HMMGRLLUH

That is the best phonetic spelling I can make of the noise I emit as 7 lean Kenyans blast by me on #13 (or any other) out of 20 hill repeats. I am beyond tired after workouts, and often later into the day that I often forget where I am when I wake up from naps. I blink at the unfamiliar ceiling, but the ship rights itself when I hear Michael Bolton blaring from the main room. Nowhere in America would I stand for such auditory crimes, then remember 'Oh yeah I'm in Africa'.

Days have pretty much settled in here. Morning training around dawn, then tea with buttered bread, wash then a nap, and most days I make the 2km walk into town. We get a steady dose of visitors, whom they are visiting I can't always instantly figure out. If they just speak Swahili or Kalenjin most of the time, then its obvious that they are visiting my roommates. If in the first 10 minutes the question , "Who do you support in your country's election?" is asked, well they obviously have come to visit me. As far as Kenyan citizens are concerned, if Obama wins then all Kenyans will be allowed to live in the USA, regardless of immigration red tape. To play the fence and astonish them I reply "You are aware that they are both pretty awful choices?". This usually garners a reply of, "Surely you must vote for our Obama." which is laughingly received. I think Obama has been to Kenya at most 2 times.

Training the past few days has been noteworthy. On Saturday I joined up with the same group of seven guys, for hill repeats. I breathed a sigh of relief when they said we would be using a different hill. I was fully prepared for another extended warmup, in the 45 minute range. What I was not prepared for was the fartlek, that was substituted for the warmup. On about five separate occasions, the pace dropped from maybe 6:45/mi to 5:20/mi, all without warning. I was wondering if I was just having a rough day, but when one of the elder international road racing studs, dropped back and informed me, "These guys are crazy." I calmed down a bit.

Once we arrived at the hill, 45 min later, it was stated that it stretched 200 meters and we would cover it in a time of 38-42 seconds. "Not too bad" I thought, well repeat number one set the tone. 34 seconds read my watch, ok that was fast. Maybe everyone else will realize that we are way fast and settle down. Number 2, 33.5, ok well that pretty much did it for me. Through shrewd calculations in my head, I figured holding 33.8-34.9, was my only ticket to finishing this workout alive. Well the good news is that I did not get dusted as bad as the previous hill workout. Whether that was due to the decreased length of the hill, I shall not bother with such details. I averaged between last and second to last on pretty much every repeat, even the ones that I started out leading. They were closing out in the sub 30 range, while I held on for dear life at 33's. I am not tooting my horn understand, but this is up a hill! The highlight of any hill workout with these guys is that the cool down finishing spot, is never more than a mile away. Which also amazes me in how lost I get on the twisty country roads.

This morning we met up with the huge group of runners for a planned 1hr 20min run. Little did I know at the start, but a few newcomers came to poach this run. Once we left the paved road at minute five, fun time was all over. The pace firmly was placed down around 5:15-5:20, which I judged easily by my breathing and the four women in the group falling back as if a sniper in the trees was picking them off one by one. I drifted off the back of the pack and started to worry about getting lost on a long-ish run out in the countryside. Thankfully one guy happened to drop back, and I was able to keep up with him. The amount of training that is done without structure here is absolutely astonishing. It is like a giant runners' pick up game here, no plan, just hammer time everyday. Maybe that is why there are about a thousand runners here, and only a handful ever experience true fruits from their training. At the 35min mark, five guys I know dropped back to a reasonable pace with me. This group of guys, actually adhere to a structured plan of sorts. They mentioned that some new guys showed up and scoffed at the easy run notion. I am lucky that a few guys here believe in recovery. We finished the run in 1hr 14 min, a full 9 min faster than the last time I completed that loop.

I have all but shaken my chest cold, and my training is showing more promise daily. I am starting to feel the benefits, and I can not wait to race back home. Hope everyone is well and thanks for the comments.