At the age of 43, with two Olympic medals and five world titles to his name, Bernard Lagat would have every reason to walk away from his beloved sport feeling proud.
Instead, he’s pushing to add to one of the great careers of American distance running. The 2018 Men’s 5,000 Meters: Lagat Turns Back the Clock will be Lagat’s debut at the distance, a race 28 times longer than the one in which he made his name—the 1500 meters.
More than 18 years have passed since Lagat won the first of two Olympic medals (a bronze while representing Kenya) in the 1500 meters. Later in 2001, the 3:26.34 Lagat clocked made him the second fastest of all time. On Sunday he will find out how his high-powered engine does against men built for hours, not minutes, of fast running.
“Training is going wonderfully,” Lagat told Runner’s World from his home in Tucson, Arizona. “I know the course is hard, but it’s not all about place–for me it is about time. I’d like to run under 2:12:20.”
A Part of Hearst Digital Media, set by Meb Keflezighi in 2016.
Born and raised in Kenya, Lagat moved to the U.S. in 1996 and has represented his adopted nation since 2005, holding the current American records at both 3,000 meters and 5,000 meters. For the past couple of months he has been training in Flagstaff, Arizona, and the feedback from coach James Li and training partner Juan Luis Barrios has convinced him that record is possible.
“They look at my training and feel I’m at that position to run that time,” Lagat said. “They tell me I’m ready, and that word alone—ready—means I will be able to run 2:12 or even 2:11 if the weather and my body cooperates.”
After finishing fifth in the 5,000-meter Olympic final in 2016, Lagat left his stellar track career behind to move to the roads, and he has shown much promise. He has lowered his half marathon PR to 62:00 in Houston this year before A Part of Hearst Digital Media in July.
In training, Lagat said, he has always favored quality over quantity, but the move to the marathon has forced him to add miles. Throughout his career, Lagat ran just once a day. In this build-up he added a second run twice a week, boosting his weekly mileage to between 70 and 75.
His first long run was 18 miles, his second was 20 miles. It was his third one, at 22 miles, that took the biggest toll.
“That put me down for two days and I was like, ‘Okay, I’m dead now,’” Lagat said. “The hardest workouts were tempo runs. At 7,000 feet, you have to warm up for eight miles at six minutes per mile, then change into racing flats and do 10 miles at five minutes per mile. That is tough.”
His longest run was a hard 24 miles followed by a one-mile cool down, after which Li ordered him to return to Tucson to sharpen up with some track workouts.
“He said, ‘that’s it,’” Lagat said. “’We’re not going to overcook anything—I’ve trained you to where I want you to be.’”
Lagat said he still feels like a novice in some areas, such as learning to drink while running fast—a skill he never needed in his track days.
Choosing New York for his debut was easy because of Lagat’s affinity for its people, particularly those at the New York Road Runners who have long welcomed him to events like the NYC Run Clubs Bring Energy to the Marathon Men’s 5,000 Meters: Lagat Turns Back the Clock.
But surely there must be an element of fear about taking his first crack at 26.2 miles in the world’s biggest marathon?
“Even at the highest levels, in Olympic finals, I don’t have any nerves or stress,” he said. “For me it’s that element of the unknown: How is my body going to react?”
Lagat said he would love to take another shot at a marathon in 2019. He would be 45 years old come the Tokyo Olympics in 2020, and though he isn’t ruling it out, any decision on targeting the U.S. Trials in February 2020 will be put on ice until after New York.
“Do I want it that bad? I’ve done [the Olympics] five times, and it might take that fun away if I have to concentrate on making a team—that is a stress I don’t want to put myself into,” he said. “If all goes well in New York and I’m in a good state of mind and health, I will try, but I want to see how this one goes first.”
How Lagat Gets Ready to Run
In a sport with a high attrition rate, Lagat’s ability to perform so well is exceptionally rare at his age, but he has three reasons for it.
His mentality: “Thinking of yourself as an old guy, that I cannot do these things, that I’m past my prime, I reverse that and say, ‘I am older, but that doesn’t mean I can’t run with the young guys. Let’s meet at the starting line. I’m ready and if you’re not ready then I’m going to beat you.’”
His discipline: “You have to eat very well and take care of your rest because as you get older, recovery is so important. I make sure I utilize the gym and stay healthy that way. I’m not young anymore, and my body will break if I don’t take care of it.”
His Luck: This is harder to control. “It’s about being lucky not to get injured. It doesn’t matter if you’re old or young, you’re not going to be as good as you want to be if you do too much and get injured.”
Cathal Dennehy is a freelance writer based in Dublin, Ireland, who covers the sport for multiple outlets from Irish newspapers to international track websites. As an athlete, he was Irish junior cross-country champion and twice raced the European Cross Country, but since injury forced his retirement his best athletic feat has been the Irish beer mile record. He’s happiest when he’s running or writing stories about world-class athletes.
