 00:31:28,400 --> 00:31:32,200 now because of his speed. You know, the cab driver easily 585 00:31:32,200 --> 00:31:35,440 could have been part of the US Olympic team, but he isn't 586 00:31:35,440 --> 00:31:38,640 because he's Kenyan. So that was just kind of wow, 587 00:31:38,640 --> 00:31:40,200 you know? Yeah, it is interesting. 588 00:31:40,280 --> 00:31:44,440 It's kind of crazy though that such a small amount of time 589 00:31:44,440 --> 00:31:48,160 separates, you know, people that can be really successful and not 590 00:31:48,160 --> 00:31:52,480 as successful mere minutes are what, 6 separates these people 591 00:31:52,480 --> 00:31:55,880 that are like super successful versus ones that aren't at all 592 00:31:56,000 --> 00:31:59,640 and end up driving taxis. Yeah, but I guess that's Kenya 593 00:31:59,640 --> 00:32:02,840 for you. I guess all of them kind of look 594 00:32:02,840 --> 00:32:06,000 at us as, you know, we're we're just the slowpokes. 595 00:32:06,000 --> 00:32:10,080 My dad was making a joke and and he was saying, you know, all of 596 00:32:10,080 --> 00:32:13,120 these runners probably look at all the people that travel all 597 00:32:13,120 --> 00:32:15,840 the way and say, wow, these people travel all the way to 598 00:32:15,840 --> 00:32:18,840 Kenya to just run around slowly and then just leave. 599 00:32:18,880 --> 00:32:21,760 Yeah. I mean, it's, I guess it's a, 600 00:32:21,760 --> 00:32:23,680 it's a matter of resources too, right? 601 00:32:23,680 --> 00:32:25,600 It's a little bit different. I think they don't have a lot of 602 00:32:26,160 --> 00:32:29,360 money and resources there unless they're, you know, are one of 603 00:32:29,360 --> 00:32:33,120 the best and America developed countries have a lot more 604 00:32:33,120 --> 00:32:35,880 resources. So they end up going for fun 605 00:32:35,880 --> 00:32:37,000 trips. Here we are. 606 00:32:37,000 --> 00:32:40,840 I mean, we're not counting on running, being a professional. 607 00:32:40,840 --> 00:32:43,080 I mean, anything that really makes big money. 608 00:32:43,080 --> 00:32:47,080 Even if you look at the Olympians that went to the race 609 00:32:47,080 --> 00:32:50,640 in Paris last year and they were all fundraising for each other 610 00:32:50,640 --> 00:32:53,760 because they didn't get enough money provided by the government 611 00:32:53,760 --> 00:32:58,800 or by the Olympic team to make it, whereas their money goes 612 00:32:58,800 --> 00:33:00,560 such a much longer way. Yeah. 613 00:33:00,560 --> 00:33:03,480 And, you know, it really, it really kind of emphasizes the 614 00:33:03,480 --> 00:33:07,800 fact that everyone that has the opportunity and has the time and 615 00:33:07,800 --> 00:33:11,400 other stuff doesn't have a very good excuse because, you know, 616 00:33:11,400 --> 00:33:14,000 if if you want to get faster, you really can. 617 00:33:14,000 --> 00:33:17,160 Maybe it won't be the Olympic runner, but you could probably 618 00:33:17,160 --> 00:33:20,880 be really close and you have lots of resources and you don't 619 00:33:20,880 --> 00:33:23,320 have to do it for a living where they have to do it for a living 620 00:33:23,320 --> 00:33:25,000 or they they have a lot more pressure. 621 00:33:25,360 --> 00:33:28,320 And and and I guess along the lines of that is you don't 622 00:33:28,320 --> 00:33:32,160 really see any 40 year olds and up running for leisure. 623 00:33:32,160 --> 00:33:34,840 Like you don't see another 40 year old woman. 624 00:33:34,920 --> 00:33:37,080 Yeah, yeah, yeah. You don't see another 40 year 625 00:33:37,080 --> 00:33:40,680 old woman running the streets and asking her husband to watch 626 00:33:40,680 --> 00:33:43,360 the kids. Well, she goes for a leisurely 627 00:33:43,360 --> 00:33:44,920 run. That's us. 628 00:33:44,920 --> 00:33:47,720 We do that. Or or go to Africa for two week 629 00:33:47,720 --> 00:33:51,520 trip to go running and have fun. Yeah no, I know. 630 00:33:51,520 --> 00:33:53,320 But I think that would be different if they had more 631 00:33:53,320 --> 00:33:55,400 resources, right? Because they, they have to work 632 00:33:55,400 --> 00:33:57,280 and they have to like, take care of their families and. 633 00:33:57,280 --> 00:33:58,800 Stuff, I mean, and culturally, right. 634 00:33:58,840 --> 00:34:01,280 And culturally, too. Culturally, right, If if you're 635 00:34:01,280 --> 00:34:03,760 doing running for economic reasons, if you're not making 636 00:34:03,760 --> 00:34:06,320 money with it, then you're just going to not not run. 637 00:34:06,400 --> 00:34:08,639 Yeah, I mean, it was probably lots of different factors, 638 00:34:08,639 --> 00:34:10,719 right? And if you ran your whole life 639 00:34:10,719 --> 00:34:13,600 to make money for it, then you probably aren't that excited to 640 00:34:13,600 --> 00:34:16,080 go running afterwards. That's true too, because your 641 00:34:16,080 --> 00:34:19,080 eyes are on the goal W Our eyes are more like on the process and 642 00:34:19,440 --> 00:34:22,760 the mental part of running, like the mental recovery and all that 643 00:34:22,760 --> 00:34:25,360 stuff that we emphasize on. But yeah, no. 644 00:34:25,360 --> 00:34:27,199 But All in all, it was a wonderful trip. 645 00:34:27,199 --> 00:34:30,360 It was wonderful company. We made some really good 646 00:34:30,360 --> 00:34:35,040 friendships there, bonded a lot, and hopefully, you know, we'll 647 00:34:35,040 --> 00:34:37,960 do it again. And it's definitely want to be 648 00:34:37,960 --> 00:34:40,520 going to be one for the books that you always remember that 649 00:34:40,520 --> 00:34:43,480 time in Kenya. And yeah, it was really lovely. 650 00:34:43,480 --> 00:34:46,400 It reminded me of my trips that I would do in my 20s where 651 00:34:46,679 --> 00:34:49,400 you're just traveling by yourself and you're bonding with 652 00:34:49,400 --> 00:34:53,880 these people from all over the world and then you go on with 653 00:34:53,880 --> 00:34:56,960 your merry way of life. So that was really, really cool 654 00:34:56,960 --> 00:34:57,840 it. Was cool. 655 00:34:58,000 --> 00:35:00,160 Yeah. So you want to play some of the 656 00:35:00,680 --> 00:35:03,720 exit interviews of the people that did the trip and see what 657 00:35:03,720 --> 00:35:04,920 their thoughts were? Sure. 658 00:35:04,920 --> 00:35:09,840 So yeah, let's do that. Hi, I'm Jude from Sydney, 659 00:35:09,840 --> 00:35:13,720 Australia and I'm here in Kenya. Just spent the most amazing week 660 00:35:14,200 --> 00:35:22,000 in Kenya with Levy and Kenya I think and it's been amazing. 661 00:35:22,360 --> 00:35:25,960 Not just the running, which has been really challenging, but 662 00:35:25,960 --> 00:35:28,160 also all the other things that we've done. 663 00:35:28,160 --> 00:35:32,280 We've been to schools, we've been to houses of future 664 00:35:32,280 --> 00:35:37,080 Olympians, past Olympians. The paces that we've met here 665 00:35:37,080 --> 00:35:40,520 have been so supportive, fantastic, helping us achieve 666 00:35:40,640 --> 00:35:42,960 our goals and push us to our maximum. 667 00:35:42,960 --> 00:35:47,000 I found the altitude really challenging, but it's been 668 00:35:47,240 --> 00:35:51,720 fantastic and I can't wait to go back to Australia and see how I 669 00:35:51,720 --> 00:35:56,400 run. Yeah, I've found out about Kenya 670 00:35:56,680 --> 00:35:58,880 through Letty, sort of a popular list. 671 00:35:59,000 --> 00:36:03,120 Man, I'm so glad that I did it. I wish I was here for longer. 672 00:36:03,160 --> 00:36:07,040 A week isn't long enough to see and do everything because we've 673 00:36:07,040 --> 00:36:12,240 had as much cultural exposure to different things as we have to 674 00:36:12,400 --> 00:36:16,080 running, which is one of the things that I really wanted to 675 00:36:16,760 --> 00:36:21,280 get out of this trip to Kenya. I'm not an elite runner. 676 00:36:21,800 --> 00:36:28,680 I was just an average 60 plus year runner and I've loved every 677 00:36:28,680 --> 00:36:31,920 minute of it. And so, yeah, I can't wait to 678 00:36:31,920 --> 00:36:35,840 come back and I'd like to come back for longer so that I have 679 00:36:35,840 --> 00:36:40,680 more time to acclimatize and yeah, do more things. 680 00:36:40,720 --> 00:36:44,000 I mean, you do amazing things. One day we went to a waterfall 681 00:36:44,000 --> 00:36:46,200 that was really challenging, beautiful. 682 00:36:46,720 --> 00:36:49,560 Went out dancing one night with paces. 683 00:36:49,600 --> 00:36:52,480 Suppose you'd call it a nightclub bar. 684 00:36:52,560 --> 00:36:57,440 So that was different to see locals enjoying themselves, not 685 00:36:57,440 --> 00:37:00,520 just running. And at this camp, food is 686 00:37:00,520 --> 00:37:04,440 amazing. So yeah, you eat healthy meals 687 00:37:04,440 --> 00:37:08,040 and don't have to worry about food. 688 00:37:08,120 --> 00:37:11,000 And what else do we do? Strength and conditioning 689 00:37:11,000 --> 00:37:14,000 sessions with you go really good in the afternoon. 690 00:37:14,600 --> 00:37:19,720 And Jonathan, massages. So you can get massages every 691 00:37:19,720 --> 00:37:21,560 day if you want, half an hour or an hour. 692 00:37:21,560 --> 00:37:23,720 So they were really good to help with the recovery. 693 00:37:24,360 --> 00:37:26,960 What else? Oh, I found a sort of plunge in 694 00:37:26,960 --> 00:37:27,720 town. Yeah. 695 00:37:27,720 --> 00:37:31,240 So it's amazing. Once in a lifetime opportunity. 696 00:37:31,480 --> 00:37:36,040 Hi guys, I've just come from my last breakfast here at Kenya 697 00:37:36,040 --> 00:37:40,720 camp and I wanted to talk about my impressions of the past two 698 00:37:40,720 --> 00:37:43,360 weeks. I loved this place that who were 699 00:37:43,360 --> 00:37:47,360 created here because it's really calm and it's really quiet. 700 00:37:47,360 --> 00:37:51,400 It's central and E10 so you can walk everywhere, but still this 701 00:37:51,400 --> 00:37:54,480 place is really quiet. You hear a lot of birds here and 702 00:37:54,480 --> 00:37:59,640 animals and you can really relax and recover very well at Hugos 703 00:37:59,640 --> 00:38:03,160 Camp, which is awesome. The food is really great. 704 00:38:03,160 --> 00:38:05,920 We loved our cooks here. Edwin was cooking for us the 705 00:38:05,920 --> 00:38:09,120 past weeks. He's a really nice guy and what 706 00:38:09,120 --> 00:38:11,720 was really great was getting along so well with all the 707 00:38:11,720 --> 00:38:13,560 Pacers. They are all so funny. 708 00:38:13,560 --> 00:38:16,520 They have great humor. They are awesome runners, so we 709 00:38:16,520 --> 00:38:19,680 could learn a lot from them and we had so much to laugh about. 710 00:38:19,800 --> 00:38:23,600 It was really great. The program we had was pretty 711 00:38:23,600 --> 00:38:25,600 cool. We did a hike. 712 00:38:25,600 --> 00:38:28,360 We visited a lot of people, a lot of Kenyan people. 713 00:38:28,360 --> 00:38:31,840 We learned a lot from runners. We visited their homes, which 714 00:38:31,840 --> 00:38:35,040 was really awesome. We heard a lot of moving stories 715 00:38:35,040 --> 00:38:38,320 as well. We looked into their honest life 716 00:38:38,440 --> 00:38:41,920 of canyons and of runners as well, which was pretty awesome. 717 00:38:42,480 --> 00:38:43,760 And of course we did a lot of running. 718 00:38:43,760 --> 00:38:47,840 So we tried to have a program like the canyons do. 719 00:38:47,840 --> 00:38:50,080 We do morning run, we do an afternoon run. 720 00:38:50,440 --> 00:38:52,480 We do fart like. We do speed. 721 00:38:52,480 --> 00:38:56,000 Sessions on the track and of course the very famous long run 722 00:38:56,000 --> 00:39:00,280 on Moiben Road, which was one of the best runs I've had here in 723 00:39:00,280 --> 00:39:02,160 Kenya. It was really awesome. 724 00:39:02,160 --> 00:39:06,800 So the time here was great. I will go home with all really 725 00:39:06,800 --> 00:39:11,080 sad heart and yeah, the camp is really awesome and everyone had 726 00:39:11,080 --> 00:39:12,360 a lot of fun here. There we go. 727 00:39:12,720 --> 00:39:17,120 Hi, my name is Dave. I came from Livermore, CA which 728 00:39:17,120 --> 00:39:19,080 is pretty close to San Francisco. 729 00:39:19,080 --> 00:39:24,920 I'm turning 59 this year next week and I came to Kenya and 730 00:39:24,920 --> 00:39:32,440 hopes to qualify for Boston. I have a 20 minute handicap for 731 00:39:32,520 --> 00:39:38,080 Boston because if I qualify or if I run a marathon this year, I 732 00:39:38,360 --> 00:39:40,960 can qualify to run next year as a 60 year old. 733 00:39:41,240 --> 00:39:46,360 So I'm pretty excited. I chose this camp to build up my 734 00:39:46,560 --> 00:39:49,800 endurance red blood cells with lots of research. 735 00:39:49,800 --> 00:39:54,280 I used ChatGPT to find the best place and this one came up and 736 00:39:54,320 --> 00:39:58,360 and I know why now that I'm here, we're sitting close to 737 00:39:58,400 --> 00:40:03,480 8000 feet of elevation and it's just amazing. 738 00:40:04,040 --> 00:40:08,480 I'm staying down at the lodge. And yeah, most of the group, it 739 00:40:08,480 --> 00:40:11,880 stays up at the Hut I think it's called. 740 00:40:12,280 --> 00:40:19,000 And it's a really neat concept just coming together as as a 741 00:40:19,000 --> 00:40:22,520 team people from all over the country, I mean all over the 742 00:40:22,520 --> 00:40:28,040 world to with that were the 1 common interests running, you 743 00:40:28,040 --> 00:40:30,920 know, passion for running. You know, only runners can 744 00:40:30,920 --> 00:40:33,680 understand why you would want to get up at 6:30 in the morning 745 00:40:33,680 --> 00:40:37,800 and when your dog tired and go for a run at altitude, barely 746 00:40:37,800 --> 00:40:39,200 breathe. Being able to breathe. 747 00:40:40,600 --> 00:40:46,040 It's a it's, it's a crazy passion that we all share and 748 00:40:46,040 --> 00:40:50,200 like minded people get along with each other very well. 749 00:40:50,480 --> 00:40:54,640 What's unique about the county camp is that we they have all 750 00:40:54,640 --> 00:41:01,440 these different excursions that give you some a taste and feel 751 00:41:01,440 --> 00:41:03,880 for what the Kenyan life is about. 752 00:41:04,360 --> 00:41:08,960 Most of the group is younger than me, but they have Pacers 753 00:41:08,960 --> 00:41:13,400 and you run with the Pacers and it makes it collaborative feel. 754 00:41:13,400 --> 00:41:16,240 Every time you go for a run, you have somebody to chat with and 755 00:41:16,520 --> 00:41:21,040 keep you going and you know, they say that you know you are 756 00:41:21,320 --> 00:41:24,480 with the people you're around. So I'm hoping to become more of 757 00:41:24,480 --> 00:41:31,200 a Kenyan. Hi, I'm Leona. 758 00:41:31,200 --> 00:41:34,520 I'm from the Netherlands and what I loved about the camp, it 759 00:41:34,520 --> 00:41:36,960 is basically a perfect mix of everything. 760 00:41:36,960 --> 00:41:39,640 It has cultural experiences because I have never been to 761 00:41:39,640 --> 00:41:42,640 Africa or Kenya before, so I get to experience some of the 762 00:41:42,640 --> 00:41:46,960 cultural aspects of the country, meet people, also meet different 763 00:41:46,960 --> 00:41:51,560 athletes, Kenyan athletes. I love that seeing the schools 764 00:41:52,120 --> 00:41:55,560 from poverty to schools of upcoming athletes that have 765 00:41:55,560 --> 00:41:59,880 actually are going somewhere or have plenty of opportunities to 766 00:41:59,880 --> 00:42:02,440 go somewhere. And on the other hand, you have 767 00:42:02,440 --> 00:42:04,120 the whole running experience itself. 768 00:42:04,400 --> 00:42:07,600 So lots of seminars with information about running about, 769 00:42:07,600 --> 00:42:09,920 yeah, things that you can think on or what you might want to 770 00:42:09,920 --> 00:42:12,600 implement in your own training. And there's so much training 771 00:42:12,600 --> 00:42:15,440 involved, like all these different things on altitude 772 00:42:16,080 --> 00:42:19,960 with the Pacers that help us so much to we get the best out of 773 00:42:19,960 --> 00:42:21,640 ourselves. Even though it's only a two week 774 00:42:21,640 --> 00:42:23,240 experience, which is super short. 775 00:42:23,240 --> 00:42:28,040 It's just an immersion into Kenyan running, Kenyan sports, 776 00:42:28,040 --> 00:42:32,480 elite running and to just live their life for like 2 weeks, eat 777 00:42:32,480 --> 00:42:36,000 their food, run the runs every morning, usually two times a 778 00:42:36,000 --> 00:42:37,640 day. It's been absolutely a 779 00:42:37,640 --> 00:42:39,640 blasphemy. Like I'm just a weekend runner. 780 00:42:39,880 --> 00:42:42,280 I just do this beside a very busy life. 781 00:42:42,560 --> 00:42:46,640 But it's nice to have just a week of concentrating only on 782 00:42:46,640 --> 00:42:49,360 running on the body, on the mind, and seeing so much 783 00:42:49,360 --> 00:42:51,600 cultural experiences. I absolutely love it. 784 00:42:51,720 --> 00:42:54,000 Hi, I'm Lynn. I'm from the United States. 785 00:42:54,400 --> 00:42:57,440 What I liked about the camp was the entire experience. 786 00:42:57,840 --> 00:43:00,600 I'd like seeing how the Kenyans trained. 787 00:43:00,760 --> 00:43:03,960 I love seeing the schools and interacting with the children. 788 00:43:04,040 --> 00:43:07,000 I liked meeting the family who made a nice snack for us and 789 00:43:07,000 --> 00:43:10,280 seeing how they live. I thought the entire country was 790 00:43:10,360 --> 00:43:12,440 beautiful. The camp was well run. 791 00:43:12,440 --> 00:43:14,960 I felt very taken care of by the staff and. 792 00:43:15,160 --> 00:43:18,760 Hey, my name is Charlie, I'm from Seattle, United States and 793 00:43:18,760 --> 00:43:22,080 I am here to talk about the Kenya camp and how amazing it is 794 00:43:22,080 --> 00:43:24,640 everyone should do it. I had heard about camps in E10 795 00:43:24,640 --> 00:43:28,480 Kenya for, you know, years ago and I dreamed of doing it, but 796 00:43:28,480 --> 00:43:30,400 never, ever thought I'd finally find myself here. 797 00:43:30,400 --> 00:43:34,440 And I'm so glad I did because it's not just a matter of going 798 00:43:34,440 --> 00:43:37,120 to the same place where all the Champions come from and then, 799 00:43:37,120 --> 00:43:39,320 you know, looking. And it worked your way in trying 800 00:43:39,320 --> 00:43:41,680 to make friends on your own. Because I know I'd be really bad 801 00:43:41,680 --> 00:43:43,000 at that. I always keep myself. 802 00:43:43,000 --> 00:43:45,480 I would, I probably would have stayed in my room the whole time 803 00:43:45,480 --> 00:43:47,600 if I weren't part of a group. But part of this group, you 804 00:43:48,000 --> 00:43:51,960 know, made such close friends and had such a good opportunity 805 00:43:52,360 --> 00:43:55,120 to be, you know, shuttled around from place to place. 806 00:43:55,120 --> 00:43:57,480 But not all the time. You know, it's not that 807 00:43:57,480 --> 00:43:59,520 everything is just some big tour package. 808 00:43:59,520 --> 00:44:01,800 There's plenty of free time where we can kind of explore on 809 00:44:01,800 --> 00:44:04,120 your own. Go to the market and then we get 810 00:44:04,120 --> 00:44:07,760 back up for group activities. So yeah, I definitely recommend 811 00:44:07,760 --> 00:44:10,720 it to anyone who's looking to get the real running experience, 812 00:44:10,720 --> 00:44:12,760 but also the real Kenya experience. 813 00:44:12,760 --> 00:44:14,640 Just the real deal. I mean, it doesn't get much 814 00:44:14,960 --> 00:44:16,520 better than that. It's about a lot more than 815 00:44:16,960 --> 00:44:19,040 altitude. Five stars. 816 00:44:19,080 --> 00:44:22,800 Hey, my name's Erica. I'm from Orlando, FL and this is 817 00:44:22,800 --> 00:44:25,480 my first time at Kenya camp and my first time in Kenya. 818 00:44:25,480 --> 00:44:29,600 I found out about this camp from Letty, my amazing friend and I'm 819 00:44:29,600 --> 00:44:32,600 still looking to improve my running and getting faster. 820 00:44:33,040 --> 00:44:35,960 So I was like well what better place to go to than the home of 821 00:44:35,960 --> 00:44:37,920 the Champions. A place where the best people in 822 00:44:37,920 --> 00:44:40,560 the world train and I wanted to learn how the Kenyans live and I 823 00:44:40,560 --> 00:44:41,920 learned exactly that. In this camp. 824 00:44:41,920 --> 00:44:44,760 I had the best time ever. Not only did I meet some amazing 825 00:44:44,760 --> 00:44:47,920 people, but I learned so much and I just had so much fun 826 00:44:48,160 --> 00:44:50,680 running and training with the best of the best and trying to 827 00:44:50,680 --> 00:44:53,640 keep up with really fast people like my Pacer. 828 00:44:53,960 --> 00:44:56,440 And then we had a bunch of other Pacers with us the whole time to 829 00:44:56,440 --> 00:44:59,520 help us with our workouts and help us with our runs. 830 00:44:59,520 --> 00:45:02,240 And they're definitely running way easier than their normal 831 00:45:02,240 --> 00:45:04,920 pace, but like pushing us and it's so much fun. 832 00:45:04,920 --> 00:45:07,480 And I just had, it's such an amazing experience. 833 00:45:07,480 --> 00:45:10,040 This was probably one of the best trips I've ever been out of 834 00:45:10,040 --> 00:45:12,160 my life. The food was amazing. 835 00:45:12,320 --> 00:45:13,840 The trip was really well laid out. 836 00:45:14,000 --> 00:45:18,240 The week went on different trips from the campsite and we got to 837 00:45:18,240 --> 00:45:21,560 see like so many different schools, different areas. 838 00:45:21,560 --> 00:45:24,800 We got to go to the track Eldoret, that was so cool, and 839 00:45:24,800 --> 00:45:28,280 watch all of the amazing, most best runners in the world do a 840 00:45:28,280 --> 00:45:30,040 track workout when they would pass us on the side. 841 00:45:30,040 --> 00:45:32,440 It was so cool. Yeah. 842 00:45:32,440 --> 00:45:35,440 Everything about the trip was just amazing, incredible. 843 00:45:36,040 --> 00:45:37,520 I hope I can come back in the future. 844 00:45:40,720 --> 00:45:43,640 So that's basically it in a nutshell. 845 00:45:45,400 --> 00:45:47,480 Yeah. Like I said, we are going to do 846 00:45:47,480 --> 00:45:50,000 this again next year. We're going to finalize the 847 00:45:50,000 --> 00:45:51,760 dates. It's going to be sometime in 848 00:45:51,760 --> 00:45:53,960 March. If you guys are interested in 849 00:45:53,960 --> 00:45:57,400 joining, then I highly recommend it. 850 00:45:57,440 --> 00:46:00,760 We are going to build the website marathonjournal.com and 851 00:46:01,040 --> 00:46:03,080 going to probably put it on there as well. 852 00:46:03,400 --> 00:46:08,120 So you guys have a good idea of what you can expect and what's 853 00:46:08,120 --> 00:46:11,640 needed and and all the things. It's an easy trip. 854 00:46:11,640 --> 00:46:14,280 Hopefully you know, with everything that's going on, by 855 00:46:14,280 --> 00:46:17,480 the time next year rolls around, most stuff will be resolved. 856 00:46:17,480 --> 00:46:20,240 Sounds good. So stay tuned for next week. 857 00:46:20,560 --> 00:46:23,720 I have no idea what topic we're going to be talking about in our 858 00:46:23,720 --> 00:46:25,480 next week's podcast, but I'm sure it's going to be a great 859 00:46:25,480 --> 00:46:26,080 one, right? Right. 860 00:46:26,360 --> 00:46:29,560 Yes, surprise topic. Surprise topic and with that. 861 00:46:29,600 --> 00:46:33,320 Have a good week of running. You've been listening to the 862 00:46:33,320 --> 00:46:35,440 Marathon Running Podcast by Marathon Journal. 863 00:46:36,280 --> 00:46:38,200 If you've enjoyed the show, check us out at 864 00:46:38,200 --> 00:46:41,080 marathonjournal.com or follow us on social media. 865 00:46:41,320 --> 00:46:42,160 Happy training.