Eliud Kipchoge stuns senior military officers with 116 life values

Two-time Olympic marathon champion Eliud Kipchoge stood behind a rostrum inside an auditorium at the National Defence College in Karen on Tuesday 12 March 2024, to give a Lecture of Opportunity to Grade 1 Staff course drawn from Kenya and allied nations.

The National Defence College, established in 1992, is a training institution under the Kenya Defence Forces which offers a variety of training courses to senior commanders of the Kenyan military as well as senior civil servants in the Government of Kenya and senior military officers from other countries.

The Grade 1 Staff Course is offered to military officers who are Colonels and Brigadiers with the aim of preparing them for strategic appointments. At the Grade 1 Staff course where Kipchoge gave a Lecture of Opportunity, other students comprised senior officers from the National Police Service, Kenya Forest Service, Kenya Prisons Service, Kenya Wildlife Service, and the National Intelligence Service.

Lectures of Opportunity are discussions that instruct and inform students to experience and deliberate on a wide range of opinions and viewpoints. By giving a Lecture of Opportunity at the National Defence College just goes to show how high the profile of the former world marathon record holder Eliud Kipchoge has risen. It is an honour that places the five-time Berlin marathon in an elite category of people who give Lectures of Opportunity at the National Defence College. This elite category of people comprises the President, Cabinet Secretaries, Generals and retired Chiefs Defence Forces, and Service Commanders.

🫡 @EliudKipchoge #NNRunningTeam pic.twitter.com/UKkEWgNTKR

— NN Running Team (@NNRunningTeam) March 5, 2024

According to the National Defence College website, other people who have given Lectures of Opportunity at the National Defence College this year include Rt. Hon. James Heappey MP UK Minister of State for the Armed Forces, Professoer Thomas Simpson from the University of Oxford’s Blavatnik School of Government, United Kingdom, and Canada’s Ambassador for Women, Peace, and Security H.E Jacqueline O’Neil.

Even though Eliud Kipchoge has remained coy on when he will retire from running, his current engagement at the National Defence College gives a vision of what his life will be like when he hangs up his running shoes. As a man who is reputed for being an avid reader and his philosophical quips about life, this is not the first that Kipchoge is giving such as an address as in 2018, he was invited to give a talk to the Oxford Union, an Oxford University society rated as one of the world’s most prestigious debating society.

During his Lecture of Opportunity at the National Defence College, Kipchoge shared a list of things he considers valuable to him. Looking at the list, one cannot resist drawing comparisons between it and his marathon career. The list, headlined by the long-distance runner’s now famous slogan, “No human is limited”, is long. It comprises 116 words and phrases that Kipchoge consider important to him. Those 116 words and phrases are divided into three columns with the first column containing a list of 40 words and phrases, the middle column is a pillar of 39 words and phrases, and the last column has 37 words and phrases.

Their arrangement exposes another attribute of marathoners – they are allergic to symmetry and, to them, negative splits matter more than anything. They are looking to gaining speed and running one phase of a marathon faster than the previous ones. Those 116 words and phrases are arranged alphabetically and, upon, further scrutiny, it becomes clear that there is nothing that starts with the letters Q, X, Y, and Z that Kipchoge values. It is probably understandable since there are not that many every day words that begin with those letters.



All in all, looking at the list without considering that “values” has several meanings will leave one in wonder about how “achievement”, “being the best”, “environment”, “future generations”, “job security”, “making a difference”, “usefulness”, among others can be considered values. All that only make sense when it is considered that values can also refer to things that someone finds important and Kipchoge, has 116 of them.

In a way, that list of the 116 things that he values reflect the sum of his life experiences. They tell a story of a man who looked at life at it smiled back at him with: a body suitable for long-distance running; numerous accolades and recognition that include world marathon records, two Olympic gold medals, and honorary degrees; and, plenty of lessons to share with the world, including senior military and government officers at the National Defence College.