By David Monti, @d9monti | (c) 2024, all rights reserved; used with permission
NEW YORK (31-Oct) — After finishing a close second to compatriot Hellen Obiri at last April’s Boston Marathon, Sharon Lokedi hoped she had done enough to gain selection for the Paris Olympic Marathon. But when Athletics Kenya announced their team later that month Lokedi had been passed over. Former world record holder Brigid Kosgei had been given the third spot, joining Obiri and reigning Olympic champion Peres Jepchirchir. The news hit Lokedi hard.
“That day I was just broken,” Lokedi told Race Results Weekly in an interview here today. “Part of me was like, I might make it and I might not. But then deep down, I had hopes. After Boston I was like, maybe that was something. For a couple of weeks I was like, it’s tough.”
Little did she know that Kosgei would withdraw from the team in early July with an injury, and Lokedi would get the call-up as the reserve. The 30 year-old former NCAA star with the University of Kansas had about six weeks to get ready for the most important marathon of her life.
“At the end of the day I just kept training and I just kept hoping,” said Lokedi, who represents Under Armour. She continued: “Finally, like they said that this is happening when Brigid dropped and I got in last minute. I was like, what am I supposed to do? It was very short. I just had to switch it; it’s time to get it going. It was like a month and two weeks of trying to get everything together.”
Working with her coach Stephen Haas, Lokedi did indeed get it together. Running in hot and sunny conditions and on one of the toughest-ever Olympic Marathon courses, Lokedi got into the key break in the race just past 28 km and was one of the last five women in medal contention in the 39th kilometer. But Obiri, Dutchwoman Sifan Hassan, and Ethiopian Tigst Assefa were just too strong and Lokedi was dropped. She finished fourth, a great performance but just outside of the medals. Lokedi appreciated her accomplishment, but was emotionally and physically spent.
“It took a couple of weeks to get back at it,” Lokedi admitted. “If anything, it was emotionally draining. It was just excitement; I was just very excited and everything. I went to Kenya, then I came back here. There was a little bit going on for, like, three weeks of that. I was like, I’ve got to get back to training.”
Back at home in Flagstaff, Lokedi began her build up for Sunday’s TCS New York City Marathon, a race she won in her debut at the 42.195-kilometer distance in 2022. Under Coach Haas –who is also her agent– she stuck to the workout program that got her into such great shape before Boston.
“We tried to keep the pattern of the long runs very similar,” Haas told Race Results Weekly. He continued: “We kept the same pattern of the workouts that we did for Boston and New York. We just tried to keep the same schedule.”
Lokedi prepared for Boston in Kenya and, as Haas explained, had to do her long runs on Thursdays because athletes don’t run on Sundays which are reserved for attending church and spending time with family. Haas decided to go with the Kenyan schedule even though Lokedi was preparing for New York in Flagstaff: Tuesday workout, Thursday long run, and Saturday workout.
“For this build-up we decided to stay with the same schedule as we did in Kenya,” Haas said. “It actually worked out pretty well in terms of having people to be able to run with. It’s gone really well.”
For her long runs, Lokedi’s only partner was Haas on a bicycle. He supplied her fluids, nutrition, and encouragement.
“Early on it was just conversational, but the goal of the 35-K run is to make it a really hard effort, to make it to a state of fatigue at the end, to practice fueling, have some gels, have the Maurten,” Haas said. “It got pretty hard. At the end it got motivational.”
Lokedi said she arrived here confident and fully prepared. She was visibly excited as she spoke.
“You know when you are training and you’re like, I can’t wait to go get there?” Lokedi said, breaking into a smile. “You start to get the race chills and like that. It’s exciting.”
That Lokedi won New York in her marathon debut is noteworthy given the difficulty of the course, the lack of pacemakers, and the all-women’s competition format. While her experience on the course would seem to give her an advantage, Lokedi isn’t so sure.
“I honestly block out during races,” Lokedi said, bursting into laughter. “Someone was like, you know the course now that you’ve done it, but not really.”
Like in Boston and in Paris, Lokedi will be racing against Hellen Obiri, the defending champion and Olympic bronze medalist. Interestingly, Obiri is only the eighth-fastest woman in the field. Kenyans Sheila Chepkirui, Vivian Cheruiyot, and Edna Kiplagat; Ethiopians Tirunesh Dibaba, Senbere Teferi, and Dera Dida; and Bahraini Eunice Chumba have all run faster. Lokedi is only ranked tenth on time, but she is not intimidated.
“I love it,” she said. “It’s like, you don’t know what to expect but you’re ready to go at it. That’s what I usually do. I’m just going to go at it. It’s just another day, another race.”
