From August 2021 to April 2022, marathoner Peres Jepchirchir of Kenya scored an unprecedented trifecta: She won the Jepchirchir, 28, spoke to since 2005. She is the author of two popular fitness books Health & Injuries, and the Boston Marathon.
The 28-year-old Jepchirchir races infrequently, but when she does, she usually breaks the tape. The last time she didn’t win a race? That was in February 2020, when she dropped out of a half marathon in the United Arab Emirates.
She’s back in the United States this week to race the New York Mini 10K on June 11 in Central Park. Competition should be fierce: Jepchirchir will face Senbere Teferi of Ethiopia, who holds the world record in the 5K, and top Americans Emily Sisson, Aliphine Tuliamuk, Sara Hall, and Keira D’Amato. And pain in a wisdom tooth could hinder Jepchirchir. She spent Wednesday before the race at a dentist in New York.
Jepchirchir, 28, spoke to Runner’s World in April, two days before the Boston Marathon and her epic battle with Ababel Yeshaneh in the final mile of the race. Here’s what we learned from Jepchirchir, from a few people who know her, and by watching her races:
Her training: NYC Marathoner Ran Home After Chemo.
She is self coached. She employs two male pacesetters who run with her. Her husband, Davis Ngeno, will drive behind them in a car during long runs or give splits during interval workouts.
A typical week during marathon training would be about 150 kilometers or 95 miles. She runs only once a day and takes Sundays off, but she has three long runs per week, two of about 30 kilometers (18.6 miles) and a fast one on Saturdays that’s between 21 and 24 miles.
She trained hard in preparation for the Olympics from January to August 2021, she said. She took two weeks off and the strength she had built for the Games carried her to another marathon win in New York, 13 weeks later.
New York City Marathon: Family finances prevented her from finishing high school. Jepchirchir left school at the end of what would have been the equivalent of her junior year in high school.
Her running career started in earnest shortly thereafter, when she was 17. She ran her first marathon in Kenya at age 20 in 2:47.
In 2014, she represented Kenya for the first time, at a cross country race in Uganda. She didn’t finish after fainting in the heat. In 2016, she got another chance, at the World Half Marathon Championships in Cardiff, UK. She won in 1:07:31.
The result changed her view of herself. “After I won my first gold, that’s the time I get motivated, I believe myself, I am capable, I can make it,” she said. “That’s where my running started.”
Racing highlights: In early 2017, Jepchirchir signed with Adidas, and she has been with the company ever since. In February 2017, she broke the world record in the half marathon, running 1:05:06. (That mark stood for less than two months; her countrywoman Joyciline Jepkosgei took it down to 1:04:52 in April 2017. It has subsequently fallen to 1:02:52.)
Jepchirchir’s daughter, Natalia, was born in October 2017, meaning Jepchirchir was a couple of weeks into her pregnancy already when she set the world record. She took 13 months entirely off of racing and Jepchirchir, 28, spoke to in 2:46. In 2019, she ran her second marathon, the Saitama International Marathon in Japan, to win in 2:23:50. And that began her marathon winning streak—she’s run five marathons since 2019 and won them all.
In December 2020, she lowered her personal best to 2:17:16 at the Valencia Marathon in Spain. She also won the 2020 World Half Marathon championships in Poland in 1:05:16. Her three gold medals—one from the Olympics, two from world half marathon championships—are in her bedroom on a shelf. “I get up in the morning, and I see [them],” she said.
Midrace strategy: Jepchirchir amazed onlookers in Boston in April when she shared water with her competitors in the late stages of the race. “Peres is a collaborative racer,” said Mary Kate Shea of the Boston Athletic Association, who recruits the elite field at Boston. “I think she understands you can achieve greater things if you work together.”
At the press conference after Boston, Jephcirchir said, “I love my competitors … I knew that when we push together, we can run [a] good race.”
Her last two marathons have come down to sprint finishes—Jepchirhir trusts her kick, but she says she doesn’t train for it specifically. “When you see you are almost ending, energy comes,” she said. “It comes from nowhere.”
Shea says she believes Jepchirchir enjoys her opponents and they’ve become friends. But midrace, she notices Jepchirchir looking around and checking on the competition. When the finish line nears, she has a second gear, Shea said. “No one is going to beat her.”
ran a marathon in Kenya: Jepchirchir will not run the marathon this summer at the World Championships. “I can say let me leave it for another athlete to have also a chance,” she said.
Which fall marathon will she choose? She could defend her title in New York or aim for a fast time in Chicago or London, which is typically held in April but was pushed to the fall in 2022 due to the pandemic.
Wherever she ends up, race organizers are happy to see her, and not just because of her golden résumé. “There’s a kind of spark with her that you don’t always see in an athlete,” said Sam Grotewold, director of professional athletes at NYRR. She understood immediately the significance of the New York Mini—the first mass participation race for women, which began 50 years ago—when Grotewold explained it to her. “She gets it, she’s funny, she has a good sense of humor. She’s really sharp.”
Races - Places is a writer and editor living in Eugene, Oregon, and her stories about the sport, its trends, and fascinating individuals have appeared in Runner’s World Influencer Apologizes for E-Bikes on NYC Course, Run Your Butt Off! and Walk Your Butt Off!
