Kenyan farmer, Naples Mom push through heat, humidity to win Life Time Miami Marathon
In some ways, Paul Eyanae and Beth Marzigliano are quite different.
Eyanae is a tea and coffee farmer from Iten, Kenya, who grew up distance running at an altitude of 7,900 feet. Marzigliano is a stay-at-home Mom who moved to Naples three years ago from Ocean City, N.J., where she was a high school track star.
But it turns out they have plenty in common. Both are 38 years old. Both have three children. And both crossed the Life Time Miami Marathon finish line first on a steamy, humid Sunday morning.
Eyanae and Marzigliano won in their Miami race debuts, as they were able to cope with the challenging conditions. The temperature was mild, in the low 70s, but the humidity registered at 95 percent Sunday morning
Eyanea’s winning time was 2:20. Bradley Makuvire, a Zimbabwe native who is an assistant running coach at El Paso Community College, finished second in 2:22.42.
Makurive was running to raise awareness for domestic abuse. “I want to fight for all the women going through domestic abuse,” he said. “I grew up with my Mom going through domestic abuse, being beat by her boyfriend, so it was tough for her. I want to make a change for all the women and children out there.”
Marzigliano clocked in 3:03.42, which was her slowest marathon time ever, and she was shocked it was fast enough to win. Laura Dickinson of Canada, a 25-year-old former All-ACC distance runner and steeplechaser at Syracuse University, took second place in 3:34.05.
When a race official informed Marzigliano at mile 15 that she was the first female, she thought “There’s no (bleep)ing way.”
Marzigliano said her experience paid off, as she chose to hang back at the start and pace herself. She said she was “being passed by people left and right” but told herself not to go with them because she could sense it was going to be oppressively hot and humid.
“It was brutal out there, I feel like I got hit by a bus,” Marzigliano said. “My legs cramped up so badly that last mile. The heat was extreme. Despite living in Naples, I feel like I wasn’t prepared for the humidity.”
Marzigliano, who ran at LaSalle University, was recently diagnosed with Lyme Disease and was using Sunday’s race to get back into marathon shape. It was the first time her three sons, Leo (6), Cody (5) and Max (3) watched her run. They cheered her on from the half-marathon mark and planned to participate in the kids’ mile run later in the day.
“My goal was just to finish and feel proud of however I did,” she said. “My three kids are here with my husband, so I really wanted them to see me run.”
Eyanae’s wife and three children were not at the race. They were back in Kenya awaiting the race results at the family farm.
Eyanae does most of his racing in Asia, and in October 2024 won the marathon in Perth, Australia. He planned to run the Philadelphia Marathon a month later, but his visa application took longer than expected, so he opted to enter the Miami Marathon.
“It is a beautiful city,” Eyanae said, adding that he enjoyed seeing the cruise ships and scenic Miami skyline.
Like Marzigliano, Eyanae said the humidity was his biggest obstacle.
“It was very hot, very humid; otherwise I could have run a better time,” he said through interpreter Silverster Mokamba, a Kenyan who manages several runners.
Eyanae ran alongside two-time defending champion George Onyancha of Kenya for the first half of the race, as they had planned to help pace each other. But Onyancha pulled out around the midway point with an abdominal issue, so Eyanae made a solo push and never looked back.
Eyanae is yet another of a long list of elite distance runners from the western region of Kenya.
Iten is nicknamed The Home of Champions because of its great distance running tradition. The International Association of Athletics Federation (world track and field governing body) awarded the town with a plaque recognizing it as a World Athletics Heritage Landmark. Among the runners who have trained at the town’s high altitude training center: three-time Boston Marathon winner and New York Marathon winner Ibrahim Hussein, and Olympians Peter Rono, Wilson Boit Kipketer and David Rushida.
As the running community grows in Miami, more international athletes enter the Miami Marathon.
Runners from 75 countries and 48 states, ranging in age from 14 to 88, flooded the streets of downtown Miami for the 6 a.m. start on Biscayne Blvd. in front of the Kesaya Center.
They trekked over the MacArthur Causeway, down Ocean Drive in South Beach, back over the Venetian Causeway and into Miami near Bayfront Park. The full marathoners continued the 26.2 mile course along the Brickell and Coconut Grove areas before heading back to the finish line at Bayfront Park.
In the men’s half marathon, defending champion Solomon Kagimbi of Kenya won for the second year in a row in 1:04.27, one second faster than his time a year ago.
“I tried to push more, but running fast was not easy because of the humidity,” said Kagimbi, who works as massage therapist when he is not running.
Paxton Smith, an eighth-grade English teacher at Georgia Jones Ayers Middle School in Allapattah, finished second in 1:07.33 and Flavio Andrade of Brazil was third in 1:09.50.
“It’s a little emotional thinking about it,” Paxton said, his eyes welling with tears. “I’ve lived here a few years and community is really important to me. That was for my school and students, for my running community.”
Nell Rojas, 37, of Boulder, Colorado, won the women’s half marathon and matched the course record in 1:13.53. Rosa Chacha of Ecuador was second in 1:15.38 and Tracy Barlow of London, England, third in 1:16.37.
Rojas, a professional Nike athlete who ran at Northern Arizona University, was using Miami as a training run for the Boston Marathon.
“I’m used to dry, dry heat in Colorado, so the humidity here was absolutely insane,” Rojas said. “I loved the course. It was beautiful. I will absolutely come back.”
This story was originally published February 2, 2025 at 11:35 AM.