Sunday, December 14, 2008

NASHVILLE, Tenn. - Remember Grandpa's story about walking miles and miles to school? Uphill. Both ways. Et cetera.

For Kipkosgei Magut that was a reality.

In Kenya, Magut grew up in the rural countryside where few people drove. Living more than three miles from school, he would travel the distance on foot up to four times a day, often racing his classmates to see who could get back from lunch the fastest.

A decade later, those fleet feet earned him a college scholarship in the United States. And after making a difference in his own life, the Belmont athlete is now using running to make a difference for others.

Coming from a country known for producing world-class competitors, Magut has chosen to volunteer for Nashville's Girls on the Run, an organization where running is not about winning but about teaching self-confidence and healthy living to young American girls.

Not only that, but in a women-led group he also is the only male running buddy.

Over the last couple of months he made several trips to the girls' after-school sessions, helping lead games and count laps. Today he will be a buddy for one of the 40 GOTR participants in the season-culminating PCAT Jingle Bell 5k at Shelby Bottoms.

"If I get to know them better and if they get to know me better that might change their life," Magut said. "I feel like they can learn something from me, and I can learn something from them."

Already Magut has shared part of his story with the girls.

A basketball player in high school, Magut didn't believe he had the athletic or academic talent to go to college. He saw a future working at home in the agricultural-based town of Kitale until he met a man who told him about running scholarships in the United States.

"I literally didn't know anything" about competitive running, Magut said.

With guidance from Amos Matui, an established Kenyan runner and two-time Singapore Marathon champ, Magut began training in earnest, increasing his endurance and honing the undeveloped technique of boyhood competition.

"In a year I was ready to go to school in the U.S.," he said.