World’s Fastest Runner: "Why You Feel Empty Inside!" - Let Go Of Perfection & Find Happiness

1. RCDr. Rangan Chatterjee0:00

   Many people regard you as the greatest marathon runner of all time. And often I've noticed before you compete in a race, journalists ask you, "What is your goal?" Very often your answer is, "My goal is to run a beautiful race." We're sitting here two days after you completed the London Marathon when you finished sixth. Was that a beautiful race?

2. EKEliud Kipchoge0:27

   Absolutely, yes. A beautiful race is a race whereby you start and you finish. Starting is a different thing, and finishing actually is a different thing. Going through the whole 26 miles and just crossing the finishing line is two different things. Your mind, your body is changing immediately you cross the finishing line. And when you cross, you get that accomplishment that I have accomplished a mission of a beautiful race. And that's why I always say it was a beautiful race, regardless of any number, re-regardless of any position. But it was beautiful because I was running with the values. I was running with the spirit of sport and spirit of humanity, and I managed to go through all 42 kilometers with the same spirit and finish with the same spirit, with the same spirit, and that's beautiful.

3. RCDr. Rangan Chatterjee1:37

   When you say you ran with the values of humanity, what does that mean?

4. EKEliud Kipchoge1:45

   Oh, by saying the values of humanity, I mean the values which actually respects the humanity. I mean, I respect the sport. I value the sport. I run with respect. I run with integrity. And above all, I regard sport as a movement, you know. And I am really a big supporter of this movement. So inside it, there is respect, there is integrity, there is consistency, there is love. And those are the values which actually every human being, all the seven billion people, should live with and will have a fruitful one.

5. RCDr. Rangan Chatterjee2:33

   You know, a lot of people, Eliud, when they run, they're thinking about their finish time. Okay? So let's say, you know, people run a 5K.

6. EKEliud Kipchoge2:44

   Yes.

7. RCDr. Rangan Chatterjee2:45

   Right? Oh, I wanna beat 30 minutes, or I want to beat 25 minutes. Do you think it's good for people to have goals in terms of the time in which they run, or can sometimes those goals become limiting, and we can forget about the joy and actual experience of running?

8. EKEliud Kipchoge3:05

   Uh, they say actually trimming is good, but don't trim too much. Getting a vision and setting a goal is really good, but don't set too much goals. First, there is a real system for that goal that you need to plan well and prepare well. And the minute you respect the two values of preparation and planning, then the fighting of that goal, the fighting of that vision comes in, because if you put actually in front of your mind the goal itself, and what goes on behind the scene is not actually, is not the goal itself. You need to work more hard. There is a lot of things going on behind the scene before that goal. I'll give you an example that when you are planting a seed, when you put a seed on the s- into the soil, you wait for seven days to germinate. But what's happening between the first day and the seventh day is really wonderful. You know, the seed starts to grow downwards, not upwards. But going down, it's inside the soil, it's really warm.

9. RCDr. Rangan Chatterjee4:24

   Mm-hmm.

10. EKEliud Kipchoge4:25

    It's hard to penetrate. And trying to penetrate that soil, resisting that warmth, that oddness inside the soil, and then coming out after seven days. That then you get the, the real plant is coming out, testing the sun and going very fast. That's, that's now the goal. But what has been going on behind the scene or inside the soil is a lot of things. A lot of, uh, heartbreaks, a lot of, uh, tiredness, a lot of hunger. Anything so which can actually make you to go back has been happening. I always give that, uh, respect, that philosophy, and bring to running, that you can set a goal and a vision that I want to run 13 minutes in 5K, but what are the recipes for, for, for actually running 13 minutes?

11. RCDr. Rangan Chatterjee5:31

    Yeah.

12. EKEliud Kipchoge5:31

    There is a lot of recipes for running 13 minutes.

13. RCDr. Rangan Chatterjee5:34

    Yeah.

14. EKEliud Kipchoge5:35

    You need to prepare well, you need to plan, you need to go all through the trainings, you need to create consistency in training, you need to be disciplined, you need to eat well. You need to actually throw away the normal food and eat with food which can build you. You need to eat that food which is not really sweet, but which bring us a lot, a lot of energy. And that's the hardest moment ever.So it's all-- It's good to, to dream. It's good to set a goal. It's go- it's good to actually have a vision.

15. RCDr. Rangan Chatterjee6:08

    Mm.

16. EKEliud Kipchoge6:08

    But to draw a map, to draw a roadmap for running thirteen minutes is crucial.

17. RCDr. Rangan Chatterjee6:16

    Yeah.

18. EKEliud Kipchoge6:16

    Yes.

19. RCDr. Rangan Chatterjee6:17

    It's interesting because I understand for an elite athlete like you, a marathon training cycle is what? Three, four months.

20. EKEliud Kipchoge6:23

    Yes.

21. RCDr. Rangan Chatterjee6:24

    Something like that. Okay. So let's think about that through the lens of goals. Okay, so the reason I ask the question is because I find-- Well, I've experienced this myself in the past, but I also find with many people that goals, they sound like a good thing, but sometimes they can become a trap, right? And so let's say in a four-month training cycle, let's say there's many days in those four months where you're training, you're preparing, right?

22. EKEliud Kipchoge6:55

    Yes.

23. RCDr. Rangan Chatterjee6:55

    You're doing what you need to do.

24. EKEliud Kipchoge6:56

    Yes.

25. RCDr. Rangan Chatterjee6:57

    So I don't know, let's say thirty days a month, right? So let's say it's a hundred and twenty days, uh, of preparation and planning for the one race.

26. EKEliud Kipchoge7:06

    Yes.

27. RCDr. Rangan Chatterjee7:07

    You could have one hundred and nineteen perfect days, right? Where you train, where you rest, where you follow the plan, you exercise discipline. But on the hundred and twentieth day, the marathon day, things outside your control could happen, right?

28. EKEliud Kipchoge7:27

    Absolutely.

29. RCDr. Rangan Chatterjee7:27

    And so some people, if all the focus is on the goal, they forget about the hundred and nineteen days that were brilliant. That hundred and twentieth day where they don't get the time or they don't win the marathon, they then regard themselves as failing. But that's the problem, isn't it? Because that's not failure.

30. EKEliud Kipchoge7:45

    That's a, that's a huge problem. That's not failure. In fact, that person is a real, real success.

Episode duration: 1:34:10