Eliud Kipchoge eight step recipe to success: Kipchoge has studied famous philosophers Aristotle and Plato

2016 Virgin Money London Marathon Winners Photocall - The Tower Hotel, St Katharine's Way, London - 25/4/16 Winner of the elite men's race, Kenya's Eliud Kipchoge poses with the trophy Action Images via Reuters

Nairobi Securities Exchange stock trader Aly-Khan Satchu hosted the Olympic champ in a business forum.

Olympic marathon champion Eliud Kipchoge defies every description of the typical successful Kenyan athlete.

Now 33, the man hailed as the best male marathoner on the planet and probably the greatest ultimate distance runner of all time, continues to defy the conventional make up of the Kenyan runner as his post-career plans continue taking shape.

Last week, Kipchoge was the keynote speaker in a business forum organised by Rich Management in Nairobi.

The three-time London and Berlin marathon winner kept his audience gripped for over two hours, incidentally, the same number of hours that have cemented his legacy as one of the most eminent distance runners the world has ever seen.

Kipchoge spoke to a mixed audience and shared some of the lessons he has learned during his career on the track and the roads while spelling out details of his post-career plans when he hangs his running shoes.

Looking dapper in a dark blue suit, white shirt and matching tie, the 2003 world 5000m champion took to the podium after a glowing introduction by his host Aly-Khan Satchu, and proceeded to share his eight-point path to success.

He summed his eight-step formula to achievement as: self-discipline, good planning and preparations, belief, positive thinking, teamwork, kicking out the making money attitude, having fun and accepting change.

“If you have a sharp knife, it will cut straight and clean. That is how I make my decisions,” the athlete who ran 2:04:17 last month to complete a London Marathon hat trick said.

Believe in yourself

It is just over a year since Kipchoge fell 25 seconds short in his brazen attempt to defy logic and become the first human being to run the classic 42.195km race in under two hours. This was in May 6, 2017 at Nike Breaking2 Project in Monza, Italy.

“They said if you can run under two hours, you will die. I missed running under two hours by 25 seconds and to me, the world is only 25 seconds away. Self-discipline is not a one-night event.

“Learn to say no to passions and impulses. Develop straight life, live life without complaining or bothering about what has happened. Avoid excuses. If you have failed, you have failed.”

Kipchoge has straddled across three generations of Kenyan athletes since he burst to the scene in 2003 as a precocious teenager.

“It is not important to be successful, what is most critical is how you prepare and plan to be successful. Believe in yourself and define faith- the belief without seeing- for yourself, not how your friends define it.

“Have passion. If you do not love what you are doing, you better leave it. What you do for a living is a choice,” the reigning Berlin titleholder outlined the next three ingredients of his recipe for making it life.

“Accept change. In sport, we accept change all the time, new rules are always coming. If you don’t accept change, change will change you. Everyone has a key to the gate of change,” Kipchoge emphasised.

The distance running great has endeared himself to the multitudes that line up the streets of the cities he has recorded nine victories in 10 starts over the marathon by maintaining a smile during the race -- even at the most painful stages.

“You should have fun in what you are doing. Enjoy what you are doing and leave the money attitude. Those who concentrate on just making money have little money.

“If you want to harvest money, you must plant the seeds of service,” he advised his listeners.

 Professional career

Having spelt out his formula, the floor was opened up to questions and an audience that included a blend of working professionals; youth hunting for jobs as well as members of running groups took the opportunity to quiz a living legend.

Since announcing his presence to the world with victory in the 8km men junior race at the 2003 IAAF World Cross Championship in Lausanne, Switzerland, Kipchoge has strung a 15-year professional career at the top of his trade, representing three generations of elite Kenyan athletes.

“That has happened due to the love of the sport and the legacy I want to leave when I’m no longer in sport,” he underscored.

“When I retire, I want to travel across Kenya and all over the world inspiring the youth to love sport. I will have a 10km, 21km or a marathon race where all youth can take part and earn good money,” Kipchoge added as he spelt out his post-racing career.

“However, we don’t want children to drop out of school to run. We can use education to propel sports. I urge more counties to get into sport to create jobs for the youth.”

The only marathon he has lost thus far, if you can rate finishing second (2:04:05) at an Abbot World Marathon Majors race, was when he was led to the altar by Wilson Kipsang at the 2013 Berlin Marathon. The winner clocked the then 2:03:23 world record.

His astonishing yet chequered career on the track has seen him collect the men’s 5000m Olympic bronze (Athens 2004) and silver (Beijing 2008) medals to add to his 2003 world title.

His story is fascinating, considering that his marathon career was hatched after his ‘lowest moment’ in the sport, failing to make the men 5000m and 10000m Team Kenya squads for the London 2012 Olympics.

His last pair of marathon conquests in Berlin and London came after he was severely tested by a couple of relatively unknown Ethiopian challengers, Guye Adola in Germany and Tola Shura Kitata in England.

 

Enjoy the sport

The Kenyan, however, took everything in his stride, even smiling in the business end of the races where the pressure was sometimes too much to bear for his nervous compatriots watching at home.

“When you treat yourself as the best competitor, there is no need to worry. In my mind, I was ready for that and I don’t think he (Tola) was ready for me. When I took off, he could not keep up with me,” Kipchoge said.

“If you smile, that is how you ignite happiness and that makes you get through your pain and enjoy the sport. I don’t have fear in life, I treat everything as it comes,” he said of his habit of grinning through the hardest parts of his race.

Throughout the forum, Satchu paid homage to the man he described as one of the best sports personalities in the world.

“The secret of his success can be turned into the secret of our success. People only see a clean pair of heels but don’t see Eliud. We are all running towards one goal or another,” Satchu said.

Kipchoge has keenly studied the famous philosophers Aristotle and Plato - another trait that sets him apart from his peers and goes on to explain his extended run at the top.