Khalid Choukoud became national marathon champion for the third time in Amsterdam on Sunday in a new personal best of 2:09.34. For a new episode of running podcast The Pacer The next day, Pim Bijl and Eric Brommert visited him at his home in the Schilderswijk in The Hague. ,,I run for my family”, says the 36-year-old athlete, who spoke openly about his biggest disappointments and his best achievements.
For example, after missing the Games in 2016, he says that he has lost the pleasure for a long time. ,,I was crying at the desk of Ad Roskam (technical director of the Athletics Union, ed.) to change his mind, but he said: limit is limit. That hurt so much. In the end I couldn’t watch those Games either.”
There were years when something always went wrong when Choukoud threw himself into the marathon. ,,I’ve had a lot of disappointments, but in the end I needed those setbacks to love the marathon again. When things go well, like now, then you know how much you have to cherish that.”
In the podcast, Choukoud also talks about kickboxing in his youth, in which he was the best conditionally but lacked technique and that his father did not want him to participate in competitions anyway. About the accidental discovery of his running talent during the kickboxers’ rounds around the Zuiderpark. Now, many years later, still the place where he prefers to complete his longest training sessions.
The proud athlete, who steadfastly fought against contemporaries Michel Butter and Abdi Nageeye, marks the turning point in his career: the pandemic and his new life as a family man. “It was my salvation.” The bachelor who used to go to Morocco often doesn’t want to leave home anymore. Daughter Hiba has given him peace. Explaining how he writes his own schedules, Choukoud wants to keep running for years to come and to the Paris Games.
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