World women marathon record holder Brigid Kosgei has explained how a difficult childhood inspired her to win at the highest level of athletics.
Speaking exclusively to the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC), Kosgei said she had to grapple with a bewildering array of challenges.
It is those challenges that fueled her to work hard, in order to make her life and that of her family better.
"When I think back to my humble beginnings and the challenges we went through growing up, I tell myself I cannot go back to that life and it pushes me to do well," the 25-year-old athlete said.
Kosgei said the challenges she faced growing up forced her to drop out of school.
Brigid entered the history books last week after she set a new world record, breaking that of British athlete Paula Ratcliffe by 80 seconds.
Her secondary school coach Robert Ngisirei hailed her work ethic, saying she worked really hard to ensure that she was not outshone on the track.
"You could tell she was a very talented athlete even in training, extremely disciplined and competitive, never liked to be outshone in training," Ngisirei told the BBC.
Narrating how she survived in school, Brigid divulged that she used to run to school in a bid to avoid arriving late.
"My school was 10km from home and sometimes to avoid getting late I would run. On my way I met athletes who were training and said to myself: 'I can be like them," she said.