In the spring of 2021, dazzled by the dream of becoming a more complete athlete, I decided to go train at the heart of world athletics. The destination could only be one: Kenya. I wanted to grow as a runner and move to the next level.

Kenya is the Mecca of athletics. A nation of fifty million inhabitants, located in the heart of Africa, near the equator, at the convergence of the Rift Valley. A territory with lush nature, rich in sun, rain, sea and forests. In the beginning of time, the savannah was dominated by elephants, rhinos, giraffes and lions. Animals that are now confined to the perimeter of nature reserves, on the verge of extinction.

Deep in the rural interior of Kenya, at the end of a road surrounded by acacia and jacaranda trees, lies a village with very peculiar features called Iten. At the entrance to the village, a rectangular arch announces: “Welcome to Iten, Home of Champions.” And that's just how it is. There is no other place in the world with so many Olympic champions per square meter. And besides the Kenyans, this is home to many athletes, both amateur and professional, from various countries. Every year, hundreds flock to Iten in search of the best possible preparation. It is the ideal place for internships before important events such as the Olympics or world championships.

The conditions are perfect for high-level training. The village is located at an altitude of two thousand four hundred meters, a factor that favors and stimulates aerobic capacity, as well as the efficiency of oxygen transport. The process is similar to acclimatization in the mountains: faced with lower atmospheric pressure, the body adapts by producing red blood cells, and increasing the concentration of hemoglobin in the blood. The athletes' tactic is to train at altitude, and then compete at sea level. The benefit is absolutely stratospheric from a performance perspective.

The context is simple and humble. In Iten there are no high-performance centers, luxury infrastructures or well-equipped clinics. There is not always internet, electricity or hot water. Only the main road is paved. The rest are red clay trails, full of stones and lost cows. Except the mythical Moiben. A thirty-kilometer long road located on the way to Eldoret, the capital of the region. It is there, that every Saturday morning, the best runners in the world do their long training and spill on the asphalt the sweat of those who fight for a place in history. They pass us like gazelles fleeing a predator.

My experience in Kenya could not have been more enriching. For several weeks, I lived and trained like a world-class athlete. My daily routines were all focused on personal growth and sports performance. I would go to bed around nine and wake up to train before the sun came up. The running sessions were extremely difficult, not only because of the altitude, but due to the existence of humidity, heat, rain and killer slopes hundreds of meters long. I averaged twenty to thirty kilometers a day. A radically demanding regime from a physical and mental point of view.

With this initiative in Kenya, I ended up associating a fundraising for the project Dreams of Kathmandu. It was the first time I tried to raise funds for Nepal through an adventure in another country. The fundraising went well, and the initially proposed amount of 5.000€ to pay scholarships in Nepal, was exceeded.

The most amazing thing about this adventure was that, I also ended up involving donors in humanitarian projects in Kenya. Suddenly, we weren't just helping Nepal anymore. With these donations it was possible to buy a dairy cow for 200€ for Mr. Boaz - one of the athletes who ran with me - and I also used 1.456,85€ to purchase a wheelchair for Mr. Gilbat, a thirty-year-old boy who had fallen from a tree and become paraplegic.