Moninda Marube is a professional runner who hit the headlines this week for outrunning two black bears while on an 18-mile training run.
The Kenyan, who now lives in Auburn, Maine, was six miles into his run on a dirt road when the bears emerged from the woods.
“I had to think very fast,” he said.
Jumping into the lake wasn’t an option.
“In my head, I know I can’t swim. I fear swimming. I fear water,” he said.
“Secondly, I knew I could not climb up a tree because bears can climb a tree,” he said. “The only solution I had at that time was to be able to run.” (Lewiston-Auburn Sun Journal)
He ran to a house where he hid behind a porch screen until the bears went on their merry way. Then, Marube took off running in the opposite direction.
But, there’s so much more to this runner who escaped death.
In 2015, he ran more than 3,700 miles from Maine to California to raise awareness for human trafficking.
The issue is close to his heart because he came to the U.S. seven years ago after a sports agent convinced him and other talented runners to move. The problem was, the agent kept their winnings from road races, only paying for their food and housing.
Once Marube learned what was going on, he escaped and found track coach Dan Campbell, who took him in and put a roof over his head.
Today, Marube is a student at the University of Maine at Farmington, and he’s using what happened to him to make his community better.
He competes in road races to raise money for charities and to raise awareness of human trafficking. He works as a volunteer with the Auburn Police Department’s Police Activities League and is starting a running group of Twin Cities teenagers.
Here’s a segment from CNN on Marube’s efforts:
Clearly, the bears picked the wrong man to mess with.
