IndieGoGo Campaign is Go, Go a Goin...Help us make it happen!

We are over half way there but have only 4 days left in our campaign to raise the funds needed for filming Catherine in Boston as she goes for an unprecedented 5th win! More important than that, however, we will be there to capture her doing what she does just as naturally as running: inspiring student athletes. You can see Catherine's face just light up when she is around children. She is in her glory and children are drawn to her. 

On Wednesday, our first scheduled day of shooting in Boston, John Hancock, in partnership with the Boston Scholar Athlete Program, brings members of Boston high school track teams together to meet and train with world-class marathoners, including past champions, Olympians, and top Americans.

I can't wait!

Please help ensure that we will have to funds to film all of the activities race week has to offer! Share our IndieGoGo campaign with everyone you know! click here to visit our IndieGoGo campaign

Check out the perks listed on the right side of the page and choose the one that you love best!

I'll be reporting from Boston next! Thank you to those who have supported us!

One Week and Counting....

It is only one week until Catherine heads to Boston for the 115th Boston Marathon and we will be right with her filming! We need to film Catherine in Boston. That race is such a part of her resume that it would be a sin not to film with her there. The campaign to raise money for filming in Boston has been going very well and we are just shy of our half way mark! However, with only 8 days left on the campaign, we really need to step things up. Please click here or on the IndieGoGo link on the right side of this page and do what you can. As little as $10 will help and don't forget to check out the perks! 

Ok...end of plug :)

A lot has been happening! Catherine arrived last Tuesday and the next day went right to one of her favorite places when she is in the U.S.; Dr. Johnny-King-Marino's office! She doesn't get the chiropractic care in Kenya that she gets from Dr. Johnny!

This past weekend, Catherine ran in the Cooper River Bridge Run and placed 5th. More important than the place she took was that she ran injury free and felt good! Hopefully she is getting a little used to the East Coast weather here in the U.S.; it's been a little crazy. We've had temperatures range from the upper 70's to the low 30's! But, this should only prepare her more for Boston!

WinCatherine has been mentioned in a new blog: MyRun Australia so please check out the site! http://www.myrun.com.au/

I'll try to post again before heading up, otherwise, I'll be posting from Boston!

New Interview with Catherine Ndereba

Check out this great interview with Catherine at GaryCohenRunning! I'm sure you'll find it worth the read!

What Kenyan Runners Wear

Here's a fun blog entry from MessagefromMzungo

If you are moving through the highlands of Kenya and in particular the epicentre of long distance running, the Rift Valley Province, you quickly get familiar with the strong green and brown environment. The dirt roads and the beautiful scenery of trees and fields give the general impression of a naturally rich environment. Your eyes soon get used to the typical colours and shades of this extraordinary piece of nature.....read more here

Become a fan on Facebook!

We now have a fan page on facebook; please click the "become a fan" button on the left of this page and join us! Feel free to pass it along to your friends as well!

Chicago

Today I left gorgeous weather in Philadelphia and arrived in rainy Chicago. An old friend picked me up at the airport and gave me a ride to my hotel (okay, he's going to read this so I will clarify that HE is not old; I've just known him for quite awhile!) Let me first state that Catherine is NOT running the Chicago Marathon this year; I am here because there are 4 people that I want to interview and it was cost effective to be able to get all four in one city rather than have to travel to each individually. Also, Jon is in town promoting Spirit of the Marathon so I didn't have to fly him in to shoot either.

After checking in and grabbing lunch I set out to explore and scout locations to shoot the interviews. I've never been to Chicago before and I am really impressed with the city! Even in the rain it is beautiful! I started at my hotel and walked down to the Hilton which is where the media center for the race is. There are so many parks and so much greenery that it almost makes me feel like I'm not in a city.

It was really cool to see a busy city street right next to a marina and have the cars and boats almost look like they were right next to each other! But, reality soon set in because even though I walked around for several hours looking for the perfect location for one of my upcoming interviews, I wasn't able to find a spot where the constant buzz of city traffic wasn't overwhelming! I'll check out more locations tomorrow when it is light out again and hopefully the rain will end as well.

It is evident that the city is geared up for the marathon on Sunday; there are banners lining the race route and porta-potty's are quite abundant!

Catherine's next race: Bupa Great South Run 10M in Portsmouth, England

In preparation for running a fall marathon, (which has not been announced yet), Catherine will run the Bupa Great South Run 10M in Portsmouth, England at the end of October. She was feeling great after winning the Philadelphia Distance Run for the 7th time and her training has been going well. As soon as things are official I will post where her fall marathon will be. I'm not sure where the information came from but someone posted on another site that she will run Chicago this year but I know for a fact that she is not running there this year. I will be there however to interview some key people for the film so I am looking forward to that! I've never been to Chicago so that will be nice as well. I remember watching Jon Dunham's Spirit of the Marathon and noticing how pretty the city was; he had some really nice shots!

The Birthday Girl!

I can attest to the dedication of Catherine and the other Kenyan athletes; I decided to visit Catherine on her birthday and take some new photographs during the track workout this morning. At 6am near my house it was raining quite steadily so I checked with Lisa to see if she was still planning to take the athletes to the track for their speed work. She said it was not raining out near Norristown and called the athletes' house to be sure they were still on schedule to do the workout. Everyone discussed it and deferred to Catherine who said yes they still wanted to go. I wasn't sure if it would be worth the drive considering it was still raining very steadily but after checking again with Lisa at 7am I decided to make the trip since she said it still was not raining there. Besides, it is a good 50 minutes away so the weather can be very different, I was already up and ready to go AND it IS Catherine's birthday so I went.

When I arrived, the athletes were just finishing their warm up and it was quite chilly but at least it wasn't raining. The crew today was Catherine, Irene, Caroline and a new girl in the camp, Kellen as well as Linus who is not new to Lisa's camp but was not here last summer when we did our filming.

The Nike outfit Catherine was wearing today was awesome! Ok, I admit to being partial to pink but it was a very vibrant pink and I think you'll agree that it just looked gorgeous on her! I just had to take photos regardless of how bleak and dreary it was. Part way through their workout the rains came; it started as a light rain and then got fairly steady but they kept on training. They did their speed work and cool downs and the rain seemed not to even bother them. At one point Catherine said to me: "It is a good day out." I looked at her obviously puzzled. She stared back with a straight face and said "yes, it is a good day out" "FOR SLEEPING"! Aha! So I was not the only one who thought it was a great day to just not get out of bed. It was nice to know that Catherine at least thought it even though she would not dare let herself submit to the temptation!

Everyone was wet after the track workout so Lisa drove them back to the house so they could change into dry clothes. She also picked up Jane and then we all went out for breakfast to celebrate Catherine's birthday.
starting lower left and going clockwise: Caroline, Catherine, Lisa, Linus, Kellen & Jane

I teased her about forgetting to bring a candle to put into her omelet but we all sang happy birthday even without the candle! When we were finished breakfast, Catherine asked me which way I was headed and when I asked her why she mentioned that she would like to go to the dollar store.....uh oh.....how could I pass up the opportunity to escort her to Dollar Tree, especially on her birthday? Far be it from me to deprive her of that treat.....I mean, it's not like I don't LOVE the store myself.....(by the way, I don't believe there is such a thing as a dollar store; they are really twenty dollar stores because I can never get out of there spending less than that!) Jane wanted to go as well so we did a not-so-short trip there so they could stock up on whatever was needed and of course so I could make my deposit as well (although I will say I got out under $15 today so an added bonus!)

It was a nice diversion from the office for part of the day and great to see Catherine back in the U.S. as well as all the others, some of whom I hadn't seen since last year and some who I also saw back in Kenya!

Happy Birthday Catherine! Going strong at 37, you still don't look a day over 21! :-)

Back to Roots II

Today we actually got to sleep in; 7am! We left our lovely *cough* Central Hotel after a decent breakfast that was included with the room. We arrived at Kahira Ini Primary School by 8:15 and there were already a lot of students there! Now remember, this is SATURDAY! Because of the track meet on Friday, the headmaster arranged for us to come in today and he also invited parents. Unfortunately there was also a church function today so many were not able to come. When we got there we started filming immediately but there were so many kids interested in the camera that we took some time first to let them check it out! It was cute how curious they all were. Jon had his camera and I had my little Canon and we would film a group of children and then play it back for them while they all giggled and vied for the best viewing position! We interviewed several teachers there and you could see how excited both parents and children were while waiting for Catherine to arrive. We scheduled to be there long before her so we could do all the other interviews and establishing shots. We did not know that they had planned an entire assembly and were expecting Catherine to speak formally to the children and parents. When we learned that she was only minutes away, the headmaster got all of the children and parents seated. When Catherine arrived there was such an excitement in the air you could hear the buzzing! The teachers all greeted her and Anthony and Charles Githii, the headmaster, walked the grounds with Catherine as she reminisced.

Finally the children were rewarded when first Anthony was introduced to speak and then Catherine.

They did not speak in English so I had to rely on the reactions of the children and later learned what they were told. Anthony warned them about staying away from the gangs that had been causing some trouble in the area lately and Catherine spoke to them about working hard in school and nurturing any talents they have that they should not be afraid to start small and not give up. She urged parents to let their children follow their dreams and to support them and she was very humbled that so many people came out to see her on a Saturday when they could be doing other things. She also announced that she was donating 100,000ksh to the school to use for things that they need most! There was a question and answer session after and the children seemed curious to know more. Once again, we were there longer than I had anticipated; I just underestimate the amount of time people want to spend with Catherine especially when it comes to kids!

Before leaving we were invited to have some drinks and a snack so of course we accepted (remember it is impolite not to anyway and we were very hungry by that time!) When I say drinks, it is not the kind of drinks you may be thinking but it also was not tea! It was soda which is very big in Kenya, especially all things Coke a Cola! Before leaving, Catherine wrote her donation check as promised and presented it to the headmaster. She said she would follow up and see what they use the funds for.

It was once again getting late and we needed to visit Catherine’s birth home so off we went. Catherine rode with us in the van so she could commentate and Anthony drove their 4 wheel vehicle. We made a stop at the little shopping strip so Catherine could buy some groceries to bring to her brother’s home as she never shows up empty handed. It is customary to bring basic needs to those who do not earn as much as you do. She got what she needed, I got drinks for everyone and then we continued on our way.

As we neared our destination the ground was soggy and muddy and lo and behold we got stuck! Anthony was driving ahead of us and didn’t notice so he kept going until he was out of site. We all got out of the van and Jon and Willy pushed while Michael (driver) tried to steer the way out. Catherine and I stood out of the way and watched the mud flying! She was on the phone so Anthony called me to ask where we were and I told him our predicament! He drove back but the guys were finally able to free the van and we continued to the birth home.

It was different from last year in the fact that the project her brother was working on that prevented us from driving up the hill was complete but we decided not to even try taking the van up the hill! Anthony drove up but we walked! It is a beautiful piece of land that sits up high and overlooks the countryside; just breathtaking. Catherine walked us around the property and showed us where she and her siblings lived, how they gathered water and where she grew food. The original structure she lived in as a child is still there but her brother, Anthony uses it for storage now and built another house on the land where he lives with his wife, Grace (also known as Mama Lillian) and two children, Hilda and Lillian. Word quickly spread that Catherine was visiting and soon a former neighbor showed up as well as Catherine’s uncle, one of her father’s brothers! Catherine gave her uncle some groceries and she gave the former neighbor some cash (again, custom to help those less fortunate). Then Mama Lillian prepared tea for all as well as sweet potatoes that she had roasted on the fireplace that is their stove. The house is in the same style as the one Catherine grew up in with the kitchen in a separate building. We enjoyed the healthy snack and then had to say our goodbyes so we could make our last stop of the day.

When we got back down to our car and were about to leave, we ran into Charity, Catherine’s Aunt that we ran into and interviewed on our first visit to her home town.

She asked me to come to her house (just up the road) for a visit and some tea and I felt horrible having to decline. I know it is not polite but we were on a very tight schedule and it would be getting dark soon and we still had to visit Anthony’s parents who had been waiting for us. I promised that the next time I come I will take her up on the generous offer.

We drove back through Karatina and on to Anthony’s parents who still live in the home where Anthony grew up. I still don’t know how people find their way around these places as there are no street signs and people just know which coffee field to turn at! I had not seen Anthony’s parents’ home in daylight and when we arrived it was very pretty! They have a little orchard/garden where they grow some vegetables and also have some passion fruit trees! They showed us down into the garden and I watched Anthony climb a passion fruit tree like a little kid (even though he was wearing dress clothes and shoes!)

He and Catherine knocked down a lot of fruit and I tasted my first passion fruit which was surprisingly good! We then interviewed Anthony’s parents, Jane and Kenneth and learned some interesting things from them. Anthony definitely gets his sense of humor from his father; in fact, they are almost one and the same person! His mother seems to be very practical and we learned that she used to be a runner as well! We shared some tea and biscuits and a little bit of time and then needed to head out so we could get back to Nairobi before it got too late. We left Catherine and Anthony there to spend a little “alone” time with the parents and Anthony said he would see us on the road as he passes us! I laughed and we got on the way :) Sure enough, about 40 minutes into the drive, we saw them pass our van! Kenyan drivers! :) We stayed our course and arrived back at Wasini at almost 10:30. It was a long day but well worth it!

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.

Women's Press Conference-London Marathon Race Week

This morning we had to be at The Tower hotel by 10:30 for the press conference that was to start at 11:30am but we had not met our sound technician yet so we met him at our hotel for breakfast at 8:30am. We discussed how the day would go and then he and Jon worked on getting their equipment all set. We took a taxi to The Tower because we had a lot of equipment to carry and we did not want to be late. We planned on filming Catherine once she arrived at the hotel. Anthony and Jane I thought were due to arrive on Friday (because Anthony had a final exam for one of his classes on Thursday). We got to the hotel and set up our camera and sound equipment and I went off to find Lisa, Mostafa and Catherine. I went up to the Athletes’ Lounge and walk in looking for them. All of a sudden I see Anthony at the coffee station and I had to take a double-take! I was shocked to see him and then I saw Jane already sitting at a table having breakfast. Evidently, Anthony’s flight was already scheduled for Wednesday by the Flora London Marathon and it couldn’t be changed so he arrived yesterday. I “met” Jane and I say that because I had not seen her since she was a little girl with bows in her braids and here she was a beautiful young lady! She was very shy at first because not only did she not remember me from all those years ago but I was the one who was there to film her mother AND HER! She does NOT like the camera; not even a little! I had a feeling I was going to be in for a very rough time but was determined to win her trust. I did not want to start off on the wrong foot so just introduced myself and let her know that we would not push her. The Athletes’ Lounge was a virtual who’s who in the marathon world. After socializing for a bit it was time to get down to the press conference. There were two separate rounds of women on the podium for reporters to question and the first group included last year’s London Marathon winner Irina Mikitenko, Olympic bronze medalist Chunxiu Zhou, Olympic gold medalist Constantina Dita and Catherine. After the press conference the athletes broke away into different corners of the room and journalists were allowed to interview them. I wanted to interview Irina and Zhou but unfortunately I was unable to get to Irina because I was waiting for Zhou. Each reporter was supposed to have five minutes but there were two in front of me that went on for almost 20 minutes so I finally had to excuse myself to get in! She had a translator with her so I had to ask the question and wait for her to understand it and then have the answer translated. She was extremely confident that when she is in her best shape that no one can beat her. I was surprised at how assured she was and figure that most top athletes need to have that sense of self confidence. I was not trying to get an interview with Constantina at that time because I had already arranged a private interview through her manager.

After the press conference there was a photo op for all the journalists outside of the hotel by the river. It was a beautiful location and I was also able to catch a quick interview with Gete Wami, the Ethiopian runner who was the female winner of the first World Marathon Majors, a competition comprised of 6 major marathon events in which the athletes accumulate points over the course of two years. The man and woman with the most points at the end of the participating events win $500,000!

After the photo op we had lunch and I was able to chat with Jane a little bit and then we arranged our interview with Constantina Dita. We sat down over coffee and had a nice interview; she is so nice and it was interesting to hear her talk about balancing her life as an international athlete as well as a mother. I can certainly sympathize with all of the women who have to leave their children behind in order to pursue their careers! I have been having a lot of mixed emotions about being away at this time of year because so much will happen over the next month with my own kids (Rob’s 18^th birthday, Eric’s 21^st birthday, senior class trip, senior prom, etc, etc, etc) Anyway, it was a good interview and was late in the day so time to head on back to the hotel. Jon wanted to go to the race expo so I headed back with our sound tech, IP. When we got back to the hotel we downloaded his audio files and then I had dinner with Lisa, Mostafa, Catherine, Anthony and Jane at a nice little Italian restaurant near the hotel. I still had work to do to plan the next day so I finished working after I got back to the hotel.

Arrival in London

I know this entry is long overdue! It has been such a hectic trip that I have not had a lot of time to catch up and when I do, I usually fall asleep at the keyboard! So here goes:

My DP for the trip, Jon Dunham, arrived on Monday night having come straight from the Boston Marathon where he was promoting his film The Spirit of the Marathon. On Tuesday night we traveled to London via British air and they were kind enough to put us in business class so we could film Catherine. I will say that this is definitely the way to travel and it will certainly be very difficult to ever fly coach again. J Unfortunately we had to sit on the runway in Philadelphia for awhile due to bad weather but the flight was great and we arrived in London on Wednesday morning. We ended up having to wait on the tarmac for 45 minutes in a bus because there was some “police activity” on the plane; evidently there was a dispute between a few passengers about some missing money so they wouldn’t let anyone move on to customs/baggage claim until they sorted things out. We finally got out of the airport and went to our hotel. We stayed at The Royal Lancaster hotel which is in Hyde Park because Catherine likes to stay in that part of town so she can train in the Park. Unfortunately, they somehow lost Catherine, Lisa and Mostafa’s reservations so they ended up at a different hotel across the street. But I will say that the Royal Lancaster is definitely a lovely place. They really spoil you to the extent that you have “biscuits” in your room at all times and a heated towel rack! That’s right, in the shower, on the far wall is a heated towel rack so the towels were always nice and toasty! But I digress….once we got situated it was time to get to the Tower Hotel which was where the headquarters for the Flora London Marathon were. I wanted to be sure we had our credentials lined up to best capture Catherine, Anthony, Jane, Lisa and Mostafa during race week. There really was no direct way get to this place; it seemed to be at the complete opposite end of the city from where we were. We learned how to take the “tube” and found our way somewhere nearby and then just walked the rest of the way. London was certainly not what I expected weather-wise! It was beautiful and sunny and we made it to the hotel and picked up our credentials. We poked around a bit to plan for some interviews would conduct during the week and then headed out. The hotel is situated at the base of the Tower Bridge which is a beautiful bridge. There was a water taxi so we decided to try to find our way back to our hotel via the Thames River. It was a nice ride and we got off at a stop where we thought would be near to a tube station but I wanted to get a simm card for my Kenyan cell phone; (my blackberry wouldn’t work there but the Kenyan phone uses simm cards) We found one and then found a cute little crepe place and had dinner before heading back to the hotel. I had to prepare some interviews for the next morning because we were scheduled to follow Catherine to the women’s press conference. The time difference was 5 hours ahead of Philadelphia so it had been a very long day since leaving Philly after 11pm Tuesday night (original departure was 9pm) and only few hours sleep on the flight so by 2am I was exhausted!

Preparing to Leave for....

It was almost a year ago that I wrote that first title and so much has happened in that year! It is now time to move forward with more filming even though the money has not been raised yet. The timing is right and on Tuesday I leave to follow Catherine to London for the Flora London Marathon where she will compete among a very talented field. All three medalists from the Olympics will be there as well as other champions so it will be exciting. Anthony and Jane (Catherine's husband and daughter) will arrive later in the week and support Catherine along with Lisa and Mostafa. While in London I will interview some of the other elite athletes from around the world. After London my cinematographer and I will follow Catherine back to Kenya where we will be until May 31st filming her daily life, her family, and many others. I am so excited to be going back to Kenya! I really loved it there; the people were so welcoming, the country is beautiful and I can't wait to see the night sky in the out-lying villages again! Stay tuned for details; I'll try to be as detailed as last year but with so much work to get done I can't promise so you'll have to just keep checking back! ;-)

Back to Kenya

Well, the time has finally come to get on with the production side of things. I have my business plan and proposal ready and just need to work on a pitch to go out and find the money to make this film and do it justice! I am planning to go over to London for the London Marathon and interview some of the other elite athletes there, then follow Catherine back home to Kenya and film there for a month. (providing I can come up with the necessary funds quickly enough!)
I can't wait to get back! I really loved it there. I especially can't wait to get back to where her parents live, where I witnessed the most amazing sky ever! I plan on capturing that sky for the film so you will get to see it as well if you've never been there! I also hope to be able to spend a little more time with Catherine and her family!

I will post a link to the fundraising trailer so you can all view it. Of course, if you know anyone who would be interested and able to help out, please don't hesitate to send them my way ;-)

Catherine is in training for the London Marathon and I'm looking forward to seeing her again soon. There is a very strong field lined up for this event so it will be an exciting race!

Stay tuned for more details on the return trip.

Training at the Track-August 7, 2008

On Tuesdays and Thursdays the athletes train at a beautiful track at Ursinus College in Collegeville, PA. It is here that they do their speed work. It's a perfect location as there are bathrooms if needed, water fountain and everyone can warm up along the Perkiomen trail. Once warmed up, they to repetitive laps for speed as opposed to the days that are run for endurance. Mostafa calls out split times and the girls take turns leading/pacing. We filmed the training session today and it was perfect weather. We were also extremely lucky in that we met a young girl (Ali) who runs cross country. She heard from her father that Catherine trained at this track and she came to watch. It was awesome watching her! She was SO excited to see Catherine and she was completely star-struck. After training was over Catherine came over to Ali and gave her tips and they exchanged stories and Catherine even gave Ali her daughter's address so she could write to her! Also at the track today was a woman doing her own jogging. I stopped her and learned that she had come to run there last week and saw what she said "were the most beautiful runners". She approached Mostafa and learned who they were and she said she went home and Googled Catherine. She was so excited and so motivated to get back out and train again that she showed up today. She said at first she was disappointed because she didn't see the Kenyans but that was because they were doing their warm up along the trail. When they got back to the track Elizabeth said she was very excited to see them again. I asked if she would let me interview her. She was so nice and also excited and I told her I would take a photo of her with Catherine and send it to her! It turns out she is a teacher (she also has a son in college who used to run track.) Catherine always wanted to be a teacher and she was in her element talking to both a teacher and a student this morning! It was perfect!
(Elizabeth with Jane Murage while waiting for Catherine)
After Catherine left we interviewed Mostafa because he would be heading to Beijing on Monday with Catherine. We then stopped for lunch (have to have a crew with full bellies!) and headed back to Advanced Health and Performance to get the interview with Johnny King-Marino that we weren't able to get last week!

It was a good day and I think we got some great footage!