The New York City Marathon took Stuart down memory lane!

The New York City Marathon took Stuart down memory lane!

When I looked at the results of the women’s New York Marathon it looked like a gathering of old friends!

Hellen Obiri finished second.

I got to know Helen when she was regularly running 3k and 5K at Diamond Leagues. I remember one year at Birmingham when I went to the gym in the evening and there on the treadmill next to me was Hellen – OK going a little faster than me! Next morning, feeling virtuous, I went to the gym again, and there again was Hellen on another treadmill. Thereafter we always refer to each other as training partners! It actively happened a third time in Doha in the gym!

In is interesting to look back to an interview that I did with Hellen in 2017 when she told me: “I do not want to do the longer distances so I will probably stay at 5000 but also run some 1500s.  For the world championships I am focused on 5000. I have not yet achieved everything I want to on the track but perhaps in the future I might do a marathon”.

Last year I interviewed Mary Moraa, who told me that as a young runner she didn’t have proper shoes and when Hellen discovered this she immediately got Mary a pair of proper shoes.

Vivian Cheruiyot finished third

I first met Vivian at the World Championships in Daegu in 2011 when she won the 5K and 10k. I actually met her at a tree planting ceremony! Then in 2013 she took a year off to have a baby before returning to win the 10K in the 2015  World Champs.  During the 2016 Olympics I was based in the Olympic village and I remember bumping into Vivian the morning after she won the 5000m gold medal – her fourth Olympic medal and finally a gold.  After taking up marathons she won London in 2018.

Vivian explained to me her reasons for the switch to marathon, the process and the adjustment: “I have been running for almost 18 years – track and cross country.  I decided because of my age – at 33 – to do a marathon while I am still strong.  I chose London for my first marathon because London is my second home. I love London because of the people.  They are very supportive and are always cheering you on. Training has not changed so much, a little bit with more longer runs.  There is no difference except for long runs and the speed for marathon is not the same as the speed for track.  Sometimes you think you are not running fast and that you are not in shape.  But I was told that I had to reduce my speed because in the marathon you cannot do the same speed as on the track”.     

Edna Kiplagat, now aged 44, finished 12^th

Edna was second in London three times (2011-13) before winning in 2014. I remember chatting to her probably at all those marathons. I also remember her coming second in the world championship in london 2017, after winning the world championship in 2011 and 2013.  She is an impressive human being with a family of have five children – two of her own, two adopted from her sister who died of breast cancer in 2003, and one adopted from a neighbor who died in childbirth in 2013”.

I still smile about one answer she gave me.  She talked about her Christian faith telling me:  “I believe everything is possible when I trust in the Lord.  I pray for him to give me strength, to give me hope, to give me faith. In everything I do I depend on God”.  I asked if she prayed while she was running:  She looked at me sternly, “Not just when I am running, Stuart. I pray for everything.   I teach my kids to pray always and to rely on God”. Interviewer put in his place.

Jenny Simpson was 18^th.

I first met Jenny in Deagu 2011 when she won the World Championship 1500 meters  and we’ve kept in touch ever since. Two years on from Daegu she was second in the World Championship in Moscow which she repeated in 2017 in London. She was third in the 2016 Rio Olympics

She won the 5th Ave mile seven years in a row (2013-19). Before winning it herself, Laura Muir had remarked that she had come second to Jenny Simpson in New York – adding but then most people who have run Fifth Avenue finished behind Jenny!

I remember asking Jenny if she remembered her first ever race.  She replied: “I do because a girl called Brittany won and I was second.  We were both third graders. It was a dive for the finish.  It was my first ever race with 100 kids and 2 of us were strong at the finish.  Such a funny moment to look back on when I  was 9 years old and I am still doing it”.  I thought it was hilarious that so many years later she even remember the name of the nine year-old who beat her.

In her first Olympics she ran the steeplechase but she told me “My absolute true love is cross country.  That is where I started.  That is there my heart is, I love to run cross country races.  I love the person to person combat that you experience in cross country and the courses are different every time.  And you are weathering the elements.  There is a lot in cross country that speaks to me as a human being and makes me feel very competitive”.

Having done steeplechase, cross-country, track she is now on the road,  I wonder if Brittany is still running!