World marathon record holder, Mary Keitany, is the epitome of a real-life hero.
After being forced to drop out of school and serve as a housemaid for two years, her ordeal has inspired countless other young women.
Keitany was born on January 18, 1982, in a little isolated hamlet of Kiplombe, Baringo, to Juda and Jane Chepkeitany.
Her childhood was modest, to say the least. Her early life appears to have been pulled straight from fiction, since she had to overcome seemingly impossible hurdles to become a world legend in athletics.
Living in bleak woods on a hill known as Makilany, Keitany walked or ran 20 kilometers to and from primary school every morning.
After finishing primary school and not having the money to continue her studies, Keitany was obliged to look for work, eventually becoming a live-in servant.
She moved in with a local family who had requested her to care for their three children, all of them were under the age of seven.
Her days were spent getting children ready for school in the morning, preparing batches of ugali, washing the family’s clothes, scrubbing dishes and cleaning the house.
Keitany was forced to go months without seeing her family, but she always made sure to have something with her for them.
However, her circumstances changed in 2001, when she joined the National Hidden Talents Academy, a private secondary school for orphaned and poor students in Nairobi County’s Dagoretti Constituency.
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She decided to pursue a career in running after completing high school in 2006.
Linah took her to Iten, where she met Christine Chepkonga and slept in her home with fellow athletes Gladys Chepkirui and June Jepkoech.
Keitany won her first international competition, the Seville Half Marathon, less than a year later, and the experience convinced her that running was her true calling.
She has since gone on to redefine the human body’s capabilities, winning marathons all over the world and breaking new records in the process.
In 2008, Keitany took a break to give birth to her son Jared Kipchumba, only to win gold at the Birmingham half-marathon a year later, a feat that left New York City Marathon race director Mary Wittenberg speechless.
“Mary was daring and vicious in her maiden world championship half marathon victory in Birmingham. Just over a year after giving birth to her son, she set the pace and terms of the race, winning in a blistering 66:36. I knew I was watching a one-of-a-kind athlete,” Wittenberg explained.
On August 11, 2018, Keitany opened the Mary Keitany School in Elgeyo Marakwet as a small way of giving back to society and ensuring that young girls and boys growing up in her hometown had access to education.
“If I can win a few more marathons, that’s great. But I want to recall how I felt when I was a youngster and ran around. I want that feeling of freedom and the wind on my face, and I want to run this marathon for the love of it all,” she said.
