PUBLISHED 10/31/2007
Meb Keflezighi, the 2004 Athens Olympic marathon silver medalist, will run in the U.S. Men's Olympic Marathon Trials on Saturday in New York City, most of which will be in Central Park. His 2007 road race results include a victory in the USA 15K in Jacksonville in March in 43:40 and a second at the seven-mile Falmouth Road Race on Cape Cod in 32:13. He also ran 27:41.26 for 10,000 meters on the track in Brussels. But he's had troubles in his last two marathons. Keflezighi was plagued by food poisoning at the 2006 ING New York City Marathon in November and was slowed to 21st place and 2:22:02. He dropped out of the Flora London Marathon in April with a foot blister that had actual become a deep cut. Keflezighi was the runnerup at the 2004 ING New York City Marathon in 2:09:53 and was third in New York last fall in 2:09:56. He was third in the 2006 Boston Marathon in 2:09:56. In August of 2006, he was second to Tom Nyariki in the NYC Half Marathon Presented By NIKE in 1:01:28. Keflezighi holds the American 10,000 record of 27:13.98 and has won three USATF 10,000-meter track titles. He resides in Mammoth Lakes, CA and is part of Team Running USA. Keflezighi won four NCAA cross country and track titles while at UCLA, where he was coached by Bob Larsen, who is still his mentor. Check out the website. Keflezighi is originally from Eritrea and escaped a Civil War there, making it first to Italy and then to the San Diego area. He and wife Yordanos are parents of a daughter, Sara, and are expecting a second child in March.
You've been in New York before for the regular ING New York City Marathon and for the USA Men's 8K, which you've won. How is it different to be coming in for the Olympic Trials on Saturday morning?_
Meb Keflezighi: I'm just thrilled to be here. It's been a long wait for the Trials.... to be here in New York, where I debuted and got my PhD (in marathoning) and learned a lot. I race well here, and hopefully that will be the same on Saturday. It's a great field. There's lot of talk about who's going to count and who's not going to count, but that's what racing is, and Saturday will take care of itself.
We've heard stories about little problems you've had with your right calf. Can you tell us what the status is of that and what effect it's had on your preparation?
MK: The calf is okay. There was a concern during San Jose weekend (the Rock n Roll Half Marathon on October 14). The choice was to go to Brussels (in September) or try to get ready for San Jose. And we decided to go to Brussels. That was a priority because I didn't want to have cut my mileage too soon before San Jose.... We took three days off and it's back to normal. I've been out there rehabbing it. I covered the distance already, over 26 (miles) and I should do fine.
Did the problem actually arise in Brussels?_
MK: No, no. The problem arose a week and a half or almost two weeks after Brussels as I was running intervals. If it was a Tempo (Run), I would have folded, but I was doing intervals. I was stretching in-between. I kept going. How hard I work, I just wanted to get through the workout, and sometimes you do more damage than good. Instead of just throwing in the towel, I didn't. But you live and learn.
Having achieved something that so few people have achieved, and being the first American man to win an Olympic marathon medal in 32 years, can you tell us why it's so important to get back to the Olympics again?_
MK: Well, I'm here. It's a national championship, the Olympic Trials. So any time you get a chance to make the team, it's huge; it's a big deal. Khalid and Ryan (Hall), Abdi (Abdirahman), and (Alan) Culpepper have run faster than I have. And Culpepper's the defending (Trials) champion. I was second three years ago, in 2004. And hopefully, I'll be on the team, and once I make the team, then the pressure might be on me then to defend my title as a silver medalist. But now, it's on somebody else.
Last time, you made the Olympic team while not in your best shape. Can you talk about how much more difficult it will be this time?
MK: It's going to be a lot more difficult, just because of the depth of the field, to make the team this year. The first time I ran Chicago, Khalid was like "hey, you've got 2:06, 2:07 on you, go out there and rip one." They (other top U.S. marathoners) are very supportive and this is what we dreamt of, having U.S. distance running where it belongs. And to be able to be competitive and select our best guys to go there is going to (help us be) very well-represented, hopefully, in Beijing.
Do you think the pace in this Trials marathon will become very fast very soon?
MK: I don't think so. It's not going to be slow, but it's not going to be blazing fast either, because of the character of the course, how challenging it is. The people in contention have to be very careful and very strategic about it.
