Nothing in Emily Chepkor’s physique today would point you to how she looked before she started a cultic endearment to physical fitness. Emily is a serial marathoner and one would think it is because she grew up in Kapsabet—far from it.
“I picked up running as an adult 10 years ago. I was rotund and I felt the need to change the way I looked, not just for aesthetics but for my health as well.”
She has run 10 marathons—The Boston Marathon being her most special. “Boston is premium. Unlike other marathons, Boston is strict on who qualifies in terms of time spent running prior races.”
Her superpower in running and working out is consistency.
Emily, 33, wears many other different hats; she is a lawyer working in international law, a sommelier with an impeccable palate for fine wine, a globe -trotting wanderer, and a tennis enthusiast.
As an academically gifted child, her career path was carved out well before she joined the University of Nairobi to study law. “It was always going to be either medicine, law, or engineering.”
Years later, when she left The Alliance Girls’ High School, she went to Rhode Island University where she studied International Relations before she came back to Nairobi to study law.
After her legal studies in Nairobi, she worked at the Africa Legal Aid in the Hague on the International Criminal Court (ICC) and international criminal justice issues. Her first assignment was in South Africa.
“Naturally, this experience pivoted me toward international criminal law and human rights. Human rights, I’d say may have been the driving force toward studying law. It is a passion I hold close to my heart.”
Her experience there is ironically what left her jaded as well about whether she wanted to continue on the same career trajectory she had started on. “As an African, there are things that didn’t sit well with me. So, I left,” she says without elaborating.
She came back to Kenya in 2018 having lived in Italy, England, and a host of other countries. She, however, did not abandon the legal profession altogether, she works in international law but with more flexible hours and on projects that speak to her heart.
“Courtroom practice is not an area I am keen on right now. My current area of practice allows me to meet people, the human condition, and where this meets with the law, and how the law helps alleviate human suffering. Human rights are a thing of the heart—not just a profession.”
We Run Nairobi
After running the 124th edition of the Boston Marathon in 2020, Emily felt the nudge to give back to the society through her running.
“I had a good pace and endurance, I was experienced in the marathons, so I thought at first, I’d become a blind runners’ guide. I approached the Kenya Society For The Blind, but I had no headway in this. I started cajoling friends and family to join me in my runs. We would run and post on social media. For me, running represents transformation, connection, networking, friendships and so much more. It is the first thing I seek to do whenever I visit other places. I plug into running communities.”
Through self and familial persuasion, Emily started ‘We Run Nairobi,’ a free-membership running club which as suggested by the name, is based in Nairobi. “I made a poster and put it up on my Instagram. On the first weekend, three people showed up, then there was six, then 10, every time we would post on social media and more would join the following weekend.”
As the community grew so did the logistical needs. “At first, I’d run with the small group on mapped routes, wait for those with a slow pace, wait on the finish line then go have coffee later. But as the community grew, we needed a team to run things.”
Emily works with three other people (Winnie, Betty, and Luka) who assist her with running the club. They have a few partners who from time to time will chip into the operational costs like road markings and paying marshals to ensure they don’t run the club’s expenses out of pocket like they did in the beginning.
Transformed lives
Every week, over 600 people gather and run together on different routes within the city. She is floored by the powerhouse she has created but not shocked that the growth has been organic and steady.
A question thus prevails, why hasn’t Emily and now team, turned commercial? “Running should be free, I believe. I see how it has transformed so many members of the club and no amount of money can equal the change I witness in people’s lives.”
