Kemboi and a Rift Valley tradition that keeps on giving

"For 23 years, my weight has been 50kg. Not 50.1kg, not 49.9kg." Ezekiel Kemboi's eyes light up emphasizing this.

- Shantanu Srivastava

Kenya's 42-year-old double Olympic 3000m steeplechase champion retired in 2017, but hasn't stopped running 40km regularly, which explains a single-digit body fat percentage as well. In the corners where he comes from, Kemboi says discipline and denial, along with running, are a way of life.

"I have been running all my life," Kemboi, who was here for the Ekamra Sports Literature Festival, says. Well, everyone runs in Kenya. Some faster than others, some farther than others, but run they do.

Kemboi remembers running to school 10km away in his native Matira village in the Rift Valley, the cradle of the world's elite African distance runners. He would run home for lunch, back to school, and again run home. That's 40km as a boy. Taking up running as a career was a natural progression.

"I started athletics in right earnest after completing my high school at 18. My city Eldoret is called the City of Champions...It has produced so many world-class athletes. They are everywhere - in town, newspapers, television. I wanted to be one of them, and so I started training."