For This Kenyan-born runner, Getting American Citizenship Is The Greatest Victory, Yet

Aliphine Tuliamuk expects to be deeply affected when the "Star-Spangled Banner" is sung before the Freihofer's Run for Women on Saturday.The Kenyan-born distance runner became a U.S. citizen in a ceremony in Albuquerque, N.M., on April 29, 2016."It means the world to me every time I hear the national anthem,'' she said. "I think it's really meant more since I got my citizenship, because once I was sworn, there was the national anthem and it was a very emotional day that morning. I actually cried. I did not realize how much it meant. Every time I go to a big race and they have that national anthem, it brings back those memories."

Tuliamuk appears to be the favorite in the 39th running of the Freihofer's, a 5-kilometer race that begins and ends on Washington Avenue near the state Capitol. She's the reigning USA Track & Field 5k champion, a title she won in Providence this past September. She's coming off a victory in the USATF 25k championship in Grand Rapids, Mich., on May 13.

She decided to try the Freihofer's for the first time at the persistent urging of John Tope, the race's elite athlete recruiter. She sees it as a good set-up for the New York Mini 10k that she'll run in Manhattan on June 10."There's always a first time for everything,'' Tuliamuk said. "I've run a few races in New York City, but never in Albany. So this is going to be very special. And the fact that it's a 5k, and it might actually be the only 5k that I'm running this year. I think it's going to be really cool that I'm finally doing it."

 Tuliamuk wouldn't be doing it at all if she hadn't gotten dual citizenship. Last year, the Freihofer's changed its format from being open to international runners to awarding prize money to U.S. competitors only. Freihofer's officials said the move was made to support American distance running and because of an international doping scandal in track and field. Africans had won the Freihofer's for seven straight years before the switch.

Tuliamuk moved from Kenya nine years ago to run collegiately at Iowa State and then Wichita State. She said her decision to become American was a show of appreciation for all her new country had done for her. Tuliamuk grew up in a tiny village in west Kenya and ran two miles to and from school every day, which was the birth of her running career.