Adharanand Finn is a British journalist and a keen runner. Recently, he did the Fluorspar run in Kenya with a group of top Kenyan athletes. Here is the story he told the press after the event. The route of the Fluorspar run is exactly 21 km long and is uphill from start to finish. When I arrived at the start of the run at the bottom of the hill, the morning sun was up, and it was already hot. The ten athletes and I stood together for a group photograph and then immediately started our run up to ...

Adharanand Finn is a British journalist and a keen runner. Recently, he did the Fluorspar run in Kenya with a group of top Kenyan athletes. Here is the story he told the press after the event.

The route of the Fluorspar run is exactly 21 km long and is uphill from start to finish. When I arrived at the start of the run at the bottom of the hill, the morning sun was up, and it was already hot. The ten athletes and I stood together for a group photograph and then immediately started our run up to the top. Most of the athletes who live in this part of Kenya have done it at least once. After about five minutes, I was already starting to fall behind other runners. I’ve never been that good at hill climbing, so I always knew I’d find it thorny.

‘Sure and steady,’ I told myself as I ran along, avoiding the biggest stones and trying to take the shortest line up the hill. But whenever I looked up, the others were further ahead, until soon they disappeared completely. At first I felt fine, but towards the end I began to feel a bit weak and strange. I don’t know now if I was imagining things but the people I passed, who were travelling down the road, seemed to be laughing at me. Finally, I reached the top. The rest of the runners were sitting on the grass, drinking lemonade and eating peanuts and boiled eggs.

It took me one hour and fifty eight minutes, which is not bad at all. The others told me kindly that anyone who can run it in under two hours is very strong. They completed it much faster, in around one hour 30 minutes. I honestly have no idea how they do it.

In the first paragraph, we learn that the writer _____ .