Since coming back from Kenya, many of my friends have asked me, “How was your trip? How was Kenya?”
“It was good,” I reply.
I mean where do I start? There is so much depth to that question that I cannot distill it into a simple sentence or two. Sure, the safari was amazing, the motorcycle tour riveting as we descended into the Rift Valley, and the visit to the school enlightening. But these surface-level activities are not what I’ll remember this trip by. It is the invisible soul-touching aspects that have captured my heart.
Environment
Iten is one of the most beautiful cities I’ve ever visited. One day into the trip and I could see myself living there. The weather is temperate just like San Francisco, but with clear blue skies instead of fog. There is nature everywhere, dirt roads to run on, dense forests to run through, goats and cows grazing on the side of the road, the smell of burning firewood and diesel in the air, and the vast Rift Valley opening up to amazing views. While walking through Iten, you can feel the running culture oozing from the pores of the town. There are runners on dirt roads, at any time of the day, getting their training in. It’s hard not to want to join them.
Training
Most runners are training like professional athletes in Iten, not simply running as we do in the West. They don’t have jobs and live in training camps full-time because this single-tracked dedication is what they need to train well. Some even live away from their family and kids to maintain focus. They train year-round just for the opportunity to participate in a race. Imagine that. Working every day with no promise of showing your talent, but continuing to train so that if that opportunity ever presented itself, you were ready to run. Their work ethic is truly inspiring and yet, they remain incredibly humble. They live simple lives in between their two training runs a day: eat, rest, sleep, and do laundry (by hand!).
Food
People (and Kenyans themselves) always revere ugali as their secret to running. “It makes us strong”, my pacer tells me. I was secretly hoping that the Kenyan milk tea was their secret because that was my favorite. Both are staples in their daily diet, as well as chapati, a light and soft flatbread. One consistent theme in their food is that it is simple. Bread, tea, fruit, vegetables, rice, lentils, ugali, and chapati. Most people don’t have refrigerators so they cook every meal fresh every day.
People
The people of Kenya are kind, humble, and gracious. Most come from a simple background, but so generously offer whatever they have to guests. I visited my pacer’s house and she made me tea and chapati in her makeshift kitchen in the corner of the room. All her friends and neighbors wanted to drop by to say hi to me, a mzungu (traveler). When I saw these beautiful bead bracelets on some of the Kenyan’s wrists, I asked where I could get one. Someone replied, “I will get you one”. The same happened when I asked where I could buy Kenyan tea, “I will bring to you.” They’re consistently grateful for health and life, something you don’t hear often in the Western world.
Community
Individually, Kenyans are kind, humble people. Together, they are strong. They uplift one another and truly support each other. When someone achieves success, they bring that wealth back to their community and to those who supported them along the way. That is why so many world-class athletes still live in Iten, Kaptagat, or wherever their roots are. They are inspiring people who believed in me as a runner before I believed in myself. And that’s after more than a decade in the sport. For that, I am forever grateful.
“Feel free, feel at home.”
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