CATHERINE NDEREBA & "PREFONTAINE"!?!?!

ONE WEEK FROM TONIGHT! 

If you are in the Philadelphia area, or within a reasonable driving distance, DON'T MISS THIS OPPORTUNITY to MEET CATHERINE NDEREBA 
at a special event!

Advanced Sports Chiropractic

Tickets are limited and only $10.00!

GUARANTEE YOUR SEATS BY PURCHASING YOUR TICKETS ONLINE NOW!  
CLICK HERE TO BUY YOUR TICKET VIA PAYPAL

Sponsored By:

 If you are not able to attend, you can STILL HELP! Please visit our IndieGoGo campaign, check out our incentives and donate there! (contributions tax deductible according to the information on the IndieGoGo page) 

And, don't forget to visit us on Facebook and re-post any of these events to your page:  http://www.facebook.com/wincatherine

A New Race for Catherine

Well, for a minute it looked like Catherine was going to run the new ING Rock 'n' Roll Philadelphia Half Marathon (formerly the ING Philadelphia Distance Run) this weekend but things have a way of changing. Now, Catherine will headline an inaugural race starting in Virginia, and heading across the Woodrow Wilson Bridge into Maryland, for an event not surprisingly called the Woodrow Wilson Bridge Half Marathon! I can only imagine how exciting it must be for a race director to be able to bring such an accomplished runner to an inaugural event!  Check out the website for this race here.  You can also check out the press release.

Catherine will be on hand Friday at the packet pick up and also on Saturday she will be at the Westin National Harbor to sign autographs and talk about her career. (For those of you not near that area but closer to the Philadelphia or NJ area, please check out where you can meet Catherine on Wed. September 22nd! meet Catherine Ndereba.

Knowing Catherine, I'm sure she is all too happy to talk to a new group of people and share her story!

Look for Catherine to be wearing bib #1 and don't forget to check back after the weekend for photos!

As always, if you can help out with a donation to the documentary, please visit our IndieGoGo campaign and check out our incentives!

Post Crim and Some Blogs to Check Out

Catherine returned to Flint, MI this past weekend to run the 2010 Crim Festival of Races 10 mile. When asked how many time she had won the race, she said "like three or four times" but someone corrected her that it was actually SIX times! She really had no idea just how successful she has been at the Crim!  She won every year from 1996-2002 except for 1997 when she was pregnant and did not run.  She had not been back since 2002 because each year since, she has been training for either the World Championships or the Olympics, and it did not fit into her training schedule. She was genuinely glad to be back and had told me while we were cooking the weekend before, that she was looking forward to it. She placed 5th and was very happy with that. She has now run three races since coming off her injury and she's feeling healthy. Her speed work is also progressing so things are good!

As for the documentary, we are still looking for donations and sponsors for the film and hopefully this week we will see a new surge in people who want to see this film happen and are able to donate.  Several bloggers have written posts and I'd like to thank them here.

I want to send a huge shout out to Leah at her Chasing Atlanta blog. She wrote a post about WinCatherine and asked her readers to check out our websites and help out if they can! Chasing Atlanta is a great running blog so please check it out and look through her previous posts as well. 

I also want to send a big thank you to Ryan at I Run Flint for the blog post letting his readers know about the WinCatherine documentary and asking them for help as well! Please check out his blog that is also full of inspiring stories. Ryan also sent in photos taken of Catherine at the Crim race last weekend. 

Thanks also to everyone who has already helped out and supports this inspirational film. Keep passing on our IndieGoGo campaign to your friends and family and together we will make it happen!

photo courtesy of Ryan Litwiller

photo courtesy of Ryan Litwiller

photo courtesy of Ryan Litwiller

Cooking with Catherine

It's been over two years now since I first visited Kenya and since I had my first traditional Kikuyu dish at Catherine's house. Every time I have traditional Kenyan food, I love it and want to learn how to make it. The Kenyans cook with such fresh ingredients, the food is very healthy and tastes great. I have been asking Catherine for awhile now to give me a cooking lesson and we finally had the date scheduled!

I arrived at the athletes' house around 1:30 and Catherine was just finishing her lunch. The house was quiet as her brother, Samuel, was off at a race in Michigan, so it was just Catherine, Irene and Simon there.

Simon Ndirangu smiling as usual!

The lights were out to keep the house cooler, and everyone had already done their morning training so they were relaxing. After socializing for a bit,  it was time to shop for our ingredients. First, Catherine took out some dried peas and left them in a bowl to soak while we were out. 

soaking peas

Our first stop was to Dollar Tree, or what I refer to as "$20 Tree" because it is virtually impossible to leave there without spending at least that much! We both love that store but knew we didn't want to spend too much time so we grabbed a few items and went on our way. Our main stop was at this amazing produce store not too far from where the athletes' house is. This store is more like a large stand; it's just a plain building and there is nothing but produce; massive quantities of it at extremely cheap prices! You walk in, take a number, and when you're called someone waits on you, you tell him/her what you want, they get it, put it in a box and even take the box out to your car if needed. (Usually, when the athletes shop here they buy large quantities and the box is heavy)! The whole process is very streamlined and while it can be extremely busy, it usually moves along fairly quickly. We got our fresh vege supply and returned to the house.

At this point it was too early to start cooking so Catherine asked me for a favor; would I take her shopping? Of course I would; if that is the price of a cooking lesson, it is well worth it! I know she loves to shop and without a car in the U.S., it's hard to do large shops! Once Irene heard we were hitting the Walmart, she was on board for the trip! The three of us hit Walmart and had fun; Irene shopped for her daughter Debra and bought herself a matching outfit. Catherine shopped for her daughter, Jane, as well as for her niece and one of her friends asked her to pick up some educational DVD's. We went through a huge bin of DVD's and her and Irene both got a few titles suitable for youngsters. My recommendation was for them to find Sesame Street DVD's if they wanted educational ones, so we found them and they both purchased that as well. Overall, we had a good time shopping and laughing but it was getting late and it was time for the "lesson" to begin!

 Irene Limika models one of her new outfits

Once we got back to the house, we laid out all the ingredients and Catherine immediately started preparing. The cooking lesson for the day was Mukimo and stew. I've written about mukimo before, but if you haven't read the posts, it is a traditional Kikuyu dish made from potatoes. It is similar to mashed potatoes but there is no butter in it. It is simply made with the potatoes and a select few vegetables and is a healthy staple of the Kikuyu diet. Usually, you don't eat it by itself; it is served with some stew or soup in the same bowl and eaten together. Today we were making a stew with beef in it.

Catherine jumped right in and started grating carrots as I took notes, photos and video to be sure i didn't miss a thing! I also wanted to help and when I asked, Catherine was very cute; she didn't think I knew how to peel potatoes without a peeler! I laughed because she just assumed that we all use the peeler here, which of course we do but it doesn't mean I didn't now how to peel with just a knife! So, Irene and I went to work peeling all the potatoes and cutting them up. Catherine chopped, grated and prepared the remaining vegetables and Irene cubed the beef. I asked questions along the way and took good notes because I know that the next time I will be making the dishes and Catherine will be grading me! She has already told me that Irene will not be allowed in the kitchen with me when I do so she can't help. Catherine said she will be the proctor and make sure I do it all myself to earn the good grade!

fresh ingredients ready

mmmm, onions and garlic

 

everything prepared

Catherine starting to cook

 It was a lot of fun learning and I have a real appreciation of the work involved. It's not that it is hard work, but it is quite time consuming getting everything prepared, letting things simmer and cook, and then making the final preparations which includes "smashing" an entire pot of potatoes. The key to a good mukimo, Catherine taught me, is to not have any lumps! 

 those are not lumps, that is corn!  

 














The finished stew

  The table is ready....

After two hours everything was ready and we sat down for the meal. After a lengthy and heartfelt grace by Catherine, we all enjoyed the delicious dish! 
Mukimo, left and stew, right 
 

Catherine offers Anthony a plate, too bad he's in Kenya and can't join us!

This is how it is served

During dinner, I asked Catherine about how she was feeling with her running and she was very happy with her run at Falmouth where she placed fourth. She is looking forward to the Crim race in Michigan next week. We also discussed where she may run a fall marathon and she is undecided about that at this point in time. Her and Lisa (Buster, her manager) need to look at her schedule and figure it all out. Once they do, I will post where she will run.

I am looking forward to making the meal on my own the next time but we decided to hold off on scheduling until after the Crim race where, she heads with her brother next weekend. After that, we will schedule my test! I will post my "marks" after I receive them (if I pass)!

Beach is finished; now on to Falmouth!

I just spoke to Catherine to see how she is doing. She ran the Beach to Beacon race last Saturday and it was her first race since her injury. She was running to gauge her fitness and see where she was at. The weather was perfect; not hot and not humid which is always a help! It was a very good field of runners on both the mens and womens sides and Catherine placed 6th among the women (33.33.7). She is very happy with how she ran and more importantly, with how she feels. She isn't having any pain and is looking forward to this weekend at Falmouth.

Beach to Beacon holds a lot of memories for Catherine. Not only has she won the race several times in the past, one of the special things about the race is that the elite athletes are housed with families during their stay. Catherine was reunited with the same family she has always stayed with, even though she hasn't been back in five years; that is very special for her. The race is also organized by Joan Benoit-Samuelson who has been an inspiration to Catherine. She still won't eat a lobster but told the crowd at the awards ceremony: "I love you...I really want you to know you really have a place in my heart." I wasn't there but I can picture Catherine exactly how she would say that to the crowd; with complete humility and a wide smile!

Irene Limika, who trains with Catherine, was 4th (33.06..1) and  Catherine's brother, Samuel, was 13th among the men.  Congrats to all the winners!

Next up, Falmouth! Hopefully the weather will cooperate this weekend as well and not be too hot and humid for the runners.

This weekend: The "Maine" Event

Good luck to all the athletes participating in the 2010 Beach to Beacon 10k race tomorrow! This is the race that legend Joan Benoit-Samuelson started 13 years ago. As she told The Portland Press Herald: "All I wanted was an event that showcased our state. And the people here. It's inspiring for me because I see what this race can do for people." (Read the full article here.)  The race has become a favorite to many over the years and has increased in popularity. 

Three of Lisa Buster's Norristown athletes left yesterday for Maine and will be running tomorrow. Irene Limika returns to defend her 2009 win. 

(Irene Limika  2009)

Samuel Ndereba, Catherine's brother, will also be running and Catherine returns after a six year absence. She has won the race five times! 

(Catherine Ndereba Beach to Beacon 2002)

This is also Catherine's first race since she had to withdraw from the Boston Marathon due to a tear of her piriformis muscle. She says she feels good; I'm sure a lot of people will be watching her to see how she looks. I do know that she will listen to her body and run accordingly, regardless of whether that will bring her a win or not.  An important lesson I have learned from Catherine is that it isn't always about winning!

Last year I teased Irene because she wouldn't try lobster, a Maine favorite (and a favorite of mine!),  while she was up there.

(No, Irene Limika (L), did not try the lobster even though it sat next to her!)

It has now become a running joke and I dared her, Catherine and Samuel to eat one and send me a photo. It's a shame I'm not up there filming with them this weekend; I would have loved to capture an encounter between Catherine and a lobster! But, I don't think that's going to happen anyway; they all seem very adamant about not even touching one much less eating one!  (Maybe if the meat were out of the shell......who knows!)

Anyway, I hope that the weather is cooperative, that everyone has a great race and that Catherine feels healthy and strong after! Both the men's and women's fields look to be very competitive. 

Please remember to visit our IndieGoGo campaign and send the link to all your friends; we need your help to finish the film WinCatherine! 

Back in the USA

It had been awhile since I'd seen Catherine; the last time was when we drove back from Boston after the marathon there. Her flight back to Kenya had been canceled due to the volcano ash and her trip home was postponed. So it was really nice to see her on Sunday and catch up on everything! I arrived at the Norristown training home where there are currently four Kenyan athletes living: Catherine, her brother, Samuel Ndereba,

(sura ya kazi!)

Irene Limika and Simon Ndirangu.

Fortunately, it was Sunday, the day no one trains  because it is the day for church and relaxation. The weather the past few days had been ridiculously hot & humid; above 95F, and they all said how difficult the heat was. So not a good day to train but, it was a perfect day to go produce shopping! Thankfully, as soon as we were ready to leave, the skies opened up and a huge storm passed through, cooling off the sticky temperature by over 20 degrees; it felt SO nice!

When we got back from the produce store, Catherine started cutting up vegetables. She loves to cook and I love watching and learning. I am hoping to be able to cook like the Kenyans soon! They use all fresh ingredients and the stews are SO good! So I watch and take mental notes. I reminded Catherine about her promise to teach me how to make Mukimo and she said she definitely will soon. I can't wait! In the meantime, I took good notes on how to make Chapati. It is really a team effort both on the track and off with this group of runners managed by Lisa Buster. In the house, they all take turns preparing meals and sometimes even prepare them together. I find it interesting especially since in Kenya it is definitely NOT that way. There, the women do the cooking and you generally will not see the men in the kitchen! I mentioned that to Samuel and Simon and they both agreed that is true but here in the U.S. they all work together!

Here you can see how they all made Chapati as a team!

First, Samuel mixes the dough; today he combined some Chapati (whole wheat) flour with some white flour, he mixed in some shredded carrots and combined with enough water to make the dough. It almost looks like pizza dough!

Simon Ndirangu (L) & Samuel Ndereba (R)

Then he put some oil on the table so the dough wouldn't stick and rolled the dough out very thin. The next step was to score the dough vertically with a knife so the dough now stood in strips.

Next was to roll up the strips into pinwheels (looking almost like a Cinnabon!) He then dipped the pinwheels in flour, dusting each one lightly.

 

 Then it was time to roll out each "bun" into a perfectly formed circle that looked almost like a large pancake!

It was at this point that Irene stepped in; she would take each "pancake" and cook it in a very hot, cast-iron pan, carefully turning it often so it doesn't burn (trust me, you have to be careful! Last year in Kenya Catherine's mother taught me how to make Chapati and let me make a few. Catherine was able to pick out every one I made because they were a little burned!)

Once Irene had cooked each Chapati, it was time for Simon to step in. He took each one, put it in the cast-iron pan and basted it lightly with oil making sure not to burn them. And that was it! Chapati was ready!

In the meantime, Catherine was working on the stew. All the fresh veges she had cut up were simmering nicely to form it. Finally it was time for dinner and well worth the wait as always! 

Catherine was in great spirits and said she's feeling great and looking forward to some upcoming races; the Beach to Beacon in Maine August 7th and the Cigna Falmouth Road Race August 15th. 

It was a fun, relaxing afternoon/evening with everyone and I'm looking forward to more days like it. Welcome back Catherine!

Here we had some fun taking our own photos!  There's no hiding that Catherine & Samuel are brother and sister!

Me & Catherine

    

  Me & Samuel

Me & Irene

A Birthday Home Then Back in the USA

July 21, 2009 Catherine's birthday celebration

Well here it is mid-July and it has been a bit unusual not having Catherine here in the United States.  Except for the year she had Jane, this will be the first year in 15 that she will celebrate her birthday on July 21st IN Kenya with her husband! She has been in the United States training and competing every other year. The photo here was taken at her birthday celebration in the U.S. last year and for fun I photoshopped Anthony in to the picture. I'm glad she'll actually be with him this year so they can celebrate his birthday a little early with her as well (his is July 25th). She will, however, spend part of the day traveling as she leaves that night and arrives back in Philadelphia on the 22nd. Fortunately though, she has been training in Kenya and nursing her torn muscle back to health and hopefully will be in top form again in no time!

As for the film, things are moving along but we are still feeling the effects of the economy and raising the budget is taking longer than expected. The good news is, we have extended our IndieGoGo campaign and you can still donate (even as little as $10) to help! Just think, if Catherine Ndereba's story can inspire one girl to pursue her dreams, one girl to make a better life for herself, you will be a part of that! Please check out the IndieGoGo campaign donate whatever you can to help.

We want to send out a very special thanks to Marathonguide.com for their generous donation to WinCatherine! Marathonguide.com is a great website for " Everything Marathoning - Information, Results & More" and you can check them out here: marathonguide.com

I'll be sure to post some new photos as soon as I see Catherine after her arrival!

Catherine at the Safaricom Lewa Marathon 2010

Catherine and her husband, Anthony were in Isiolo this past weekend to attend the 2010 Safaricom Lewa Marathon. It is the only marathon held entirely within a game reserve and the race benefits the Lewa Wildlife Conservancy. Even though she did not run, Catherine and Anthony came out to support Safaricom and the Conservancy. You can read more about the Lewa Wildlife Conservancy here.

I know people run marathons for many different reasons but but I'm especially fond of this worthy cause. It is so important to protect the wildlife. I can only imagine how awesome it must be to be running alongside such amazing animals! I wonder if part of the motivation to keep going is to outrun the lions! :-)

Please don't forget to stop by and support our fundraising campaign at our Official Website or at our IndieGoGo site.  We need your help!

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!

A New Look for WinCatherine Blog

Welcome to the new look of the Wincatherine blog! Since there were new tools available, I decided it was time to upgrade and spruce up the look a bit. I hope you like it! Your feedback is welcome and appreciated!

Things are moving along and more funds are starting to roll in. We were mentioned on another running site recently so please check it out at garycohenrunning.com/

Coming up I'll post comments from Catherine from her trip to the UK for the Kenyan Community Bedford program that she participated in along with other elite Kenyan athletes.

Stay tuned for some more changes and a new announcement about the IndieGoGo campaign! 

WinCatherine on IndieGoGo, RunnersWeb.com and more....

Much has been going on since my last post. First, we now have an IndieGoGo campaign going to raise money to get to the next stage of the film. click here for WinCatherine on IndieGoGo We have many hours of footage shot with Catherine in Kenya, London and Boston and more that need to be logged. We have interviews that need to be translated from Swahili and Kikuyu. And, we need to edit a longer cut to submit with an application to apply for a grant from the Sundance Documentary Fund! Crowd funding is fairly new and people have been having much success with it by appealing to their audiences to help fund what they want to see. Do you want to see an inspirational film about how Catherine Ndereba was able to defy the conventions of a male dominated society and rise from a remote village in Kenya to become the great athlete that she is? Every runner, every student, every athlete of any type can benefit from the lessons learned by dedication and hard work so this is your chance to make a difference and help get the film made! Pass it on to your friends, family, running clubs, Facebook friends, and even enemies :-) With as little as $10 you can make a difference if you pass it along!

Today, RunnersWeb.com posted a link to WinCatherine on several of their pages! If you go to the home page, http://www.runnersweb.com/ the trailer is right there! Also, if you navigate on the left and go down to "Women's Sites" at the bottom, it will take you to a page that lists an incredible number of sites pertaining to women's running and we are listed alphabetically under WinCatherine! (hmmmm, maybe a change of name to bring that up to the top!)

Now on to news about Catherine. On June 6th she will arrive in Bedford, UK along with a group of Kenyan runners with a mission of inspiring members of the community there. The program is being set up with the co-operation of Bedford Borough Partnership and Kenyan Community Bedford. (You can read the announcement here and what they hope to do: Kenyan Athletes to visit Bedford.) This is the list of athletes attending from Kenya: marathon runners Paul Tergat, Catherine Ndereba, Duncan Kibet and Samuel Wanjiru, with middle distance runners Wilfred Bungei and Benjamin Limo..Notice anything here?  I find it interesting that Catherine is the only woman among the group! There are many talented female Kenyan athletes now but Catherine is the only one invited on this mission. In my opinion, this demonstrates how much of a hero Catherine is to her country.  On the other hand, does it also show that women are still much farther behind the men in representation in Kenya?

Catherine is still working on recovering from her injury so was not able to take part in the Prison Championships this year. It was odd for me not being there either; I was there the past two years! I miss Kenya and look forward to getting back there one day to complete filming. I learned some sad news last week regarding someone I was looking forward to interviewing. He was a man who literally helped Catherine start her career and I learned he passed away suddenly from a heart attack. I spoke with his wife and she said he always followed Catherine's career with so much pride. I'm sorry that I will never meet Rajesh Padia but look forward to meeting his wife Kalpa when I go back. (when you see the film you'll learn what his role was in Catherine's journey).

I wish all the Kenyan athletes a safe journey to Bedford and look forward to hearing all about it upon their return.

Please don't forget to promote the IndieGoGo campaign! This is a great way to help get a film made that YOU want to see!  http://www.indiegogo.com/WinCatherine-The-Story-of-Wincatherine-Nyambura-Ndereba