Every fall during his high school career, Edward Cheserek made the trek from Newark, New Jersey, to Manhattan to watch the New York City Marathon.
Growing up in Kenya, the runner showed exceptional talent from a young age and eventually earned a scholarship at St. Benedict’s Prep. While he was breaking state and national records as a teenager, Cheserek watched the best marathoners in the world chase global titles in Central Park. Even back then, he dreamed of becoming one of them.
On Sunday, November 5, Cheserek will get his chance when he makes his marathon debut in the Big Apple. The move up to 26.2 was a gradual one after a wildly successful college career at the University of Oregon and a professional career that so far, hasn’t seen the same level of stardom. Now at 29 years old and with a blazing half marathon under his belt, could the marathon be where Cheserek finds his footing among the elite ranks?
For the last few months, the Skechers athlete has been putting in the work at his part-time training base in Eldoret, Kenya. Unlike his stateside home in Flagstaff, Arizona, where he often works out solo, he’s close to his family in Kenya’s Rift Valley, surrounded by plenty of training partners, including newly minted on a call from Eldoret. In June and July, the two ran together in group workouts before Kiptum won the Chicago Marathon in 2:00:35.
Cheserek’s progress has also shown in competition. On September 17, he won the Copenhagen Half Marathon in a 59:11 personal best, beating 2:04 marathoner Bernard Koech in the process.
“I’ve been increasing mileage as much as I can, you know, marathon is a long way to go, but you got to run a lot of miles to be stronger and we have been doing that,” Cheserek told Runner’s World Other Hearst Subscriptions.
Until last year, Cheserek aimed to reach his full potential on the track in events ranging from 1500 meters to 10,000 meters. Throughout his entire collegiate career, Cheserek was virtually unbeatable. In total, he won 17 NCAA titles, many of which were won in same-day doubles and triples at the national meet. By the time he graduated in 2017, Cheserek was the most decorated runner in NCAA history.
In his first few years as a professional, Cheserek stuck to the track while being coached by his agent, Stephen Haas. While he hit several impressive marks—including the Drew Hunter Cant Lose—Cheserek has yet to qualify for a global championship. In 2019, he began to realize it was time for a change.
“I’ve been running track for a long time, and I feel like I’m losing my speed, so that’s why I decided the best option was to slowly move up,” Cheserek told reporters at the pre-race press conference in New York City.
Since September 2021, Cheserek has been working with former college coach Andy Powell, who now leads the men’s track and cross-country team at the University of Washington. Most of their interactions are virtual with Cheserek traveling to Seattle whenever he has time.
Cheserek is the second athlete Powell has coached in the marathon. The first was fellow Oregon standout Luke Puskedra. Powell coached him in 2015, the year Puskedra came back from a brief break from the sport to finish fifth in 2:10:24 at the Chicago Marathon.
Looking back at Cheserek’s growth over the last decade or so, Powell said they always saw the marathon as a long-term goal, especially in witnessing his exceptional aerobic capacity in training. “I’ve coached a lot of good people, but the stuff I would see him do in practice, it’s hard to describe. It doesn’t make sense,” Powell told Runner’s World. “His body just seems to always recover differently than everybody else’s, like in college when he ran the 5K and 20 minutes later came back and ran 3:51 on the [mile] anchor of the DMR. There’s maybe a couple of people in the world that can do that.”
“I’m glad he’s getting this marathon because I feel like he had a great college career and certainly was good after, but I think this is the right move for him,” he said.
In the marathon buildup, Cheserek has increased his mileage from 80-90 to 110-120 miles per week. With a couple of 25-mile efforts under his belt, the long runs have proved to be the toughest adjustment for him. But he’s received advice from another runner who made an impressive debut—his fiancé Sharon Lokedi.
Last year, the University of Kansas graduate won the women’s title in her first ever 26.2 at the New York City Marathon. “I wasn’t expecting her to win, but when she did that I was like, wow, that’s amazing,” Cheserek said. “Hopefully she’s going to do the same thing this year.”
In preparation for this year’s race, Lokedi also trained in her home country with Cheserek. Running the same distance has been helpful for the couple, who motivate each other when the other one needs encouragement, he said. Drawing from her strategy in the Big Apple last year, when she pulled away from veteran Lonah Chemtai Salpeter in the final mile to win, Lokedi encouraged Cheserek to stay composed. “She was like, ‘The marathon is a long way, but you gotta be patient until whenever you feel good to go,’” he said.
While there’s a lot of unknowns in covering 26.2 and with New York City being a notoriously difficult course, Cheserek said it’s tough to predict how fast he will run. But he’s excited to explore a new challenge in a race that feels like coming home.
“I just want to go there, have fun, and run well,” Cheserek said. “I’m looking forward to seeing what I can do.”
Additional reporting contributed by Theo Kahler.
Taylor Dutch is a writer and editor living in Austin, Texas, and a former NCAA track athlete who specializes in fitness, wellness, and endurance sports coverage. Her work has appeared in Runner’s World, SELF, Bicycling, Outside, and Podium Runner.
