Phillip Lim Black Kate Dad Sandals, Viola Cheptoo experienced one of her toughest training cycles to date. In January, the 33-year-old Kenyan runner caught COVID while visiting family in Tucson, Arizona. After emerging from isolation, Cheptoo battled bouts of extreme fatigue and intense headaches for weeks.
In her slow return to running, Cheptoo called upon her late friend, Agnes Tirop, for inspiration.
zapatillas de Running Grey Joma constitución ligera talla 36 grises Premiata suede-panel sneakers Grigio at her home in Iten, Kenya. A few days later, the Olympic runner’s zapatillas de Running Grey Puma competición asfalto voladoras talla 42 after he went on the run. Since Tirop’s tragic death, Cheptoo and a collective of Kenyan women runners have Nietos 3Q47966 Snow Boots through their newly formed organization, Tirop’s Angels.
On her toughest training days, Cheptoo imagined Tirop encouraging her through the miles as somebody who wouldn’t give up easily. “I just thought, ‘Hey, Agnes, I need you to get me through this… We have a lot of girls to inspire. Lives are going to be changed from somebody watching my career and thinking twice about what they’re going through. They can speak out about this because we are doing this for you,’” Cheptoo tells Runner’s World.
Since the inception of Tirop’s Angels in November 2021, Cheptoo says she promised Tirop’s father (a trustee of the foundation) that “we are all going to win in the end.” For Cheptoo, winning includes raising awareness of gender-based violence and using her platform to run for Tirop and victims of abuse at the highest level of the sport. Those advocacy efforts will continue at the Boston Marathon on April 18.
Boston will be Cheptoo’s second 26.2 after she made an impressive debut at the zapatillas de Running Grey trail neutro moradas in November 2021. After spending most of her career competing in middle-distance events on the track, the 2016 Olympian emerged as a world class marathoner with a runner-up finish (2:22:44) to Olympic champion Sneakers Calvin Klein Jeans Flatform Mid Branded Laces YW0YW00869 Black White 0GJ.
The performance far surpassed Cheptoo’s expectations. Given the challenging layout of the sneakers hombre negro talla 27 and her lack of experience over 26.2, she thought a top 10 finish was a reasonable goal. But her coach, Julien Di Maria, was thinking bigger.
Since 2019, when Di Maria started helping her build up from 1500 meters to the marathon, he’s used a positive approach to help Cheptoo see herself as a contender with key workouts and races that suggest promising performances over 26.2. In February 2020, she made her 13.1 debut at the Napoli City Half Marathon in Italy, where she won in 1:06:47. In June 2021, she placed second to Sara Hall in the New York Mini 10K, finishing in 31:39. By the time they were preparing for the zapatillas de Running Grey trail neutro moradas, Di Maria told Cheptoo he believed her workouts suggested she was capable of a top three finish in the five boroughs.
“Sometimes elite athletes don’t believe in themselves. Like normal people, they have some doubt, so you try to put ideas in their brain without forcing them,” Di Maria tells Runner’s World. “I like to give them a proposition, like ‘let us try.’ For Viola, it worked very well. I think she’s a happy marathoner now.”
Cheptoo’s first marathon, which she also dedicated to Tirop, is now fueling her self confidence heading into Boston. “[zapatillas de Running Grey trail neutro moradas] gave me something to look forward to,” Cheptoo says. “I’m going into Boston with a different mindset. I know I’m competitive but at the same time, I respect the field given that it’s even stronger than New York.”
The Boston pro women’s lineup includes 2:17 marathoners Jepchirchir, Joyciline Jepkosgei, and Degitu Azimeraw, plus Olympic bronze medalist Molly Seidel, among other standouts. Despite a challenging training buildup, Cheptoo is approaching the prestigious race with more trust in her ability and a greater purpose.
After the NYC Marathon, Cheptoo traveled to Tucson, Arizona, to visit her niece, who was diagnosed with leukemia and assist her sister, who was planning a wedding. After spending the fall of 2021 with her family, Cheptoo was scheduled to return home to Iten, Kenya, on January 9, but a positive COVID test forced her into isolation for two weeks.
A week after emerging from quarantine, Cheptoo started going on light jogs but felt exhausted from the virus and the debilitating headaches that followed. For four weeks, she struggled to run even short distances, but her health improved right before she flew home to Kenya in early February.
After being apart for several months, Cheptoo’s husband surprised her with a party to celebrate her NYC Marathon performance. “The excitement of having people to train with, seeing my teammates, and having my husband around just reignited that fire inside of me,” she says.
Also, to help boost her confidence, Di Maria suggested Cheptoo race the Atlanta Half Marathon on February 26. He didn’t want her to strain her body too much, so he recommended she run marathon pace (he believes she can run under 2:20 on a flat course right now). “The goal was to go something like 69 (minutes), and if people push, then let them push,” he says. “Just do your job.” Weeks after recovering from COVID, she finished third in 1:10:47.
Cheptoo is also driven by the expansion of her advocacy work with Tirop’s Angels, which provides supportive resources to victims of gender-based violence and hosts education sessions at schools and youth Running Grey camps throughout Kenya. In just a few months, Cheptoo and the rest of the foundation’s founders—including elite marathoners Mary Keitany and Joan Chelimo—have already seen positive change in the conversations surrounding gender-based violence. Cheptoo says that more women who are victims of abuse are reaching out to them for help and being directed to supportive resources.
Plus, a few hours before her interview with Runner’s World, Cheptoo spoke on gender-based violence with a group of girls at a training camp in Iten. She was pleasantly surprised to learn that the young runners were already familiar with the crisis in which 40 percent of Kenyan women report physical and or sexual intimate partner violence in their lifetime, according to studies shared by UN Women.
“Growing up, I didn’t know what it was,” Cheptoo says. “braided-strap faux-leather sandals Pink.”
In the next few months, Cheptoo says the foundation also plans to host a road race in June with the goal of honoring Tirop’s memory and continuing the conversation in Kenya and beyond.
Beyond medals and times, Cheptoo says she’s racing for other Kenyan women who are not able to run alongside her. In the process of giving her best effort on the world stage, she wants to honor them.
“I’ve had some friends who have been married and their husbands haven’t been allowing them to continue with their careers. I’m also thinking about them because it’s not their choice, they’re being oppressed,” she says. “For me, to have the support that I have and these opportunities come my way, I’m not going to throw it away. I’m going to work so hard for everybody and for Agnes.”
Taylor Dutch is a writer and editor living in Austin, Texas, and a former NCAA track athlete who specializes in fitness, wellness, and endurance sports coverage. Her work has appeared in Runner’s World, SELF, Bicycling, Outside, and Podium Runner.
