Kenyan-born American narrates life in the US Army & balancing it with his athletics career

Kenyan-born American narrates life in the US Army & balancing it with his athletics career

Abigael Wafula 06:34 - 14.06.2024

Roadrunner Leonard Korir has explained how it is working in the US Army and balancing it with his career in athletics.

Kenyan-born American Leonard Korir has explained his life in the US army and how he balances that with training for races now that he is preparing for the Paris 2024 Olympic Games.

Speaking to Citius Mag, Korir noted that the Army always comes first and one has to ensure their training does not affect the work that needs to get done. Korir explained that one has to be punctual when it comes to timekeeping and ensure they don’t clash with their job.

The 2015 New York City Half Marathon champion added that at the moment, he has yet to change his training in preparation for the Olympics. He revealed that he always starts training at around 6:30 or 7:00 a.m. and then goes to work after that.

“The first thing is that the Army comes first and then running is something which you can do later after you are done with your work.

“I usually do my training at around 6:30 or 7:00 and then after that, maybe if we have something to do on the desk, we just go. We just have to do some flexibility in the training.

“Training is okay and I have got plenty of time to rest and build up and even though I knew I might not go to the Olympics, I continued training since I knew there were other races I would go for. Everything has been the same,” he told Citius Mag.

The 2017 Houston Half Marathon champion added that his mate, Elkanah Kibet, is a huge motivation for the team and he has a good heart.

Kibet finished fourth behind Korir at the US Olympic marathon trials and the latter admitted that the former has set the pace for them and all they have to do is follow.

“So, somebody like Conor has been a huge motivation, especially for us. He loves to work so hard and he can train and go to work and he is someone who doesn’t sleep.

“He gives us motivation and we know that if he can do it, we can also do it. Even though I beat him at the trials, he is someone who has a very good heart and he even congratulated me. It’s good for us, it’s like I made a team for us. I have to appreciate him for setting the pace,” he said.

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