It was a very hard life. As I got older, the family was depending very much on me. My two older brothers got married, so they had their own families depending on them. I had seven people relying on me, so I worked in a grocery store.

Whenever I'm being invited to the New York City Marathon like today, I need to think twice because I know it's a very tough race.

My cousin Simon Bor, the champion of Los Angeles, convinced me to concentrate on running.

It is very good to be Olympic champion, but that is not the strongest field.

Kip Keino, Moses Tanui, Paul Tergat, they all come from my tribe. Some say it is the food we eat that makes us strong, the way we live. In the history of our people we wear no clothes and we are used to drinking the blood of animals.

It was a very hard life. As I got older, the family was depending very much on me. My two older brothers got married, so they had their own families depending on them. I had seven people relying on me, so I worked in a grocery store.