Honolulu, Hawaii — We tend to see the finished product and think it was always this way. But of course, it rarely is.  In 2004 Kenya’s Jimmy Muindi saw a young Patrick Makau run a school race in their home area of Machakos, Kenya, and identified a budding talent in raw form.  Remembering how he was mentored by three-time Boston Marathon champion Cosmas Ndeti early in his own career, Muindi invited Makau to come train with him in Ngong outside Nairobi after Patrick graduated from high school.

For two years Muindi supported his fellow Kamba tribesman before Makau got his first break, a chance to run a half-marathon in Tarsus, Turkey in 2006.  Makau did not waste the opportunity.  He not only won that race (62:42), but met his future wife Cathreen, who finished second in the women’s field. (more…)