As a boy, Adharanand Finn was a natural runner, imagining he was one of his heroes: the Kenyan long-distance runners exploding into prominence as Olympic and world champions. But those childhood dreams slipped away—until suddenly, in his mid-thirties, Finn saw and seized an opportunity: to learn the secrets of the fastest runners on earth. Uprooting his family of five, Finn traveled to a small, chaotic town in the Rift Valley province of Kenya—a mecca for long-distance runners thanks to its high altitude, endless running paths, and some of the top training schools in the world. There Finn would run side by side with Olympic champions, young hopefuls, and barefoot schoolchildren, and meet a cast of unforgettable characters. Amid the daily challenges of training and of raising a family abroad, Finn would learn invaluable lessons about running—and about life.

Running with the Kenyans is more than one man’s pursuit of a lifelong dream. It’s a fascinating portrait of a magical country—and an extraordinary people seemingly born to run.

With a new Afterword by the author