Athlete Feature: David Kimani

By Bob Ramsak

With six national championships to his credit, Alabama's David Kimani has been the most dominant NCAA distance force for the past four years. He expects to continue that trend on Monday in Terre Haute.

"I'm feeling really excited about the weekend," said Kimani, whose surprise win as a freshman at South Alabama in 1999 thrust him to the forefront of collegiate distance running. He's remained there ever since. "I've been training really well all season. I'm ready to go compete."

Upbeat and confident, Kimani said he's ready for anything.
"I don't have a strategy really, all I can say is that I'm really trusting my training. I'm ready to go. If the race is going to be fast, I think I'll be ready to take it like that. If they're going to be running slow, I think I'll be prepared for it."

His "non-strategy" does suggest that he'll let others set the tone of the race.

"However they lay the strategy, I think I'll be ready for them. It's a 10k, I think I'll let them do whatever they want -- it's a long way," said the 24-year-old Kenyan, a perennial favorite of the NCAA's fall classic. "I don't think I have to go there and dictate it. All I'm confident about is that I'm ready to go, and whatever pace they put in front, I'm ready for it."

Hampered by an Achilles injury, Kimani dropped out after three kilometers last year. This year, a healthy Kimani will toe the line at Indiana State.

"All the way through the season I was in the pool, and I ran all my races from the pool," he said of his 2001 campaign. "So going into nationals, that was a problem." He could feel his Achilles tightening at the about the two mile point, signaling looming disaster. "I jumped," he said, when he felt the tightness, "and when I came back to the ground I kept on running. Maybe I messed it up, and it became really painful, so I just stopped from there."
With the injury now behind him, training-wise, he said, 2002 has been the polar opposite.

"I'm grateful that I've been training the whole season and haven't been in the pool at all. That makes a big difference for me. That's what makes me even more excited because last year I ran all my races from the pool. So I'm more confident, more ready and more excited about going into this race."

He won the South Regional title on November 16, his third for Alabama, in 32:09.91, just two one-hundredths of a second in front of teammate Peter Kiprono. Despite the close finish, Kimani said, the win came with relative ease and minimal effort.

"The race turned out to be really slow -- about 4:59 per mile -- and by the time we got to four-and-a-half miles, it was just me and Kiprono." Easing up, they ran together. "We were just jogging to the line."

His made his third SEC cross country title look easy, beating Arkansas's Alistair Cragg by a convincing 15 seconds.

"I went into it maybe expecting some competition from Cragg, because I ran with him in Arkansas, at Chile Pepper." Kimani won there as well in his seasonal debut, but by a narrower four-second margin, in 28:42. "I wanted to push it at four miles, and see maybe who was going to be there, and then push again in the last mile. When I got to the fourth mile, there was no one there with me, so I just kept on pushing. I was just feeling good."

The consummate team player, Kimani followed his 2001 cross country disappointment with a runner-up spot in the 1,500 meters and a fourth place finish in the 3,000 meters at the NCAA Indoor Championships in March, before ending the season on a high note with a win in the 5,000 meters outdoors. The latter, said Kimani, who won back-to-back indoor crowns at 3,000 and 5,000 meters in 2000 and 2001, was the sweetest of his six NCAA championships.

"I just can't say how I won the race, really," he said. "I didn't go into the race that well prepared -- because of my injuries and everything -- and to finish out my season like that was great. It seemed that we were really just having fun out there, running 67's or so. And I was so confident with it, I was ready for anyone to just go, and then go after them. And it was so easy for me to do it."

Born in Nairobi on February 20, 1978, Kimani's initial athletic preferences were soccer and volleyball. He admits he wasn't much of a fan of the sport as a high schooler, and explained that track and running aren't as popular in Kenya as many might assume, at least not in Nairobi.

"Sometimes there is something about it in the media, because Kenyans are so good in distance running. So I did have a clue about it. But it's not something that's usually talked about in the city."

He won a provincial cross country championship for Nairobi's Ofafa Jericho High School, and took to the track for the first time in 1997.

"My first race was a 4:25 in the 1,500," a discouraging result that forced an immediate move to the longer distances. A changed training regimen followed, and enough improvement over the next year to be offered a track scholarship to the University of South Alabama to train under the tutelage of Joe Walker.

"It was a really huge adjustment," he said of his move from the bustle of Kenya's capital to the charming country calm of Alabama. "At home there was always something going on, something to do. That was different in Alabama. But for training, it was great." In the fall of 2000, he followed Walker to the University of Alabama.

Unlike other collegians who look forward to rest from competition during the summer months, Kimani tried his luck in a few European races the past two summers, an experience that left an immensely positive impression on his untapped potential as well as a brief first-hand look into the track world's upper reaches.

"I had a great experience," he recalls. "When I went into a race, I didn't think about whether I was going to win or not. The strategy of going into a race was, 'How fast are we going to run it.' " That was a big difference, he said, from NCAA competition that focuses primarily on place and position.

His first international race, a 5,000 in Nurmberg, Germany in late June 2001, was a very intimidating experience, but ultimately not as humbling as he expected.

"The first time I went in, I was scared, you know, with all these people I was running with. I thought there was no way I was going to run with them." But the intimidation factor was put to rest when he finished a respectable fifth, running a PR 13:27.49. "I really wasn't that tired," he said, and followed up with an attitude adjustment in his next 5k in Heusden-Zolder, Belgium, a month later. "Then, I went into it to run, and run fast, and to run with the guys." He finished second to Paul Kosgei in 13:10.29, a massive PR. "I couldn't believe that I put my PR down to 13:10 from 13:27, and was feeling so good." That race, the 26th fastest performance in the world that year, signaled a major turning point. "My mind was different (after that race). I thought that this was like a career thing. It was running 'for real.' "

He said he hasn't given the upcoming indoor season much thought, but expects it to be similar to his duties last year. "It all depends on what my coach decides. "Whatever he comes up with, I'm ready to go with it. I'm going with the team."

Outdoors he expects to defend his 5,000 meter title, and wants to take a few serious stabs at the 1,500 meters as well. "I want to run the mile and 1,500. I want to see how fast I can be." He has run 3:38.74 in the 1,500, and has a 3:52 mile split PR from his freshman year and seems eager to lower that mark. "Maybe not this year, but when I get out of college I'll have the time to train for speed. I've run a 3:52 mile and I believe that I can run faster than that if I train for it."

While many have chastised the NCAA for the regional qualifying meets that will be introduced this year, Kimani doesn't seem to be too bothered by it. "If they're trying to give more opportunity to more people to go to nationals, that's great," he said. "But it's another meet now, and more work we have to do. But, if it gets more people into running, then, hey, I'm down for it."

He admits that he's given some thought to a post-collegiate career, particularly after his brief forays on the European circuit, but first wants to savor his final season of collegiate competition. "Right now, I just want to enjoy my college running and go out there and compete. And, as much as I can, have fun. In college, I'm here for my studies, so there's not such a deep concentration on running. But I'll give [professional competition] a chance. I think if I put a lot more emphasis into it, I think I can do a lot more than what I'm doing now." His best chances, he said, lie in the 5,000 meters. "When I ran my 13:10, I felt pretty relaxed, so I believe that if I can get into some deeper races, I can ran way deeper than that. Maybe by next year, I want to see if I can run 13 flat, or under 13 minutes."

While his debut in the professional ranks next summer may not make a significant impact internationally, it could have an immediate impact on the U.S. scene. Kimani confirmed that he has begun the application process to acquire US citizenship.

"I put everything through -- all the paperwork -- and now I'm just waiting to see what they will say." Kimani's wife, Chamis, a graduate student at Alabama, is American. The application approval process can be as fast as five months, he said, but sometimes can take much longer. "Hopefully it will be fast," he said, not entirely discounting the possibility -- albeit a narrow one -- to try for a spot on the US team for August's World Championships. "It will depend on how fast it can go through."

(Posted November 24, 2002)