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A review by skitch41
Running with the Kenyans: Passion, Adventure, and the Secrets of the Fastest People on Earth by Adharanand Finn
4.0
(Note: Customer review from the Amazon Vine™ Program)
For those of you who read [bc:Born to Run: A Hidden Tribe, Superathletes, and the Greatest Race the World Has Never Seen|6289283|Born to Run A Hidden Tribe, Superathletes, and the Greatest Race the World Has Never Seen|Christopher McDougall|http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1320531983s/6289283.jpg|6473602][b:Born to Run: A Hidden Tribe, Superathletes, and the Greatest Race the World Has Never Seen|6289283|Born to Run A Hidden Tribe, Superathletes, and the Greatest Race the World Has Never Seen|Christopher McDougall|http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1320531983s/6289283.jpg|6473602], you already know the main thrust of this book: a running enthusiast from the West gets it into his head that he wants to be better at running and travels across the globe looking for the secrets to do so. Instead, replace Mr. McDougall's Copper Canyon in Mexico with the village of Iten in Kenya. As Mr. Finn repeatedly notes, Kenyans have been the dominant force in middle and long distance running for the past few decades, winning just about any race they enter. Mr. Finn moves his young family from England to Kenya in order to train with them for a local marathon and learn what makes them so fast. But whereas Mr. McDougall comes away from his journey as a prophet of barefoot running, Mr. Finn is noncommittal about the secrets of Kenyan running, listing it as a combination of different factors working together. In fact, by the end of the book, it feels like any lessons that Mr. Finn learned from his time in Kenya have been internalized for himself and not fully shared with the reader. But don't mistake this assessment of mine as completely negative. Where this book shines in his telling of his trials training with such a fast group of talented people where he can call up a Kenyan by mistake and learn that the mistaken person still had a record-setting marathon time. Also, his tales of cross-cultural learning and the adjustments that his young family (he brings his wife, two girls, and young boy along) have to make while living in a different part of the globe are heartwarming and fascinating. And though he may internalize the secrets of Kenyan running, by the end of the book you also feel that, with enough training and dedication, you too could post a sub-three hour marathon time. Not as eye-opening as Born to Run, but still worth a look for any running enthusiasts.
For those of you who read [bc:Born to Run: A Hidden Tribe, Superathletes, and the Greatest Race the World Has Never Seen|6289283|Born to Run A Hidden Tribe, Superathletes, and the Greatest Race the World Has Never Seen|Christopher McDougall|http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1320531983s/6289283.jpg|6473602][b:Born to Run: A Hidden Tribe, Superathletes, and the Greatest Race the World Has Never Seen|6289283|Born to Run A Hidden Tribe, Superathletes, and the Greatest Race the World Has Never Seen|Christopher McDougall|http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1320531983s/6289283.jpg|6473602], you already know the main thrust of this book: a running enthusiast from the West gets it into his head that he wants to be better at running and travels across the globe looking for the secrets to do so. Instead, replace Mr. McDougall's Copper Canyon in Mexico with the village of Iten in Kenya. As Mr. Finn repeatedly notes, Kenyans have been the dominant force in middle and long distance running for the past few decades, winning just about any race they enter. Mr. Finn moves his young family from England to Kenya in order to train with them for a local marathon and learn what makes them so fast. But whereas Mr. McDougall comes away from his journey as a prophet of barefoot running, Mr. Finn is noncommittal about the secrets of Kenyan running, listing it as a combination of different factors working together. In fact, by the end of the book, it feels like any lessons that Mr. Finn learned from his time in Kenya have been internalized for himself and not fully shared with the reader. But don't mistake this assessment of mine as completely negative. Where this book shines in his telling of his trials training with such a fast group of talented people where he can call up a Kenyan by mistake and learn that the mistaken person still had a record-setting marathon time. Also, his tales of cross-cultural learning and the adjustments that his young family (he brings his wife, two girls, and young boy along) have to make while living in a different part of the globe are heartwarming and fascinating. And though he may internalize the secrets of Kenyan running, by the end of the book you also feel that, with enough training and dedication, you too could post a sub-three hour marathon time. Not as eye-opening as Born to Run, but still worth a look for any running enthusiasts.