Hi all,

This is my 5th day in Kenya and am just starting to feel semi-acclimatised. The plan for the first week is just to do easy running and get used to the altitude, which is 2,500m or so. All of the runs are really hilly so even when you're running easy it's still really hard not to get out of breath (and feel really unfit!). I've been varying runs between 6-11 miles with my first 'long' run tomorrow of 15-17 miles or so, but still at easy pace. The big risk at altitude is to hit the runs too hard and be tired before the hard work even begins. It's really hard to judge pace and so it's best to err on the side of caution. I've already found that I seem to be acclimatising quite slowly, whereas in the past I've normally flet quite comfortable at altitude, even at the start. The hard work begins next week, but the plan is ismply to run a lot of miles and also do some tempo work. I'm not doing anything too intense yet as it's still early days. 

I'm staying in the Mukfare Guest House which has 3 bedrooms, hot showers, proper toilets and a flat screen TV! Ben Hope has arrived and Amelia has been acting as our live in food provider and has scoured the markets for treats such as paw-paws, avocados, mangoes, tamarillos, cow shanks, beans and weird unidentified herbs. We have been using a sieve to filter out the tea leaves and ground coffee and we don't have a kettle so have been boiling water on the stove and then pouring into a thermos (why is that here?!) to make our hot drinks.

Mukfare Guethouse!

The lifestyle is as you'd expect. Slow and simple. We have taken the matatu (taxibus) from Iten to Eldoret a couple of times (about 35km) where there are more built up ares and actual brick buildings. There are great markets here and also some decent restaurants. Iten is more of a shack town but we discovered an amazing cafe called Nemesto Hotel near our Guest house which does chapatis and breads for about 10p. Chapatis are definitely my best discovery out here so far. Fantastic food! Ugali is bland, dry, and stodgy. I think I'll not go there again...

Lounge area with thermos!

Tomorrow I will attempt the first tougher run so far - 2 hours 'easy'. I've been told by Gavin Smith I can run with the Kenyans and I'll be ok. I've been doing my runs about about 6.45 miling so far and the hills give you something to think about as well..! Myself and Ben Hope will embark on this adventure at 6.15 am and will be disciplined and ensure we don't attempt to run too hard. If it gets too fast we'll back off and turn back. Or we'll be in the middle of nowhere and will hire a donkey home.