Interview: Boaz Cheboiywo

by Kevin Beck

Twenty-seven-year-old Boaz Cheboiywo, the head cross country coach at Concordia University in Ann Arbor, Michigan, hails from Tirap, Kenya (a village near Eldoret) and like many of his compatriots began running informally as a youth as a matter of course and obligation. Within a year of taking up serious running at 19, Cheboiywo had run in the high 3:40s for 1,500 meters and clocked an 8:42 in the 3,000-meter steeplechase. Before enrolling at Eastern Michigan University, where he garnered seven All-America honors, Cheboiywo trained for a time at the high-altitude camp led by three-time world steeplechase champion Moses Kiptanui.

At EMU, Cheboiywo was the 2001 NCAA Cross Country Champion and placed seventh in the same race in 2002. His first campaign was otherworldly: five races, five wins, five course records. After missing the 2002 indoor season with an achilles injury, he rebounded to become NCAA 10,000-meter champ (running 28:32.10 and lapping more than half of the field) and, in his first season on the boards, took second to Alistair Cragg in the 5,000 meters at the 2003 NCAA Indoor Championships. He went on to run 27:46.47 at the Cardinal Invitational that spring, but in his 10,000-meter title defense at the NCAA Outdoor Track & Field Championships, Cheboiywo managed only a 10th-place finish in his second and final season of eligibility (he was a student at Kenya's Talmbach Teacher's College before coming to the United States).

The 5' 3" Cheboiywo has shown solid range. He notched a 3:57.00 mile at the Reebok Boston Indoor Games in January 2004, and the next month won the 3,000 meters at the Tyson Foods Invitational in 7:38.60, a meet record that remains Cheboiywo's fastest time for the distance. At this February's Meyo Invitational in South Bend, Indiana, Cheboiywo — competing in his first race in six months following another Achilles injury — recorded the then-fastest 5,000-meter time in the world in 2005 with a 13:38. He followed this up with a personal-best 13:22.12 at the Mt. SAC Relays in April, and then, at the Prefontaine Classic in May, ran a sterling 8:11.62 for two miles, chasing compatriot and winner Eliud Kipchoge (8:07.68) and American record-setter Alan Webb (second in 8:11.48) to the line. A week earlier Cheboiywo had set the stage for a fast deuce by running 3:35.20 for 1,500 meters at the Payton Jordan Invitational, placing second to this year's 800- and 1,500-meter world champion, Rashid Ramzi. In July, he set another personal best in the 5,000 meters at the Bislett Games in Oslo with a 13:19.56 despite a flare-up of an old Achilles problem in the final two kilometers.

MensRacing.com tracked down the diminutive, effervescent Cheboiywo to discuss what's on tap for him in the near future.

MensRacing.com: Are you 100% healthy now? Were you able to get in all of the races this track season that you hoped?
Boaz Cheboiywo: Sure, I got most all of them all in. I especially wanted to do the ones in here in the U.S. [Reebok, Peyton Jordan, Prefontaine]. I did want to go for a fast 10K, but Bislett was where I ended my season because my Achilles problem came back during that 5K. I wanted to go to the Van Damme meeting in Brussels and run sub-27:00 for 10K — just go out hard and hang on. I would have done so had I broken 13:00 in Oslo and been healthy.

MR: Is it the same Achilles that's given you fits in the past few years?
BC: Yeah, it's been the right Achilles all along. And it just got worse and worse as season went on. And I was in shape! Man, I did one workout right before I went to Europe, a 12 x 400, where I wanted to do 62-63 400 pace, and I did 61. This was with 20 seconds rest. It was hard. I took off a month after Bislett and now have trained for two weeks.

MR: That 3:35 1,500 at Payton Jordan was a huge PR. You've said the 5K is your favorite event, but has running 3:35 given you an added taste for racing the mile?
BC: Yeah, I took almost three seconds off my best and I could have run faster but I got clipped by the world champion in last 150 meters. But I talked to my agent, Ray Flynn, and my coach and I think my perfect distance really is 5K, so I will be training for that for the next three years. I haven't had the perfect conditions for a fast race. Well, Oslo was perfect but my Achilles was killing me, and I was limping on the last five laps.

MR: So you're still being coached by [EMU Head Coach] John Goodridge?
BC: Yes, and by myself [laughs].

MR: You've trained under many excellent mentors, including Moses Kiptanui and Brother Colm O'Connell. What sets Coach Goodridge apart?
BC: We have really developed a great personal relationship, which is the most important thing. I came to this country and he really wanted to help me out. We are compatible in how he gets me ready. I like the way he handles me, like someone who really wants to make the right changes over time. He gives me the individual attention that I need, even though he is busy as a college coach. Actually he and Colm O'Connell are much alike — the best I will ever work with, I'm sure.

MR: How has it been blending being a head coach with being a full-time athlete?
BC: Well, I'm not coaching full time, just cross country, and during the fall there is nothing really active going on in terms of my training because it's after the track season. Coaching has helped me a good deal in that it keeps me in touch with young runners. I want to help people realize their potential and make use of their talent — it makes me want to help them compile everything. Coaching has also helped me prepare my running at the beginning of the season, before I have to do it by myself later.

We are a young team — I started the program and it takes a while to get going, you know?

MR: Explain the NCAA eligibility issues you faced when coming from Kenya.
BC: What happens in Kenya is that you get what's called a teaching certificate, not a degree. And you choose your path toward the type of teaching you will do early on in school. So it was a transfer to EMU, not a new enrollment. When I came over, the NCAA determined I had two years left. That was good as I wanted to prepare for the 2004 Olympics when I was through.

MR: So when did you actually graduate from EMU?
BC: I graduated in December 2004, with a degree in secondary education [in geography and social studies]. I also got a coaching minor. I had like 208 total credits.

MR: What's next on your competitive agenda?
BC: I'm getting ready for either World Cross Country or indoor track, one or the other. But probably indoor track.

MR: You've mentioned Daniel Komen, he of the 7:20 3,000, as one of your chief idols.
BC: Oh, I trained with Komen. He is the hardest guy to ever, ever work out with. When I was out with them, those guys were rocking hardcore!

MR: Your youth running background is described as informal, but hardy. Can you give us a picture of a typical day for you growing up?
BC: Man, I will tell you, when I was in primary school [first through eighth grade] home was 1.2 miles away. You have to be on time to school or else you're gonna be [kicked] out. So we'd run fast to school, home at lunchtime, back to school after lunch, and back home in the evening. I was running like eight miles a day in grades one through eight, which of course is like training.

Then during weekends I was herding my parents' goats. Goats, man, we had over 70 and you have to run all over the place to get them into one spot. When we were off from school for holidays, it was the same thing. It's the hardest job. Keeping them out of other people's yards, all that is hard.

MR: Do you train with anyone else in Ann Arbor?
BC: Last year we had had Grant Robison in our group for a while. Also [former EMU teammates] Gavin Thompson and Jordan Desilets, and the Eastern Michigan team…I've met with Tim Broe for a morning run. [Nick] Willis was talking to me in Europe and when he comes over from New Zealand we may do some training together — we're pretty close.

MR: You're a small guy who has dipped well under 28:00 on the track, a strength runner with wheels. Have you thought about the marathon?
BC: Well, in fact that's the biggest dream that I have, eventually. Carey Pinkowski is a great guy and we have a close friendship, so I want to debut in Chicago. It's only three hours away, and all my friends from Michigan can come cheer me on. But you have to really prepare; I don't want to rush into it, and I want to be sure I can run a fast time when I do it.

MR: You had a great college career, but it ended on a disappointing note [at the 2003 NCAA Outdoor Track Championships].
BC: Oh, I ran well during the prelims of the 5K, and then when it came to the 10K it was just like two minutes before the start and I was rushing around — tying my shoes and trying to run to the bathroom. So when I was doing this I banged my hip on a metal bench so, you know, I couldn't even lift my leg like I wanted to. Based on my 27:46 I thought I would win pretty easily as I am a good runner in the heat. But silly stuff like that happens. After the 10K I got acupuncture and tried to rest for the 5K final, with the day off between. It was still hurting. Just a nightmare, my final meet, because I was running well that spring and it became a disaster.

I had migraines in cross country too, with 3K to go [in the 2002 National Championships] I was ready to drop but my coach was right there. 'Just go and finish!' he said, and I did, for the team. I don't know where that headache came from. [Jorge] Torres won it, I was seventh. After that race, I went straight to the medical tent. Suddenly my teammates were there and lifted me out of the medical tent, and carried me off. I said 'What's going on?' It was that my team did extremely well, we were third. That made me happy.

MR: When did you sign a pro contract?
BC: It didn't take too long. I signed with Nike June 30, 2003. But all these companies were turning me away because of how my college career ended.

MR: You've mentioned in the past wanting to be a teacher. Is this still an interest?
BC: Right now I am helping at a middle school in Ann Arbor. So I'm pretty busy. But I do want to make running my full-time profession, and I am really focused on that. There is no other time to do it but when I am still young. Teaching will be there forever, but this is my time to run, so that I won't have future regrets.

MR: It's obvious from all that you've said how much you enjoy this sport.
BC: Man, running is everything to me. Everything in my heart I owe to running. I'm going to keep doing it 'til they make me stop.

(Interview posted 10/27/2005.)