Eliud Kipchoge considers Boston Marathon return after leg issue in debut

Eliud Kipchoge said he developed an upper left leg issue about 18 miles into Monday’s Boston Marathon, shortly before he was dropped from the lead pack en route to finishing sixth for his third defeat in 18 career 26.2-mile races.

“My left leg actually was not coming up anymore,” he said Tuesday. “That’s the problem is you try to do [what is] necessary, but it was not working. I put my mind just to run in a comfortable pace and just to finish.”

Kipchoge, a two-time Olympic champion and the world record holder, developed the issue after the first two of Boston’s famed four Newton Hills. Those hills make Boston, the world’s oldest annual marathon, stand out from the marathons that Kipchoge has run the most — the flatter Berlin and London.

Kipchoge walked with a limp immediately after finishing in 2:09:23, the slowest marathon of his career. After he came to a stop on Boylston Street, he touched his left leg and motioned to it while a member of his team helped him put on a jacket.

“It’s just a problem on the leg,” he said Tuesday when asked to elaborate on the injury. “What can I say? I’m not a doctor.”

Kipchoge said that a lot was going through his mind at that turning point in the race, but he was determined not to quit. He has never dropped out of a marathon.

“They say it’s important to win, but it’s great to participate and finish,” he said. “What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger is the lesson.”

Kipchoge, 38, said that he absolutely will consider running Boston again. This year, he eschewed his usual London Marathon start to make his Boston debut as part of his goal to become the first runner to win all six annual World Marathon Majors.

Kipchoge previously won Berlin, Chicago, London and Tokyo. The lone annual major