My friend Japhet’s Edinburgh marathon success – and my own struggle
Last year at the Edinburgh marathon I stood watching as my Kenyan friend Japhet Koech ran a brave race to finish fifth in 2 hours 21 minutes. I say brave, because he ran the race after a stressful four-day journey from Iten in Kenya, where he lives, involving missed flights, sleeping on the floor in Nairobi airport and having very little to eat. He finally arrived in Edinburgh the day before the race. Afterwards, he was so tired he slept for 16 hours straight.
I first met Japhet when I lived in Iten a few years ago, while researching my book Running with the Kenyans. He was my neighbour, a friendly face and a regular training partner. His marathon PB then was 2:28, which by Kenyan standards is very slow. But the more I saw him run, the more I thought he had the talent to run much faster.
After my book was published, many readers, touched by his story, contacted me to ask if they could help fund Japhet to travel abroad to race. So I decided to harness their offers and crowdfund the money to get him to the UK. He finished fifth. It was a good effort, but he was clearly disappointed, especially with his time. In Kenya, 2:21 doesn’t cut much mustard.
Luckily for Japhet, he got invited back by the organisers to run again, and they offered to contribute to his expenses. So I started crowdfunding again.
This time, however, we learnt our lessons. We got him over in plenty of time to recover from the journey. We fed him beans and rice all week – his favourite food. He told me that in Iten he’d been training with the marathon world record holder, Wilson Kipsang. He looked somehow stronger than before. Could he deliver this time?
I spent the two days before the race obsessing about the weather. I was running, too, also aiming for a PB of under 2:55. Unfortunately, a strong wind was forecast to be blowing into our faces for the first 18 miles. Not ideal.
On the morning of the race, sure enough, the wind was up. A few miles in I found myself in a big group, and we ran huddled together like emperor penguins sheltering from the storm. There was a lot of clipping of heels, and at one point I almost fell over, but we stuck close, like a peloton, swallowing up those ahead who had attempted to run into the wind alone.
At about 17 miles we saw the leaders coming back the other way. Three Kenyans, flying now with the wind behind them. And one of them was Japhet. I was so excited, cheering him on, telling the other runners around me that that was my buddy racing by. They just grunted and kept on, heads down into the wind.
A few miles later and we were also running back towards the finish with the wind behind us. My plan was to pick it up along this stretch, but unfortunately, my legs had other ideas. They seemed to be gradually shutting down, the circuit boards fizzing out one by one until I was barely moving. And then I wasn’t moving. I stood stopped on the side of the road, debating whether to carry on, struggling to think of reasons why it mattered.
Somehow I got myself going again, but not without walking again a few more times further along the road. The miles seemed endless. Every 100m was a challenge. Somehow I got over the line in under three hours. Not a PB, but still.
But how did Japhet do? I’d barely crossed the finish when someone told me he had come second in a huge personal best of 2:16:29. Even with that wind. I was so excited for him. My own race ceased to matter. My good friend, the young man no one had taken seriously, had done it. And he had some healthy winnings to take back to Kenya.
“Ah, the money is not the important thing,” he told me after. “I am happy that people are happy. I couldn’t believe it was me, No 2. Wow.”
Special thanks to Run Fast Ltd for helping organise and facilitate Japhet’s participation in the Edinburgh marathon
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