http://www.runnersworld.com/elite-runners/could-meb-keflezighi-win-one-more-half-marathon
Could Meb Keflezighi Win One More Half Marathon?
The 2014 USA Half Marathon champ returns to NYC Half.
By
Peter Gambaccini;
Image by
Victah Sailer /PhotoRun
Published
March 14, 2014
Meb Keflezighi, who'll turn 39 in May, is the only elite athlete in
Sunday's NYC Half
who was in the first edition of the race back in 2006, when he was the
runner-up, six seconds behind winner Thomas Nyariki of Kenya.
Keflezighi, the four-time NCAA champion at UCLA who became a 2004 Olympic
silver medal marathoner, the winner of the 2009 New York City Marathon, and
a fourth place finisher at the 2012 London Olympics, is currently
undefeated for the half marathon distance in 2014. He won the USA
Championships in Houston in January with a 1:01:28, 15 seconds ahead of
runner-up Aaron Braun.
It was an encouraging result for Keflezighi, whose injuries limited him to
a 23rd place 2:23:47 at last fall's New York City Marathon. In Houston, he
explained at a media event in New York on Friday, "I wasn't really ready,
ready, but I used confidence now from practice and training."
"I said 'none of these guys [in the half marathon in Houston] finished
fourth at the London Olympic Games. I was fourth. Let me see what I can do
now at the USA national level," Keflezighi said. "I made a move at nine
miles - which I thought was ten miles! I'm like, 'I think I've made my move
too early.'"
But the key, he said, was to "hold your composure and believe in yourself,"
and he came away with what he counts as his 22nd national running title -
though we've seen higher totals for him. "If you asked me when I was at
UCLA if I'd win one USA title, I would be so happy" to do so, stated
Keflezighi.
He's preparing for April 21's Boston Marathon, and in light of the
tragedies that transpired there a year ago, he commented, "every day you
think about this able body that we have. We want to push. We want to be
motivated to give 110 percent. I hope to do so on Sunday."
He's boosted his mileage since winning the USA Half. "I run 12 times a
week," he explained. With elliptical training added in, he's often doing
three workouts per day. "The endurance is there. I was hoping to sharpen up
the last couple of weeks with my speed. My hamstring got a little tight
last week, but other than that, I couldn't [have] asked for a better
training base in terms of mileage."
He's turned in a 15-mile training run at 5:00 pace while putting in 100 to
120 miles per week. After years of living in Mammoth at high altitude in
California, he's moved back to San Diego, "the first city I ever moved to
in the United States, over 26 years ago" when he and his family came from
war-torn Eritrea.
Keflezighi lives not far from Balboa Park, where he did his first running
in a junior high school physical education class. "Who knew I'd be doing
what I'm doing" now, he asked. He will return to Mammoth shortly, however
to put in "three or four weeks" of altitude training prior to the Boston
Marathon.
Confident about his fitness and his progress though he may be, Keflezighi
and the rest of the field have to face the fact that two-time New York City
Marathon champion Geoffrey Mutai has a half marathon personal best of
58:58, more than a minute faster than anyone else in the NYC Half field,
including double Olympic gold medalist Mo Farah.
Mike Cassidy, a Staten Island native now living in Lower Manhattan who
finished the 2013 New York City Marathon hand in hand with Keflezighi, was
introduced to the media Friday as having a "hometown advantage." But
realistically, retorted Cassidy, "I think it's only a hometown advantage if
Geoffrey takes a wrong turn."
*ESPN will livestream race coverage here
<
http://espn.go.com/watchespn/index/_/id/1657085/2014-New-York-City-Half-Marathon>
beginning
at 7 a.m. eastern, as well as stream a finish line camera here
<
http://espn.go.com/watchespn/index/_/id/1657091/2014-New-York-City-Half-Marathon-Finish-Cam>.*
Received on Sat Mar 15 2014 - 11:58:26 EDT