Come run with us in Kenya! Join Runner's World magazine's Bart Yasso and a congenial group of running enthusiasts as we explore Kenya's western highlands, home of the athletes who dominate distance running around the world.

Our Safari begins in Eldoret, Kenya's running capital, 200 miles northwest of Nairobi. From Eldoret, we travel through picturesque parts of Kenya seldom seen by visitors - rolling green hills 7,000 feet above sea level, where the air is bracing and the nights are cool. And unlike most visitors, we spend our time with Kenyans - some very special Kenyans. Our companions are the country's running elite: gold medalists, world record holders, marathon champions. We visit their villages, their schools, their homes. We drop in at their running camps. We talk with them, eat with them, even run with them. You'll find these brilliant athletes remarkably welcoming. They are eager to help us promote tourism in their area.

Our Safari also differs from the conventional tourist experience in the places we stay. The Eldoret area has no luxury tourist establishments, but that doesn't mean we rough it. We stay first at the private Eldoret Club, a colonial era country club that maintains tidy cabins on the edge of its nine-hole golf course, and then in the nearby village of Iten at a running camp established by L.A. Marathon champion Lornah Kiplagat. The Club and the camp provide clean, airy rooms with full bathrooms - but no mini-bar, Jacuzzi or cable TV. Meals at the club, the camp, and the local restaurants and homes we visit are wholesome, simple and usually quite tasty, but they're a far cry from haute cuisine. (On the other hand, when the Safari moves to Mombasa, our evening meals will be truly memorable.)

Almost every day on the Safari we take morning and evening runs through the scenic countryside in the company of distinguished Kenyan athletes - though at a pace that is comfortable for us! Runners, and walkers, of all ability levels are catered to, and there is no obligation to run at all. The more venturesome among us can test themselves in a typically hell-for-leather Kenyan competition at a local road race in Iten.

The Safari culminates at what is often described as the toughest of all footraces to win, the World Cross Country Championships. In 2007, for the first time in history, this annual event is being held in tropical Africa - and Kenya, of course, is the honored host country. The venue is the Indian Ocean port city of Mombasa, the center of East Africa's coastal culture, an ancient, exotic mix of African and Arab. We fly there from Eldoret and stay at one of the area's luxurious beach hotels, where we spend a day relaxing under the palms watching dhows sailing up and down the coast - or exploring Mombasa's narrow streets and colorful markets - as we wait for the Championships to begin. At the competition, and at the accompanying festivities and celebrations, Safari members will be honored guests, welcome to mingle with the world's greatest runners.

The Cross Country Championships, like the rest of your time in Kenya, will leave a lasting impression. What you experience on the Kenya Running Safari is simply not available elsewhere. Your personal encounters with the runners in their bucolic homeland, and in the intense competition of the World Cross, will change the way you think about Kenya, about Africa, about running and perhaps more. We hope you will join us.

OUR GUIDE John Manners, spent part of his boyhood in colonial Kenya and returned as a Peace Corps teacher and track coach. He has been back regularly ever since, and has been writing about African runners for Runner's World and many other publications for 30 years. He now heads a special Africa project for the International Association of Athletics Federations.

MICATO SAFARIS manages travel logistics for the Runner's World Kenya Running Safari. Micato is a family-owned, deluxe safari operator based in Nairobi and New York. It was voted "The World's Best Tour Operator & Safari Outfitter" in 2003, 2004, 2005 and 2006 by the readers of Travel + Leisure magazine.

Find out more about all the exciting safari itineraries and destinations of Micato Safaris by clicking www.micato.com