Eliud Kipchoge runs alongside students at Earlsmead Primary School to show support for the London Marathon Daily Mile Initiative on December 13, 2019 in London, England. Image: Tottenham Hotspur FC/Tottenham Hotspur FC via Getty Images
On a misty morning in Vienna in October 2019, Kenyan long-distance runner Eliud Kipchoge struck down the finishing tape as well as “the last barrier of modern athletics” by running the marathon distance of 26.2 miles in under 2 hours. Kipchoge’s timing of 1:59:40 isn’t officially recognised as a world record as the conditions—a straight and even track, a battery of world-class pace-setters and special shoes, among others—were carefully chosen to propel him towards it. But it takes nothing away from a feat that transcends the realm of mere statistics and accomplishes what was once considered invincible: No athlete since Roger Bannister in 1954, a British medical student who became the first ever to run a mile in under 4 minutes, had upended notions of human endurance as Kipchoge. The 35-year-old, a gold medallist at the 2016 Olympics, has now been roped in as the ambassador for the Sunfeast India Run As One initiative, a virtual movement that is raising funds for livelihoods affected by Covid-19. In an email interaction with Forbes India from London, where he is housed in a bio-bubble for the marathon on October 4, Kipchoge discusses his running philosophy and why the initiative is close to his heart. Edited excerpts: Q. How did you start running? What led you to take it up professionally?