Tucson runner learned a lot in Kenya stint
by Bryan Lee on May. 08, 2007, under Sports
"I have the best job in the world," says Frederic Roberts, dean of students at St. Gregory College Preparatory. He takes students to Kenya.
For Frederic Roberts, an epic training run through Agua Caliente Wash can be a surreal experience.
“A herd of zebra could be there, and I wouldn’t look twice,” Roberts says. “If giraffes walked down the wash, I’d think it was neat. It’s just like Kenya.”
Roberts, 46, dean of students at St. Gregory College Preparatory School, loves Tucson and says, “I have the best job in the world.”
He also has an affinity for Kenya, where he would like to retire some day and run free like the animals over the East African nation’s green miles and hills.
Roberts and his wife, Elizabeth Goodwin, have purchased the former National Outdoor Leadership School property at which Roberts was Kenyan director for 13 years.
Each May, he takes his St. Gregory class in African studies to Kenya for a “classroom come live” trip. When Kenyan runners come here to train each year, he delights in hobnobbing in Swahili.
Those runners and the many he shared miles with in Kenya have had an influence on Roberts’ pursuit of ultrarunning in events such as the Old Pueblo 50-Mile Run in the Santa Rita Mountains’ foothills in early March.
He’s at the point where marathons are “speed work.” His day begins with a roundabout excursion to school from his East Side home, covering 14 miles and ending with an 18-mile jaunt home.
The Kenyans and their highly motivated desire to turn distance running into an escape from poverty helped mold Roberts’ mental framework.
“Their tolerance level for pain is unbelievable,” Roberts says. “Their attitude, diet, desire . . . for a lot of these guys, it’s like ‘Hoop Dreams’ in this country.”
Running has been part of Roberts’ life since his early years in Ohio, where he read Runner’s World magazine in sheets stapled together. In his biggest high school cross country meet, he finished last.
“I looked back, and nobody was behind me,” he says. “But I was thrilled to be in the meet. It was fun.”
Roberts didn’t become more serious about running until he moved from Kenya back to the United States and eventually Tucson. His first order of business was to make strides in the Tucson Marathon.
“I hooked up then with Dave Dobler (a local masters age runner and athlete), and he really showed me what my potential was,” Roberts says. “My goal was 2:39, and in 2002 I did 2:37. It was hard to train for a fast marathon, but I did it. I got a monkey off my back.”
Dobler says Roberts “blew away his career marathon PR,” drawing upon his experiences in Kenya.
“Frederic has the capacity and fortitude to inure a tremendous amount of hard work in the many dimensions of his life,” Dobler says.
He tried the 50-mile Old Pueblo run about two years later and finished third in his first effort over the rocky desert hills of the Gardner Canyon area. But he might have kept on going even then.
“I wanted to do a 100-miler as I soon as I could,” Roberts says.
Since then, he has had an active calendar. He leads Tucson-area runners in the Trail Runner magazine 2007 Trophy Runners Series national points standings (205 points). His ultimate goal is to run unsupported from the Grand Canyon to Mexico.
Roberts had his true running transformation at Ohio’s Mohican 100 in 2005, when he nearly stopped at mile 76 before getting his second wind.
“I was waiting for angels to appear at mile 50 or 60,” he says, “and it got worse and worse.
“Then I borrowed an iPod and reached the end of the forest, and the sun was going down. . . . Dave Matthews was playing. . . . I ran faster. It was something like I never felt before.”
Running, he says, “makes you feel good.”
———
GETTING FASTER
Frederic Roberts has improved his time by 26 minutes since 2004 in the Old Pueblo 50-mile run near the Santa Rita Mountains:
Year Place Time
2007 9th 8:50:50*
2006 7th 8:58:09
2005 9th 8:54:04
2004 4th 9:16:36
*personal record
