When it comes to world-class marathon runners, Kenyans are considered the cream of the crop. Particularly those from Kenya’s Rift Valley. These athletes have won marathons in London, New York and Berlin, and have set countless world records. But some of Kenya’s top runners aren’t running for fame and fortune. Some are wanted warriors, running for their lives. For years, Julius Arile and Robert Matanda thrive among the roaming bands of warriors that terrorize the North Kenyan countryside. By the time they reach their mid-twenties, stealing cattle, raiding and running from the police is the only life they know. So when both warriors suddenly disappear from the bush, many of their peers assume they are dead or have been arrested. Instead, they trade in their rifles for sneakers—in the hopes of making it big as professional marathon runners. Years of fleeing from the police have prepared the men for running marathon distances, but do they have what it takes to overcome the corruption, mistrust and jealousy that threaten to derail their careers? Or will they give up on their dreams and return to a life of easy power and money? Told entirely by its central characters, Gun Runners is the American Dream, Kenyan-style.
Gun Runners is an inspiring and incredible story which follows two notorious warriors and former cattle rustlers in Northern Kenya who give up their weapons to run in marathons. As part of a government sponsored program to disarm in conflict heavy regions, these once notorious warriors are given a chance to pursue their dreams of becoming professional marathon runners.
The film follows Matanda and Arile, who are looking to put their violent pasts behind them and pursue a positive path that will benefit the future of their family, livelihood and this conflict ridden region of Kenya. The audience is guided through a linear progression of events and sees Arile enter international marathons, while Matanda gets involved in the political sphere and dreams of working towards policy change.
Anjali Nayar directs a thoughtful and memorable story about leaving violent conflict behind to pursue personal passions. The documentary is set in Kenya’s picturesque Great Rift Valley which is a noted area for international arms trading and marathon running.
Gun Runners gives a face to the complexities and personal struggles in war and conflict, yet becomes an inspiring story of self perseverance in attaining a greater sense of self.
From Hot Docs
This touching and poignant film follows two of the most notorious warriors and cattle rustlers in Northern Kenya who trade in their weapons for sneakers, as part of a government-sponsored program, to pursue their dream of becoming professional marathon runners. Filmed over eight years, Matanda and Arile face financial challenges, fierce competition and family pressure as they struggle to put their violent pasts behind them. A lot is at stake for both of them, and the whole world is watching. Set in Kenya's astoundingly beautiful Great Rift Valley, an area famous for both its international arms trade and its champion runners, and told entirely from Matanda's and Arile's points of view, Gun Runners puts a face on a nation's valiant attempts to embrace both tradition and modernity. Lynne Fernie
This is a fun and perfectly done short video called "The School Run" It shows a bunch of kids at a school in the Kenyan countryside staging a race over the terrain and obstacles they encounter along the way. It brings back many good memories of my trips to Kenya, That is how the kids have fun and this really shows their personalities! They love acting out things, but "ouch" to how they get medals for the winners. I brought an ElliptiGO bottle opener to give to the school I was working at this summer. You are always looking for a bottle opener there! I only wish more American kids still had the opportunity and desire to get outside and play like this!
Published on Mar 13, 2013
Three Kenyan school children rise to the challenge of emulating their National hero's by staging a steeplechase through a beautiful Kenya backdrop.
Filmed on location thanks to the work of the staff and children at the Tumaini Mission Centre - Jitegemea Schools.
Starring: Kevin Mutota, Patrick Mutsotso, David Ngugi, Joyce Wanjiru and Robinson Kinuthia
I don't know if it can always be done and I don't know if I can even correct my own pelvic tilt that I have had since before I was a runner and that goes back to about 45 years ago when I "failed" the junior high scoliosis test and was sent to Boston Children's Hospital to deal with what they called a "leg length discrepancy". Last month the doctor who has given me prolotherapy injections ordered an x-ray and I read the results and I still have a tilted pelvis.
Running in Kenya. The security guard didn't speak English, know how to use
my camera, or to move his finger off the lens!
I am happy riding my ElliptiGO these days, miss running, but not doing anything to hurt my body. Every once in awhile, I try out a run, but the next day my hip is imbalanced and sore. I did a few runs in June, culminating with my longest run in well over a year: 7 miles, but that was just to prove to myself that I could survive a run so that I could get a run in when I went to Kenya in July. I did get a two mile run while I was in Kenya which was pretty cool. I was out in the country at the Joska boarding school and had fun running on the dirt roads and all the Kenyans would wave and cheer me on! One guy riding by on a motorcycle shouted out, "Why in the world are you running?" I retorted, "I'm in Kenya!"
I haven't run since. I feel a creakiness in my hip joint, but it is mostly the the ligaments and muscles around my hip joint that pull everything out of place and leave my whole left leg out of whack the next day after a run and my hip feels jammed up. So I ride my ElliptiGO, which allows me to shift my body around, but I am never fully comfortable in the muscles around my hips. They are rarely feeling balanced.
The good news is that the day after running 7 miles, I returned to my prolotherapist doctor and only after two visits she said my si joint was good and tight. I had a great response to this therapy. Originally, she had said that it might take four visits to even know if it would work for me and she said it would probably take at least six visits in all. I was good after two, which would save me a bunch of money as insurance doesn't cover prolo. So my si joint had improved, but I still feel unbalanced and out of whack three or four days a week. I asked about prolo in the hip joint. She used to do that, but would recommend PRP therapy instead, but that is out of my price range. I was curious about prolo helping the muscles and ligaments surrounding the hip joint. She said it might, but seems cautious about doing anything further, beyond ordering the x-rays. My report says:
STANDING AP PELVIS.
HISTORY: REASON FOR TEST PAIN IN JOINT, PELVIS, THIGH
TEST DETAIL: OSTEOARTHRITIS
COMPARISON: AP pelvis from left hip series 4/25/2013, 9/5/2012.
IMPRESSION:
1. Pelvic tilt with the left superior iliac crest approximately
26 mm more superior compared to the superior right iliac crest.
2. Mild bilateral hip joint space narrowing, acetabular
articular sclerosis and tiny lateral marginal osteophytes, not
significantly changed.
3. Mild bilateral sacroiliac joint. Symphysis degenerative
changes.
4. No visible fracture.
In the past, I have ordered many of Sean Schniederjan's ebooks on the hip and lower back. I have found that he has some good information and alternative exercises which he tells about in a straightforward way. I have found some of his movements helpful at times, but it was hard to pinpoint exactly which or what movement was best for my conditions. I noticed that he recently put out a new ebook Conquer Your uneVEN Hips: Simple Strategies to Regain Balance and Structure In Your Central Joint and decided that would be another good one to try. Sean just doesn't repost the same exercises and movements that are sort of the "recipe" approach that everyone mimics and posts online, he explains things that may be a bit unusual, but that have worked for him. I have done a few of these exercises and they seem to really tire out the muscles around my hip that are always tight and I noticed my hips feeling a bit more stable since doing them. It will be interesting to see how these work over time.
Here is Sean demonstrating some of these exercises:
The beauty of the EllitpiGO is that not only can I move my body around to adjust for instability, but I am also using the handlebars to keep my body stable when not working in perfect posture (of course this can also be a bad thing). I have had a great summer riding. I hit a new PR for distance traveled in a week during August when I put in 350 miles. I led all ElliptiGOer on Strava around the world that week in mileage, just as I did last week although I only put in 215 miles. If you looked at last week's' leader board of over 200 riders, I also had the fastest average speed of all riders 16.2 mph except for one person who did 50 miles. Despite my inefficiencies and lack of stability over my hips, I can still do some great workouts on the ElliptiGO.
I get to test my summer training over the next three weekends when I do three separate centuries. Tomorrow I do my first 100 miler of the year at the Ride for Angels. The next Sunday, I will be doing the Charles River Wheelman's Fall Century Soughegan River Tour (and if the weather is great I might to another century the day before). In two weeks, I will be returning to the Seacoast Century.
One thing that I have found somewhat helpful over the past few months when my hip gets jammed and my leg goes out of whack is to use a band as a distraction for my hip doing exercises like these. My prolo doctor said these type of hip distractions were fine! The osteapath she has had me go to in the past, just pulls on my leg. I use the green Strong Assisted Pull-up & Resistance Power Stretch Band .
Well, I stayed up to around 3:00 am Friday night watching the 2015 World Cross Country Championships held in Gioyang, China. Geoffrey Kipsang Kamworor (the World 1/2 Marathon champion) of Kenya won the men's race.
Nineteen year old Agnes Jebet Tirop won the women's race. The Kenyan's and Ethiopians dominated all senior and junior races.
There is a documentary on Geoffrey Kipsang Kamworor called The Unkown Runner.
A STORY OF STRUGGLE SACRIFICE AND DEDICATION.
About a Kenyan top athlete, Geoffrey Kipsang, how he trains, paces for Haile
Gebrselassie and makes his debut on the marathon of Berlin 2012.
I will probably be purchasing it and watching it next time I want to watch a movie. He is definitely a runner to watch.
This outstanding documentary was shown on the BBC this week and is well worth watching.
Documentary telling the story of Kenyan athlete David Rudisha, the greatest 800m runner the world has ever seen, and his highly unusual coach, the Irish Catholic missionary Brother Colm O'Connell. Shot over ten years, the film begins in 2005 when we first meet David as a shy 16-year-old arriving at a training camp with nothing but a dream of emulating his father's 1968 Olympic silver medal. The camp is run by the unlikeliest of coaches, missionary and amateur athletics trainer Brother Colm, who quickly spots his talent. Together they embark on a journey through injury, disappointment and terror when violence sweeps through the country in the aftermath of the 2008 election, all the way to the 2012 Olympics and the greatest 800m race the world has ever seen.
With unprecedented access and featuring interviews with Seb Coe and Steve Cram, this is an epic, magical and uplifting tale that reaches far beyond sport.
One thing missing from the Documentary was video of his Olympic World Record run. You can find it here on youtube.
You might also enjoy this documentary on Brother Colm as narrated by Eamonn Coghlan: Man on a Mission.
I just got back from two weeks in Kenya, but I can count all the runners I saw on both hands. I will admit to being ready to run myself if those hippos or crocodiles got a little closer. This is on the Masai Mara at the Hippo Pool on the Kenya/Tanzania border.
This is my list of the top 10 running related books that I read this year. The links will take you to my more extensive reviews.
1) Dandelion Growing Wild by Kim Jones This was the most unexpectedly wonderful book that I read this year and it has stuck with me more-so than other books. Reading about world class marathoner Kim Jones' life and triumphs over the many adversities placed in her pathway from her childhood to her retirement from competitive running. The details read like fiction at first, but she deals with life's challenges from a humane and understanding perspective. You better get the Kindle version. A new copy of the paperback version is now selling for over $400 on Amazon! A newly edited paperback version will should be back on at Amazon next week according to Kim.
2) The Purple Runner by Paul Christman Not a new book, but a reissue of a classic running book that was hard to find, and it definitely lived up to my expectations. This is one of the best fiction books you will find about running.
3) Running with the Kenyans by Adharanand Finn I would certainly like to do what Finn did! He journeys to Kenya's Rift Valley to live and train with the Kenyans to see if it would improve his running and to shine a light into the world of the Kenyan distance runners and their hopes and dreams.
4) Running for my Life by Lopez Lomong A wonderful story of survival with Lopez Lomong's journey from war torn Sudan, to a being a lost boy in a refuge camp in Kenya, to journeying to the United States where he becomes a high school runner and eventually a two-time Olympian for the USA. What a life!
5) 14 Minutes by Alberto Salazar The great American marathoner, Alberto Salazar, and his 14 minute brush with death to a heart attack. The book details the career of this great American runner and coach.
6) The Secret Race by Tyler Hamilton This book is not really about running, but it makes you wonder if the same drug culture is/was as prevalent in running. This book was certainly one of the final nails in Lance Armstrong's coffin. If you want an honest look at how the cycling superstars kept their pedals in the game and their feet on the top of the winner's podium, then you should read this book.
7) Move Without Pain by Martha Peterson This is the only "exercise" book on my list although I have checked into many others. I use this as a go to book when I want to do Somatic movement exercises. It is a well thought out and presented book and the movements work!
8) Because I Can by Janet Oberholtzer Never give up! Janet is nearly killed in an horrific automobile accident and is told she may never walk again. Janet details the recovery process and the changes it made on her body and in her soul. Yes, Janet returns to running. This is an inspiring read!
9) I'm Here To Win: A World Champion's Advice for Peak Performance by Chris McCormack I didn't review this book, but Chris tells the story of how he became one of the greatest triathletes in the world and his eventual wins in the Hawaii Ironman Triathlon. Chris details the mental aspects of the game. He had to think like Mohammed Ali and plan out his triumphant race strategy in advance and get other triathletes in on his plan even when though they did not realize this.. Here is Chris McCormack on his 2010 Ironman Championship win.
10 A Life Without Limits: A World Champion's Journey by Chrissie Wellington I did not review this book on probably one of the greatest female triathletes of all time. Chrissie wrote more of a "gee-whiz look what I just did" account of her triathlon successes. I liked the thinking, training, and facing bits in Chris's book better as she does not go into the nitty gritty of what it takes to be a sports superstar. However, you do get a glimpse into her "well-lived" life and her many interests and accomplishments outside of triathlon racing. Here is Chrissie winning her fourth and final Hawaii Ironman World Championship, including her Blazeman roll. She said she has retired from triathlon just last month.
Some of the other running related books I have read this year:
Wheat Belly: Lose the Wheat, Lose the Weight, and Find Your Path Back to Health by William Davis. I read half of this and was convinced to try going gluten-free. It seems to be working quite well for me one month later. The book was heavy on the science and you can find most of the gluten-free information you would want online. The bread of today is not the bread that people ate for ages!
Natural Running: The Simple Path to Stronger, Healthier Running by Danny Abshire and Brian Metzler Another book on how to run post "Born to Run" I was told that this post would be sent to Danny Abshire, but I never got a response. I got my questions and feet problems answered through Muscle Activation Technique (M.A.T.) and no longer wear orthotics and my feet and big toe are landing on the ground much better now!
Movement by Gray Cook It was much cheaper to buy the Kindle edition. It is not worth reading on a Kindle. I haven't read much of it, due to that fact. I would want to browse and leaf through this book to find what I want, not push Kindle buttons.
For fans of The Perfect Mile and Born to Run, a riveting, three-pronged narrative about the golden era of running in America—the 1970s—as seen through running greats, Frank Shorter, Bill Rodgers, and Alberto Salazar
In 1972 American distance runner Frank Shorter won Olympic gold in the marathon, a history-making accomplishment that launched a seminal decade in the sport. Kings of the Road tells the story of running during that golden period from 1972 to 1981 when Shorter, then Bill Rodgers, and then Alberto Salazar captured the imagination of a disillusioned American public, as they passed their figurative baton from one to another. These three menwere American running during those years, and though all three toed the line together only a few times—at the legendary Falmouth Road Race—they gave their sport real conflict and drama for the first time. Each man built on what the other achieved, and their successes, in turn, fueled a nation of couch potatoes to put down the remote and lace up their sneakers.
As America now experiences a similar running boom, Kings of the Road delivers a stirring narrative of three men pushing themselves toward greatness and taking their country along for the ride.
The legendary long-distance runner details his historic victory in the 1975 Boston Marathon that launched the modern running boom
Within a span of two hours and nine minutes, Bill Rodgers went from obscurity to legend, from Bill Rodgers to "Boston Billy." In doing so, he instantly became the people’s champ and the poster boy for the soulful 1970s distance runner. Having won the Boston Marathon and New York Marathon four times each, he remains the only marathoner to have appeared on the cover of Sports Illustrated twice. Winning the Holy Grail of marathons in an unthinkable record time changed Bill’s life forever. But his dramatic breakthrough in Boston also changed the lives of countless others, instilling in other American runners the belief that they could follow in his footsteps, and inspiring thousands of regular people to lace up their shoes and chase down their own dreams. In the year before Rodger’s victory at the 1975 Boston Marathon, 20,000 people had completed a marathon in the United States. By 2009, participants reached nearly half a million. Thirty-seven years later Bill Rodgers still possesses the same warm, endearing, and whimsical spirit that turned him into one of America's most beloved athletes. In Marathon Man he details for the first time this historic race and the events that led him there.
It seems like Lolo Jones is not the only world class runner being wired up in some fantastical way to help improve performance and avoid injury. If you read Toni Reavis's blog you would note that he is spending time in Kenya these days and hanging around with some of the fastest runners to have ever graced this planet. On the Road to Kenya: The Cattle Dip Loop Toni meets up with the Kenyan marathon team in Iten and explains the technology being tested out on these runners.
Today’s run would also serve as a field test for a new wireless sensor technology developed at the UCLA Wireless Health Institute that holds the promise of re-ordering the level of sophistication that athletes and coaches can bring to their training. Small accelerometers worn on the laces of each shoe would monitor, record and transmit the stride characteristics of Abel Kirui and Wilson Kipsang throughout their run. With this information in hand they and their coaches will be better able to analyze the small asymmetries in ground contact time, back-kick dynamic, pronation and supination during the varied runs in their training regimen. As Pegasus Sports Performance CEO Bill Shea, an interventional radiologist by training, outfitted Wilson and Abel with the sensors and the small cell phone which they will wear to transmit the signal to the internet and onto our computers ...
Then he gets to witness a short "easy" workout by these Kenyan greats. In Toni's second installment Into Thin Air: Kamarini Stadium Toni visits the track in Iten where the "also rans" are dreaming big. An "also ran" in Kenya may mean you are a world class well-known runner or just a young kid dreaming of becoming a champion. The third installment Poor Weather Forecast for Kenyan Olympic Trials has Toni talking about racing for fast times vs. racing the competition. He also talks about marathon pacers and the saturation of Kenyans in the market.
Toni's latest installment Meet at the Corner Shop: Fartlek into Masai Land has Toni traveling to Ngong a town near Nairobi where world marathon record holder Patrick Makau trains and gets back to the technology being used with the Kenyans:
Throughout today’s run Makau will be wearing a pair of Pegasus Sports Performance sensors on his shoe laces, and an android cell phone tucked in a belt pouch strapped to the small of his back. With this equipment, we will record and transmit data monitoring Patrick’s cadence, rear kick dynamic, ground contact time, and pronation during the course of his 1:30 workout, which will include the warm up and cool down phases.
We also learn that Makau comes from a different tribe than the majority of top Kenyan runners and has a different build.
But what was also apparent was that Makau’s Kamba tribe body is much different than that of his Kalenjin tribe rivals like Wilson Kipsang, the 2012 London Marathon champion. Of the 42 tribes in Kenya, perhaps five represent the running talent of the nation. And of those five the Kalenjin have long been considered the cream of the crop with their longer, thinner legs, and narrower hips making for a more aerodynamic cleaving of the air.
Makau’s Kamba-built gait rides atop a sturdier base as he is broader across the shoulders and hips, almost resembling a 400-meter power runner rather than the long, lean marathoner we associate with Kenyan athletes.
I am fascinated with Kenya and with the technology that is being tried out on the runners there, so I had a question yesterday for Toni which I left on his blog.
I am enjoying your series on Kenya. What a fascinating place. I was there last summer-although it was not running related. Are they using the data to tweak the strides of these athletes or just testing out the technology. Will the tweaks be workout related (form breaks due to fatigue) or actually trying to alter their form (might not turn out too well)?
Toni was gracious enough to answer and provide more information:
Jim,Initially this is a beta test of the equipment in the harshest of road conditions with the very best athletes. But the runners and their coaches will receive all the data that is collected, and be able to identify and understand where the imbalances may be in their stride mechanics.This data will inform their decisions on drills, workouts, and therapies which might address those imbalances, so that their fitness is better utilized to generate speed without crossing the line into over-use injury.
For athletes of this caliber, small things can have big consequences. Realize that just a 1% difference over the course of a marathon equates to 2:00. So it is critical that these athletes be as precise as possible as they strive for success.
One half of the equation is to get as fit as possible, Avoiding injuries is a big part of that quest. The second half of the equation is to transfer that fitness into forward motion as efficiently as possible. The Pegasus sensor technology can be an invaluable tool to achieve both halves of their goals, while making their structure a better implement of their fitness.Make sense?
Well it sounds like an interesting concept: helping the best runners find the nuances in their biomechanics that need adjusting so as to become even better runners. I remember the days before timers were on your watch and you timed your workout by where the big hand and the little hands were on the watch face. Can you imagine the day when instead of runners placing on sports watches and heart-rate monitors, runners will be wearing devices like these being tested to get the data they need to become better runners and stay injury free. Well, as long as they know what to do with the data! I would have loved something like this to figure out what my wonky stride has been doing all these years and then to see what I could have done to improve my running form rather than running myself into the ground.
Stay tuned to Toni's blog and see how many more installments he writes and then continue reading what he has to say about running. Toni is the voice of running in the U.S. He can be heard commentating on races all the time and has done so for many years. He knows the athletes and the movers and shakers of the sport and he has opinions on many running related topics that are well worth listening to.
As I mentioned, Toni has been reporting on running for a very long time. Here is a picture I snapped of him at the 1976 Falmouth Road Race as he was interviewing Bill Rodgers. I can't tell, but that might that be Bob Hodge behind Toni's massive FlipCam?
What makes Iten, in Kenya''s Rift Valley, the home of champions? Is it the altitude, the genetics, early identification of talent, the lifestyle, or simply the diet of Ugali (it did not taste good to me!)? CNN takes a look at what makes the Kenyan runners so great. Can it simply be the hunger and motivation for success. As one Kenyan athlete said, "Just run until you throw up!"
Whatever it is just take a look at the Kenyan runners doing some track workouts. I think it is more than just a mindset. Take a look at those bodies move. Is it mightily impressive.
Compilatie CPC from Like2Run on Vimeo.
Here is a short video showing the heart and depth of Kenyan distance runners called Iten: The Town of Red Dust. In 2011 they tore apart the record books and dominated the world running scene. The shots of the Kenyans training in Iten are marvelous. If you want to see a longer more in depth video of Kenyan runners check out this.