ING NEW YORK CITY MARATHON

November 6, 2005

Meb Keflezighi

MEB KEFLEZIGHI: With a mile to go I saw my training partner with a mile and a half to go. He said, come on, get there. My whole goal was to get there, and when he made a move I couldn't go, I couldn't accelerate. Not to make excuses, world record holder, New York City defending champion and to overcome what I overcame this year, I'm delighted to finish where I finished. I thought I could pull it off, but, hey, third is not bad.

MEB KEFLEZIGHI: I was feeling great the whole way starting, but the best advice I could give to the other guys was to be patient on First Avenue. I was into it, I was feeling good, I didn't want to go, but I have to cover because Hendrick is the defending champion. So he put me in that kind of position and have to respond and I almost stopped, I had to get my water at 16 because it was right after the turn, but, you know, I just said -- and I had 4:23 on my watch, so it was pretty fast. But the crowd was phenomenal. Every step of the way, it's just amazing feeling. They drive you, give you the energy, especially "Go USA. Go Meb," and that's what carried me through.

MEB KEFLEZIGHI: I came back on August 14 or 15, Florida, did some treatment there. Then on the 6th, I went back to San Diego. On the 10th, we had our opening in San Diego. Right after that, I said I'm going to go for three to five weeks and told my agent I was going to go there and give it a shot for four for five weeks. If it comes, it comes and if it doesn't, then I will know then. I stuck it out there for five weeks, things were coming around and I was putting in the miles. I didn't do second runs, I just did -- every day I was running. I definitely put everything I can to get ready for the ING New York City Marathon and the rest was "God be with me." He definitely was with me.

MEB KEFLEZIGHI: You know, it was kind of hard to judge. This is the second time running with Tergat and he was comfortable where he was. He was more patient than all three of us. I wasn't sure if he was going to, you know -- if he was hurting or he'd just been kind of playing it down low. He kind of made a couple of moves on First Avenue, when I came up to them, as you saw, Hendrick made another move when I caught up to them and that hurt me, but that's part of racing. I did the same thing, try to shake him off but he was patient and came through Central Park.

MEB KEFLEZIGHI: Both calves, about 24 and a half or 24 miles.

MEB KEFLEZIGHI: Well, I guess DiCecco broke the first one. At that point I said, who is that guy? I didn't know who it was. It was the 208 guy and just said, well, you'd better go after him. Part of the strategy is to have a key, if Robert made a move, someone made a move I'm definitely going to respond but if anybody else made a move I have to know what the credential is. So I asked Mark while running who he was, and what was his pr, and he told me, 208 something, and he said, "You'd better get serious with him."

MEB KEFLEZIGHI: We talked and it was definitely to be conservative, but I'm a competitor. I get in there and do the best that I can. Today, again, I made it an exciting race and a lot of people talk about Kenyans beating us but only one Kenyan beat me today. Just want to get up there and be competitive, and get down to mile 23, and if you're feeling good with two miles to go, make sure you push it. We tried to do that, and they were actually ahead of me, so I just tried to be as competitive as I can.

MEB KEFLEZIGHI: It is. What we have right now, myself, Ryan Shay, Matt did a great showing today. Chris was here, not sure how he did. But it's there and there's a lot of other youngsters coming. It's just nice to see and to be in the mix.

MEB KEFLEZIGHI: It was pretty humid at the beginning. We were sweating a lot. As it went on, for me, I'd rather have a little warm than be too cold. So in terms of reflecting the time, about 1:05 or 1:05 and change, I knew it was going to be a slow race at that point. I was just thinking in my head, "Get yourself to the finish line in first place, if you can." So time was irrelevant at that point.

MEB KEFLEZIGHI: That's the secret of choosing a marathon. (Laughing). I'm a very consistent runner and due to my work ethic and my discipline and hard work, of course, we will sit down and talk about potentially a spring marathon and whether it's to go for a title or for a fast time and title. Even if I compete at a flat course, I can get out of there with a title, whether it's London, Chicago, or whatever it might be. New York is a very challenging course, and I got close to it, my pr is still 9:53 last year and I got very close to it after missing all of that training this year. So we'll sit down and talk about where the next marathon is going to be.

MEB KEFLEZIGHI: Yes, I was scheduled to do London this year, and unfortunately it was an Achilles trouble, not overtraining or anything. I got attacked -- not attacked, but I got chased by a bulldog. I don't have any luck with dogs. That's what happened after New Year's on January 14 or 15. My Achilles got messed up and I had to take a long time off after that. The reason it was a dog, I was attacked by a German shepherd in Athens ten days before the race.

MEB KEFLEZIGHI: I'm not disappointed. You know, New York, the ING New York City Marathon, the New York running staff did a great job in putting the best field out there. They have so many defending champions, so many London champions or Boston champions or whatever you want to call it, but that's what it is. I love competition and they did a great job, world record-holder. He did have four minutes on me, four or five minutes, so, you know, we can't count him out and that's what New York is, it's pure competition.

MEB KEFLEZIGHI: You have a flat course and challenging course, but the distance is 26.2 miles. It might be just a little incline up Central Park, so you have to consider it. You're not going 4:43 or faster, but the rest is all the same, it's 26.2 miles, we all know that.

MEB KEFLEZIGHI: I knew they were not going to come back. I was hurting a little bit, but for me it was, okay, I could get closer to third place but I'm still going to be third place. I just want to make sure nobody comes from behind and get that third spot. Like Mary said at the press conference, to be on the podium is huge. For me to be able to overcome what I overcame this year and to be at the podium again means a lot to me, and I'm a very talented runner, God has given me a great talent to run and try to maximize the best that I can.

MEB KEFLEZIGHI: Of course, I jokingly was saying, if I pulled this one off, I would have several week training in my program. Unfortunately, I didn't pull it off. It just gives me such a great confidence to be able to say, you know, if I'm injured eight weeks or ten weeks out, I still have time, or 12 or 13 weeks out. I still have a chance to put it together.

MEB KEFLEZIGHI: When Paul was behind and catching up to us, I was surging a little bit. I got up to him and he surged. Paul got to us and I tried to surge again. But at one point I just said, it's all about competition, just be comfortable and, you know, it was a great thrill for me to be there I was in 2000 to be in the lead and get the crowd excited.

MEB KEFLEZIGHI: Probably two, three times probably.

MEB KEFLEZIGHI: He ran his own race and I ran my own race. At one point I was looking back and he said, "I'm here," and then there was -- he said I think Hendrick was in the lead and then went back. He said, "Hendrick is still there." But other than that, we didn't talk much.

MEB KEFLEZIGHI: He has done a lot of marathons, but he has been successful at what he does. I think he gave me that advice in '98, he gave me advice when he took me out for a coffee or tea. I said, "I want to be a great athlete like you." He says, "You can do it. You've just got to be patient and small progress." That was the best advice he could give me. He said, "If you really want, I can give you my workouts but I'm a different level," and he was definitely at a different level in 2000, he was the silver medalist and I was in 12th place. From what I know, he's just a hard-working guy and disciplined.

MEB KEFLEZIGHI: I'm getting married to my wonderful fiance in less than two weeks. I don't know when my next race is, no rush, there was a sign that says, "What's the rush?" I guess get there first. (Laughing). I'm not in a rush to get in shape. I'm probably going to exercise probably 20 or 40 minutes a day and work with Larson and stretch a lot to avoid injuries and make sure I take care of my calves. I'm in good shape right now. It's not like I'm in bad shape right now. I'm in good shape in terms of physical right now.