Lengthy earlier than Ser-Od Bat-Ochir turned one of the vital prolific distance runners on the planet, he planted himself on the beginning line of the Hong Kong Marathon in 2002. On the time, Ser-Od had by no means run something longer than 20 kilometers — or about 12 miles — even in coaching.
“I didn’t know what I used to be doing,” he mentioned.
That hardly prevented him from operating with a lead group of Kenyans for the primary few miles, after which the marathon imposed its remorseless model of agony. As he labored to the end line, properly out of competition, Ser-Od got here to an essential realization: Marathons are lengthy and troublesome.
“I simply thought, I don’t need to do that once more,” he mentioned. “However right here I’m.”
Sure, right here is Ser-Od, now 41, and there’s no one else fairly like him. A five-time Olympian, he has now run in 74 marathons and represented Mongolia at each main worldwide competitors since 2003.
On Sunday morning in Budapest, with the help of his spouse, Oyuntuya Odonsuren, who moonlights as his coach, Ser-Od made his eleventh straight look on the World Athletics Championships, within the males’s marathon.
Within the course of, Ser-Od has develop into a uniquely widespread determine within the marathon world: a self-made runner who emerged from obscurity to develop into a near-permanent presence on the worldwide stage.
“Robust as nails,” mentioned Tim Hutchings, a broadcaster and former world-class runner, “and a delicate, smiling soul.”
Ser-Od, whose 5-foot-7 body has the sleek aerodynamics of a hold glider, nonetheless has outsize objectives. He hopes to enhance on his private finest of two hours 8 minutes 50 seconds. He hopes to put among the many high eight at a serious marathon. And he hopes to race subsequent summer season on the Paris Olympics.
“I do know it received’t be straightforward,” he mentioned.
However when has his path ever been straightforward? In an interview over espresso on a latest afternoon, he thought again to his roots, recalling his childhood in Ulaanbaatar, the capital of Mongolia, the place his father taught industrial arts and his mom was a kindergarten trainer.
Ser-Od was not significantly academic-minded when he was younger — “There was nothing I hated greater than learning,” he mentioned, laughing — however he was an excellent athlete. His first race was at a college sports activities pageant, the place he and his classmates got 5 minutes to see how far they may run. Ser-Od received simply.
“I beloved that feeling,” he mentioned in Japanese by way of his agent, Brett Larner, who additionally acted as his translator.
Ser-Od continued to run all through highschool and, after attending college, briefly taught bodily schooling. However the pay was meager, he mentioned, and the lengthy hours minimize into his coaching. He typically had no alternative however to run at night time, and in the event you’ve by no means skilled the splendors of jogging on a cold night in Mongolia, Ser-Od can inform you all about it.
“It will get fairly chilly and darkish,” he mentioned.
Again when Ser-Od was beginning out, Mongolia lacked a lot of a operating tradition, he mentioned. Individuals would see him bundled up in 4 or 5 layers of sweats and stare at him as if he had been juggling cats on a unicycle.
However he was already dreaming large, having watched on tv as Haile Gebrselassie of Ethiopia received the boys’s 10,000 meters on the 2000 Summer time Olympics. Ser-Od started to surprise: How does one go about turning into a world athlete? Would it not be doable for him to compete on the world championships? And even on the Olympics?
“And simply because there’s not likely any historical past of athletics or operating in Mongolia, no person knew,” he mentioned. “It was a studying course of.”
After his marathon debut in Hong Kong, Ser-Od give up his educating job and joined the nationwide police as an officer, one who may win races. The nationwide police had a observe and area membership, and Ser-Od was a little bit of a ringer.
Extra essential, Ser-Od now had the requisite funding to coach on extra of a daily foundation. In 2003, he made his first look on the world championships, putting 63rd in a time of two:26.39, which demolished Mongolia’s nationwide report by about 10 minutes.
“Everyone was simply amazed {that a} Mongolian may run that quick,” Ser-Od mentioned. “They mentioned that it was loopy, that no person would ever break it.”
Ser-Od continued to interrupt it — he ran a test event for the 2008 Olympic marathon in 2:14.15 — however he was assured that he nonetheless had untapped potential when, a yr later, he met Gebrselassie at a highway race in England. Ser-Od mentioned he was capable of dine with Gebrselassie a few instances and took full benefit of the chance to pepper him with questions on coaching.
“I nonetheless didn’t know what I used to be doing,” Ser-Od mentioned. “So I requested him, ‘What does a world-class marathoner have to do to run at that stage?’ And Haile mentioned, ‘An important factor is to establish what works for you and don’t fear about what others are doing.’”
After the race, Ser-Od was getting off an elevator when he ran into Gebrselassie once more.
“And I’ll always remember this: He requested if we may get an image collectively,” Ser-Od mentioned.
It was a formative second for Ser-Od, who drew inspiration from their encounter and continued to enhance. He broke by way of with a top-10 end on the 2011 London Marathon. What was working for him? A grueling coaching program that appeared to ask all the planet’s atmospheric circumstances.
“I used to be coaching utterly on my own, and I used to be doing all of it,” he mentioned. “I used to be coaching within the warmth. I used to be coaching within the snow. I used to be coaching within the rain. I used to be coaching at nighttime. And that produced outcomes.”
It was additionally taking a toll. By 2014, Ser-Od knew that he may use some firm — “Coaching by your self is absolutely draining,” he mentioned — so he moved together with his spouse and 4 youngsters to Japan, the place he joined knowledgeable crew.
However marathoning is an unforgiving career, and when Ser-Od discovered himself and not using a sponsor after the Tokyo Olympics in 2021, he fell right into a funk. He thought his profession was completed. He reached out to Larner, whom he had met by way of operating circles.
“I used to be like, ‘Uh, I’m a giant fan, however a 40-year-old Mongolian? How am I going to search out you a sponsor?’” Larner recalled. “I advised him I’d see what I may do, however I believed it was fairly hopeless.”
After making a number of inquiries that went nowhere, Larner was linked with Shingo Oshiro, the president of a photo voltaic panel firm that had not too long ago began a ladies’s operating crew. Oshiro supplied Ser-Od a contract and advised him he would rent him as a coach for the crew as soon as he retired from racing.
“I used to be so appreciative that they believed on this concept of going for a sixth Olympics and needed to help me,” Ser-Od mentioned. “I actually need to repay my debt to them.”
Nonetheless, he is aware of that making it to the Paris Video games subsequent yr will probably be one other problem. He’s, in some methods, a sufferer of his personal success. It’s all relative, however marathoning in Mongolia has develop into extra widespread thanks partly to Ser-Od. He recalled visiting Ulaanbaatar this spring — he nonetheless has a house there — and getting stopped for selfies.
“Oh, it’s Ser-Od!” he recalled individuals shouting.
In a growth that will have been unthinkable a couple of years in the past, there at the moment are 4 Mongolian males who’re aggressive sufficient to race at occasions just like the world championships. The issue is that the nation can ship solely three of them to main worldwide competitions.
In reality, Ser-Od thought he was in peril of lacking out on Budapest. After he positioned twenty sixth finally yr’s world championships in Eugene, Ore., accidents hindered his coaching. Consequently, his nationwide rating slipped to fourth. After an unspectacular end result on the Copenhagen Marathon in Could, he braced himself for the worst.
“We type of thought, Eh, that’s most likely it,” Larner mentioned. “However there was a miracle.”
It turned out that one in all Ser-Od’s Mongolian rivals had raced poorly in Copenhagen. The nation’s athletics federation subsequently awarded its closing spot on the planet championships to Ser-Od.
“It was fortunate,” Larner mentioned. “Very fortunate.”
In fact, there’s nothing flawed with a bit of luck, particularly after so a few years of onerous work.
Even so, Ser-Od didn’t end the world championship marathon on Sunday after an unlucky mishap: He stepped in a pothole early within the race, straining his proper leg.
And nonetheless, in opposition to all odds, Ser-Od’s end appears distant.
