Show Notes: - It's hard to find an athlete as calm and cool as Luke Kipkosgei. He's competed in some of the biggest track races ever so very little intimidates him. Having left the track behind a few years ago, his new challenge is the marathon. - He'll race the Rotterdam Marathon on April 15th with Thomas Kiplitan and Charles Kibiwott. Charles ran 2:06:52 there last year, which makes Luke confident that he can do the same. - Luke went to high school in Tambach, which is a little town that sits about 12 kilometers from Iten on the way to the valley. It's between Iten and the Fruit Stand. You'll be hearing more about Tambach in a few weeks - it's also the town where Richard Kiplagat went to school before going to Iona College in New York. We took a trip to his old stomping grounds, which will find its way into a future video. - In the beginning of the interview, Luke mentions that Brother Colm was his introduction to the sport. Luke attended Brother Colm's twice-yearly training camps, which have as alumni some of the best athletes of all-time. Athletes like Wilson Kipketer (world record holder, 800), Sally Barsosio (World Champion, 10K and XC), the Chirchir brothers, Augustine Choge, Isaac Songok, Stephen Cherono (world record holder, steeplechase), and many others. - Luke was a silver medalist at the 2002 World XC Championships (4K). - I love the part where he talks about joining the army or going to Europe. He chose Europe because he had never flown before. And then he proceeds to say how he couldn't sleep because he had a window seat and spent the whole flight looking down below at all the lights. Can you imagine graduating high school and your options are to either join the army or race in Europe? It's one of the reasons Kenyans have been so successful - there is such a drive to be successful in athletics because the other option is being poor. That's a generalization of course, but for many athletes, there is such motivation to run fast because the alternative is a life of poverty. - Luke currently lives in Eldoret with his wife and kids. We visited his house on a few occasions, which will also make it into a later video. Luke has a very nice house by Kenyan standards and many many acres of farm land. The Legendary Bob (now known as Kuga Bob) ending up spending many nights at Luke's house. He liked the comfort of having a big bedroom and a nice bathroom. Plus, Luke has satellite TV and a seemingly endless supply of Tusker for anyone over the age of 50. In other words, Bob was living large in Luke's house while the rest of us were roughing it at the Sitet Hotel. - We filmed this episode walking up the main street in Iten. It's hard to see, but everyone was staring at us. Of course, that's not unusual...people stared at us wherever we went in Iten. If you listen closely, you'll actually hear two different people try to get Luke's attention as we strolled by. I don't know if they were friends or fans. It could have been either since Luke is a very well-known athlete in these parts. - Luke is definitely in good shape right now. He's been leading many of the workouts, especially the hard distance runs. While I think Ben, Baba, and some of the others are taking a conservative approach to training this season, it doesn't take away from Luke's performances in some of the workouts. - I've had a lot of conversations with Luke and you can just tell he's hungry for the marathon. It's a challenge for sure and he's not taking it lightly, but he has this cool confidence about him. He sees what the others have done and that gives him confidence. It's the Kenyan mentality of, "Well, if he can run that fast, so can I." Like Brother Colm said, they don't overanalyze things. I think the true test will come several weeks from now when they start doing some of the hard long runs - the 30K, 35K, and 40K. Luke can certainly run a fast 15K and he's proven he can run a fast half marathon, but he's somewhat untested beyond that in a race situation. He did pace the Chicago marathon through 30K last year and did a great job - staying right on 2:06 pace. The question - the goal really - is whether he can continue on for another 12K. As Baba said, "The race doesn't start until 30K." - Music from this episode: Intro by Millis Pride and outro from the Podsafe Music Network - "See the Light" by Mangomad. To learn more visit chasingKIMBIA. --- chasingKIMBIA.com is a blogumentary documenting the lifestyle and training of some of the world's best marathon runners. Season One provided an unprecedented vantage point of the highs and lows of professional running as seven athletes prepared for the Chicago and New York City marathons. Season Two brings even more excitement and deeper coverage to the sport as we travel to the training camp in Iten, Kenya where the athletes are preparing for the Boston, London, and Rotterdam marathons. This is your backstage pass. Follow the journey at www.chasingkimbia.com.