PARIS — On the eve of the biggest race of her life, 21-year-old Lornah Kiplagat left home with only spare change in her pocket. She journeyed more than six hours on a crowded bus, storefronts and scenery whizzing by until she finally arrived in Nairobi. Adrift in Kenya’s sprawling capital city with no money for food or a place to stay, Kiplagat began to panic with nightfall fast approaching.
She and a travel companion approached strangers to ask how to get to the thoroughbred racecourse that the next morning would serve as the venue for Kenya’s 1995 national cross-country championships. When they finally made it, Kiplagat and her friend scoured the race site for somewhere to sleep. They resorted to sneaking into a public toilet and using cardboard boxes to barricade the door.
Then they lay down on the floor and tried to get some rest, one on one side of the toilet and one on the other. “We were afraid to go anywhere else,” Kiplagat told Yahoo Sports. “We were safe and that was our happiness.
” The next morning, despite not having eaten for more than 18 hours, Kiplagat donned her race bib and cross-country spikes and joined the throng of runners at the starting line. She placed sixth and qualified to represent Kenya at the world championships, an early breakthrough on her way to becoming a three-time Olympian and the winner of marathons in Los Angeles, Osaka, Rotterdam and Amsterdam. Kiplagat’s story helps unravel the mystery that has fascinated observers for de.