Lodepa eager to win Stanchart race at home after starring abroad

After bagging three Standard Chartered Marathon titles abroad, decorated Fridah Lodepa feels its now time for her to win the version of the race at home.

The five-time Safaricom Lewa Marathon champion has been training at Cloud Nine Club in Iten ahead of this Sunday’s Standard Chartered Nairobi Marathon in Nairobi.

“I have been training since August, under coach Elkana Ruto,” Lodepa told Standard Sports.

The 2007 and 2010 Standard Chartered Bangkok Marathon winner says she started her build-up for the 18th edition of the Nairobi race by training three times a day.
“I was going for morning runs at 6am. Second session was at 10am and I would close the day with evening runs at 4pm,” she explains.

As the competition is drawing nearer, the double Pattaya International Marathon and Kilimanjaro International Marathon champion changed tact four weeks ago when she decided to go for the long runs.

“The first week I did 45km twice, then the following week I ran 38km two times, last week I did 35km, also twice, while this week I have only done one round of 25km,” she said.

The 2009 Standard Chartered Kuala Lumpur Marathon champion now feels her body is in shape to conquer Nairobi.

“Now that it is only three days to the race, I’m taking a rest with a bit of jogging to stimulate my muscles and joints. I plan to travel to Nairobi on Friday to feel the weather ahead of the race,” revealed Lodepa.

The 38-year old mother of three said she has never regretted her decision to switch from cross country to marathon which has given her over 20 titles and an opportunity to travel across the world.

This year’s edition of Standard Chartered Nairobi Marathon will be run in two phases; the Virtual Run which started on Monday and will end on Sunday and the Physical Run slated for the Southern Bypass route on Sunday which will start and end at the Carnivore Grounds.

The virtual race athletes are using Strava app to track their speed and timings which they then upload in the official marathon portal.