Track and Field Blogs - Francis Coral - Mellon

I wanted to write a short blog post before I make the bumpy 8 hour trip by uncomfortable bus from Nairobi back to my room in Iten so here goes.

The last month has been exciting for me. My training is good and my legs feel quite strong again. I built back up to 150ks for the week, a far cry from what I wanted but it’s quite good considering I was doing nothing for a while.

The filming is going well. I have finished filming two of the characters, and have all of the necessary story elements for them. In one of my previous blogs I told you about a guy named Hosea Kibet Rutto, the runner who is training hard but hasn’t made it yet. This time I will tell you about the lifestyle of a boy named Kipchumba Chirchir. He wakes up in the morning and runs 5k barefoot to school with a container full of water, If he shows up to school without it, he will be seriously reprimanded. Near the middle of the day all the kids are sent with their large water containers to pour the water in the bathrooms to clean them. Sometimes instead of water they are asked to bring firewood for cooking. Either way this item is mandatory to bring. After school he makes the trip home and helps his father around the farm, doing chores like planting fruit or herding the cows, which is a regular job for the kids in Kenya. There is no formal training for kids his age (11) just the natural exercise that they do everyday which eventually develops them into champions. This is the story I am trying to tell for the first 1/3 of my movie.

In my personal life, I went to the provincial cross country and took some great footage, even interviewing the 19 year old 1500m phenom Asbel Kiprop (4th in Osaka). I also was in Nairobi for the first track competition of the year where I filmed most of the events. Catherine Ndereba, the Marathon Goddess showed up to run the 10k and I interviewed her after the race. The 800 and 1500 were also very competitive and interesting. Anyway I come to the end of my blog. I will be back in Canada soon and able to start editing my film, and running road and track during the summer, which I am looking forward to because I haven’t raced in about 3 ½ months. Peace.