Into Thin Air: Boulder Lures Training Marathoners

As the marathon season hit its fall peak, the New York Times tells us, distance
runners from Kenya, Japan, Romania and Tanzania and the United
States, begin to pound the dirt roads in Boulder, Colorado for a high-altitude
boost. What do they do exactly? It’s hard to say.  These runners are so competitive that they literally run from other runners, who might decipher their racing strategies, until they have to run side by side on race day.
One of the most intriging mysteries, the Times reports, is what transpires in Camp KIMbia, the three-year-old training center run by German coach Dieter Hogen, best known for leading Uta Pippig out of East
Germany and eventually to Boulder, then coaching her to multiple marathon
titles in the 1990s. KIMbia, which means “to run” in Swahili, is the preferred training camp of Kenyans. Geezer rests his case.  Hogen, the Times reports, says the camp has no secrets and never did, and points out that it was featured on a Web site by a freelance writer chasingkimbia.com.