Eliud Kipchoge's speech during the Rift Valley Marathon Pre-race Symposium, A view from Kenya

It was one of my greatest privileges in life to have been able to listen to Eliud Kipchoge's speech this Friday, the 16^thof March 2018, on what it takes to become a champion. He was speaking during the Rift Valley Marathon's pre-race symposium. All that Kipchoge has learnt by experience over many years, through trial and error, he was able to share them openly with fellow runners, college and high school students, workers and business people who were present during the symposium.

Having gone so close to breaking the 2hr barrier in the marathon after running 2:00:28, and that many people have now seen the possibility of it being broken after watching his attempt and now listening to his speeches on what he had to go through physically and mentally to achieve that; does Kipchoge think that the barrier will be broken any time soon?

"Yes. There is a great possibility that anybody will cross the 2hr barrier in the marathon any time soon. But, what I am happy to have done, so far, is to have been able to become the first person to ever come so close to breaking that barrier and to have inspired others to know that this can be achieved with the right elements," he answered; the "elements" here being a combination of hard work, team work and self-discipline, among others.

It was a long, but interesting speech. He spoke about the challenges he had to go through to a point that he had to shut out the social media for almost two months before he attempted to run in the Breaking2 race. The good thing is that he brought out one lesson from that experience too; that both the negative and positive words that people throw at you should all be channeled to motivate you more into achieving your goals. "A person is just but a person like you and there is nothing they can do by simply speaking negatively about what you intent to achieve," he said.

Since I can't find a way to summarize all that he said in almost two hours of engaging with the audience; I will just move straight to one of the sub-topics that might help anyone beat their PB times this year:

How do you break your obstacles?

1. Believe in yourself

Whatever we do, it all starts from our minds. Control your mind so that it doesn't control you. You need to have faith in whatever you want to achieve; not faith as other people define it, but as you define it yourself in your heart and mind.

2. Have fun

If you have fun in whatever you are doing, you are already 50% successful. Personally, I do have fun with my running and training. Having fun will enable you reach your full potential.

3. Be comfortable with being uncomfortable

You need to adjust to changes and anything that may come along in your training. Changes do happen, but we need to accept the changes and move one.

4. Be consistent

You need to consistently do what it takes for you to achieve your goals. Do you keep missing your training workouts? If yes, you won't break your obstacles; if no, you are on the right track. Be disciplined, motivate yourself to keep going and you will grow stronger each day.