Nobody is born a marathon runner and so did the newly crowned New York Marathon champion Priscah Jeptoo.

Running for Jeptoo, was like a child at a new school. The first few months were tetchy, but it was not too long before she had caught up there mixing it with the big girls.

Jeptoo got off the blocks like many other novice athletes in Kenya honing her skills in the choking middle distance of the track and field.

She opted for the 400m and 800m distances, balancing between her class books and the running spikes.

Of course athletics appealed to Jeptoo since her childhood - she transferred to Kamagut Secondary School in Eldoret after she was denied sponsorship at Itigo Girls in Kapsabet, Rift Valley.

Nonetheless, the fourth born in a family of 11 was unlucky in her primary and secondary school. She could compete up to national level but then miss out to her opponents in the national team selection.

"I was not disheartened. I knew God had a purpose for me in life and I decided to stay focused. I kept on training," said Jeptoo.

Then a pupil at Chepnoet Primary School in Nandi near Eldoret back in 1997, the lure of boarding an aeroplane, discovering a new world and chance to earn money to supplement her parents meagre earnings at home was too appealing to snub.

"It was every girls dream in our school to run. We had athletes like Moses Kiptanui, Tegla Loroupe and Moses Tanui dominating in their races. They made money and would return home in Eldoret flossing," recalled Jeptoo during an exclusive interview with Xinhua on Sunday.

"Everyone wanted to be like them. I knew athletics was the avenue I was to take and I buried myself in training. I did everything the teachers told me to do. I wanted to excel in athletics," she added.

But when it comes to track and field, it is not everyone who dreams of running, lives to see it happen. Kenya, a nation renowned for its prowess in track and field has numerous natural, born runners, a land that lends itself to the pursuit of excellence in athletic endurance.

That is what Jeptoo never realised as she kept on hitting the ceiling without breaking the glass.

In the summer leading to the 1999 inaugural World Youth Championships in Bydgoszcz, Poland, Jeptoo had projected to make the team and get the nod to explore the world, well she never made the Kenya team.

"It was too much to bear. I had done everything right. I trained well for the race, but the trials were never too good for me. I failed the test," she told Xinhua.

There were better athletes than Jeptoo. She returned two years later to try the trials for the World Junior Championships in Kingston, Jamaica in 2002.

Yet again she missed out, this time to former world 800m champion Janet Jepkosgei. Starting off as a 400m and 800m runner, the battle was always going to be hard.

Many athletes, including today's stars failed at this elementary category, but they never gave up. They took their frustrations and turned them into opportunity.

They never took their foot off the training pedal. Their patience has since paid handsomely. Jeptoo is one of them.

Jeptoo was determined to excel in athletics, which saw her transfer from Itigo Girls in Nandi to Kamagut Secondary School in Eldoret is the search for athletics glory.

Her elder brother Sylvester Kitur had known the desire burning in her sister trying to excel in athletics. He agreed to help Jeptoo but realised the journey to global fame demanded patience and encouragement.

"I had to look for another school for her after she was denied sponsorship at Itigo Girls. Coach Robert Ng'isirei did not recommend her," he said.

"Success was not coming fast as we planned. She did everything, but there was something that always made her lose at the nationals in both primary and secondary school levels. But (Priscah) Jeptoo never gave up. She continued training and today, after her victory in New York on Nov. 3, I can relax knowing that I did my part to secure her future," said her brother.

The frequent loss in track, over the short distance races, prompted Jeptoo -- like many upcoming athletes -- to change tune and she moved up the ladder faster from a sprinter to a road racer.

It was here that she was to taste victory and the fruits of her hard laboured training.

"I have done enough in the big city marathons and I now long to win an Olympic gold. If AK names me for the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow, Scotland in 2014, I will honour the call," Jeptoo said.

Not bad for a girl who made fruitless attempts to make the national team while still schooling. Her brother Kitur said Jeptoo's journey to global fame demanded patience and encouragement. He was lucky she had both virtues.

"The road to success was not smooth as she could only reach nationals in primary and secondary school. We were poor and I recall cycling from home in Kapsabet to Kakamega to encourage her in 1999. But I gathered some hope in 2007 when she made her first international trip to Brazil," said Kitur, now a teacher.

Well the rest is history. Between her first trip to Brazil in 2007 and 2013, Jeptoo has earned more than what anyone dreamt she could ever do.

Her latest in New York on Nov. 3 thrust her to the top echelon of athletes who have made it. She won race and the World Marathon Majors (WMM) crown.

Well, prior to the race, Jeptoo only had one way to earn the 500,000 U.S. dollars prize for the 2012-13 WMM series as she stepped to the start line of the 2013 ING New York City Marathon - win the race. That she did in a time of 2:25:07 despite being more than three minutes off the lead at one point.

Seven weeks prior Jeptoo blazed to a 1:05:45 at the Great North Run Half-Marathon, just five seconds off the fastest time ever run for the distance.

Jeptoo's marathon in London earlier in April 2013 completed the sequence where she went from third to second to first in WMM events. She ran a sub 69 minute second half to win by 77 seconds in 2:20:15.

After beginning 2012 with a third place personal best 2:20:14 in London, she was the final woman to fall back from gold medallist Tiki Gelana at the London Olympics marathon.

Jeptoo's margin of defeat -- five seconds -- was the smallest for a silver medallist in Olympic history. Jeptoo had an impressive negative split run at the 2011 World Championships where she also earned the silver medal.

"We thank God for the victory. It's a blessing to our family and I feel good. I now pray that she crowns it all with a gold medal at the 2016 Olympic marathon in Rio, Brazil. I would love to see an Olympic gold medal hanging in my house," said Douglas Chepsiror, Jeptoo's husband in their house in Kapsabet. The two have been blessed with a son Austine Kipchumba.

Jeptoo won the women's lucrative World Marathon Majors (WMM) series jackpot 500,000 U.S. dollars plus an additional 150,000 dollars winning prize in New York.

She joins Mary Keitany as the only Kenyan women to have banked the lucrative windfall. Keitany won in 2012.