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American Meb Keflezighi wins NYC Marathon
1-Nov-2009
Written by: Matt Bultman
For the first time in 17 years an American wins the marathon
34-year-old Meb Keflezighi won today’s New York City marathon, becoming the first American man to win the race in 17 years.
Keflezighi led a group of 6 Americans who finished in the top 10, the most since 1979.
The last time Keflezighi raced in New York City, there wasn’t much to celebrate for the native of Eritrea.
In 2007 Keflezighi limped to an 8th place finish in the Olympic Trials, only to find out later that he had a stress fracture in his hip, a possibly career ending injury. Ryan Shay, Keflezighi’s teammate and friend collapsed and died in the same race.
"A lot of people were kind of starting to write him off, saying he's older and he's had too many injuries and all this," said Ryan Hall in an interview with the AP. Hall is Keflezighi's neighbor and occasional training partner in Mammoth Lakes, Calif.
Challenges are nothing new to Keflezighi who has had to overcome adversities his whole life. Growing up in Eritrea, Keflezighi lived in a hut with no electricity. Soldiers would comb the village looking for boys 12 years or older to take to war.
As a result, Keflezighi and his parents moved to Italy when he was 10 years old. Two years later they came to the United States. Keflezighi attended UCLA, where he stared for the track team.
According to the AP, Keflezighi made his marathon debut in New York in 2002, finishing ninth. He was second in 2004 and third in 2005.
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