Interview with Meb Keflezighi

by Cecil Harris

Meb Keflezighi, the 2004 Olympic silver medalist in the marathon and one of the most accomplished runners of his generation, will try again Sunday to fill a gap in an otherwise sterling resume. Keflezighi, who turns 32 on May 5, will seek his first victory at the 26.2-mile distance in the Flora London Marathon.

The task will be daunting. He has battled blisters and a sore Achilles and calf muscle this year. He’ll also face a talent-laden field that includes defending champion Felix Limo of Kenya, former world-record holder Khalid Khannouchi, 2004 Olympic gold medalist Stefano Baldini of Italy, former real, -Berlin-Marathon winner Haile Gebrselassie of Ethiopia and past ING New York City Marathon champions Martin Lel of Kenya, Hendrick Ramaala of South Africa, Marilson Gomes dos Santos of Brazil and world record-holder Paul Tergat of Kenya. The race begins at 9:45 a.m. London time [4:45 a.m. ET and 1:45 a.m. PT], and can be seen live online at www.wcsn.com .

Keflezighi is accustomed to rising to a challenge. He finished in the top three in five consecutive marathons until the ING New York City Marathon 2006, in which he competed despite food poisoning and with new running shoes because his luggage had been lost. That Keflezighi still finished 21st seems an embodiment of the name chosen for the management agency he runs with brother Merhawi—HAWI [Handling Adversity With Integrity].

The American record-holder in the 10,000 meters, Keflezighi placed second in the ING New York City Marathon 2004 just 70 days after winning the Olympic silver medal. He represented the U.S. in the 10,000 meters at the 2000 Sydney Olympics, and on November 3 he’ll compete for a third straight Olympic berth in the U.S. Marathon Trials in New York City.

Keflezighi was born in Eritrea,at the time a province in Ethiopia. He emigrated to the U.S. via Italy in 1987 and starred at UCLA. He resides in Mammoth Lakes and San Diego and became a U.S. citizen in 1998. He and his wife, Yordanos, and their year-old daughter, Sara, will visit Eritrea after the Flora London Marathon. Mensracing.com caught up with Keflezighi in his hotel room two days before the race.

Editor's Update: Unfortunately, Meb Keflezighi did not finish the Flora London Marathon. He dropped out at mile 16 due to his blisters.

MensRacing.com: There’s an eight-hour time difference between London and your home in the San Diego area. How long did it take you to adjust?
Meb Keflezighi: I’ve been in London since April 12. I took a night flight and slept on the plane. After we landed, I stayed up for six or seven hours before going back to sleep. I ran that same day, obviously nothing intense. Sometimes I would look at my watch and say, “It’s 2:00 a.m. back home and here I am running.” It’s quite different, but you can’t let your mind play tricks on you. You have to not think about it. Every time my wife would ask, “What time is it back home?” I said, “I don’t want to think about it [laughs].” I ran about 8-1/2 to 9 miles my first day here. The next day I had a pretty hard training day. Saturday was a recovery run and Sunday was another intense day. This week I’ve done my typical pre-race training, just as if I were back in the United States. Today, two days before the race, I ran for three miles, focusing on strides, then cooled down a little bit, and ran about another mile.

MR: What’s the weather supposed to be like on race day?
MK: It’s probably going to be a little under 60 degrees. Probably 57, 58 degrees. It’s not going to be warm, but nice. For me, I’d like to see it a little cooler for a marathon. But some runners like it to be 48, 49. I’d rather be a little warm than too cold. My body functions better when I’m looser and not too cold.

MR: Do you run alone in preparing for a major race? Do you ever run with one of your competitors?
MK: :I ran today with Jon Brown, a British runner who was fourth in the Olympics. John has run the Flora London Marathon four or five times, and this is my first time, so Jon knows where to go. He knows the ins and outs of the course. Jon and I were in the same training place last week. It’s called Teddington, about 40 miles from the hotel that I checked into yesterday. I saw Ryan Hall while running today. I had breakfast today with Henrik Ramaala and Felix Limo at the hotel and then Ryan joined us. It was nice. We talked, shared some ideas, found out how everyone’s training was going. I tried to learn something from everybody.

MR: Did you watch the Boston Marathon?
MK: Yes. I watched it on Eurosport over here. Ryan Hall, his wife, me and my wife, we went to a bar and they put on the Boston Marathon for us. It seems that the runners had a rough day. I haven’t had a chance to talk to [friend and frequent training partner] Deena Kastor yet, but I feel bad for her because she was in phenomenal shape. [Kastor finished fifth overall and first among American women in 2:35:09.] The race didn’t work out the way she wanted it to go. In the men’s race, I was happy to see Peter Gilmore get in the Top 10 again. The winning time [2:14:13 by Robert Cheruiyot of Kenya] was kind of shocking, but considering the weather and the conditions, I guess it will do. When the runners were at the halfway point, I was like, “I should have been there this year [laughs].” I ran a 1:02:45 in [for the first half of the marathon in] Boston last year, and they were about six minutes slower at the halfway point this year. Quite a big difference.

MR: What was your main motivation for running London this year instead of Boston?
MK: I really wanted to get on a flat course and test myself, see how fast I could go, whereas Boston has Newton Hill. You can run fast there, but everything has to click. Robert Cheruiyot broke the course record, 2:07:14, last year. And also, Beijing is going to be a flat course. Running here in London is part of my strategy to get ready for Beijing.

MR: There’s such a star-studded field in London, with Tergat, Gebrselassie, Limo, Baldini, Ramaala, Gomes dos Santos, guys who have won major marathons. In searching the pre-race articles, your name doesn’t seem to come up right away despite all your accomplishments. Do you feel a bit under the radar over there?
MK: Well, those guys have accomplished a lot, winning marathons. I still have to win my first marathon. But sometimes it’s good to be the underdog [laughs]. The pressure is not on me, but I’m here to give it my best and see what happens. You can’t take anything away from a guy like Tergat. After all, he ran [the world-record time of] 2:04:55. But there are many other outstanding runners here like Martin Lel, Khalid Khannouchi. If somebody’s having a good day and playing his “A” game, he could steal the show.

MR: You could be the one to steal the show.
MK: Yeah. Somebody from the press asked me, “Would you rather run under 2:07 or win the race?” My first impression was I’d rather run 2:06. But then I thought about it and said, “This is an unbelievable field. I’d rather win it than have a fast time because I could come back next year or the year after and try to run a fast race.” Because of who is in the field, whoever wins this race is going to have a lot of respect.

MR: Did your luggage arrive with you this time?
MK: [Laughs.] Yes. I have to be honest. I made a mistake before the ING New York City Marathon last year, not carrying my racing flats on the plane. I had carried my racing flats with me on the plane every time since 1994 when I was at UCLA. But last year I told myself it was just a direct flight, San Diego to New York, and nothing should happen. But they ended up losing my luggage, including my racing flats. When you least expect it, that’s when things happen. Hopefully, that will be the result here. When they least expect somebody [like me] to win, when they’re talking about the other guys, that’s when I could win. That’s how racing is.

MR: You also had food poisoning before the ING New York City Marathon 2006. Chicken fettuccine, wasn’t it?
MK: [Laughs]. Yeah, I’m being extra careful about what I eat. I was in phenomenal shape for the race, but sometimes things happen that you can’t control. The food you eat you can control. But you don’t know if it’s cooked the right way. Those were unfortunate incidents for me in New York, but that’s in the past. Hopefully, I’ll have a good race on Sunday.

MR: How stressful was it for you last year going into the race in New York not feeling your best and not wearing the shoes you wanted to run in?
MK: It did become stressful and it took a lot of energy out of me. Fortunately, I was not too far away from Niketown in New York and I got the model I like to wear, even though I didn’t have the pair I wanted. You definitely don’t want to wear new sneakers in a marathon. That’s the biggest rookie mistake you could make. But the food poisoning was the most harmful thing to my body and my performance.

MR: Do you expect London to be more of a speed race than a strategic race?
MK: It’s a flat course. I think it’ll be a speed race. It’s probably going to come down to the last mile or so with a lot of guys in contention. It might be a little bit tactical, with guys looking at each other to see who’s going to make a move. People who don’t have a kick will try to string it out and see if they can get away [from the pack]. Otherwise, some people will wait until the last 200-300 meters because they believe they have better foot speed than the others. It seems like not everybody is 100 percent healthy. They’ve had some setbacks, as I had with blisters earlier this year, in March after the Gate River Run [in Jacksonville, Fla.]. I didn’t miss too much training. I did a lot of cross-training. I just missed two weeks of running, but I was working hard. Hopefully, that will be a benefit to me.

MR: Are you over the blister problem?
MK: Yeah, yeah. I still have to use second skin. They had to take the whole skin off and develop a new layer of skin. The new skin is still a little bit soft, but I think it should be fine for the race. Otherwise, I wouldn’t have come.

MR: How many runners in London have a legitimate chance to win?
MK: I have the 14th-fastest time coming in. There are plenty of other guys to worry about. Some have more experience than others, some have more natural ability than others. Felix is the defending champion. Others have run this course and know what it takes to win here. But as long as the weather cooperates, it could be anybody’s day.

MR: Do you intend to run the NYC Half-Marathon Presented by NIKE in August prior to the U.S. Olympic Trials?
MK: It’s too far away to think about that right now. Last year I ran in a couple of track events and right now I have tentative plans to do that. I want to make sure I’m at 110 percent before I rush to the track. I ran the NYC Half-Marathon last year and New York Road Runners did a great job, so I would definitely consider it. In the next two or three weeks I’ll sit down and make a final plan for the year.

MR: Let’s talk about the way runners are chosen for the U.S. Olympic Marathon—the top three finishers at the Trials make the team and the next two finishers are the alternates. Do you like the idea of runners from the track who qualify with a “B” standard being allowed to run in the Trials?
MK: It’s a tough question. I would say no, you should have to run a marathon to be there [at the trials]. That’s why Ryan Hall is doing this race in London, to get experience. I don’t think it would too much of an advantage for the track runners. But it would be nice to have only a marathon [qualifying] time because in a way it’s not fair to the other guys who have earned the right to be there with their marathon times. It would be nice to have [the “A” standard of] 2:22 to get in and make it a serious championship instead of having runners with 5K or 10K conversions in the Trials. But I can only control what I do personally, so I’m not worried about that. I was delighted to be in New York, Alan Culpepper and Dan Browne, and I, we were part of the decision-making on what the standard should be for the men. I would think it would be nice and fair to have a marathon time to get in. It is a little bit awkward, but they made the decision and, hopefully, I can run my race, get on that podium and head to Beijing.

MR: After your great performance in Athens, many Americans would love to see you representing the country in the Olympic Marathon. But do your fans understand the process? Do they assume you’ll be in Beijing because you’re still an elite runner? Or they do realize that something could happen in New York in November to prevent you from making the team?
MK: Well, people ask me, “Are you training for Beijing?” And I say, “Yeah.” Then I tell them I have to be on my “A” game and finish in the top three in the Olympic Trials. It’s not automatic. And they’re like, “What? You mean you don’t go automatically.” [Laughs.] I just tell them I wish I could, but I’ve got to finish in the top three. There’s a slim chance [that I won’t make it]. But God willing, everything will work out for the best. He has done great things for my life, and hopefully that will be another one. As the 2004 Olympic silver medalist, I would love to be in Beijing. But if it doesn’t happen, if it’s God’s will that it doesn’t happen, I know God has other things planned for me.

MR: It seems like there’s more depth in American marathon running now than there has been in a long time, maybe ever.
MK: Oh, yeah. Before, the 5K and 10K Olympic teams were tough to make. But now, out of the 5K, 10K and the marathon, I think the marathon team is going to be the toughest team to make. There’s more depth, more talented young guys coming in, more people who aren’t fearful of the marathon anymore, whether they’re 24 years old or 35.

MR: Abdi Abdirahman told me he thought 15 or 16 runners have a legitimate shot of making the U.S. Olympic Marathon team. Do you agree?
MK: I would say about seven guys have a legitimate shot. I would not say 15 or 16. I would say about seven. Unfortunately, three or four of them will have to sit home and watch the Olympics. Hopefully, I’m not one of them.

Interview conducted April 20, 2007, and posted April 20, 2007.