You think Kenya doesn’t have trucks or are good drivers? A number of Kenyan athletes have been killed / injured by automobiles over the years. Others have been robbed / attacked / kidnapped by bandits, especially in the North Rift. Banditry is not as common in the US. Plus, a lot of those roads are not in great condition.
Rednecks speeding in pickups have nothing on third world drivers.
Having spent time in Kenya specifically, this is 100% spot on. Red lights are merely suggestions. In fact, if you stop at one like we do here, you'll get rear ended as the expectations are at least 10 cars should go through before traffic stops. Most roads don't have shoulders, definitively not painted ones (lol, are you kidding me on that) and are in such decrepit shape it's trail running but on the road. Kenyan's also are just as addicted to cell phones as we are, but enforced laws and even a culture that limits distracted driving? Get serious. And safety? Look, when you drive around Kenya you NEVER have your arm out the window driving through towns. Why? Because if you're wearing a watch, any watch, even your crappy Timex, a dude with a blade will deftly swipe it off your wrist. You'll be fine, but your watch is gone. Running around with a $400 Garmin, good luck.
So no, you ignorant morons, you don't want to train in Kenya with the exception of their tracks with other athletes in safe conditions. Otherwise, it's a horrible place to train compared to 99% of the US. You just have no idea how good you have it.
I dunno, maybe it's the malaria, a parasite that stays with you for life? For every message board genius who wants to go to Kenya to train, there are at least 100 Kenyans who want to come to America.
The history of malaria extends from its prehistoric origin as a zoonotic disease in the primates of Africa through to the 21st century. A widespread and potentially lethal human infectious disease, at its peak malaria infeste...
Eldoret is about a half degree north of the equator and is at about 6,900 feet of altitude. Temps are highs in the 70s and lows in the 50s almost all year. Spring gets rainy and training is difficult due to mud. But for the other 10 months out of the year, conditions are perfect for training and the altitude is perfect.
Then, the Kenyan training system is to have very large groups of distance runners train together. If you show promise as a distance runner, you can get a spot in a training program. The training groups give their runners a bed, food, gear, coaching and other training aids . . . . But the point is that you will have a road workout with 20-30 runners or more. The top studs will lead the workout. Everyone else will try as hard as they can to keep up until they break. This process separates the wheat from the chaff. and by casting a relatively wide net, talented runners are not usually lost to the crowds. Every workout in the Kenyan training groups has the intensity of a race. In the US, training groups are tiny, selecting out only the top NCAA runners each year and leaving everyone else to train on their own. Every road workout is more concerned with hitting perfect splits than running in a big pack and pushing yourself to your limits.
You can’t put a price on protecting the environment
Kenya does zero to protect the environment. Have you ever been there? It's filthy.
Just because there’s stuff lying around doesn’t mean the environments been ruined . Not being able to go outside without getting run over by a truck is a bad sign
America is a land of the leaisure now. People walking around in pajamas, and nobody even thinks it's weird anymore. Long distance running is for some, but not for as many as there used to be in the 70's and 80's. The marathons with large numbers are due to 2 reasons; A large percentage are from other countries, and the "average" American marathon has become much slower. Finishing under 4 hours for the majority has become the goal.
Young people don't go outside and play much anymore. How often do you drive down a street and see a pick-up hockey game, or kids running around and playing?
You can find the majority of them inside playing video games.
Soon, when North Korea or China invades, they won't have to parachute in. They will just walk in. And the obese Americans will not be able to get out of their lazy boys.
It's sad. Butthis country is getting softer every generation. Just ask the boys who use the girls bathrooms. That number is growing. Do you think they will serve their country?
For decades rich white men never served their country and people like you never had a problem with that.
For decades rich white men never served their country and people like you never had a problem with that.
Both grandfathers and my father served their country. I never did, but, then again, the recruiter never called me back when I was young and looking for work.
