It had been a long journey for Samuel Wanjiru.He left his home in Nyahururu, Kenya, on Wednesday evening, drove two hours to the airport in Nairobi, flew eight hours to Amsterdam, waited five hours, flew 8 1/2 hours to Chicago and met me Thursday afternoon with a smile on his face.
Wanjiru was sure the trip would be worth his time because the organizers of Sunday's Bank of America Chicago Marathon are paying him well -- an estimated $250,000 appearance fee, plus another $175,000 if he wins in course-record time.
It was another journey, one even longer and completely uncertain, that started Wanjiru on the road to the 2008 Olympic marathon title and such riches.
Seven years ago, when he was 15 and the elder of two sons whose single mother scratched out a living as a farmer, Wanjiru came to the attention of Shunichi Kobayashi, a Japanese writer who has been scouting young Kenyan talent for two decades.
Kobayashi offered Wanjiru the chance to run and study on a scholarship at a high school in Sendai, Japan, a path that had led several other Kenyans to lucrative careers.
"My mom was very happy because she had no money to send me to high school," he said. "My mom was taking a good chance. It changed my life."
When he got to the Tokyo airport, Wanjiru would travel on the first train he ever had seen. There would be three other Kenyans at the high school, but even their presence could not lessen the culture shock for this Kikuyu teenager.
"After one year, I was good," Wanjiru said.
He would learn Japanese, learn to love sushi, learn to handle the rigorous training for distance runners, often running 12 miles a day at 15. Wanjiru now finds it more of a challenge to speak in his tribal language than in Japanese.
By 20, he had set a world junior record in the 10,000 meters on the track and world records for 20 kilometers and the half marathon on the roads. Wanjiru's Japanese coach, 1992 Olympic marathon silver medalist Koichi Morishita, suggested he try a marathon.
"He told me, 'If you can't do it, we will stop for a while, but if you can, you can move to the marathon,' " Wanjiru said.
He won the first one, at the storied Fukuoka, Japan race, in a course-record 2 hours, 6 minutes, 39 seconds. He was a marathoner.
Wanjiru would win two of his next three marathons, setting a course record of 2:05:10 at London in April. His most impressive performance was at the Beijing Olympics, where Wanjiru clocked 2:06:32 to break the Olympic record by nearly 3 minutes on a day with a temperature in the mid 80s and high humidity.
"I think, based on the personality and boldness Sammy displays in races, that Sammy realizes there is something very special about him," said Ryan Hall, the 2008 U.S. Olympic trials winner, who finished 10th -- 6 minutes behind Wanjiru -- in Beijing.
"When one realizes all the greatness that lies within, that is when amazing things happen."
Wanjiru would like to make one happen Sunday if the weather and pacemakers cooperate: breaking the world record of 2:03:59 set by Ethiopia's Haile Gebrselassie in Berlin a year ago.
Wanjiru returned to live in Kenya last year. He bought his mother a big house and a small market to manage.
He bought his family -- wife Teresa and daughter Allie, 2 -- a bigger house.
In a country renowned for its distance runners, he was special: the first Kenyan to win the Olympic marathon.
"I made history, I made a good name in Kenya, I changed my future to be famous in the world," he said.
Wanjiru does not turn 23 until next month. He wants to run 10 more years. His journey is just beginning.
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