Meb Keflezighi ran in his adopted hometown of San Diego June 3rd and
successfully defended his title in the citys annual Rock n Roll Half
Marathon, clocking one hour, three minutes and 11 seconds. It was a
good Olympic
tune-up race for the 37-year-old Keflezighi, who was born in Asmara,
Eritrea,
and moved with his family to San Diego when he was 12. In San Diego,
Keflezighi
beat fellow U.S. Olympian Ryan Hall, who also finished in second
place, behind
Keflezighi, at the U.S. Olympic Marathon Trials in January in
Houston, Texas.
Ryan Hall, Meb Keflezighi and Abdi Abdirahman make up the 2012 U.S.
Olympic
men's marathon team
Keflezighi became a U.S. citizen in 1998, the same year he graduated
from the
University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA), where he earned All-
American
honors and numerous awards. At the 2004 Athens Olympics, he became
the first
American marathon runner to win a medal in 28 years when he finished
second
behind Italys Stefano Baldini. At the 2012 London Olympics, the mens
marathon
will be staged August 12th, the final day of competition, and
Keflezighi wants
to medal again. Im going to London to give it one more shot and whatever
happens there I hope I get a medal, says Keflezighi. Im not going to be
choosy over what color the medal is going to be be but I hope to be
on the
podium.
Meb Keflezighi running at 2009 London Marathon
To increase his chances of being on the podium in London, Keflezighi
moved his
family three years ago to Mammoth Lakes, California, where he trains
in the high
elevation of the eastern Sierra Nevada mountain range. I always call
this
distance runners heaven, says Keflezighi. I mean if youre going to be a
distance runner in the United States, why not here? Were at an
elevation of
9,000 feet with the beautiful trees and the mountains, less oxygen
and then when
you go down to sea level you have more oxygen. You get fit and strong
up here
and then you go down to sea level and test yourself to the limits.
At 37, Keflezighi will be testing his limits against younger athletes
in London,
but there is precedent for Olympic marathon success. Portugals Carlos
Lopes was
the same age when he won the gold medal at the 1984 Los Angeles
Olympics. And
Romanias Constantina Dita was 38 when she won the gold medal in the
womens
marathon at the 2008 Beijing Games.
Keflezighi has been running about 130 miles a week in his build-up to
the London
Olympics, but he says thats only part of his training. Its not just the
running part but the little details, says Keflezighi, such as
stretching,
drills, planks, weight training, ice bath, massage you take care of
yourself
24-7 because the rest, the nutrition and all of that stuff, the work
that goes
into it (running the marathon) year round is a lot. You better hope
you nail it
that day.
And Meb Keflezighi would like nothing better than to nail it on
August 12th and
once again stand on the Olympic podium.
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Received on Wed Jun 06 2012 - 02:14:41 EDT
