A week ago, while Ryan Hall was running around sunny Walden Pond, Meb Keflezighi was back home in Mammoth Lakes, Calif., navigating through a foot of snow.

Last November, when Keflezighi was basking on the podium after winning the New York City Marathon, Hall was frustrated in fourth place.

In 2007, after Hall was high-fiving fans en route to winning the Olympic trials in New York’s Central Park, Keflezighi was sitting on the curb sobbing, worried his career might be over after finishing eighth.

Keflezighi and Hall, the United States’ premier marathon runners, belong to the same team and live 1,000 feet from each other in California. But they have rarely been in step the last three years. Too friendly to be marquee rivals, they are more like good neighbors who pass each other on the trails.

Each has his own coach, style, workout regimen and distinct marathon results. Keflezighi, a gritty, methodical runner, has the medals and finally got his major title; Hall, a gutsy frontrunner, has significantly faster times, but still lacks a big-city victory.

On Monday, they will line up in Hopkinton, Mass., for the 114th Boston Marathon, each hoping to become the first American man to win the race since 1983.

“I respect Ryan, we’re good friends and I wish him nothing but the best,” Keflezighi, 34, said this week from California. “I hope one of us does come first.”

Then, laughing, he said, “Of course, I hope it can be me.”

Hall, 27, was in the hunt last year in Boston before battling headwinds and finishing third.

“There’s this brewing fire in me,” Hall said this week from Boston. “I’ve tasted it. I know I can run even faster.”

Hall is at his best when he can lock into a rhythm early and, as he put it, “just fly.” At London in 2008, Hall ran the second-fastest time ever by an American — 2 hours 6 minutes 17 seconds — in finishing fifth. He has announced that he wants to break the American record (2:05:38, by Khalid Khannouchi) on the flat Chicago course this fall.

But Hall also showed he could steamroll the hills of Central Park. Just as he ran that course before the Olympic trials, Hall came to Boston three weeks early, leaving the 8,000-foot altitude in Mammoth Lakes to gain a different advantage.

Hall wanted to become accustomed to the rolling hills, markers, potholes and winds. Last year, he ran as if burst from a cannon, going 4:28 in the first downhill mile, following a scientific study. He never sustained a rhythm or kept the study. “I threw it out after the race,” he said.

This time, he opted for his own research, with a little help from the four-time Boston winner Bill Rodgers. The two have been exchanging e-mail messages and met one day two weeks ago for a brief run. “When you get familiar with the course, you are more in your element, you can flow out of that,” Hall said.

Keflezighi, meanwhile, feeds off the flow of competition. He proved he was a championship racer by winning the silver medal at the 2004 Athens Olympics, the first American man to medal since Frank Shorter in 1976. In New York, Keflezighi overtook the leader, Robert Cheruiyot, in the final miles to win his first marathon after seven years of near-misses and severe injuries. Perseverance — Keflezighi came to the United States at age 12 after his family escaped war in Eritrea — is his mantra.

Hall’s and Keflezighi’s opposing styles rekindle the age-old running debate over medals and records — and which determines success.

Rodgers has been dazzled by Hall’s talent since his eye-popping marathon debut in London (2:08:24) in 2007. “He’s one of the most, if not the most successful runners since Frank Shorter, who won and won and won,” Rodgers said, but quickly added, “I would say, though, at this point, Meb has achieved a higher level, and that was really cemented in New York.”

Hall, too, was impressed by Keflezighi’s performance in New York.

“It was just cool to see him win after many people had written him off,” he said. “Seeing his age — not that he’s at the end — but it’s good to see a guy out there hit it and pick up victories.”

Keflezighi turns 35 on May 5. He is the father of three girls, the youngest just turning 3 months. Keflezighi opted to stay in Mammoth Lakes until the last possible moment — for his family, and also to make up for lost time.

In January, he injured his left knee after falling on ice, which curtailed his training in February and contributed to his dropping out of the New York City Half Marathon in March. He is still bothered by slight tendonitis, but said he was encouraged by his 100-mile-plus training weeks the last month.

“Obviously he wouldn’t be running Boston if we didn’t think he could come up with a strong competitive race,” his longtime coach, Bob Larsen, said.

Hall, too, had an injury last winter. He finished second at Phoenix’s half marathon in January, when he was bothered by adhesions in his legs and received treatment in February.

Before their injuries, the two did a few tempo and long runs together, but with Hall wanting to push the pace and Keflezighi more methodical, “that doesn’t always lend itself to training together,” said Terrence Mahon, Hall’s coach, who oversees the dozen elite athletes in Mammoth Lakes.

Keflezighi mentored Hall when he began running marathons, and the two now compare notes. Mahon hopes the team’s bonds, albeit loose, will help them against the Ethiopians, led by the defending champion, Deriba Merga, 29, and the Kenyans, featuring the newcomer Gilbert Yegon, 21, who ran a 2:06:18 in Amsterdam last fall.

No American man has won New York and Boston back-to-back since Alberto Salazar in 1982, when he outdueled Minnesota’s Dick Beardsley in the broiling April heat.

“If an American wins Boston, whether it’s Meb or Ryan, that would just be a huge, huge story,” Rodgers said. “And if Meb gets it after winning New York, that would be quite something.” Source: (The New York Times)

The race’s home, the ‘Monte Valonsadero’ circuit, is a beautiful forest on the outskirts of Soria well-known for having been 1992 Olympic 1500m champion Fermín Cacho and 1997 and 1999 World Marathon gold medallist Abel Antón’s usual training place for many years.

Undoubtedly, the marquee athletes on Sunday will be Ethiopia’s Gebre- egziabher Gebremariam and Kenya’s Linet Masai. Both stars should continue their successful European tour following Gebremariam’s sprint wins in Atapuerca (8 Nov.) and Oeiras (21 Nov) while Masai also kicked off her XC season in style by capturing a solid win in Llodio last Sunday.

Trying to deny Gebremariam top spot will be Eritrea’s Kidane Tadese and his fellow Ethiopian Mesfin Hunegnaw, a top-ten from the last World Championships in Amman who more recently took second at the Quintanar permit (15 Nov) sandwiched between Spain’s Alemayehu Bezabeh and Eritrea’s Teklemariam Medhin.

As for Kidane, a respectable ninth at the Berlin Worlds over 10,000m just a place ahead of Gebremariam, he recorded a third spot in Llodio where Hunegnaw had to settle for seventh while Issak Sibhatu, also of Eritrea, will also look for a top-five performance on Sunday.

Test for powerful Spanish squad

But the event also acts nationally as the key selection race – alongside last weekend’s Llodio permit - for the Spanish team for the European Cross Country Championships in Dublin (13 December) where the Spaniards will be looking for a hat trick of team gold medals following their top spots accomplished last year in Brussels and the previous season (2007) on the home soil of Toro.

Despite the absences of the three-time European Cross Country silver medallist Juan Carlos De la Ossa, who underwent surgery last month and will miss the entire winter season, and Chema Martínez – focused on his Marathon career after being the leading European at the last World Championships in Berlin - the ‘red-men’ should still be regarded as favourites for the gold medal in Dublin.

Apart from Bezabeh, - who will skip Sunday’s cross since he has planned a build-up for Dublin in his native Ethiopia - the local hopes on Sunday will rest on Ayad Lamdassem as the Moroccan-born 10,000m specialist (27:45.58 PB) came seventh in Atapuerca to improve to fifth in Llodio. The 28-year-old was the top Spaniard at the last Europeans in fourth.

Other local athletes on the Dublin ticket quest include Francisco Javier López, and Manuel Penas (a 27:58.76 10,000m performer) who finished ninth and tenth in Llodio just ahead Uganda’s Boniface Kiprop; the former World Junior 10,000m record holder, also in contention in Soria, is making a return after being forced to miss the 2009 outdoor season due to a groin injury.

3000m European indoors 4th placed Sergio Sánchez, top steeplechaser Eliseo Martín and reigning European 5000m champion Jesús España are also in the line-up.

Masai unchallenged?

In the women’s section Kenya’s Linet Masai appears as the only and overwhelming favourite. The in-form reigning World 10,000m champion is fresh from a more-than convincing victory last Sunday in Llodio where she built a huge margin over the rest of the quality field.

Masai, who is also the current World Cross Country silver medallist from Amman, became a heroine for the Kenyan fans last summer when she took the World 10,000m title back to Kenya after a 12-year Ethiopian stranglehold in the event since Sally Barsosio managed the win in Athens 1997.

Still 19, Masai should not find opposition from Portugal’s Ana Dias; the experienced 35-year-old, a 16th placed at the Berlin World Championships also over 10,000m, will be making her cross country season this campaign after a 2h30:12 Marathon effort five weeks ago in Venice while the Spanish contingent will be headed by the 30-year-old steeplechaser Rosa Morató, fresh from a fourth place in Llodio and a creditable fifth at last year’s Europeans in Brussels.

Among the illustrious winners in previous years in Soria are: Ethiopia’s 2000 Olympic 5000m champion Million Wolde (1997), Kenya’s 2001 World 10,000m champion Charles Kamathi (2002), his compatriot Sally Barsosio (1994) who took the 10,000m gold medal at the 1997 Worlds in Athens, and Eritrea’s 2007 World Cross Country champion – and current bronze medallist - Zersenay Tadese who took top honours in 2004.

Weather forecasters predict a cloudy day on Sunday with almost 100% of rain likelihood and a temperature range between 6ºC and 8ºC by the time of the event. Source: (IAAF)

When Meb Keflezighi finished the New York City Marathon in two hours, nine minutes and 15 seconds the morning after Halloween, he became the first American to win the race in 27 years. But some spectators apparently missed the three red letters on his chest as he burst through the tape. Keflezighi is only “technically American,” argued CNBC sports writer Darren Rovell. He’s “like a ringer who you hire to work a couple hours at your office so that you can win the executive softball league.”

Though Mr. Rovell has since backtracked, nobody recalls similar comments about Alberto Salazar, the Cuban-born American who won in 1982. And if Meb’s name was Joe Smith and he was born in England rather than Eritrea, few would have questioned his national identity.

When I meet Meb the morning after his appearance on the David Letterman show—almost as great as winning the race, he quips—he is unbothered by the debate raging on the Web about his American-ness. “What’s the list of things you need to be an American?” he asks rhetorically. “You live here, you pay taxes, you live by the American way. I’ve been here for 22 years. I’m as American as you can get.”

As for wearing the USA tank top: “What a beautiful day to wear it on. In New York, to win my first marathon in that jersey—it just gave me great pride.”

Talking to the 5-foot-6-inch athlete as he is massaged, iced, stretched and bent by his physical therapist on the Upper West Side, I could easily forget that he is one of the fastest men in the world. Unlike so many other professional athletes—huge in ego and stature—Meb is modest in both.

Which is not to say the 34-year-old isn’t thrilled about winning his first marathon. “My email is full, my texting is full, my voicemail is full,” he tells me with an incredulous smile. “I was kind of late coming here because for the first time since I got to New York I went to the breakfast place at the Hilton. And it was nonstop: ‘You’re not leaving ’til I get this picture,’ or ‘I need your autograph.’”

Yet he’s quick to add: “It’s a big honor. With fame and with winning comes responsibility.” Meb doesn’t see the need to be a role model as a choice: “You have to. People are following you whether you like it or not.”

It’s almost too convenient to chalk up Meb’s character to his upbringing. Nevertheless, like so many other immigrant success stories, understanding Meb’s parents and their values is essential to understanding who he is. He puts it simply: “They molded me.”

Born in 1975, Mebrahtom (his full name means “let there be light”) grew up in an Eritrean village with no electricity and no running water. Besides poverty, Meb’s parents, Russom and Awetash, feared for their family’s safety because of Russom’s involvement with the Eritrean Liberation Movement and because of the ongoing war with Ethiopia. Meb’s father decided to flee. “He walked all the way”—60 miles—to Sudan, Meb says. Russom eventually made his way to Milan, Italy, where he worked to raise the money to bring his family out of East Africa.

On Oct. 21, 1987, a date that rolls off Meb’s tongue, the family immigrated to San Diego as refugees with the help of the Red Cross and the sponsorship of Meb’s half-sister, Ruth. “Dad used to wake up at 4 a.m. so we could learn English,” Meb says. “He worked as a taxi driver and worked in restaurants to be able to feed the family.”

Meb adds, “You start on the bottom, work hard, and your dreams will come true—and that’s what happened. We have a very successful family because my parents always emphasized using the opportunity you have to the maximum: ‘There are a lot of people that don’t have this opportunity, so make sure you use it.’ That stuck in our head.”

They stressed school to their 11 children. “Sports was not in our blood or in our family,” Meb says. “So it was ‘Do what you can and work hard. Your teachers are your parents when you are at school. They want the best for you, so make sure you listen to them.”

Meb’s oldest brother, Fitsum, was the trailblazer. He started ninth grade not knowing a word of English. By the end of the year, he won the top academic prize. The Keflezighis still have the tiny trophy 22 years later.

That ethic was key to Meb’s success. “When I started running for the first time—seventh grade—I wanted to get that A, just like my parents taught me.”

Meb had never run in his native country and had no concept of running as a sport. But his family’s San Diego apartment was down the road from Morley Field where the national Foot Locker high school championship is held. “When I saw them running, the high school champions, I was like ‘What are these crazy people running for?’ They’re not chasing a soccer ball or anything else.”

Meb’s two older brothers decided to take up the sport, he says, and “I just followed in their footsteps.” At 12, he ran his first mile. He clocked in at five minutes and 20 seconds—with no training. Dick Lord, the PE teacher at Roosevelt Junior High, called up the high school coach on the spot: “Hey, we got an Olympian here.”

Ron Tabb, who ran the marathon in 2:09 in 1983, saw similar potential in the young runner. Meb recalls Mr. Tabb seeing him practice in 1992. “He said: ‘You’re going to be a great marathoner and make the Olympic team in 2000 and be a medalist in 2004,’” Meb remembers. “So a lot of people did read my future.”

By his senior year in high school, he says, “I ended up being one of those crazy guys running in the national championships.” From San Diego High School, he went off to UCLA. Bob Larsen, who has remained his coach until today, offered the straight-A state champion a full ride. There he became a four time NCAA champion. And in 1998, the year he graduated, he became a citizen. Meb traces his success back to those years. “It goes back to high school—you try to be the best high schooler there is, and then to be the best collegiate runner you can be.” Unlike team sports, “with running, it’s just you and what you decide to get out of it.”

If Meb sounds old school, that’s because he is. His message for young people is simple: “Life is precious. Do something that is optimistic—that is good for society. Don’t sit on the couch.” His heroes, other than the list of American long-distance runners he rattles off (Jim Ryun, Steve Prefontaine, Steve Scott, Eamonn Coghlan, Paul Tergat), are Jackie Robinson and his parents. About himself, he says: “My God-given talent was discovering when I could run 5:20. Not everyone can run 5:20 . . . I was definitely gifted, but I have to work hard.”

His determined training has helped him defy people’s expectations. At the 2004 Olympics in Athens, Meb was ranked 39th out of 101 runners. He walked away with the silver medal with high hopes for the Beijing Olympics.

The Olympic trials in 2007 brought no such victory. Not only did Meb not make the Beijing team—he finished eighth—he fractured his hip during the race. Then there was the terrible tragedy of Ryan Shay’s death. The rising marathon star and Meb’s close friend suffered a massive heart attack during the race. During this year’s marathon, Meb crossed himself in the spot where Shay went down.

“The darkest part of my running career was last year,” he says. “I could have easily hung it up.” Was he tempted to retire, I ask? “Oh yea. I’m not going to say I wasn’t. I couldn’t walk—I was crawling like a 10-month-old baby,” Meb says about his hip fracture.

Recovering from the injury took a year and a half of intensive therapy and “hard work.” But “hard prayer” was also crucial for Meb, who, like his parents, is a deeply religious Christian. Though his training schedule doesn’t always allow him to make it to church every Sunday, he makes time for prayer “every day before I go to sleep and every day before I get up.” He also uses the 15 minutes he spends in the ice bath for reflection: “Every day in the ice bath is my God time,” he says.

As he healed from his injury “I really got to know who my friends are—who’s got my back.” One of them is Bob Larsen, his coach for 18 years. “It’s like a marriage,” Meb says about their relationship. He’s “a great mentor.”

Meb lives and trains in Mammoth Lakes, Calif., a hub for distance runners because of the high altitude. Though the distance varies from day to day, there is no escaping the reality that marathon training is every day, approximately 130 miles a week. Sundays, Meb runs at least 20 miles, sometimes up to 27 or 28 miles. Thursday is a recovery day, “which means you run just 10 miles in the morning and then a few in the afternoon.” Fridays are a “simulation of what the marathon will be like: He runs “race pace or faster anywhere from eight to 15 miles.” He also bikes and lifts weights, though he has to be careful not to build up too much muscle. “For 26.2 miles, you want to be a lean, mean machine.”

“During practice,” he says, “probably 90% is physical and 10% is mental. When it comes to race day, it switches because you know your body is ready and then you have to use your head to be able to perform.”

To pump him up for this year’s race, Mr. Larsen encouraged Meb to pretend he was “going on a long run with his buddies. Relax for the first hour and get to work after that.” Marathons, Meb says, “are about patience and even pace.”

He followed that strategy on Nov. 1, sticking with the elite pack, even allowing himself to drift a few feet behind the front runner. The wind, he says, was the hardest part of the race. But Meb realized he was in a fantastic spot as he ran up Fifth Avenue. “With two miles to go, I knew I had it in the bank,” he says. As he entered Central Park at 90th Street, he saw his opening and pulled ahead of four-time Boston Marathon champ Robert Cheruiyot of Kenya.

British marathon champion Paula Radcliffe has said that she sometimes counts her steps during marathons—300 steps in a mile. “I do not count my steps at all,” says Meb. “I take in what the crowd is doing—screaming Go USA, or Go Meb! The crowd is always going to get you through the good and the bad.” And the New York crowd, he says, is simply “the best that there is.”

As Meb ran through the finish line to screaming crowds, he crossed himself and kissed the ground. Seeing his wife, Yordanos, put him over the edge.

“When she saw me—I can’t put it into words,” he says. “Here’s a guy that couldn’t walk, that couldn’t turn in bed because of my hip fracture . . . so when we saw each other we just broke down in tears.” Meb credits his wife, who is also a native of Eritrea, as critical to his ability to perform. “She is seven months pregnant, we have two kids, and I’m the one who’s taking a nap. She’s very unselfish. She’s been a big part of this success.” When he met her, right before the 2004 Olympic trials, “we just clicked about God and family and perseverance.”

As he allows his body to recover—with ice baths, eating the right protein, and physical therapy—he is focused on his next races. The 2012 Olympics are a clear goal. Many are speculating that he might go for a win in Boston this April. “I really think I can do it. I’ve done it once and I finished third. Now I know the course and I’m healthy.” How much time can he shave off? “The body can do amazing things. I still believe my best times are ahead of me.”

Meanwhile, he’s savoring his win. And next week, he’ll be back to New York, this time for the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade. Meb will be riding with Miss America—on the Statue of Liberty float. Source: (The World Stree Journal)

Filmon Ghirmai

Filmon Ghirmai, or “Fili” as the Germans nicknamed him, is Germany’s best 3000 metre steeplechase athlete with origins in Eritrea.

Like many of his colleagues in the athletic sports world Filmon has to keep the balance between being a professional athlete, employee and entrepreneur.

By the age of 17 Filmon used already to draw media attention, because he was perceived as one of the young hopefuls for the national athletic sport.

The 30 year old sprinter was born in Eritrea and knows how it is, having to meet all expectations without loosing a single smile.

In 2007, he sprinted to victory during the European Cup in Athletics in Munich. Early this year he won the 10000 meters as an underdog in a smaller competition, leading to the German Championship in Athletics this summer.

Filmon is always aiming to remain free and independent in what he is doing. No one knows better than Filmon Ghirmai himself, that this sometimes is the tougher road to go for the price of greater freedom.

Intending to keep his career options balanced and free, with a business degree and a half day job at a German company, “Fili” became a one-man corporation.

For many years he used to be trained and managed by Dieter Bauman, who is a former middle- distance runner and Olympic champion from Germany. There is an athletic profile of Filmon Ghirmai at the home page of the German Athletics Federation.

Today the Eritrean born sprinter is his own manager and aiming to qualify for the 12th IAAF World Championships in Athletics 2009 in Berlin. Therefore, he has to run the steeplechase in 8:23 minutes during the German Championships in Athletics in the beginning of July.

The preparations for these competitions are to 95% done by Filmon himself without any third party coaching. This can mean more than just physical preparations, since someone also has to deal with the commercial management of issues related to such competitions.

As a one-man show, the athlete has to take care of public relation and marketing of his brand, in order to assure that funds and sponsors are coming in.

This has become a very difficult task, especially in times of a financial downturn, such as face right know. So far he has found Asics shoe manufacturer and a local mineral water company as his sponsors. However, Filmon Ghirmai knows that he would not have to worry about sponsors anymore, if he should qualify for the World Championship in Berlin.

Moreover, he seems to have the survival instinct of an Eritrean, because people who know “Fili” say; “If he makes it to Berlin, he will definitely aim for the 2012 Olympics in London.”.