Firstly apologies for not updating, I have had trouble getting some internet sorted to be able to get online.

Jambo! Kenya is certainly the place to be, I'm in distance running heaven! Back in July I applied to UKA to see if I was able to come here and in September I found out I was successful and on the 28^th October a group of around 28 of us, including staff, travelled out to Iten, Kenya.

My journey started at 4am Thursday with a bus journey to Heathrow. We arrived at heathrow about 8am and flew to Nairobi at 10am. We arrived in Nairobi after an 8 ½ hour flight at 10:30pm. It was already starting to feel surreal. We cleared customs, collected our bags and met the Kenyan representative.

The first thing I couldn't help but laugh at was the bus drivers loading all our bags onto the roof of the tiny mini bus. They were very efficient at doing this and to them its just normal practice. We back in England take for granted the type of transport we have at our disposal.

Loading the bags onto the bus roof in Nairobi

We made our way to the hotel about 15 minutes away for a good nights sleep before our 45minute flight at 8am the next morning to Eldoret. It was pretty dark with not much street lighting so I couldn't see anything much further than the roadside. When I arrived I got a quick bite to eat in the hotel, just some soup and bread then hit the sack. Thankfully they were beds not sacks in case anyone was actually wondering!

The next morning we put our bags outside the room and went to breakfast. It seemed a little westernised. I had some bacon and eggs along with some coco pops as I thought it could be the last time I see them in a long time! by the time we left breakfast the bags were all loaded up on the roof of the bus ready to go. We made our way to the airport taking in the fantastic sights of Kenya. At 6am there was a fair amount of traffic on the roads but not over crammed like Britain with one person in every car. All the cars and buses I seen were crammed to the max, some too over crowded. I guess if the locals want to get to work by car or bus they make sure they can fit in the vehicle! If they don't get a car or bus they walk or run. In the 15 minutes to the airport I must have seen thousands of people walking along the side of the road. It was just so busy, it was like a street taken straight out of Manhattan.

We arrived at the airport and checked in and waited for our flight. There was a little coffee place which sold snacks too and that was about it! When we boarded the tiny plane there was a few hundred school kids standing at the fence of the runway, I'm not sure why but they all were waving as we got on the plane.

We got on our way but around 15minutes into the flight the pilot announced there was a problem with the plane and we had to turn back. The aircon system had failed and the cabin wasn't pressurised so we were at a pretty high altitude in that jet! As we touched down the bump woke Ross Murray up and he wouldn't believe that we'd turned back and was convinced we were in Eldoret. Then as he stepped off the plane he soon realised we were back where we started!

Credit to the air staff, we must have been back in the terminal 5 minutes and then we had another plane ready to go. So again we boarded and set off on our way.

When we touched down in Eldoret a good 2 hours late we were greeted with loads of school kids. Again im not sure why they were all at the airport, I think they were waiting for someone but it felt strange them all shouting and smiling at us. The other side of the tiny airport we were met by the Lorna Kiplagat's staff, we are staying at Lorna Kiplagat's training centre here in Iten. We got the bags loaded up into the Matutu's (they're Kenya taxi's/mini buses) and I got lucky and got to travel in the Land Rover which had the aircon. It's not actually that hot here, just in the sun it's very strong and in the shade it's ok.

We then started our journey of 1 hour to Iten through Eldoret town centre. That place was crazy though, there was so many people about walking the streets and again loads of cars just all over the place with no priority what so ever. It was just a case of every man for himself.

Just a normal day for some locals moving some furniture

Once we got through Eldoret it was just loads of small shanty towns along the route and market traders set up all the way along the road. People just trade all day long here, there isn't many shops just stalls. We seemed to get so much attention, any local who noticed our car would smile and wave. It was strange at first but I was soon waving at everyone and saying hello to them.

We finally arrived at the HATC (high altitude training centre) and after being given our room keys and dropping our bags we met with Lorna herself. Lorna won the world cross when it was held in Mombassa back in 2008 I think it was so although she now represents Holland she is still a living legend in Kenya not to mention Iten. If you're ever in the town all you need to say to anyone for a lift home is- to Lorna's please and they where to go.

Lorna gave us a quick tour of the small complex. We had our little rooms with just 2 beds and a wardrobe along with a small bathroom with a shower. I'm sharing with Lewis so that's alright as we've roomed together plenty of times and we get on well. There's a little dining hall then on the other side of the path is a wooden hut type building, which has a TV linked up to satellite- that is the one luxury we have. But to be fair I've only watched it once for the Newcastle Sunderland game and that was worth it!

She then showed us the gym and as were walking in we only see the Olympic 1500m Champion Asbel Kiprop walking out after his session. Lorna then told us that loads of athletes come to use her gym as they're great facilities for Kenya. Since Asbel we've also we David Rudisha here too (the 800m world record holder) and I managed to grab him for a photo.

After being shown around we all went for some food. I cant actually remember what I had I was that tired off the early starts and travelling! After that I then went to my room to catch up on some sleep before getting up and doing my first run early evening around 4.

This was unreal. We only did 40 minutes nice and easy round the trails but the local kids the whole way round were amazing. They were constantly shouting "How are you? How are you? How are you?" until you answer them. They're adorable though and then some will start running with you. You think this wouldn't be that weird but when they're carrying 5 litres of water and in bare feet in school uniform along a pretty uneven stony path and keeping up comfortably then you begin have a reality check!

That was my first experience of Kenya, I'll update soon about my road trips into Iten and Eldoret towns and also about how the training has been going out here and tell you a little more about the lifestyle and food Kenya has to offer.

Kwa heri.