People choose to uproot their lives and move to the US for many reasons, and on this episode we hear one immigrant’s story. Elvin Kibet came to America for opportunity–and that opportunity inspired her to give back to her new home by serving her country in the US Army and its World Class Athlete Program unit.
Elvin shared her story in author Joanna Garten’s book “All in Stride: A Journey in Running Courage and the Search for the American Dream” and talked with us about her journey from a rural village in Kenya where she ran about 5K every day to get to school, to the University of Arizona, where she had earned a full scholarship as a collegiate runner.
While in the US, she met her future husband Shadrack Kipchirchir, who had grown up not far from her, but was at a different university. The two eventually married–Shadrack went to the Olympics in 2016, and Elvin continued training in hopes of also becoming an Olympian.
After graduation, Shadrack opted to join the US Army’s World Class Athlete Program (WCAP), and Elvin followed suit, as a way to serve the country that had given her so much. We talked with Elvin about what it was like to be a female trailblazer in the WCAP, particularly after becoming pregnant and giving birth to a son.
Postpartum, getting her body back into running shape proved to be tough, especially while she was also breastfeeding. Still, Elvin qualified for the 2024 US Olympic Marathon Trials and finished 64th.
Elvin’s story, from the village she grew up in in Kenya, to the village she and Shadrack created in their new home is a testament to the possibilities that America provides.
If you’ve read All in Stride, please let us know (if you haven’t, pick up a copy–it’s a great read)!
Also on today’s episode we have news about the International Testing Agency’s doping program at Paris, and word about the Paris 2024 bronze medals already falling apart.
Our TKFLASTANIs continue to be busy after Paris 2024. We’ve got updates from:
Want more on the U.S. Army’s World Class Athlete Program? Check out these episodes:
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Photo: U.S. Army World Class Athlete Program
TRANSCRIPT
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360-Elvin Kibet’s Running Journey: One Immigrant’s Story
Intro music
Jill: Hello, and welcome to another episode of Keep the Flame Alive, the podcast for fans of the Olympics and Paralympics.
If you love the games, we are the show for you. Each week we share stories from athletes and people behind the scenes to help you have more fun watching the games. I am your host, Jill Jaracz, joined as always by my lovely co host, Alison Brown. Alison, hello, how are you?
Alison: I am very, very disappointed in Paris 2024.
Jill: How so?
Alison: Because they held Disco Freeze. Until the closing ceremonies, and now they are posting Disco Friege all over their social media. Like it’s
Jill: something, like it was something.
Alison: Like it was something, and we Because we couldn’t get to the closing ceremony, we never got to see Disco Frieze in person. And I’m crushed.
Jill: No. And they had special friezes, limited edition friezes, that were also disco and fancy. we didn’t get to those either. But I did see them at the factory when I went on that tour.
Alison: Though I’m glad I didn’t see the frieze wearing frieze. That feels cannibalistic to me and slightly disruptive to my, my spiritual health.
But. If anybody gets their, I don’t think they made a disco frige, but if they did, or if someone can make one for me, just get to that tinsel and sparkles and just keep sewing.
Jill: Oh man. Still getting back into it.
Alison: Oh yeah. I forgot to do the newsletter this week, so I apologize to everyone. I’ll get out one sometime.
Jill: My office is still a mess. Full of stuff. I’m still finding pins in random places.
Alison: I have a pile that I have to sort through.
Jill: Oh, boy. But, uh, speaking of pins, we will be at Olympin in November. if you are a pin fan, it is in Atlanta. Uh, if, you plan on going, let us know. We’ll have more information on that coming up. in future episodes, so be on the lookout for that.
Elvin Kibet Interview
Jill: Today we are talking with Elvin Kibet, who is one of the stars of Joanna Garten’s book, All in Stride, A Journey in Running Courage and the Search for the American Dream.
She was born in Kenya and came to the U. S. on a running scholarship at the University of Arizona. Post college, she became a professional runner and joined the U. S. Army’s World Class Athletics athlete program. In the book, she shares her story as a runner, an immigrant, a soldier, and an Olympic hopeful.
And we talked with her last spring when the book came out about her experiences and then also what it was like to be part of this book. It was really fun to talk with her. I’d forgotten how fun this was. Uh, so take a listen to our interview with Elvin.
Jill: Elvin, thank you so much for joining us. All in stride, what made you want to be a part of this project?
Elvin Kibet: Ah, you know, when Joanna first, uh, started interviewing Shadrach and she was coming to the house so often.
And I, I just wanted to share my story with everybody, uh, you know, about that. Resilience and perseverance and also, you know, chasing the American dream. it’s full of ups and downs, but it’s so beautiful. It’s a very beautiful journey that a lot of immigrants they have the same similar stories as us.
And I wanted just to share that, out there.
Jill: when you were growing up in Kenya, Yes, you had sisters who went to the Olympics, but they’re kind of older than you. What sort of awareness did you have of running and how important was that in your family?
Elvin Kibet: Yes. Running was very important in my family. And, uh, at a very young age, I watched my sisters, they were running all the time and they were traveling and you know, we used to look up to them.
You know, my twin sister and I remember us saying one day that will be asked one day, you know, because they will be going to other countries and they will tell us stories about all they were in an airplane and To us, it was like, wow, just running did that for you. And, you know, it was a means to see the world for them.
and also for us, we just looked up to them and we wanted to be like them.
Jill: What does running mean to Kenya? I
Elvin Kibet: think, running to Kenya means, first, it’s a means to, escape poverty. it’s a means to make ends meet. and then, the other thing, a lot of people are passionate about running because Like where I was born, everybody runs, everybody, you know, runs everywhere.
So it comes so natural to us to it. It doesn’t even look like it’s a job or a hard thing to do. It just comes so naturally. You do it from a very young age. And then, when you get a little bit older, they said, Oh, you can actually go to another country, visit another country, you know, and go to school, get a scholarship and get all these just things.
Because you can run and and that everybody will take that they’ll be like, You know what? That’s all you need from me. Then I’ll run. Yeah,
Jill: You didn’t start running competitively till high school, but like, when you were a kid and had to run to school, how far did you go?
Elvin Kibet: So I, I think it was about 5k, going to school.
So we’ll go in the morning and then come back for lunch, go back in the afternoon and come back in the evening. And I never really, I did the math like that when I was younger. I was like, yeah, everybody did that. So it looked so normal. But I look back now, I’m like, that was a lot of running.
Jill: So when your adorable little baby grows up and complains about, Having to, like, go outside in the cold, will you say, like, Hey, I ran to school this long and back uphill both ways, and be true?
Elvin Kibet: I’ll be like, do not complain, okay? Your school is, like, less than a mile, okay? So, you better be walking.
Alison: No, to be fair, you never dealt with Colorado winters.
Elvin Kibet: That’s true. That’s true. So that’s true. But out there also was tough because you don’t have shoes and it’s very cold in the morning. And I remember when I was in kindergarten and my teen sister and I would go from, you know, like aunt hill to an aunt hill, like spend a little time and because the sun is coming out and your feet are like Doing because it’s been like, so crusty and in the morning, it’s very chilly and we just stand there and be like, Oh my God.
Yeah, so I think you, you will have shoes. If he has shoes, he can work on this. No,
we might decide to take the shoes off for a little bit. Yeah.
Jill: So when you did decide to start running more competitively what kind of drove that decision and, what made you love running as a sport?
Elvin Kibet: Yeah. So in high school, I wasn’t really interested so much in, in running because in Kenya also at that time, parents used to push, if they see you, you’re a good student, they push you more towards school.
And if you are, you’re not so good at school, they push you towards sports and sports was running at that time or soccer for the boys. And, for me, when I finished high school and I also, you know, I thought, you know, I’m gonna get to the best university in Kenya, because in Kenya, you get invited to join the university and they choose a major for you.
So they, when they gave me, I think they gave me like tourism and something. I said, that doesn’t sound like me. I wanted to do something health care, you know, in that that kind of place. field and I didn’t get that chance. So immediately I was like, what are my options? And my sister, my older sister Hilda at that time, she would already gone to the Olympics.
She was traveling to the Netherlands, the U. S. Back and forth. And she told me, you know, Another option is for you to go to America. You know, you could get yourself a scholarship. You know, we already are talented, so you could start running, maybe start training a little bit seriously and get yourself a scholarship and go to the U. S. And to me, that was the very first time I had of, you know, That idea. And I was like, Wait, what did you say? Just run a little bit. And I get a scholarship and then go do whatever I want to do out there. She was like, I’m dead serious. Yes, you can. I say, Oh, what are you still waiting for? Bring the shoes.
That’s how I started running.
Alison: Yeah. So you get to the United States, and it’s a little overwhelming. So talk about that first experience. Taste of culture shock.
Elvin Kibet: He was yes. I felt like I was just dropped in I mean, literally I was dropped in another world, there was nothing close to, Kenya, you know, everything from, just landing at the airport, everything was confusing and coming to school, there’s like, so everybody has a car, the people warm their houses and they Things that make your life easier, like a microwave and a computer and a stove.
I mean, I’m used to like cooking my meals, you know, the traditional way, get the firewood from the forest and light a fire. And it was completely different for me. And it took a minute for me to adjust. And I wouldn’t say it was easy. It was very tough. I am so grateful for my college teammates, you know, especially Hannah.
And Momo, they took me under their wings and they were so patient with me because I had so many questions and sometimes I just, I was just, You know, overwhelmed and I just cry and, and they were there for me. And, uh, I am so grateful because not everybody who is an immigrant gets that.
and when you get that, it’s very special. They did help me to adjust and, by the time I was six months in, I was getting a little. Better adjusting and I was some of the things were fast to adjust and some of the things were just, took me time. I had to redo them over and over and getting lost for me was a normal like I used to get lost all the time.
Did you know when I went to my first class? I didn’t know that, you get into an elevator. I knew my, Hugo, my brother in law showed me an elevator when we were in Nairobi, Kenya, before I, I boarded my plane to come to the U. S. And he showed me, said, you go in, and then it takes you, Whatever you, you wanna go.
But when I came in here, I don’t remember what class I had. It must have been psychology and it was at the room 300 and something to me, I didn’t know I was in first floor. I have to go up three floors. So I was looking for 300 and whatever floor room I could not find it.
And things like that. You know, simple things like that. You know, for you it’s so natural. you just get in the elevator, you go to third floor, you find your room. Right. But for me, I mean, I’m from the village. There was no elevator, let alone like many, like a huge building like that.
So I used to get lost all the time. I remember one time I, I actually found my coach’s, office. It was, you know, like this huge, huge building it was called McHale Center at U of A. And I found him and he was like, we were celebrating. We were hugging each other. He’s like, yes, you found it. He found the office and, you know, things like that.
And yeah, but you know, I’m so grateful. I had people like that. Give me a lot of support and were patient and kind.
Jill: Did the team ever do like camping events for bonding and then when it was time to cook, you said, step aside. I have this. Yes, we went to
Elvin Kibet: Flagstaff couple times and those were, I really love that. You know why I love that? Because it was in the woods and I know the woods.
Alison: Yeah, we do not learn those things in American high schools, but you were a pro. I was a
Elvin Kibet: pro. I was like, you guys, I’m going to light a fire out there. You guys, I got this. Yeah, we were doing, marshmallows and what, what is it called? Marshmallows. S’mores. S’mores. And I was like, you know what? I don’t know what it is, but it’s fun.
The fire is out. Just conversation around the firework, that was my, I felt at home. I felt so like, wow, it is really good.
Alison: How did running now being a sport and training differ for you and how much of a shock was that change to just running as part of your life versus a competitive sport?
Elvin Kibet: Yeah. So, so for me, it changed because I, now I had a schedule to follow. I had standards to meet, so they gave me like a full ride and some of the kids didn’t have full ride. So I was expected in a way to be at the top of the team, you know, and, and really help help the team.
And my first year, I, I kind of disappointed coach Lee, you know, because, uh, I started my first race in Flagstaff and I did okay. I won the race and then the second and the third, I wasn’t close to winning the race or even leading the team and for me, that puts a lot more pressure on me and, my sister had told me you just run a little bit, but that was not a little bit.
You know, it was full time training. It took a toll on me in a way, and then adjusting also to the weather in Tucson. I remember the first day I went to training, I passed out because first I didn’t know it was a desert. Nobody told me, you are going to a desert, , and, and drinking water for me was.
Very difficult because I used I used to get like now I know it’s the brain freeze. What the water was served so cold and I could I would avoid it. I say, I don’t want to drink the water, but then I got dehydrated over the next couple of weeks, And it wasn’t, it wasn’t good adjusting to that kind of training.
And then the girls were training really hard. It was, I don’t know if it was just my body trying to adjust to the training or it was because I was training good in Kenya. I guess it was also like, you know, not. All constantly being worried, if I will find the place tomorrow, if I will wake up on time, if I all these things were really taking a toll on me that my physical body was not able to handle training in the first couple months.
But then after some time, you know, Hannah and Momo, they really took care of me in that way. And I started not to worry so much about the little things and I focus more on running. And now, yeah, and then everything came together by the end of the year.
Jill: So talk about meeting Shadrach, did you know him much in Kenya?
Elvin Kibet: No, I did not know him at all. So it’s like the story starts like all these parallel lives, you know, he was just doing his thing. And it’s so interesting that he went to school in my village, close to my village. And I used to pass by his school all the time.
That’s how close we were in Kenya, but we never met. We never met and we were both not runners. Nothing until we came to the U. S. And then we met in Indiana and I actually met him through his brother because I knew his brother Kenya because one time I had visited my sister in Indianapolis, California.
In the city in Eton and she was, you know, she was running at that time and she was just doing her thing and she had this guy in the house helping out with, the baby and the little stuffy and they’re cooking and, and, and once in a while, I’ll see him read this huge book. Now I know it was SAT book, you know, the SAT.
and I didn’t know what it was. And I used to be like, wow, you, you must love books. You, that’s a big one. And he never really told me anything about it. And then one time. So when I was in, in, in Terrahood, Indiana, I see him and I said, I remember you are in my sister. And you’re like, yes, I remember you too.
That’s how we started talking. And then Shadrach comes in and he’s like, Oh, this, by the way, this is my younger brother, Shadrach. I say, Oh, okay. But I didn’t really look at him. I didn’t, I was like, okay, and then later now we, we started talking, you requested me on Facebook, friendship on Facebook.
And that’s how our friendship started. We used to talk. So like until like three in the morning, I don’t even know what the, I was, now I’m like, I was, we, we used to spend too much time. But at that time, probably I needed it because, we bonded so much over the stories of the village and about everything in Kenya.
Like he, I feel like he got me. Like I get him, he gets me. And It was so natural. Our conversations were so natural. I didn’t have to force anything because I used to wonder sometimes, like, how do you start talking to a boy like it’s that? That’s like, because I had never really talked to any boys at that time like that.
Seriously. But to him for with him, it was so natural. And the conversation just We just went on and on and on for days. Sometimes we used to Skype and then we met again in nationals. And I think that was where things got a little bit serious. But I never told Hannah and Momo because they used to be like, Oh, is that your boyfriend?
I’m like, no, he’s not. Are we so indefensive? He’s not. friends. But clearly it was all over my face that I liked him. and I ended up getting married to him. And it was just really beautiful.
Alison: Were you ever competitive with one another? Did you, do you feel that?
Elvin Kibet: Yes, of course. Always, especially, I mean, he’s a lot faster than me for sure.
But when we do things like when we’re doing cool, I know when he’s the weak, his weakest points, you know, like, uh, being like, core workout and stretching. And then I will just go loud. Make sure he knows that I am beating him that way. Yeah, but he’s really great runner. and I feel like we we feed off each other’s energy.
You know, I support him supports me. And yeah, until even Today, I mean, we still run together, easy runs and sometimes he would jump into my workouts and help me out. You know, like how we have the same workouts with the men, but since the women’s times will be a little bit slower, they would finish their training before I do.
Maybe I still have like a couple more repeats and he will jump in and help me out. And it’s, that to me, that’s just amazing. Can’t get better than that.
Alison: So he was a part of the world class athletic program. Yes. You became a part of it after him. So talk about how that whole process happened for you and for Shadrack since it kind of went together.
Elvin Kibet: Yeah. So,
so Shadrack, he got in, in 2014 and I was still in college. and, and when he told me about joining the army, he, joining WCAP was not in the picture because we didn’t even, I didn’t even know it existed, and I think he landed towards the end of his, college, when he was, he was about to graduate, he learned about it and he started applying for it.
But to me, he told me I’m joining the army. that’s what I’m gonna do after school. I say, Wait, what? I could not believe it. I said, No, no, I don’t know if I can do it. I mean, I love you support you everything. But it’s really do you really want to join the army? And to me, I had my own reasons. My reason was, you know, I growing up, in a family where my dad was always absent, he was in the military and always gone for his missions and and jobs.
And it demanded so much. We’ll see. You know, I remember when I was little, I used to look forward. I would just sit on the in the porch, you know, waiting for you know, For him to show up with his bike, you know, at the top of the hill coming down, you know, and sometimes he wouldn’t show, and I didn’t want, I started thinking, Oh my God, this is the man I’m going to spend hopefully the rest of my life with and he wants to join the army, he’s going to leave me, that was my I was like, Oh, okay.
but to him, he was looking more at job security, you know, following his passion and serving this country. There’s so many other reasons he was looking into, but we eventually came to an agreement. I don’t know how, but we did. and he did join the army and then joined WCAP later, when he came out of the basic training and, And I learned about this new program.
I say, wow, I didn’t know it exists. I’m so happy that you can continue because he loves running. Shadrach loves running. I don’t know if there is another human who loves running more than Shadrach. That’s running. I was so happy for him. I said, if you can combine both of these be a soldier and run at the same time, that that can get better than that.
So that’s amazing. And I saw him excel, you know, in his running, he went to the Olympics, he went to all these world championships, cross country, he did really great. and at that time for me, I was just supporting him. And then after, after some time I said, well, in 2018, he wanted to get out.
I said, get out. No, no, you have to stay. you know, the Army has done so much for us. We don’t have to worry about a thing if it gives you, an opportunity to continue running and following your passion. Why not? And he said, I, think I’ll sign with Nike. And I, at that point, you know, I understood and I said, well.
Then I will join, and I’ve always wanted to do something so much bigger than than just running, maybe I could do the same as you did, you know, you found so much purple so much motivation so much, through the army and world class athletes program. I want to be a part of this program and that’s that’s how I got in and I was able to serve.
This country and at the same time follow my passion because I don’t know if my running could have continued because it was hard to get a contract. To be honest, it was, you know, I got a sketch as contract, but it was Yeah, it wasn’t a lot. It wasn’t something that could sustain me for.
Yeah, yeah, it was really little. And for me to, to make a living, I would, I would have to get a full time job at the same time, maintain the contract, which, you know, it’s tough, you know, you have to travel, you’re, putting a lot of time and energy in training. And WCAP was, I was there and they were recruiting for 2020, 2020 Olympics and 2024.
And I met the standards and I said, this really checks all my boxes. I can serve this country, continue to run maybe four, six more years. And how, that’s how I ended up joining. and also WCAP was really like part of our family and when Shadrack said he was leaving us, that somebody needs to still be, you know, in the family.
And yeah, that’s how I ended up joining.
Jill: Talked a little bit about contracts. Yes. When you were starting to To look into that as a way to get support, were there different standards for men and women when it came to what they offered?
Elvin Kibet: Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. Absolutely. You know, and I didn’t come to that realization until I graduated college. When I was in college, I mean, I, the highest I placed was fourth in the 10K.
And, to me, I mean, I probably innocent about this stuff, but I, I really thought I was, I was good and I thought I would get something out there, but come to learn later. Like it was very difficult for me to get the contract, you know, some men that probably were my level got something better.
and for me also adding that I am a woman and an immigrant woman, that, that was not, um, You know, it wasn’t favoring me in any way. because, I remember talking to a lot of people and they were like, yeah, no, you know, you either have to be number one in the N. C. W. A. when you win the cross country or track in your event or just Yeah, that and I, I wasn’t, and it was, you know, it was a very hard reality for me.
and that’s why with the army, you know, there’s no really a lot of, I don’t know what’s the right word to call it. Like, you, you make the standard, you get it. It doesn’t matter if you’re a man, a woman, black. Whatever it is, it doesn’t matter. But out there, those variables really affect, if you’re going to get a contract or not.
Alison: though, speaking of sexism, you went in the army in a mostly male unit. So even though the program had these objective standards, what were you dealing with in reality?
Elvin Kibet: Yes. It’s, it’s a very male dominated. field a lot of, you know, I found myself sometimes, especially when you’re dealing with women issues, like when somebody’s pregnant, or somebody’s postpartum then that’s where I really saw the difference. If I was a man, maybe.
It will be different. But when I was in basic training, doing the training, there was no really. I never saw everybody. You are a trainee. You’re a soldier out there. There was no different. And I and I like that part because they you just meet the standard. You listen to the rules. You follow the rules.
You’re good. But then when you come to your job now with the big army, Then that’s where I saw, especially when I was going through pregnancy and postpartum, it’s just different, and I wish there were more females, especially in the leadership positions, uh, because, you know, you can tell me, 12 men will be sitting there deciding on a policy on a pregnancy policy, what they’re going to say.
I mean, they’ve never been through this. They don’t know what they’re talking about. If there was one or two females to really be a part of that policy, I think it would be different. It would be better.
Alison: WPAC program with your pregnancy. How did that work? Did you continue to train? Were you, I know you weren’t competing, but how did that work logistically?
Elvin Kibet: Yeah. So for me, this was very interesting. First, they did not have a pregnancy policy on their, of their own. We used the big army one and the big army one was big.
They couldn’t use it at some point because, you know, running. if I am a marathon, I have to run, 40 kilometers, and WCAP requires me to do that, let’s say on every other Sunday, but the big army says you can’t run more than two miles. when you are pregnant. So there was a lot of clash until they just left me alone.
They said, you know what, you do your thing because we don’t even know what, what we will come up with a pregnancy policy and then they did come up with a pregnancy policy. Later, after I was done and now they’re using it for the other females. I don’t know how it looks now, But what I remember was, if you don’t, know, it’s tough because, you know, WCAP is is a performance based program.
you have yearly benchmarks, so let’s say for me, my benchmark was to make the Olympic trials and go on to make the Olympic team. you’re nine months. You’re gonna go through pregnancy for nine months and then another maybe, you know, depends on the person. Some people bounce back quick, but it would take like a year, a year and a half, maybe two to come back.
So, because of all these benchmarks for sure that you will not meet them. And then that means you’ll be cut from the program and that’s just the sad part of it. You know, it’s I don’t know how they will be able to balance it in the future because. It’s almost like you have to decide between the two. You know, you either have a family or you stop running in the future generations, it will take, I don’t know.
I hope they really look at it and see how women can have both, because I see other, you know. Brands or the sponsorships, they’re really trying to help their women and they can, they’re telling them you, yes, you can have both and with the army, especially with WCAP, I don’t know if you can have both.
Alison: Both elite athletics and fertility have a clock on. Right. Right. So how do you, how can the programs balance that? I mean, we’ve been seeing it with other sponsors as well saying, what happens when you go on maternity leave and you no longer have a ranking.
Elvin Kibet: Right.
Right. And it’s, it’s very tough. It’s very tough. for us women, you know, you, you think you’re on the, on the end of the day, you know, some of us, we choose family and then, running will come later. Sports will come later. If it does, if it doesn’t, then it’s just a sad reality.
Jill: One of the things in the book that, Joanna and you talked about was being a pioneer in this program.
Because you’re a woman and there’s not that many people, women in the unit. What is it like to be among the first to go through something and deal, and A, have to deal with how hard it is, and B, try to make it better for the next generation? To come along
Elvin Kibet: for me. It’s it’s it’s an honor in a way.
And I knew these getting into the program because there were no females in the long distance, platoon and I knew that and I knew up against, you know, so many things and. I just wanted to, to be there and show other women that yes, because somebody has to start it right.
Somebody has to, because most of the time they were only males in the only men in the, in the group. when I joined, we got Edna, she’s a very phenomenal runner. She did join and she keeps telling me she joined because I was there. If she, if I wasn’t there, she would not have. Come. And now we have another girl, Colette Rumpf.
she was just from another unit and she’s also a great runner. And now, you know, we are three of us now, and who knows, maybe this next squad, there will be more females. And for me, that’s what I want to see. I want to see more females, not just in the program, also in the leadership positions.
It will have, You know, a coach, a female coach, or even like a commander, that would really, uh, shake up things and really lead us in a progressive way.
Jill: How did you meet Samantha Schultz through all of this?
Elvin Kibet: So Samantha, Samantha was in the program, but she was doing pentathlon, so it’s like five events, and for me, I just, I didn’t know so much about the events and I got to learn so much about the sport from Samantha and she, you know, she was this made every time we went to formations and they just, call line from the giving all kinds of awards and I’m like, I want to be like her.
Like she was just amazing. You know, she’s going to Olympics. She’s doing her thing, but I could tell it was very tough for her because I mean, I only do one event and it’s already had she’s doing five and she’s making the Olympic team and she’s a female and I looked up to her so much. I still do. And we got to bond a little bit more when, especially when we would go on trials and she’ll be there and she’s doing her running and I’ll give us, you know, my little running advice because she’s, I think running comes like towards the end of her sport.
So she, she’ll be like, Oh man. I got one more. What do you have for me? And you know, we’ll talk a little bit. And sometimes off season, she would do like a road race with me. So that was really, really amazing. And we didn’t get to talk a lot about our private lives, you know, what’s going on. And I wish we did because I mean, clearly after the book, when we started writing the book, then I learned so much more about her.
And I wish I was in it. I wish I was there for her, even just be a listening ear, you know, just support her in that way. But in WCAG we never really talked about our personal lives, just hi, hi, how is your, because also the, the pressure is so high, we don’t really, we’re only just looking at performance, you know, we are so channel focused, like we are not, Looking at anything else we forget.
And that’s and that’s one thing I’ve learned. Like we need to look out for each other more, not just how you’re doing in running and your sport, because it you know what you do out there. What you know what you’re carrying with you is so much more than just. Performance and I wish I was there for her, especially like when I was there for my college teammates going through, eating disorders.
And even though I don’t know much about it, I just be there, you know, and I think that’s the best support I can give. Just be there, listen and be available when they need it.
Alison: Well, she had her physical struggles. You had your physical struggles with pregnancy as well. I did. So talk a little bit about trying to come back after, you know, you grow a whole other person.
Elvin Kibet: Right? Yeah. You know, you go from this tiny person to like a whole different person. And for me, of course, it was my first pregnancy, so I had never experienced anything like that.
and being in this guy, I really think if I was in Kenya, I was pregnant in Kenya. Just, I would not have looked at myself in any different way. I would not even notice anything, but here I was very, I was self conscious about how I look, and, and I remember I didn’t write this in the book, but just a little stuff, like I, I remember putting on my uniform, to go to formation and I would ask my husband several times, how do I look?
And at some point he said. You know what, you have to stop this because it doesn’t matter. You are pregnant, That’s it. That’s end of story. You’re not stop asking me. You are big or whatever you stop. And then Shadrach is very good at it.
That’s shutting me down and bringing me back to my place, you know? because I was worried like, Oh, how, how am I going to look, in a formation where everybody’s suits. Skinny, And I was very self conscious in that way. I mean, I look back now. I’m like, what was I doing that?
But at that moment, you just get so sucked in. And you’re just looking at your soul looking microscopic. You’re not even looking at the big picture. You know, you’re gonna have a beautiful baby and all that. And you’re gonna get time to come back. But then after the baby now trying to come back was a very big struggle for me.
because first I gained 40. 40. and trying to get back, I have the standard. Remember, I have the standard, the benchmark to meet. I was supposed to make the world championship team in July and I had to be, I had my baby, in the year before in April. but it wasn’t enough time and I had some complication, you know, trying to go through the rehab, trying to get myself back.
And then now. You know, start building up. Start running. I didn’t start running for like, I think it took me like seven months to really start running and I started walking and then started running. It was the most difficult thing I have ever done because fast. Your body. You know, I am eating a lot because I was breastfeeding.
I mean, we are ladies. I can talk about breast milk. nobody tells you breastfeeding is so hot. It is that it is. It takes a toll on you and, producing like eight ounces every four hours or every three hours. It took a toll on me. And I was, I mean, I love that journey with my son.
We bonded over that. It was the best gift I would ever give to him. And I love that. I would never regret. I will do it over and over again if I have to, but also, you know, there’s this other side that it’s taking so much from you, you know, you’re trying to get back to the running weight and it’s not happening.
There’s a lot of frustrations. and then it’s just, you know, you have also issues, you know, because you go from being, 90 to 128 and then your knees, your hips, your ankles, everything starts hurting and you can’t, train. at the level that you want to train at because of all these issues.
But, for me, I don’t know, at some point it all just came together and I was able to raise the 10, the army 10 miler and it gave me so much confidence that because at some point I, I was, I thought I don’t have it. I can’t do it. It’s just not possible. But, I was happy that they gave me another chance.
They say, okay, you didn’t make the world championship team. Can you do? I requested for them to do the marathon. I said, if I qualify for the marathon trials, would you guys give me a chance? And it took them, back and forth, back and forth. And then they said, finally, they said, okay, if you will give you one chance, one chance, you blow it up.
That’s it. you can imagine having one chance. And you don’t have anything else and you want to run the Olympic trials. You want to give this. You really believe inside that you have, you got it. It’s just that the body is not, at that moment, it’s not responding the way you want. But I’m, I’m happy that, it all came together with Shadrach’s help and I had a whole They say it takes a village, right?
I had the whole village. My village was rallying behind me, from Joanna to Shadrach, to other teammates, you know, that they can’t even mention their names to my church, everybody, everybody, I told everybody, I have to make it. If I don’t make it, then I don’t know. We do. We do have to make it.
So I felt like I had all that support behind me. And that’s how we did it.
Jill: When you were in college, you ran 5, 000 and 10, 000, then you moved up to 10 and then like moving up from a 10 miler to a marathon. That’s, that’s a big difference in distance. And when you’re trying to get your body back, was that like a spur of the moment? Well, I can run the marathon. How about that?
Yeah. Or did you put more thought into it?
Elvin Kibet: I didn’t know what happened. So I knew after the baby, I was going to do marathons, but not like within two months, you’re going to transition, not like that. But it’s because of the circumstances for me to still stay in the program and to, you know, staying in the program meant for me to stay in Colorado and also still take care of my son.
And also, You know, get to the Olympic trials because they were not I know they were not going to give me a chance to get to 2028 Olympics to train for the next squad. there were at some point I got some orders to go to Germany and I said, okay, say that Germany or, or run the marathon, guess what I chose?
I chose the marathon,
Alison: Did you have any, issues postpartum with feeling like your joints, not just from the weight, but just the change in your joints, you know, from, you know Pregnancy. Oh, yeah.
Elvin Kibet: Oh, yeah. I, I, at some point I thought they just, gonna rip off, you know, my, especially my knees. My knees couldn’t take it.
my ankles, the hips are that we can’t even talk about the hips. Everything was a mess. Like your body goes through all these changes, you know, of course you’re carrying a human and, and that in itself is just, Out of this world, and then now your body is trying to come back to its normal self, because, the joints probably open up, for more room And then now you’re trying to get them back and not just get them back in their natural time. You’re forcing them to come back as quick as possible. So that, yeah, I felt a lot of change in my physical body for sure.
Jill: How tough was that? Uh, U. S. Marathon trials for you.
Elvin Kibet: Super tough. Very tough. I underestimated how tough it was going to be. but also such an amazing, amazing experience for me because that was one of my goals. I didn’t know that I was going to, I thought. You know, I’ll do the 2028 Olympic trials, but now that it came so fast like that, I was so excited.
I was super, super excited to be there. And also with Chad, he went to 2016 Olympics, but I wasn’t even a US citizen back then. And then 2020, he was injured and I didn’t make the team. So these for us, a family was a big deal. But. I wouldn’t underestimate how tough it was because it was, it was hard.
It got harder and harder as we got through the day. And then the, the loop, I like the first loop, the second loop, not so much. The third one. Oh, I don’t even know how I survived. Yeah, it was, it was very tough and you could see how. Other people are also feeling because a lot of the we had a lot of people drop from the race.
people that we expected to win. We’re not even close. So that shows you was was very tough. And also on Shadrach’s and he told me was very tough because the man just cranking the pace cranking the pace and It was very tough.
And we should expect so Olympic trials. You know, when you make the team you. You earn it by all means, you know, it’s not easy and that’s why we do it. That’s why we do it. So those three can, really show they’re the best of the best on that day.
Alison: So I saw, I think it was an Instagram post, of Joanna, the author, watching your son during the trials.
Elvin Kibet: Yes.
Alison: So, doing this book, you, she really became a part of the family.
Elvin Kibet: Yes, and I tell her, like, if everything falls apart, you know, it doesn’t matter. For me, the friendship, the family. Family ties that we built is so much, much more important than anything else. Uh, it’s so paramount to me. So, Johanna, you won’t believe it.
She’s done so much for me and for us. You know, she, Chadrag was in Kenya a couple times. She would come watch Milo for me so I can go to training because sometimes I didn’t have somebody to watch Milo when I’m doing my crazy 40 kilometer Sundays. and she would come down and really help me with that.
And one time I even I was in Army 10 Milo and she did show up for me. She came in with with her husband and also for the Olympic trials. She came for and that’s one of the reasons I finished the race because I knew Joanna and Milo. my son at the finish line. There’s no way I can finish this race because if I don’t, who knows when the bus is coming to get me.
So I better finish this day. Let’s walk it, you know, walk to the finish line. Yeah. So she’s, she’s such an incredible human. I am so appreciative of Joanna. She’s been so much, much more than, yeah, she’s, she’s just amazing. And I appreciate that every day. She knows that.
Alison: So what does running look like for you going forward
Elvin Kibet: going forward? Even though the Olympic trials marathon broke my heart, I love it. I love the marathon because my train. You should look at my training before the Olympic trials. My coach was like, this is it. You are great. You’re gonna be so great in the marathon.
And I was You know, I look beyond the Olympics. I say, you know what? Yeah, you know, I might have when I made some mistakes. I ran too fast. The first half was my first one. So it’s okay. But I have so much hope for the marathon. And that’s I think going forward for me. I’m looking at look, doing a full marathon later this year.
And, yeah, hopefully my, My biggest race to get to is Boston. I, I would love one day to be in Boston. And I’ll, that’ll just, yeah, that’ll be amazing. So yeah, maybe next year, who knows? And what about with
Jill: the army?
Elvin Kibet: So with the army, Now that I didn’t meet my benchmarks, I got released from the program.
so I am, uh, it’s called ETS. It’s the end of contract is coming up for me six years in November. So I’m not going to be in WCAP anymore. but I am looking into staying in the army, in the reserves or the national guard. I don’t know if you guys know that. Yeah, you’re not active duty.
You’re just there just in case they need you. You go back because I, still want to serve in a different way and I’m going back to school this August and that’s what I’m looking into, you know, maybe come back in another capacity, you know, come serve in another capacity, maybe not running, but.
Something else.
Alison: I know Shadrach is retired from the army, but do you outrank him yet? Yes, I
Elvin Kibet: do. Yes, I do. You know, he always says, you know, if I stayed in the army, I would be a, I would be a staff sergeant now. I said, but you’re not.
Alison: So he was, I expect him to salute you every time you come home.
Elvin Kibet: Oh, yeah. If I, if I go to my school and come back, I’ll be an officer and yeah, you will have to salute me. I’ll make him do that just for fun.
Jill: Anything else, Alison?
Alison: you love a good drink with ice yet?
Have you been here long enough to appreciate the
Elvin Kibet: ice? I have, I have my ice all the time. you see, now I’m, I’m real American now.
Alison: That’s what did it. You know, once you took the ice, then you knew.
Jill: Yeah. Is there anything we missed that you want to make sure we talk about?
Elvin Kibet: Yeah, I just tell people to go read the book.
there’s so many things in there, the good stuff, and there’s also some hard stuff in there. And, for me, the reason I brought up the hard stuff, you know, like immigration and racism and, you know, other things, eating disorder, is so that people can begin to have a conversation. change always starts with conversations, and I hope it does that for people to just start, we start talking among ourselves, and also with issues affecting women, you know, we start by talking amongst ourselves.
Jill: Excellent. Well, thank
Alison: you so much. Thank you so much, Alba. And it was so good to meet you.
Because we feel, you know, we’ve read the book, so it’s like, I know her, but I don’t. But now we do. You see the face? You
Elvin Kibet: see? Yeah, you get it. Thanks. Yeah. I just wanted to say thank you, Jill and Alison. for this opportunity. You know, for me, I didn’t know I could share my story this way. And now that we’re here, it’s really a dream come true for me.
And I appreciate you for giving me this platform.
Jill: You’re welcome Thank you so much, Elvin. You can follow Elvin on Instagram at elvinjkibbet and. Facebook. She is Elvin Kibet. the book is at our bookshop. org site. We will have a link to that in the show notes.
Vote in the Women in Podcasting Awards
Jill: You know what else we have a link to in the show notes? Voting.
Cause it’s not just for November anymore. That’s right. We are nominated for a Women in Podcasting Award. The deadline for votes is October 1st, 2024 at 6 p. m. Pacific time, 9 p. m. Eastern time. And basically, this is a podcast with the most votes and the category will win. So, we really need your help in making sure that we hit the top of the ballot in the best sports podcast award.
So voters must be 18 or over, only one vote per email address. So we appreciate everybody who’s voted so far. And yes, if you haven’t voted yet, please do.
Paris 2024 News
Jill: We, of course, will still have much Paris 2024 information as they wind down operations with the organization.
The International Testing Agency has finished its Games Time doping testing. So it collected 6, 130 samples from 4, 150 athletes, which is nearly 39 percent of all participants. You know, that may not sound high, but it’s their highest proportion ever. 4 percent more than Tokyo, 10 percent more than they had in Rio.
More testings done on the larger delegations. So USA, France, China, and Australia had, uh, the most tested athletes, but they did test athletes from 200 countries and 97 percent of the nationalities represented. The top five sports, if you are curious about who gets tested more, athletics, aquatics, cycling, rowing, and wrestling were top five.
And men were tested more than women. You know, we talked about gender parity at these games a lot. but men got tested more than women, 52 percent to 48. They found five anti doping violations, which is surprising that that’s it. That’s a very low number, and we had no medals overturned. No, no. These were all pretty, uh, lower in the rankings athletes, and I’m not sure if we talked about this ahead of time, but they did have a massive pre games testing program for six months ahead of Paris.
They tested 90 percent of all participating athletes at least once during this time. That’s where they found them. They found over 40 anti doping rule violations in athletes who are likely going to be at Paris 2024. So that may have changed the game, the ITA is going to store all games time samples and selected pregame samples for up to 10 years and they will reanalyze them if new technology develops.
So not, not bad so far for doping.
Alison: Doesn’t it make you nervous when it’s so good?
Jill: Sadly, it does, but you know, we, not many Russians were there and they had a big anti, they had a big doping program as, you know, because Paris did have all of those metal reallocation ceremonies. So it’s nice to know, hopefully, knock on wood that, uh, the incidences of doping have gone down.
What? What’s also going down? This is sad. This is very sad.
Alison: I came across a post by one of our fencers, Nick Itkin, who was showing the state of his bronze medal. And it was, it looked like it had gone through a washing machine. I mean, it looked like the finish had really worn off. And then I started looking into it.
Turns out there is a problem with the bronze medal. Uh, Nyjah Houston posted about it and some other athletes. I have talked about the state of these bronze metals. So it seems to be a thing. It’s been reported in, uh, the Guardian. We have an article from the National Post that I’m going to quote in a second.
So it seems to be that the coding that was used, is chipping. and wearing off and not just the bronze patina that can happen, but it’s actually your bronze metal is not holding up. Good news though, and I’m going to put a quote from the IOC spokesperson, according to the BBC, damaged metals will be systematically replaced by the Monet de Paris and engraved in an identical way to the originals.
So. the Paris Mint will replace these damaged metals with identical metals.
Jill: That is frustrating. And, and what do you, do, do you turn that in? Because how many more pieces of the Eiffel Tower do they have left over?
Alison: Well, I think they’ll probably just reuse. Okay. You know, take your, your piece. Take your old one.
Right. You could, you could re, recycle your piece of the Eiffel Tower. But then you have the issue of this isn’t the metal I was awarded.
Jill: Mm hmm. So. If people are attached to that element, yes. Mm
Alison: But they look bad. I mean, they look bad.
Jill: Yeah, it looks like they’ve had them for years. And even, I mean, they’re so worn and beaten up in two months.
I would expect that from Rio. I don’t expect that from Paris. Right.
Alison: We had this issue with Rio, but that was with all of the metals. This seems to be specifically with the alloy that was mixed for the bronze metals.
Jill: Interesting. That’s unfortunate for those athletes.
Also unfortunate for Paris to have that kind of black mark on that. production piece because they were so proud of the medals and they looked so good at the time.
Milan-Cortina 2026 News
Alison: I’m just getting back to my Duolingo Italian, so I don’t really have anything for you, but I will say we are less than 500 days away. Oh, I cannot believe
Jill: that. We will be hearing the Milan Cortina theme a lot long, a lot more often now, which is very exciting, but very, very rare.
Scary, I, yesterday I finished the application for accreditation, so we will hear about that in a few months. But that is also a little daunting to think about and to hopefully, knock on wood, we will be able to go again and be accredited for both the Olympics and Paralympics and bring our special brand of coverage to you.
Hopefully this time without toilets. Let’s not get ahead of ourselves, really.
Alison: I mean, we were talking earlier, this is going to be, if you are thinking of going, start thinking. Because this is a true regional games and getting between the clusters is going to be time intensive. Right.
Jill: So we will keep our eyes open for how transportation is going to be, how each cluster is going to be.
And it will definitely be a games to plan for. It’s going to be a stunning backdrop. They do have the mountains. So much like Paris had the city of Paris, Italy’s got some gorgeous, gorgeous, gorgeous mountains. So hopefully being at the games will be an Olympic and Paralympic celebration versus I’m going to go see one sport like I could do on a regular year.
We’ll see how that works. We’ll also see how volunteer recruitment is going to work because that portal is now open. The organizing committee is aiming to recruit about 18, 000 volunteers, which they are calling Team 26. The application is open on its website, milancortina2026. org. Requirements are that you have to be 18 years old by November 1st, 2025.
You have to know Italian and English. and participate in selection and training events, you will have to commit to at least nine non consecutive days during the games. Volunteer positions do not include travel, visas, or accommodations, so you will have to pay for all of that on your own. No deadline is stated on the application, but get it done because the timeline says selection happens in spring 2025.
We’ll have a link to that in the show notes. I think 18, 000 is low.
Alison: I was thinking that as well. So I’m glad you said that. It does feel small or maybe it’s because of the clustering. You don’t need, but in that way you would need more.
Jill: That’s what I would think you would need more because you still, if you’re saying nine, nine days per at least nine days, unless volunteers will work more, you still have an Olympics that is what, 17 days long and a Paralympics that is 10 ish.
So I, I don’t know what they’re going to do. Serve a
Alison: lot of cappuccino.
Jill: Or maybe they’ve just looked around and seen there are too many volunteers at some places. We can make do with less. I don’t know. It’ll be interesting to see.
Alison: But you will probably get a really cool uniform.
Jill: Yes. They have already, they’re already touting these uniforms.
We don’t know what they look like, but
Alison: they are going to be choice. Do you think Armani is, because Armani does the, the Italian Olympic team uniforms for years. Yes. Do you think they’ll do the volunteers, oh, and you’d get one of those suitcases? Wouldn’t that be nice? Keep an eye out. I’m not doing the show.
I’m going to go volunteer. I want one of those suitcases.
Jill: Get to your duolingo, man, because you really have to know Italian more than ciao. Salve. That’s what I learned last night. Uh, olympics. com has also had an interview with the CEO, Andrea Varnier or Varnier, where you will get to know this person very well, uh, much like Tony Estanguet.
He has said that they are thinking of doing interactive events like the Paris Marathon Porto, which he did say would be difficult to replicate for winter. But there is a possibility of maybe a cross country ski marathon. he did call that out, but he did also note they are exploring the idea of letting people use the courses after the competitions to get that interactive element again.
But again, exploring. Not a done deal, but, I think they really got caught up in how interactive Paris was for spectators and want to do that because they, they do have a lot of momentum to carry because Paris did such a good job with spectator engagement and planning events for spectators, so.
Alison: And the hard thing is that So, um, yeah.
Summer sports, by their nature, are more interactive than winter sports. You know, yes, hockey and, and figure skating and things that are in the ice arena, you can kind of, but you can’t replace being outside at an enormous athletic stadium or in swimming or being able to be outside at a rugby match in winter sports.
I mean, a lot of it’s on an alpine mountain and you’re standing at the finish line. It’s, it doesn’t have that same. Engagement potential just because of the nature of the sport and it’s cold.
Jill: that’s the one thing is is weather conditions that they have to deal with. So it’ll be interesting to see what they do.
I hope that they’re able to do at least some sort of the you try it. Things that they had at, all over the venues at Paris, easy to do with curling, probably easy to do with setting up a hockey net and a puck.
Alison: I mean, even easy to do with some of the skiing things, because they have those machines.
Jill: Oh, right, right, right.
Alison: That you can do sort of, and then do the virtual screens. Right, right. I mean, you can do a cross country machine pretty easily. Easily. At least the setup. We’ll see. We’ll see how that works. So many ways for me to get hurt.
TKFLASTAN Update: Team Keep the Flame Alive
Alison: Welcome to Shookfluston.
Jill: Now is the point of the show where we check in with our team, Keep the Flame Alive. These are past guests and listeners who make up our citizenship of Shookfluston. They’re
Alison: still busy. They are still competing at the UCI World Championships in Zurich. Samantha Bosco won silver in the WC4 time trial, and Dennis Connors won bronze in the MT2 time trial.
Jill: Sprinter Kenny Benarek won the 200 meters at the Diamond League final in Brussels.
Hockey surface expert, Paul Kamphuis is uh, starting a new position as GM Polytan APAC at Polytan Asia Pacific.
Alison: And we have some new citizens of Shuklastan. Kikkan Randall gave birth to a daughter, Aspen Lewis, in July. And Jasyon Terdiman and his wife Jillian are expecting a baby boy this winter.
Jill: Yay! And that is going to do it for this episode.
Let us know if you’ve read All in Stride and tell us what you think of it.
Alison: And we love hearing from you. You’ll find us and other listeners on our Facebook group, Keep the Flame Alive Podcast. You can also email us at flamealivepod at gmail. com and the voicemail and text line is always open, 208 325 7000.
That’s 208 FLAME IT. Be sure to look in the episode show notes for how to get our weekly newsletter and follow us on social to get all our content.
Jill: Next week, we will be back with more stories and news from the Olympics and Paralympics. Thank you so much for listening and until next time, keep the flame alive.