* Zack Munson competes at the Portland XC Invitational in September
Photo Credit: Tim Healy Photography
- - -
Story by Cory Mull - MileSplit
A question we sometimes need to ask ourselves is why we go the distance.
Why do we drive ourselves to the lengths we go, for what outwardly goal? Minutes, hours, miles or oceans apart, distance and time often changes.
Do we do these things out of the condition that we believe we will receive something in return? Or do we go to certain lengths because it is what we've always dreamed of doing, envisioned, plotted, do we do it because it is what we've always held to be true?
Just over a month and a half ago, Zack Munson, the newly-minted Northern Arizona commit, saw himself on the line for the first time this cross country season, looking out ahead, a big patch of grass in front of him, roughly 75 runners stretched out on that very same line.
The Sehome (WA) High School senior thought not of the 15 minutes of running he would be doing. That, he knew, would come to an end, win or loss, a good race or naught. Instead, then, he took himself back to Kenya, to those red dirt roads brimming with heat, to the 12-foot high cornstalks, to the pack of runners beside him, the mere silence of it all. He took himself back to a land nearly 9,000 miles away, to a summer he'll never forget, and tried to remember what that moment taught him.
"I like to look through some of those experiences and re-establish in myself what I did there and what I want to take away from it," Munson said. "I established that I know I can run with anyone based off what I did there."
Perhaps to figure out Munson this fall, then, is to go back to his summer in Iten, Kenya, to a place where he and his father found out what it means to be a runner with no distractions, for 35 days.
"It was like this spiritual experience for the both of us," said Derek Munson, Zack's father. "Even down to the fact that we were on the opposite side of the world. It was night time there when it was day time here. Everything was turned upside down. But it's hard not to come away with deep insights."
Surely, that experience rubbed off on Zack, who returned to high school cross country with full force in September. He has scored four wins in his last four races since, and he's grabbed five wins out of seven total. A year ago, he was 27th at nationals, just seven places outside of an All-American finish. A year ago, he ran just four high school races. That fact isn't lost on him.
An additional bonus has been his relationship with the high school. A year ago, he ran independently, but in 2022 he chose to return to Sehome, the perennial small school power in Washington.
It's also not lost on Munson just how much camaraderie means in this sport. To run together is different than it is to run alone.
"I think it was the right decision for this season," said Munson, who entered the postseason in Washington last Thursday with a 5K win in 15:49. "Last fall I didn't race a lot. Being able to race and sharpen up, learning on the course is a huge thing. This is honestly only my second real cross country season ever. The additional learning will go a long way."
Everything was turned upside down. But it's hard not to come away with deep insights."
Experiencing Iten
Munson and his father began planning this journey in Iten years ago, when he was about 13 years old and searching for videos on YouTube.
There he found a story about Jake and Zane Robertson, dubbed the 'Kiwi Twins' by Vice Sports. They were a pair of brothers from New Zealand who moved to the east African country when they were just teenagers, with the sole purpose of training to be the best.
Munson was enamored by the glow of that story, and perhaps it was then, along with his father -- a successful writer who financed the trip -- that they began to track what it would take to get there themselves.
Five years later, that journey happened. But logistically, it was nearly a nightmare.
The pair booked their tickets in October of the previous year, choosing to fly from Los Angeles in July to Paris and then to Nairobi, then finding an Uber, maybe one of very few in the capital of Kenya, that agreed to drive the pair nine hours to Iten, known as the Home of Champions. It cost just about $215.
"By the time we got there, we had been up for close to 26 hours," Derek said.
"That's part of the journey," Zack added later. "Not all of it is going to be smooth."
But it was worth it. Derek had booked a place near the High Altitude training camp -- Iten is located at 8,000 feet of elevation -- with western plumbing, a shower, toilet, even wifi. Kenya is a world power in distance running and Iten has been the home of Paul Chelimo, Mary Keitany, David Rudisha and Edna Kiplegat, among many others.
The first day Zack stepped outside his little condo, right around 6 a.m. as the sun was rising, he didn't know what to expect.
He saw little huddles of runners, wearing brightly colored windbreakers and t-shirts, rushing on by.
So he started running. Nearly 400 meters in, he was on the main road. Not long after, he met a training group led by Amanal Petros, an accomplished professional from Germany -- he was fourth in the marathon at the European Championships in August. Julien Wanders, a national team member from Switzerland, was also in the group for a short time.
"Zack says to him, 'Can I join you?' Derek said.
"Julien responds, 'Can you keep up?'
"And he goes, 'I think so.' And that was that."
The first day, Zack ran 12 miles (it was a 20K workout) with the group, breaking off at the very end. "When he got back, I asked him, 'What did you guys talk about?' And he says to me, 'All I heard was breathing and footsteps,'" Derek said.
"It was just that. He was amazed at that. The focus, the sound and rhythm of the steps. It was really easy for him to lock into a groove."
For the next seven days, Zack stuck with the group, logging nearly 90 miles over the course of the week, often times running twice in one day, some morning workouts at 20K and others in the evening of shorter distances to shake out the legs. For five weeks, he got a crash course in Kenyan running, hitting some 90-100 miles each week.
It was arduous. But for a teenager experiencing a different part of the world, and to soak in the sport he loves at its very epicenter, it was worth every minute.
"I'd say the more I got to know the group, the more I got to know people," Zack said. "They welcomed me in. That's when it really got fun."
Meanwhile, back in the condo, there was Derek. As much as this was a journey for his son, he also wanted to experience the land. So when his son stepped out for the morning run, Derek often walked to the nearby town.
"You walk around, you talk to people," he said. "You sit and talk. It's a very calm, stress free life. All these people ear eating local foods, mostly vegetables and grains. People are super kind. Happy."
Derek was surprised when some believed him to be a professional coach for runners.
"It's interesting being a middle-aged white man walking around here," he said. "You stick out. People thought I was a sponsor or coach. People would constantly come up to me and ask me if I would sponsor them."
By the month's end, though, perhaps that just what Derek became. He met a talented distance runner who held aspirations of running in big races in the U.S. Derek agreed to provide an amount each month for her and her family and to support her training.
"If I can give her a small amount of month so she doesn't have to worry about a roof and can train, that's an easy thing to do," he said.
Zack found his stride just a few weeks in. He started appearing in Instagram posts, a white teenager from Bellingham, Washington, hanging with the top distance runners in Iten, Kenya.
At nights, he would walk outside with his father and look up at the stars.
"The stars there were out like crazy," he said. "It's very lush and very, everything felt alive and authentic. The American culture, we always want more. But there, the simplicity was what was so great about it."
---
Returning To The U.S.
By the time Zack flew back home, when he came back to reality in Bellingham, Washington, he felt like a different person.
"There were a lot of takeaways," he said. "Mainly, being exposed to that standard, asking yourself what's normal, being comfortable with the idea of running with professional marathoners every day.
Zack's summer could have been like many others. He could have experienced days folding into one another, he could have trained miles on roads he knew all too well. Here he was, a 4:11 and 8:53 runner for 1,600m and 3,200m. He was a state champion. Why not stick to the basics?
But, as he would remember, he took a chance on something life-changing, transformative. He chose to experience a side of the world that ultimately changed the way he thought about it.
"It's interesting being a middle-aged white man walking around here. You stick out. People thought I was a sponsor or coach. People would constantly come up to me and ask me if I would sponsor them."
"It was changing expectations for myself," said Munson, who now drinks tea because of his time in Iten. "Adapting to more simple ideologies. I brought them back home. I live more honestly now. I want to be a more approachable voice in the community. I want to be someone who's kind, more fully present."
By September, Munson also became a different runner.
In his first couple of races, including a fifth-place finish at the Nike Portland XC Invitational, he reverted back to the person he was before Kenya. He felt like he had to run a certain way, to lead at a certain time, to make a move at a certain place.
"I had always had this idea that racing had to be perfection," he said. "That racing always had to be hard. I had to lead with 2K to go."
Two weeks later, as he stepped to the line at the Nike Hole in the Wall Invitational, he tried to go back to that feeling in Kenya again.
"I re-established with myself that I do have a strong finish," he said. "I've always known that. But I just had to execute it on race day."
He knew the race would end, some 14 or 15 minutes later. But it was how it came together that was his primary purpose.
Munson ended up winning the race in 14:55.50, clocking his fastest-time of the season and earning arguably the biggest win of his career.
"Everything came together," he said. "It was a breakthrough."
---
Related Links:
---
If you have an interesting story to tell, email Cory Mull at cory.mull@flosports.tv.
