Iten, let’s discover my Disneyland!

Last week I decided to go to in the most famous city of the world for running in Kenya : Iten. Everybody knows that Kenyan own all records in running competitions and especially in marathons. Thus, Iten was the best place to be for me to meet Kenyan female runners.

After 12 hours of travel from Nairobi, John Litei welcomed me. This is an athlete who ran for Kenya in 2006 for the Commonwealth games. A friend introduced me to him two days before. Here in Africa, everybody knows everybody so it’s easy to make new friends.
I also met famous athletes, Ismaël , a Soudanese runner, Andrew, a Kenyan marathon runner and Joseph a Kenyan coach since 15/20 years. While discussing about my project, I understood that I met the right people so I could meet Kenyan female runners in the next days. In fact, I was looking for this since two weeks but here you need to meet people so you can get what you need. It is really difficult to manage to go further in your projects if you only send e-mails or making calls. That is why I have decided to go to Iten few days before.

On the next morning, I went for a jogging at 6:00 am like all athletes in Iten. Even it is hard to wake up, you feel really motivated by the atmosphere. While running, I saw all kind of runners from every country that gave me strengths for this running session. After 15 minutes, I could felt the altitude (Iten is based at 2400 meters high). Even I had already ran in Kenya, running here was really tough. Without eating anything at 6:00 am and trying to follow a Kenyan runner… let’s imagine how I felt. Nevertheless, I did not stop, I needed to prove that even I am French I could run!

Later, in the afternoon, I succeed to be invited in the Adidas camp, Joseph’s one. I had time to meet six Kenyan female runners and interview them. They ran different distances and of all ages : perfect for me! After two hours, I got everything for my movie. The way they thought about running is really different from my point of view and this was really interesting for me to meet such women. They are real runners not just for fun!

In the evening and the next day, I could speak with other athletes: Robertson brothers from New Zealand and some athletes from French team. It is crazy how many champions you can find in this city! I was so lucky to be there. Finally, I felt like a child when my parents take me to Disneyland to see the parade… Iten is my Disneyland!

What I will remember about Iten :
– In Iten, you live for running : wake up, eat, train and sleep thinking about it. You can’t avoid it!
– Famous athletes are very friendly and talkative that helped me a lot to know more about running sector.
– Although everybody run, few are selected to run for their country but no one gives up. Giving up, is to giving up about a future.

More pictures here.