byJustin Lagat
*****On the Picture; with a friend as I joined the Kimumu group for a Fartlek Run*****, by Justin Lagat
****** Link to quote from Eldoret City: (https://www.facebook.co
This is Justin Lagat’s piece for the week, with his view from Kenya and how the pandemic is challenging the running community.
At 5 AM, the highway around Eldoret town is often almost empty. The few vehicles you would occasionally meet are mostly lorries that might have traveled over-night.
So, after passing by a number of runners beside the road running in pairs and at times alone, I thought I saw a very long lorry ahead of me with many flashing lights, but only to realize as I drove closer, that it was one of the big training groups here on their morning run and that the flashing lights were their reflective shoes and apparel against the headlights of my car. Well, perhaps their speed that was almost like that of a lorry on a highway was what had caused the confusion!
There has been some very serious training among runners around Eldoret in recent days with most of the runners aiming to run at next month’s marathon event in Eldoret.
The Eldoret City Marathon seems to be, so far, the only road race scheduled to take place in Kenya this year. Last year passed without a chance for most Kenyan road runners to compete in a marathon. If this year passes again, then two years will be too much for these runners given that the span of a running career is short. For most of the top Kenyan runners, it would usually take one good local race for someone to be recognized and get the opportunity to be invited to races abroad where they will run faster times and build their profiles.
Local runners in Kenya now see Eldoret city Marathon as their only chance to make a breakthrough in their careers, to earn a living and open more opportunities to be invited to bigger races out of the country.
“Athletes hungry for success in their post-covid comebacks, organizers and partners determined to see the marathon rise from the Covid-19 ashes, and supportive sponsors form the perfect blend for success in our upcoming races.
We are leaving nothing to chance to ensure we organize our best edition yet,” read a post from Eldoret City’s FaceBook Page.
As for where I was heading out to at 5 AM, I was going to join another big training group on the other side of town for a Fartlek Run. With barely a month to the marathon, the runners are in their best form. It was a Fartlek run of 3 minutes hard and 1 minute easy for 52 minutes. The pace was so high that it was hard for me to use one minute to close the gap with the leaders. I quickly changed my run into a continuous Tempo Run averaging 3:31/km pace, but still that could not help me reach the leading pack.
At around 10km, I remembered that a good singer is the one who knows when to stop the singing. I stopped my watch and shifted to an easy run!
