WinCatherine on IndieGoGO now accepting Tax-Deductible Donations!

I mentioned an announcement would be coming regarding the IndieGoGo campaign and now it is official: Our fiscal sponsor, Fractured Atlas, has now  partnered with IndieGoGo which is great news for anyone making a donation to WinCatherine!  Now in addition to choosing a perk or incentive for your donation, your contribution is tax-deductible (to the extent of the law)! Click here to visit WinCatherine on IndieGoGoo;  check it out and be a part of making this film happen!    

Now on to other news:

I spoke to Catherine today for the first time since her return from the UK in conjunction with the Kenyan Community Bedford program (see previous post). She said it was an excellent trip! Along with a few other top elite athletes from Kenya,  they visited an elementary school, a high school and a university where they ran with the students.  They visited a hospital where Kenyan Community Bedford has been involved with raising money to support the children's ward, and they also did a run on Saturday with adults. The program was designed to  inspire both the British and Kenyan people in the communities.  The schedule was quite busy and there was not much time for training but Catherine said it was all a great experience!

Photo by Ken courtesy of Kenyan Community Bedford

Catherine is now back in Kenya again and continues to heal from the injury to her piriformis muscle which forced her to withdraw from the Boston Marathon back in April. At this time she is not in pain and has just begun to add speed work back into her training.  One of Catherine's many strengths is that she has always been able to listen to her body and progress as she sees fit. She's hoping to be fully healed soon so she can resume her racing! For now she is enjoying being back home with her family. Her daughter arrives home tomorrow for an extended weekend break from school and Catherine is very excited to spend time with her and celebrate Jane's belated 13th birthday!

Want to see footage from Catherine's visit to the UK and much more?  Please don't forget to check out the IndieGoGo campaign and our website and donate whatever you can to help us get this film finished; there is a lot of amazing footage and interviews waiting to be assembled!

Back in the USA

It is a cold, dreary, windy and very rainy day so I figured it would be a good day to catch Catherine at her home away from home in Norristown, PA. She arrived in the US last Friday after an exhausting week. Having just arrived home in Kenya on Tuesday the 23rd after the Lisbon Half Marathon, she had to turn around on Thursday and head to Philadelphia four days earlier than expected due to the impending British Airways strike. She arrived exhausted on Friday so I didn't want to call her then. I was away for the weekend and knew she would be busy catching up on chiropractor and massage appointments! So as I sat at my desk staring at the pouring rain, I decided to welcome her back. The first time I called, she was speaking to her friend Helen so I waited a few hours to call back. I gave them plenty of time because I know how the two of them can chat away especially without the time difference and being that Helen is in Maryland, they can now talk for free! When I called back she recognized the caller ID and picked up the phone with "Hello Stef". 

It was fun catching up and we talked about everything it seemed today! We talked about how quickly our kids are growing up; her daughter, Jane, will turn 13 in a few weeks while my oldest will graduate college just four days after that! Catherine recalled seeing photos of my children on Lisa's refrigerator when she first came to the United States in 1995. That was before she had Jane and my kids were only 4 & 7. We were just two mothers chatting about how time flies and how when we are young we only want to be older, and when we get older, we don't want to get any older! We talked about the rainy weather and how it prevented her from training today. She said she was bored and wished she could go to the mall. She invited me over for mokimo (you may recall seeing the photos from the last time she invited me back in November before Yokohama) and I was seriously thinking of blowing off the rest of the day and taking her to the mall, finding a WiFi spot and working from there. I was even willing to brave the weather and was excited because she promised to show me how to make the mokimo. Then it dawned on me. Sure, I could blow off work. I could go out in the rain. I could even find a WiFi spot and work remotely. But, my bubble burst when I remembered, oh yeah, I woke up with a sore throat and nasty cold and there was no way I was going to put myself anywhere near Catherine and risk her getting a cold! So, here I am back at work and she is still at home not wanting to swim her training today!

We talked about her race this weekend at the Crescent City Classic 10k in New Orleans and she said it had been 13 years since she has run there. She came to the US to train for the first time in 1995! It sounds like such a long time ago yet seems like just yesterday!

We talked about Boston and I was disappointed to learn that she will return home to Kenya after the marathon but she will be the maid of honor at her friend Jane Murage's wedding on April 24th so must get back. Jane even changed her wedding date in order to allow Catherine to be in the wedding because her original date conflicted with the Boston Marathon! You may recall Jane from the fundraising trailer; she also trains under Lisa Buster. She has been directly influenced and inspired by Catherine so it was very important to her that Catherine be at the wedding.

After 45 minutes I finally wished her a safe trip to New Orleans and she promised that when she gets back, and before she leaves for Boston, that we will go shopping and get the fresh ingredients needed for her to teach me how to make her famous mokimo!

First Day of Filming in Kenya

Willy, our sound technician, met us at our apartment at 8:30am. I had wanted to wait until after 9 to leave so I could meet the woman I had been dealing with on the phone but she was not due in and we had to get to Catherine’s. When we got there she had already picked up Anthony and Jane from the airport and they were on their way to the dentist; Jane had a problem with her tooth starting back in December when they were in Costa Rico. We had some time to kill as they were already at the dentist so we went to the Giraffe Center which is in Karen, named for Karen Blixen (Out of Africa story fame). It was SO cool to have the giraffe come right up and literally eat out of your hand.

Jon filming the Giraffes

There are containers with food and you just scoop some up to feed them. There is the ground level where some of the smaller ones come up to you and bend their long neck down, then there is an upper level where you go up steps so you can get to the taller ones. They are very gentle for the most part but there was one, Helen, who likes to give head butts so the employees made sure to alert people of her habit!


Around lunch time we headed back to Catherine’s home and waited for her there. When she arrived, Anthony and Jane were in tow and little Ruth, who was so little a year ago and who is Catherine’s niece, came running out to greet her. She had been playing with Kevin, Catherine’s nephew and she is just adorable!

Ruth (left) and Kevin (right)

She is also incredibly self-sufficient which I found very different from the two year olds I know in the U.S. She just runs around where she wants and does not have to be watched every second like we seem to watch our kids back home. The house is gated at the end of the property but it is still quite far from the main house. I was amazed how good she was and SO friendly!

We spent the day just filming Catherine at home with her family and especially focusing on Jane since she was due to go back to school. I am completely surprised by how much Jane hates the camera! I would have thought she would be used to it but it seems almost like she resents it because she is so used to it. She also doesn’t like running or anything to do with it and it is my opinion that maybe this is because it has taken her mother away from her for periods of time as she grew up. It was very difficult at first to get close to her because I was the “lady who brought the camera” but once I sent the big camera away and just brought out my small “stealth” camera she was much more open and her personality really came through! You’ll have to see the film to see what she is like but I will give you a hint, she is very much like any pre-teen girl into music and pop culture and becoming a woman!


Jane & Ruth

She is just adorable! It was evident that she became more comfortable with me and the crew and we were able to film her in the kitchen with Catherine as well as Lydia, Samuel’s wife who stopped over but didn’t know I was there so I wasn’t able to see little Stephen!

We had a late lunch and Catherine and Filhelmina (her house help) prepared Catherine’s favorite dish for us, Mukimo. It was delicious and I had been waiting to try it! After lunch Anthony gave us a tour of the grounds including the gardens where Catherine loves to grow all kinds of vegetables. She obviously doesn’t have the time to tend to them all on her own but I learned that she has an intense love of agriculture which she has had since she was in school. She grows everything there from spinach, beans, potatoes, tomatoes and peppers to pumpkins and sugar cane!

While we were outside some visitors arrived; monkeys! They are SO cute! First we saw one, then two then there were at least five of them! They were hanging around the front of the house and climbing on the house. While we were inside at the dining room table, the front door was open and one came inside! Anthony said they have never had one actually come in the house but there he was; unfortunately I couldn't get my camera quick enough to capture the one that came in!

After a cup of Kenyan tea we were all exhausted and left for the day. I look forward to filming more with Catherine over the next few weeks and am sorry that we won’t see more of Jane. She will have her tooth fixed tomorrow and head back to boarding school on Thursday.

London Calling.....

Gardens at Buckingham Palace


On Friday I had planned to film the sites around London. I worked in the morning making arrangements and planning our route and we headed out just after noon. We wanted to catch the afternoon light and hopefully film sunset over London from the London Eye. We took the tube to a station we thought was near Buckingham Palace but got off too soon so instead of getting back on we decided to walk. It was a gorgeous day again and a really nice walk. London was never a city that I cared whether or not I went to but I did like it. It is really very nice although extremely expensive! We filmed at Buckingham Palace (where the marathon will end),
Buckingham Palace
walked over to Big Ben, Westminster Abbey and Parliament.
London Phone booth, Big Ben & Parliament

The light was hitting Parliament and Big Ben in just the right way and we got some beautiful shots.

Parliament

Then we headed over to the London Eye and did the overview shots. Jon got some nice shots but we were a little early and didn’t exactly hit sunset (the line moved much more quickly than anticipated).

View of London from London Eye

The one thing that struck me was how after each “pod” emptied out they scanned the entire inside for bombs before loading up with passengers again. On one hand it is nice to know that they keep us safe and on the other hand a bit unsettling that they have to do that at all! Anyway…it was pretty and had been a long day of walking and shooting and we headed back. I wanted to stop at Piccadilly Circus just so I could see it so we did and I saw; I was not very impressed! We hopped on the tube from there and headed back to download all of the footage from the day. We were both exhausted and neither of us had enough energy to get out to dinner so I just ordered in my room and learned later that he had done the same! We needed to be ready for Saturday so we could film some of Catherine’s preparations for the race.