On Monday, James Koskei will try to better his fourth-place finish at last year’s Boston Marathon. In December, James won the Dallas White Rock Marathon, and then returned home to Kenya. Soon after, the country erupted into post-election violence.
Where were you when the violence started?
I was at home in Eldoret. I had planned to go to Iten on January 15th, but things at home were very bad. You could not move from one place to another because of a lot of vandals. I went to Iten in the middle of February.
When you were home, how was your training affected?
It was affected a lot. I could not train because of all the violence. I had to stay at home with my kids.
You weren’t able to train at all?
No. I started training only when I went to Iten.
Then how do you feel about your fitness for this marathon compared to before other marathons?
Once I got to Iten I was very serious about my training. I think I will be okay for the marathon. I was maybe two weeks late arriving in Iten, but I was able to train very hard in Iten and perhaps recover what was lost when I could not train in Eldoret.
You’re in the armed forces. Were you required to do anything as a member of the armed forces while the violence was going on?
We had to go to military training camps and stay there for some few days. That was on January 5th. Then they released us, but I had to get permission from them to go and train in Iten. The armed forces are good because we never get involved with political problems in Kenya. We were trying to tell people to stay calm.
Once you got to Iten, did you and other athletes talk about the role of athletes in helping to unify the country?
Yes. Lornah Kiplagat and some others arranged a race for peace in Iten, in February and also in March, to tell people to do away with the violence. We were telling them to turn to peace, and we came together as athletes from many tribes to show them how they should come together as Kenyans.
