Running together for love and money

By Michael Oriedo

“Would you work with your spouse in the same office or organisation?” a radio presenter asked a caller during a heated breakfast discussion.

You can guess what the caller answered and how she went on to justify her response.

“If you quarrel at home, you carry the arguments to the office. Everyone also knows things are not okay between you by reading your moods. It is worse if he is your boss,” she said.

Another caller said he wouldn’t stand seeing a fellow man chatting with his wife, even if it was his boss.

“Imagine seeing your wife laughing until her molars are seen when the boss cracks a joke and yet she never does the same when you are with her at home,” he explained.

Well, most people dread working with their spouses and going by peoples’ comments, it seems it is an unexciting experience.

In sports, things are not different. In fact, sportsmen and women are worse off when one considers that most sporting events happen at international arenas, which involves a lot of travelling and meeting all kinds of people.

So, when your wife goes to compete in Berlin Marathon and you head to Doha, who takes care of the children?

Some athletes, however, have managed to overcome such challenges and are happily married, both in sports and in the house.

Moses Mosop and Florence Kiplagat are as successful in their marriage as they are on the track. The cross country and marathon champions are both managed by Dutchman Jos Hermens and train in Iten together under the same coach.

They have two children, Aisha Jelagat, four, and Faith Jerono, seven.

Their success on the track and as a family inspires many athletes and admirers.

sterling

Last September, Kiplagat, 25, won the Berlin Marathon. Her husband, 27, followed suit by winning the Chicago Marathon 15 days later.

For her sterling performance, Kiplagat won Sh5.5 million while her husband brought home Sh15 million for posting 2:05.37 — the second fastest time in the race.

“It was the second fastest time ever run in a marathon after Mutai’s winning time of 2:03.02. But both times could not go into record books. Mosop’s time improved on the course record of 2:05.41 set by the late Olympic champion Samuel Kamau Wanjiru in 2009,” reported a US newspaper.

“Mosop’s 2011 season was phenomenal. He shattered the 25,000m world record after clocking 1:12:25.4 and also the 30,000m in 1:26:47.4 at the Prefontaine Classic in the United States,” the paper added.

When Kiplagat returned to racing in 2008 after giving birth to Aisha in March that year, she went on to win the World Cross Country Gold in 2009 in Amman, Jordan, and the 2010 World Half Marathon in China.

It will be sad Mosop will not add another feather in their family cap during the coming Olympics due to a tendon injury.

US couple Ryan and Sara Hall, are also another athletic couple running life’s marathon race together.

The runners have proven their love both on the track and in their marriage. Ryan will be in the US Olympic team and his wife will be cheering him. So what keeps the flame burning?

 “You need to put the other person first in marriage, but yourself first in running so that you do not conflict. But the marriage should always come first,” they said in an interview. “And we take ownership when the other person does well because we see ourselves as a team.”

They say “a couple that plays together stays together”. But as a footnote, playing together does not mean boxing and karate matches every night. .