It was a very hard life. As I got older, the family was depending very much on me. My two older brothers got married, so they had their own families depending on them. I had seven people relying on me, so I worked in a grocery store.

Lel is coached by Gabriele Rosa and lives in the Rift Valley region of Kenya. His personal best time as of April 2008[update] is 2:05:15 which he ran in the 2008 London Marathon setting a course record. He ran the 15K Saint Silvester Road Race at the end of the year but was beaten into fourth place.

In August 2010 he ran at the Falmouth Road Race and took third place. After almost 3 years without running a marathon he participated in the 2011 London Marathon as a replacement for Samuel Wanjiru who was originally invited to run but he still placed second with a time of 2:05:44 out-sprinting Patrick Makau at the finish line.