In Honour of Kelvin Kiptum...and our Mortal Selves
The endings we imagine are ongoing states of our evolving nature that can only come to halt when we no longer exist
6 days after he was ratified as the World Record Holder, Kelvin Kiptum vanished from us---through a grisly road accident. From a humble background, Kiptum started running at the age of 12 years old and for the next 11 years, he trained, trained vigorously, and participated in major competitions in 2021. Only in the 12th year did he erase all the pains of morning runs and religious training and registered his name in the history of marathon. In his first entry into the full marathon, he has become the first marathoner to win under 2-hour and 1-minute mark. He as well holds the fastest 3 out of 6 word marathon records.
Kevin Kiptum was a different kind of breed in athletics. If you have been to any sports, you understand the unforgiving nature of marathon. It leaves no room for past reputation. Traditionally, success in marathon demands a well tested-and-proven path, meticulously crafted over decades. Aspiring champions must build a base through gradually increasing track distances before venturing onto the unforgiving road-running race, characterized by trial and error. Even then, triumph is not guaranteed. Mo Farah, a legend on the track with ten global titles, found victory only once on the roads. His name still remains absent from the elite ranks of sub-2:06 marathoners. Even the mighty Eliud Kipchoge, the undisputed king of distance running, needed eleven marathons to etch his name in the record books.
Kiptum's rise was meteoric, though for 11 years, his star was still dim. However, in just 11 months, he blazed through the marathon world, leaving a trail of records and shattered expectations. His debut in Valencia was the fastest ever, followed by a stunning victory in London, where he shaved seconds off the course record. But his crowning achievement came in Chicago, where he dethroned Kipchoge's world record by a staggering 34 seconds (2:00:35). Three marathons, three wins, and three of the seven fastest times ever recorded. Kiptum wasn't just unique, he was a phenomenon.
Kiptum's tragic end reminds us of the sobering revelation of our continuing sense of our selves. Amidst our potential and possibility, there is the self that we would like to become. We work tirelessly towards becoming. We refine who we are and what we think we should be as we evolve. But, the unforseen storms of life can rob us of the immense possibilities awaiting us. What can we remain with when that possibility is snatched from us? The present which we never recognize and value becomes the sacrifice. We live both in the past and the future, making us worry a lot and not live at all.
Kiptum had humongous ambitions for his family. He had, for the first time, booked a plane for his father when he won a local athletic competition. He had imagined a way of life fit for his family given the achievements he had made as an athlete. He had promised to buy his father a car. Now, those plans have vaporized with the nature of our mortality. His religious devotion to training, contributing to his fatigue, might have perhaps played a hand in his accident. He never had enough time to share the hard-won toils with his young family.
The truth is, the finitude awaits all of us. The ambitions we harbor can be achieved, underachieved, or abandoned completely. Either way, they belong to the past which we should cease to live in. The future becomes the imagined present stripping us of the real present we should be immersed in. And when the future 'arrives,' we strive for more to thirst our insatiable appetite for the illusion. After all, our efforts are rendered a fool's errands of chasing after wind. At what threshold should we start celebrating the little we have got? We ask ourselves. We never get a one-size-fit-all answer and not even a satisfying one.
Most of our endings are devastating and not satisfying as per our illusionary minds. The endings we imagine are ongoing states of our evolving nature that can only come to halt when we no longer exist. When you reach a moment in your life where you give an account of yourself, provide a ledger of the present moments making your life fulfilling, no matter imperfections there in.
Our fleeting nature is a reminder to embrace and cherish every moment before they become memories that we wish we would have enjoyed.
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Kevin Kiptum was a remarkable runner and it is very, very sad that his life should be so shortened
Hujambo Edwin. It was so sad to hear of Kelvin Kiptum's passing away this year. He was going to break the 2-hour marathon barrier! We will run with him in our hearts. His inspiration carries on with the world.