A Harlem 26.2 reader sent me an email last week commenting on how they've been spotting Marathon Superstar Meb Keflezighi training in Central Park lately. There on the left below is a photo of Meb near the Reservoir on the East Side in Central Park training.
Steve Nearman of the Washington Times today has written about about Meb Keflezighi, the article struck with me as illustrative of "not-so-good journalism" and a defeated runner, I shall address in detail as to why. Steve Nearman wrote, " Meb Keflezighi is supposed to be training for the 2008 Olympics in Beijing. But in the marathon world, things rarely go as planned.
[ME: I disagree. For elite superstars like Meb it's common for them to race near their maximum potential for that day - sometimes that equates to 8th
place or 15th, etc. Even for weekend warriors like me it's not "rare" for things to go as planned]. Keflezighi, expected to be a shoo-in for the U.S. Olympic marathon team this summer, failed to finish in the top three at the U.S. Olympic trials men's marathon last November. Keflezighi, who won the silver medal at the Athens Olympics in 2004, won't be running in Beijing. "Obviously, it was very disappointing," said Keflezighi, who was eighth in 2:15:09, more than a mile off his best time. "My cards didn't play right. The last thing I was expecting was not making the team. I went in trying to win the race."
[ME: "my cards didn't play right? wtf does that mean? I've spoken with Meb numerous times - have ran with him in Central Park - he knows better than to rationalize performance in this context - random chance or "cards" had nothing to do with his performance]. For the American from Eritrea, every marathon since New York City in 2005 has been a disaster. "I'll be honest with you, the last three marathons have not tested my fitness," said Keflezighi, who is training in San Diego before moving to altitude at Mammoth Lakes, Calif. "Starting with New York City and the food poisoning in '06, London and the blisters in '07, then the trials (at miles 15-16, his right calf became painful, causing him to overcompensate and injure the glutes and piriformis).
[ME: cry me a river Meb, really - take your excuses to someone who cares -your competitors and boss (Nike) don't. I was sick as a dog on NYC Marathon Day '07 - on Chloraseptic, Nyquil & some other crap - no one cares - you're a pro - you know you are what you are, that day, you just have not done the right things to have a better next day]. "You try really hard. Sometimes you have to get lucky, and I haven't been lucky. Every marathon since the '05 New York City Marathon, I haven't been on the podium."
[ME: Meb's done y'all. Finished, I say he should hang up his Nike's and coach somewhere. This is not the psychology of a Champion]. Keflezighi said he is still early in his training, fighting a head cold and still recovering from the injuries from last November's trials. He was hoping to run the USA Cross Country championships because the meet is in San Diego.
[Why even bother saying you're fighting a head cold in the moment? Good gracious - hell us everyday runners deal with all sorts of crap on a daily basis not even worth mentioning - but we press on, Meb's done]. Instead, he will skip cross country and prepare for April 13, when he will run the London Marathon.
[My read
ers, remember how I told you the Boston Marathon is demised and fading? Another example, Meb has a better chance to win and earn more money @ Boston than in London, especially in the category of the earmarked prize money for the first American, etc. - yet here we see Boston's lost any luster of appeal and today I will be rooting for the Giants to kick the Patriots ass in the SuperBowl!, so take that Boston!]. Then Keflezighi's focus will shift to his only other chance to qualify for the Olympics this year — this time in the 10,000 meters on July 4. "It's definitely a competitive, tough field," said Keflezighi, who will turn 33 in May. "Like the marathon, it will be loaded. I still will do a fall marathon."
[Meb's lost y'all - and I will say this to him in person. #1 you never look ahead. When you're a pro, your total focus is on your next race, that's it, not a B plan or the following race after next. If Meb is racing in the Olympic Trials in July @ 10K for a spot on the Olympic team, victory negates a Fall Marathon as he'll be training for a medal in Beijing @ 10K and on the Olympic team. Mentally he's already conceded he won't qualify his July 10K race and is looking past it]. He has not committed to that fall race yet, although he has run a marathon in New York the past four Novembers. Keflezighi has won two 10,000-meter races in the Olympic trials, one in 2000 when he was 12th in the Olympic final in Sydney despite having the flu and one in 2004.
[notice the pattern of excuses by Meb? I do]. But he opted to compete only in the marathon in 2004, when he won the silver in the Marathon. "My training has been there," Keflezighi said of his preparations for London. "I'm just getting started again. Maybe I will take a week off after London, then 12 weeks to the Olympic trials." When asked whether he would go for the marathon at the 2012 Olympics, Keflezighi laughed. "As long as the body is healthy, in the marathon I still have a shot at it," he said. "Carlos Lopes did it [won the 1984 Los Angeles Olympic marathon in a still record 2:09:21], and he was 37. I am still 32, plenty of time for the marathon." [END]. Pretty lousy journalism if you ask me. Why? The writer never mentions a peep of Meb's less than spectacular middle distance racing & Half marathons since his great NYC 2nd place. The writer never probes into "solutions" to the series of repeated problems - he just swallows what Meb says hook, line, and sinker, and Meb says a lot of nonsensical bullshit and yes, anything can happen on marathon day but for Meb it's been happening also on his middle distance race days for the past years too, 10Ks, and Half Marathons. I hold professionals on a totally different and higher standard than I do us regular people that just run when we can. It's their 24/7/365 job to just run - that's it, that's all. Meb's high on a pattern of juvenile amateur excuses on his critical day of
professional performance: (1) Food Poisoning? (2) Blisters? What next Meb? I suppose a Dog Ate Your Homework? I counter this with a runner like Paula Radcliffe - who 10 months after pregnancy and giving birth to a child - came back and won the NYC Marathon. Do you think Paula had a few physiological obstacles to marathon running to overcome? Like Meb, Paula too is a professional Nike runner. The difference between them? Paula's got no excuses, not even pregnancy. Meb? Oh he's got an upset stomach. Have a great day.