World marathon record holder Eliud Kipchoge has set to face a new challenge in joining ultra-marathon running.
The two times Olympic marathon champion, who won the 2016 edition and defended the title in 2021, said he wants to push his limits to test how far he can run after his unrivalled successes in the 42km distance.
“After leaving the marathon I want to run the ultra-marathons, just to feel how it is to run over for four or five days…or even running once for 70km,” said the multiple London marathon champion.
The man who competed on track for years before joining marathon, beginning his journey at the Hamburg marathon said his track career; it is high time to make another decision.
The Kapsisiwo man enjoys a world record standing at 2:01.39 set during the 2018 marathon remains the only human to have run the distance in less than two hours at the 2019 at the INEOS 1:59 Challenge in Vienna.
“Every failure you treat as a challenge. Today you are up; tomorrow down…that’s a challenge! So, the only thing, we get up and stand and move again,” he said.
With his ambitions to compete in the Ultra-marathon like the 70km and above, said he now has bolder and longer racing plans.
“I really want to feel the pain of running for a long time. I can define pain as a situation where you are trying to stretch your limits. The more you stretch the more you get pain and that’s where success is,” added Kipchoge.
He says that he likes to push his body especially in the long run to feel the pain, knowing that he will be hitting the target.
“For now, I have timelines on when I will debut for the ultra-marathon but I have an idea of where I will try out my new task. I’ve never actually thought of pushing the limits in less than the marathon, maybe in future. I want to try to run most of the long races in South Africa (and) in America,” he added.
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