of -ladies first. The following day, as men, our aim would be to try as much as possible for everyone to beat the time she and her compatriot Lydia Cheromei had posted in the same workout, which was not always that easy. Some men could not make it! I had begun to develop a lot of respect and admiration for this lady.
The day of my miracle came when, a few days ago, I shook hands with Mary Keitany for the first time. She is a very humble lady, but carries the aura of a celebrity. I was star struck. Time did not allow us to talk more. However, out of the blue, that same evening I got a message from the Chief Executive Officer of the African Sports Media Network asking me whether I could interview her for their online magazine! This was great news to me! I could hardly believe that the lady whom every athlete wishes to emulate was my first assignment for the magazine. We met again three days later, when she welcomed me to visit her at her home for the interview.
She lives with her husband a few Kilometres from town. I knocked at their door and she ushered me into their spacious living room. She was having some visitors from the IAAF and easily made me feel at home with them as I settled on a sofa. On the wall directly opposite me I could see a large wall photo of her crossing the finish line at the London Marathon in a time of 2:19:19. She offered me a cup of tea as she in- troduced the visitors. I could observe that she was a very social and talented conver- sationalist; able to engage everyone in the conversation. At the request of her visitors, we enjoyed a replay video of the London Marathon.
At some point, the visitors went outside to stretch a bit and I found time to interview her, especially concerning the upcoming major athletic events; the African Athletics Championships at Maputo, Mozambique, and the World Championships at Daegu, South Korea. She says that she is not ready to run both championships, citing unfa- vourable weather conditions there. Being new to marathon running, she is opting to avoid tough courses in preference of flat ones with best times, and hopes to partici- pate at either the Chicago Marathon or the Berlin Marathon. Out of the two, she pre- fers Chicago more. Her management has already sent a letter to Athletics Kenya ask- ing that she be dropped from the team already named to represent Kenya at the World Championships in Daegu.
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