WHEN YOU ASK the greatest marathoner of all time what he'd be doing with his life if he'd never picked up running, you're going to get a quizzical look. When I pose the question, Eliud Kipchoge's brow furrows a bit and stays furrowed. Not angry, not annoyed, more like I'd just started speaking Esperanto.
It's the end of a Monday at his training camp in Kaptagat, Kenya, where he arrived this morning after spending most of the weekend with his wife, Grace Sugut, and their three children at home 20 miles away, and where he'll stay until he goes back on Saturday, as he does each week. The work of Monday is done (a long-ish run in the morning and an easy hour in the afternoon), and dinner awaits.
So far in our talk, Kipchoge has been affable and polite. In conversation, as on the course, he presents himself as the epitome of clean living, clean training, and clean thinking. He is a devout Catholic. He's had the same coach-1992 Olympic steeplechase silver medalist Patrick Sang-for more than 20 years. He eats well, runs hard, reads those inspirational books you see in airport bookstores (his all-time favorite: the motivational fable Who Moved My Cheese?). If not for the wife and kids, we'd call him monastic. His answers rarely stray far from the subjects of a positive mindset and dedication to peak performance, and when they do, like a patient coach, he leads them gently back. But right now, Kipchoge is not unaffable or impolite, he's just...still. And I feel like I've offended him.
Denne historien er fra Issue 03, 2023-utgaven av Runner's World US.
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Denne historien er fra Issue 03, 2023-utgaven av Runner's World US.
Start din 7-dagers gratis prøveperiode på Magzter GOLD for å få tilgang til tusenvis av utvalgte premiumhistorier og 9000+ magasiner og aviser.
Allerede abonnent? Logg på
TO RUN 26.2 IS TO FEEL ALIVE
THE SUN IS rising from the east, and the waves of the Pacific crash below to the west.
LEAVE IT UP TO A PIECE OF PAPER TO TEACH YOU TO RUN EASY
BEFORE I FELL for running, I thought the hardest thing about the sport was the fast stuff: the speedwork, the sprints, and the intervals.
WHY-AND HOW-YOU SHOULD RUN DOUBLES
Those are just a few of the titles entered into my training log for the second run of a day.
FIND YOUR RUNNING COMMUNITY, ONLINE OR IN PERSON
I SIGNED UP for my first marathon while sobbing in the back of a rideshare, on my way to the airport to fly to my uncle's funeral.
FUEL WITH WHAT YOU WANT TO EAT
AS AN ULTRARUNNER, I'm all too familiar with the saying that long-distance running is an \"eating contest with a running component.\"
AT THE FERTILITY CLINIC, MY PAST CAUGHT UP WITH ME
I SAT IN the fertility doctor's office white walls, bare wooden desk, opaque window-alone.
THIS IS NOT AN ESCAPE STORY
AT 15, DARLENE STUBBS WALKED AWAY FROM A POLYGAMOUS CULT-THEN DISCOVERED A NEW LIFE AND COMMUNITY THROUGH RUNNING.
RUNNING WITH HANK
How my daughter's rambunctious mutt saved my sanity while she was lost to the darkness.
WHEN I FOUND OUT I HAD MS.I THOUGHT I'D NEVER RUN AGAIN.
I checked the pins on my bib, shimmied my spandex shorts into place, and teed up the stopwatch on my wrist.
A RUNNER'S GUIDE to sleep
Nike rocked the running world in 2018 when it released the Vaporfly 4%, claiming that the shoe could boost a runner's efficiency by that amount.
