Cameron Strand

2 months ago | nationalgeographic.com | Christopher Solomon |Cameron Strand

Eldoret, Kenya — “Watch her,” says the man with the stopwatch, nodding toward the far end of the sun-cracked track. It’s a Saturday morning in March at the dilapidated stadium in the city of Eldoret, high above the Great Rift Valley in western Kenya. I follow the man’s gaze to where the greatest middle-distance runner of all time rounds the last turn, training for the impossible.  It’s hard to gauge the speed of 31-year-old Faith Kipyegon. She is too smooth.