Running Man: Meb Keflezighi on Letterman
Meb Keflezighi, the first American winner of the New York City Marathon since 1982, was on Letterman last night. The topic: The top 10 things that go through your mind while running a marathon. Here's the clip.
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November 01, 2009
Running Man: Meb Makes History at NYC
Running back in the pack with 40,000 marathoners, I was probably one of the last people to learn that American Meb Keflezighi won the New York City marathon this morning, and I couldn't be more excited for him, and the sport of running in the U.S.
This is a historic win -- and by no means an easy one. Mary Wittenberg and the New York Road Runners assembled one of the toughest fields in the marathon's history. Most of the eyes were on Ryan Hall, since he has the fastest PR of the American field, but Meb is an Olympic medalist and always a contender in any race. We've already known that the Americans can run with the best in the world. But Meb's incredible effort today shows that we can beat them. I mean, he out-kicked Kenya's Robert Cheruiyot, the "king of Boston," over the final three miles. Wearing a USA singlet. Pointing to the USA on his chest as he came to the line. Amazing.
Born in Eritrea in 1974, Meb has been living in the U.S. since his family immigrated in 1987, when Meb was 13. He came up through the public school system (San Diego High School), ran cross country and track, and went on run at UCLA. He became a citizen in 1998, and finished second at the 2004 Olympic Games, and his silver there, and Deena Kastor's bronze for the women, showed the American marathoners were a force to be reckoned with. Meb finished second in the 2004 New York City Marathon, third in 2005, and third at Boston in 2006. But a win at a major race has been elusive for the Americans. No American had won NYC since 1982. Now Meb's got it, and so do we.
Hall finished fourth, an amazing showing as well. Among the men, there were six—six!—Americans in the top ten. And on the women's side, American Magdalena Lewy Boulet finished 6th.
On Friday, when I asked the international elites what they thought about their American competitors, South African star Hendrick Ramaala put it this way: "They just have to believe."
And now, who among us doesn't?
—JUSTIN NYBERG
Photo courtesy New York Road Runners
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October 31, 2009
Running Man: Is the NYC Marathon the World's Greatest Race?
Since seeing firsthand the spirit New York puts into its marathon, and hearing the marketing slogan over and over, the question has been on my mind: Is the New York City Marathon the world's greatest race? I want to hear what you think.
The evidence for:
*The prestige. It's one of the five most important marathons in the world, along with Boston, Berlin, London, and Chicago.
*The size. Among those, and all marathons in the world, the NYC Marathon is usually the largest, with over 37,000 finishers.
*The venue. It's held in the streets of one of the largest cities in the world.
*The openness. It's a democratic race. It's not just for elite pros, like the Tour de France. In addition to many of the world's best, there are about 40,000 regular runners and joggers like you or me. And not just the faster ones. There is no qualifying time--unlike Boston, which only lets in relatively speedy recreational runners. And since it's running, it doesn't involve expensive gear or any equipment more complicated than a pair of shoes and a lot of grit. Whether you're Edward Norton, Alanis Morissette, Anthony Edwards, Olympic speed skater Dan Jensen or the Prince of the Netherlands, Christiaan Michiel (all of whom are running this year), you are just one of the pack.
*The lack of barriers. There is very little separation from the event and the rest of us. There are very few barriers along the marathon course. The stars are within reach. This morning, as I warmed up for the race in Central Park with about a thousand other runners, I stopped and shook hands with Ryan Hall, who was just one of many people doing their last pre-race run. I also spotted American stars Dan Browne and Jorge Torres doing light jogs and strides, simply more faces in the crowd. A woman running next to me gushed that she had just spotted Lance Armstrong warming up.
*The crowd. There are an estimated 2 million spectators along the course, making it one of the largest one-day crowds for any sporting event in the world.
*The world field. It's is truly international, with over 100 countries represented. There are about 195 countries in the world, depending on how you count them, so more than half are represented in New York.
*It does not involve motor vehicles, or horses.
The case against:
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Running Man: Ryan Hall's Words for Runners
A few months back I spoke to Ryan Hall, and one of the questions I asked him was what he had to say to runners at the New York City marathon. If it seems a little earnest, it's because it came near the end of a long interview about his charity work for the Hall Steps Foundation, the non-profit he and his wife Sara have started to use running as a tool to help alleviate poverty in Africa. Here's an excerpt from the interview:
Outside: On the topic of inspiration, what’s the one thing that you would say to the readers of Outside and the Running Man blog who are training for New York or are going to be running a marathon?
Hall: ...You’ve got this huge, long road, and you’ve got take this one small step, and the first step is often the hardest step. You get going, you get your momentum going, and it’s just step after step, and before you know it, you look back and it’s just miles and miles...I was running through Yosemite last week and I was running by El Capitan—are you familiar with that climb? I was just running and thinking to myself, ‘I cannot believe that people climb this thing.’ It’s just insane, you know? What would it be like to take that first step off the ground, knowing what you’re about to get yourself into? It’s the same thing with marathoning. It’s a long, hard road and it’s going to have its bumps; there are going to be times when you fall and times when you don’t feel like going on anymore, times when you’re just crazy tired but it takes focusing on that one step you’re taking. That’s what I’m trying to do with marathon; I don’t think about the miles that are coming down the road, I don’t think about the mile I’m on right now, I don’t think about the miles I’ve already covered. I think about what I’m doing right now, just being lost in the moment, I think is real important whether you’re taking on adventures as big as El Capitan or running the New York City marathon
—JUSTIN NYBERG
Photo courtesy: The Hall Steps Foundation
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Running Man: African Favorite to Americans: "They have to believe"
For two decades, American men have run largely in the shadow of international elites at the United States' most prestigious marathons. The last 20 years of highlight reels at the Boston, Chicago, and New York City marathons shows a parade of foreign runners breaking the tape in the men's races—20 Kenyans, four Brazilians, four Ethiopians, four Mexicans, four Brits, two Italians, two South Africans, a South Korean, and a Tanzanian. (The one exception is Khalid Khannouchi, who won Chicago twice as a Moroccan before becoming a U.S. citizen in 2000 and then winning twice more.)
On Sunday, Ryan Hall and America's fastest marathoners will have their chance to prove themselves against many of the best international in the world. At the press conference introducing the elite international runners—several of whom are favorites to win the race—I asked what they thought of their American competitors.
"On a good day they should be able to win the race. It's all in the mind. I don't know if they believe it. They have to believe it," answered the soft spoken South African Hendrick Ramaala, 37, who won the NYC Marathon in 2004.
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October 29, 2009
Running Man: Hall in top shape, Lel withdraws
Quick recap of pre-race news and coverage at the New York City Marathon:
Interesting comment from Ryan Hall today during a press conference today: "My indicators are like I am a minute faster then when I did my preparations for Boston. And if I ran a minute faster, I would have won Boston. So, we'll see."
The NYC Marathon is a race within a race. It's also the U.S. Marathon Championships, and 85 year old institution, but there's not a lot competitive bluster coming from the elite American men about that. "I don't really feel competitive toward these guys," Hall said. "We're going to be working together." Brian Sell, Jorge Torres and the other American's echoed the idea. Regardless of how overshadowed the championships is next to the main NYC race, it's clearly a rare opportunity to see the best U.S. marathoners square off at one time.
NYC marathon race favorite Martin Lel of Kenya withdrew yesterday due to a leg injury. Lel won here in 2003 and 2007, and was among the fastest of the elite men's field going into Sunday's race. Tatyana Petrova of Russia also withdrew from the race.
The Running Times's Jim Gerwick has posted nice profiles of one the race's international front-runners, Jaouad Gharib of Morocco, and Parker Morse wrote a nice pieces on Salina Kosgei, last year's Boston champ one of the top women's contenders, and Marilson Gomes dos Santos, the surprise winner of NYC in 2006 and 2008.
--JUSTIN NYBERG
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October 28, 2009
Running Man: NYC Marathon Primer/Tracking
The NYC Marathon is this Sunday—the women’s elite race starts at 9:10 a.m. eastern, and the men’s elite start is at 9:40 a.m. (I’ll be starting in that first wave at 9:40.)
For those of you planning to tune in...
A little background:
The big question is whether Ryan Hall -- the fastest U.S.-born American marathoner in years -- can win it. This could be a historic day. The last American to win it (Alberto Salazar) was back in 1982. And momentum is on Hall’s side. He went 7th then 5th at recent London Marathons, then 3rd at Boston last April (so if you're one of those people who believe in patterns of sequential, diminishing, odd numbers, he's due!) And on his blog, he’s saying he's in the best shape he's ever been in. Odds: Let's put him at 1:5.
Here's the catch: it's also going to be the toughest field New York has seen in a long time.
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October 25, 2009
The Running Man: Last Minute Injuries? Attack them.
With just a week to go before the marathon, there's got to be a lot of sore runners out there. I'm one of them. Two weeks ago, after a 20 mile training run, my right calf muscle slipped slightly three miles into a recovery run, and I knew the sign: I was very close to having a seriously pulled calf, and having to sit out the race. So I backed way off, got massages, iced, and stretched. I've been using The Stick -- a very effective roller that gets deep into muscles, which is really popular among high-mileage runners. I've also been using an ice cup (water frozen in a big plastic party cup, rubbed on the skin bare) to ice and massage the muscle. So here's the question: If you're nursing a sore muscle, do you pamper it and rest until the marathon? Or do you keep running on it, and if so -- do you do your last hard workouts? For a competitive runner, with moderate soreness, the answer is: hit the hard workouts on a bike or in the pool, and be very attentive to your sore spot. But don't just sit around until the race. Here's coach Terrence Mahon's note to me about last minute injury care, training, and keeping a good mental attitude in the last week.
"If you have access to a chiropractor or massage therapist that does ART (active release technique) that will help a lot. Ice the sore area 1-2x per day to work away at any edema and muscle microtears.
In regard to training... You can't just abandon the miles and wait for things to get better. Circulation will help the healing process a lot. I suggest getting in all of your hard workouts over the next 7 days on the elliptical or bike (see what doesn't bother the calf). You can transfer the intervals to minutes of hard work on those machines and monitor your heart rate if needed to make sure you are getting in a good workout. You can then run for the easy runs to keep you in the routine. If it starts to tighten up on the run then try to stretch it out. If it persists then go to the cross training.
I am a big fan of attacking injuries. Be proactive with your therapy, nutrition and any medicine that you need to reduce the swelling and pain.
Be positive mentally and you will have get yourself most of the way to the starting line. Relax and take some deep breaths.
Terrence Mahon"
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October 24, 2009
The Running Man: Let My People Taper!
Ok, for anyone running the New York City Marathon Nov. 1, it's time to back off the training a little. Actually, it was time to start backing off last week. It's now eight days until the race, and a lot of people have questions about how much training to do in this last week. The answer: Less, but don't cut yourself completely off. Check out the series of workouts Terrence Mahon and his crew at Run Mammoth have set up for me for these last two weeks before the race. You'll see—tapering is not just kicking back on the couch. The weekly mileage hit a peak two weeks ago, and has been dropping off, but I'm still doing speed workouts and tempos, albeit a little shorter than usual.
5 WEEKS LEFT: 60 miles
4 WEEKS LEFT: 62.5 miles
3 WEEKS LEFT: 53 miles
2 WEEKS LEFT: 45 miles
Monday: Recovery - 6 miles at 7:25
Tuesday: Intervals - 6x800 at 2:42 with 3 min rest
Wednesday: Recovery - 6 miles at 7:25
Thursday: Rest
Friday: Tempo - 4 miles at 5:39, 2 miles warm up/cool down
Saturday (TODAY): 6 miles at 7:25 pace
Sunday: Long run -- 14 miles (6 at 6:48, 6 at 6:32 per mile)
Total: 45
FINAL WEEK: 23 miles
Monday: 4 miles at 7:25
Tuesday: Intervals -- 6x600 at 2:08, with 2 minutes rest, 2 miles warm-up/cool-down.
Wednesday: 4 miles at 7:25
Thursday: Rest
Friday: Tempo - 2 miles at 5:51; 2 miles warm up/cool down
Saturday: 3 miles at 7:06
Sunday: 26.2 miles -- all out.
Total: 23 miles
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October 05, 2009
Running Man: One Last Big Week
This is it -- one last big week of training, then let the tapering—and nerves—begin.
With 26 days until the NYC marathon, the Run Mammoth coaches have me hitting 62 miles -- the highest we've decided I should go given my history with injuries showing up as I go beyond 60 miles a week. With less than 4 weeks to go, there's still enough time to gain more fitness from heavy workouts, though the key now is to keep it steady—and not to get hurt. There's nothing you can do to improve your fitness dramatically just one month before a race, so don't kill yourself at this point. At this point, "the hay is in the barn," as my training buddy Marc says. Well, all but one week of hay.
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