WITNESS: Running in Kenya's land of the champions

Andrew Cawthorne is chief correspondent for Reuters in east Africa. He has worked for Reuters since 1992 and has been based in Nairobi since 2005. In the following story, he met -- and ran with -- some of the nation's top athletes preparing for the Olympics in a region hardest hit by Kenya's recent post-election violence.

By Andrew Cawthorne

ITEN, Kenya (Reuters) - It's the mecca of world-class distance running: Kenya's Rift Valley.

Everywhere I looked, knots of star runners jogged over the hills, disappeared into forests, sprinted toward the horizon. The glorious views and high altitude added to the intoxication.

So though a mere amateur, it seemed natural to ask a couple of Olympic hopefuls on their afternoon run if I could join them.

Being courteous Kenyans -- or rather, Kenyan-born Qataris running for the Sheikh these days -- they assented, pretending not to compare my cheap running shoes (14.99 pounds at a sale in Stoke-on-Trent) with their state-of-the-art garb.

Disastrous idea. Forty minutes later, I was jumping into the back of a support car, aching, gasping and muttering my excuses.

It was the Qatari-Kenyan pair's third workout of the day, a gentle sunset warm-down after earlier, pre-dawn exertions.

"You did well, don't worry," lied Yobes Ondieki, a past Kenyan champion coaching them in the picturesque, highland village of Iten at 2,300 meters on the edge of the Keri Valley.  Continued...