Christpher Cheboiboch is a full-time resident of Iten, where KIMbia’s Kenya camp is located. He runs a primary academy and owns businesses in the town, including Iten’s only gas station. On Monday, he’ll attempt to improve upon his second-place finish at the 20002 Boston Marathon.
You’re a resident of Iten and a business owner there. How was that affected by the post-election violence?
After December, it was really hard for everyone in Kenya for the next two months.
Did you close your academy?
We opened late by two weeks, because we could not take any chances. Once we resumed, everything was okay.
Were any of your properties or businesses targeted by the rioters?
No. If you talk with people all the time and are nice with them in your dealings, then you will be okay. In Iten, none of my colleagues or me were targeted. Iten is mostly Kalenjin, so things were not too bad for me in Iten.
How was your training affected?
At first you’re asking yourself, “What is going to happen tomorrow?” You see that people are rioting, that roads are being blocked and people are very angry about the stolen rights after voting for a change. I can say we were lucky in Iten because the KIMbia group, we have a camp there, and my home is there, so I was fortunate that my family was close. I was staying in my house and then in the morning would meet the guys for training. It would worry us—what might happen today?
Some runners were accused of helping to fund the violence, because they’re known to have more money than a lot of people. Were you ever accused of that, given that you’re a business owner in Iten, you have the academy there and so on?
Clearly that was a very bad thing. To me, as a person, I never thought those guys would do such a thing. These are the people who are well off in Eldoret. Why would they try to make things worse? To me, nobody accused me by name. But still, if people say athletes are providing money for these things, then some people might think that about me.
Since you’ve come to Boulder, what have you heard about what’s going in Kenya?
Every day I have to go and see what’s going on. I call my family every day to make sure they are okay. Things are much better than they were in January, but I hear that in the last few days, there have been a few problems again. People are still worried about what will happen.
How do you feel about your fitness compared to before other marathons?
I think I can say for a marathon, the most important thing is to have run all the training sessions. One thing I’m happy about for myself is I trained and did not get any injuries. I’m waiting for a big day in Boston. I know we will have strong guys. I have to run my own race, because you never know what will come in a marathon. I have in my mind that the person who will come through will be the best man on the day.
