http://qctimes.com/sports/running/bix7/meb-q-c-have-developed-special-relationship/article_0e699740-b85b-59db-8796-1001e398c8a1.html
Meb, Q-C have developed special relationship
by Don Doxsie
The first time he came to Davenport, nearly 14 years ago, only those who closely followed the American distance running scene knew who he was.
He had this unusual first name, Meb, short for Mebrahtom. And that last name, Keflezighi, was really a challenge for some. Long-time Quad-City Times Bix 7 race director Ed Froehlich still struggles to pronounce it.
But the last name really has become excess baggage anyway.
To aficionados of the Bix 7 and to running fans everywhere, he long ago became just Meb.
He has run in the annual race through the streets of Davenport eight times, won it twice and finished in the top 10 five other times. Perhaps more significantly, he has fostered thousands of friends and admirers in the Quad-Cities.
The people of the Quad-Cities have embraced Meb Keflezighi’s inspirational rise to international stardom. And he has formed an unlikely bond with a community 2,000 miles from his home in Southern California and more than 7,000 miles from the small African country in which he was born.
“When I go to other races, I brag to people and say, ‘I’m going to Davenport, Iowa,’’’ Meb said when he was here for the Bix 7 last summer. “Sometimes they say ‘Where is that?’ I tell them it’s a small community but a very tight community and a great race. They think if it’s Iowa, it must be flat but I tell them it’s definitely not flat.’’
Meb has developed a close friendship with many people in the Quad-Cities but especially with Bix 7 assistant race director Dan Breidinger and his family. Meb stays with the Breidingers every time he comes here. When Dan and his wife, Mary, adopted a daughter many years ago, they named her Molly Elizabeth. They wanted her initials to be MEB.
An American hero
Along the way, Meb also has become an American hero, known far beyond the bounds of the Quad-Cities and Southern California.
He won an Olympic silver medal in the marathon in 2004, becoming the first American male in 28 years to medal in the event. He became the first American in 27 years to win the New York City Marathon in 2009. In 2014, he became the first U.S. runner in 31 years to win the Boston Marathon.
Recently, he finished second in the Olympic trials marathon in Los Angeles to make the U.S. team for the fourth time. When he toes the starting line in Rio de Janeiro next August, he will be the oldest U.S. runner ever to compete in the Olympic Marathon. He will be 41 by then.
Not bad for someone who three decades ago faced an uncertain future as a child in the war-torn African country of Eritrea.
War-torn childhood
When Meb was born there in 1975, Eritrea was in the midst of a 30-year war for independence that did not end until 1993. He remembers his older brothers hiding out to avoid being pressed into service as soldiers.
"Would I have even been alive now? I don't know," he said in a 2002 interview. "I probably would have been forced to go fight. There are a lot of ifs."
Eritrea, about the size and population of Louisiana, is on the northern coast of Africa, bordered by Sudan, Ethiopia, Djibouti and the Red Sea. It is an impoverished place where the average male has a life expectancy of 53.73 years.
Meb’s father was from the town Adi Gombolo, his mother from an even smaller place called Adi Beyani. Neither village shows up on most maps. Neither had electricity. Both had been ravaged by civil war.
The family got the break it needed when Meb’s half-sister was able to escape to the United States. His father then fled to Sudan, leaving behind six children and a pregnant wife. Eventually, they all managed to escape by plane to Milan, Italy, where Meb’s mother gave birth to another child.
They lived there for more than a year before settling in San Diego, where the family had three more children.
Making it in America
The family survived on government assistance, scrounging for second-hand clothes and furniture from churches and refugee centers.
Despite having come from a country with a 25 percent literacy rate, six of the Keflezighi children graduated from college.
"People talk about welfare as a bad thing, but it got us on our feet," Meb said. "You have to use it as a stepping stone. You can't just live on it forever. But when you see how far we've come, you can see it's a good thing. Kids who are born here with all the things available to them ... nothing should stop them."
Meb’s trek to the top of the U.S. distance running scene began at Roosevelt Junior High School, where an observant coach recognized his potential. The first time he ran the mile, he did it in 5 minutes, 20 seconds.
He continued to develop at San Diego High School and UCLA, where he won NCAA championships in cross country, the indoor 5,000 meters, the outdoor 5,000 and the outdoor 10,000.
He pursued each step up the ladder with a dedicated, goal-oriented approach instilled by his former college coach, Bob Larsen, who still works with Meb in California.
He made his first U.S. Olympic team in 2000, finishing 12th in the 10,000 meters. A year later, he sheered 40 seconds off his previous best time in the event to break the U.S. record.
A year after that, he made his first appearance at Bix and breezed to one of the most lopsided victories in the history of the race. Meb won by 52 seconds over his nearest pursuer and he would have won by more than that had he not slapped hands with spectators all the way along his final descent down the Brady Street hill.
It was the beginning of his love affair with the community and a major milestone in his ascent to bigger and better things.
"The Bix is known nationally and internationally, and for me to win it at that point in my career was a big deal," he said.
He ran his first marathon shortly after and made the U.S. team in that event for the 2004 games. On a hot, steamy day in Athens, he made his first major international splash by finishing second behind Stefano Baldini of Italy.
Life-changing injury
Meb seemed certain to go back to the Olympics in 2008 but he suffered a fracture in his right hip at the U.S. Olympic marathon trials, beginning a stretch of about a year and a half in which he was plagued by one injury after another.
"I was in physical therapy from 7:30 in the morning until 7 at night," he said. "It's all I was doing."
He finally got healthy in 2009 and quickly resumed his dominance. He won a national championship at the Houston Half Marathon and won another USATF cross country title. Later that year, he won the New York City Marathon.
He qualified for his third Olympics in 2012 and nearly brought home another medal, finishing fourth in the marathon at London.
At age 37, with a growing family, it seemed that might be the finish of his career. But a tragedy inspired him to keep going.
'Boston strong'
The 2013 Boston Marathon was marred by a senseless bombing incident that killed three spectators. Meb decided to run Boston in 2014 and before the race he wrote the names of the three victims on the corners of his race bib.
“No matter where I finish, no matter what happens, I’m going to run for them," he said.
Never underestimate the power of inspiration. He ended up running away from the rest of the field and recorded the fastest marathon time of his life. It had been 31 years since an American won the world’s most famous marathon.
As Meb came to the last few miles, he said he just kept thinking, “Boston Strong, Boston Strong.’’
When it became apparent that his nearest pursuer would not be able to catch him, he removed his sunglasses, pumped his fist in triumph and made the sign of the cross. He wept openly as he draped himself in an American flag after finishing.
“Winning the Boston Marathon 2014 is the signature or the epic race that I needed …’’ he said when he came to the Bix 7 a few months later.
“After what happened last year with the bombing, I don’t think I could have scripted it any better way. To be an American and be able to win it … It’s the most meaningful victory of my life.’’
For years, he had been hinting that his retirement was imminent but winning Boston at the age of 39 convinced him that maybe he still had a little bit left in his tank. He also was influenced by his three daughters, who all had been too young to truly appreciate his earlier triumphs.
He decided to take one more shot at the Olympics and on Feb. 13 in Los Angeles he achieved that goal, finishing second behind Galen Rupp in the U.S. trials.
Missing the Bix?
Because he will be in the Olympics, Meb almost certainly will not be able to take part in his favorite summertime road race in his favorite Midwest community. The Olympic marathon is set for Aug. 21, just three weeks after the 42nd annual Bix 7.
But he undoubtedly will be back in years to come.
There is no better indication of how special the Quad-Cities have become to him than what took place in the hours following his Boston victory in 2014.
Meb had run the gauntlet of reporters following his emotional win, answered dozens of questions, took care of an endless stream of media requests. He finally straggled back to his hotel room and saw he had 220 new text messages and dozens of voicemail messages on his cell phone.
All he wanted to do at that point was crash. Then the phone rang again and he saw it was from the familiar 563 area code.
“This time I saw it was from Davenport, Iowa,’’ he said. “So I thought I better answer it.’’
Received on Tue Mar 01 2016 - 07:13:11 EST