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Inside the mind of a four-time New York City Marathon champ

Editor's note: This piece was published before the start of the 2019 New York City Marathon and updated to reflect Mary Keitany's second-place finish.

MARY KEITANY KNEW she was going to win the 2018 TCS New York Marathon. With about a mile to go, the next runner was three minutes behind her -- and Keitany had only one thought. She wanted to see the joy on her children's faces as she crossed the finish line. This moment was about making them proud. It was about the sense of accomplishment she felt when their eyes twinkled. It was also a new way of thinking for her.

As her body brushed the finish line tape, she raised her arms, index fingers pointed to the sky. She made the sign of the cross and then found what had pushed her through those 26.2 miles. Her husband, Charles Koech, and their two children bounced with excitement behind the barricades. Her 10-year-old son, Jared, and her 5-year-old daughter, Samantha, who was perched on the steel barrier, reached out their arms and hugged their mother. Keitany laughed through her tears, feeling at peace with life, her race. She'd run several marathons with her family at the finish line, but this time -- for the first time -- she felt a seismic shift in how she thought of running.

Early in Keitany's marathon career, when a race was more of a solitary act, she would run the last mile zeroed in on the finish line, her face expressionless, her eyes focused on the road ahead. The Kenyan made running -- and especially the last 6 miles -- look effortless. Her rivals sometimes slowed down to recover, but she powered through the course, hardly showing signs of fatigue. Nothing could distract her.

The seven-time World Marathon Majors winner had chased every record, accomplished more than most long-distance runners could ever hope for, won every marathon she ever wanted to. An Olympic medal was the only feat that eluded her, although she came close in 2012, trailing the bronze medalist in London by less than 30 seconds. She was injured for 2016. Now, as her career wound down, she wanted to run again for the love of running, just as she did while growing up in Kenya. Running had rooted her to her soul, and now she wanted to return to that sense of stillness.

Although she did not win Sunday, this shift in thinking was enough for the 37-year-old to finish second in the New York Marathon with a time of 2:23:32, 54 seconds behind winner Joyciline Jepkosgei. And she hopes it will be enough to medal in the Tokyo 2020 Summer Olympics.

AS A YOUNG GIRL, Mary Keitany ran. When her mother wanted her to fetch water at their farm, she ran. When she was late to school after helping with early-morning chores, she ran. When the final bell of the school day rang and she was hungry, she ran.

For as long as she can remember, she ran. At least 10 kilometers every day. It came from the depths of her being, an act she describes as from "deep within the soul."

Running was also something she was naturally good at. In her high school in Kabarnet, a small town in eastern Kenya, she ran the 100 meters, the 10,000 meters and everything in between. During relay races, if she ran the first leg, "nobody would be able to catch up," she said, and if she ran the last one, she'd make up for lost time and "nobody could outrun" her.

Coaches and trainers told her that she was a gifted runner, that she could win medals. During one of her high school races, she looked around the track and thought to herself that she could have the best of both worlds. If she could perfect her art, win medals and make money doing it, wouldn't that be the ideal career?

From then on, the girl people called "The Lightning" made running her mission. She would set a goal and stop only when she had reached it -- and that mentality paid off. Her first-place finishes in road races and half-marathons in Kenya got the attention of international tournament directors.

In 2006, she made the list of elite athletes to participate in her first half-marathon abroad: the Sevilla Half Marathon in Spain. But there was one major obstacle. The then-24-year-old didn't have a passport. She was born at home and didn't have the documents she needed.