Me-Kenyan Jogger?

When I was younger, I lived in Nairobi, Kenya. I was then with SGV (Andersen Consulting) and we working on a World Bank funded project for the Agricultural Finance Corporation(AFC).

Early in my stay in the country, I discovered a Karate Club near my apartment- hotel and enrolled. It was handled by a Japanese Sensei, Yoshii Tamura, 6th Dan Goju Ryu practitioner.

To keep fit, I decided to jog on alternate days when I was not practicing Karate. I jogged  in the Milimani area in Nairobi. Nairobi has a higher elevation than Baguio and is near the equator. So the city is cold, sunny, and very green with vegetation and flowers all over. So jogging around the city is fun.

The AFC has branches all over the country and my trips brought me to many of these branches. So I experienced jogging in many places in Kenya – Nakuru, Eldoret, Mombasa, etc.

Looking back, now that I am into running, and reading about elite Kenyan runners,    I would have appreciated this jogging more if I knew what I know now.

Eldoret, a town in northwestern Kenya that is home to the Kalenjin tribe, which has produced 12 of the world’s top 20 runners.

Kalenjins of the Great Rift Valley represent 1/2,000th of the Earth’s population, yet win 40% of the top international distance-running honours. A single tiny district of the region, Nandi Hills, sweeps 20% of the major international distance events. (Anne Marie Owens, National Post, with files from Agence France-Presse)

The home of the Kalenjins, between Lake Rudolph and Lake Victoria, has an elevation of 6,000 to 8,000 feet above sea level. I wonder if this is a major factor why they are so proficient in long distance running.

And it gets me thinking, if I was more serious about running at that time, would I be a much better runner today? It would have been fun thinking about ‘running in their foot step’.

Well, enough of reminiscing. I got married at Saint Paul Church in Nairobi, Kenya and spent my honeymoon in Athens, Greece. But that is another story that is not really about running.