Meb Keflezighi didn’t compete in the marathon at the 2008 Beijing Olympics because of a hip fracture. A year later, he became the first American man to win the New York City Marathon since 1982.
Keflezighi plans to run the NYC Marathon on Nov. 6 in preparation for the U.S. Olympic Marathon Trials. He’s aiming for a top-three finish in Houston on Jan. 14 to qualify for the 2012 London Games.
“I want to win New York and sustain the fitness 69 days later,” he said Wednesday in Central Park at a New York Road Runners event announcing marathon entrants.
Keflezighi will compete in the NYC Marathon along with defending champions Gebre Gebremariam of Ethiopia and Edna Kiplagat of Kenya. Three-time Olympian Jen Rhines of the United States, who has concentrated on shorter events, will return after a five-year marathon hiatus.
The 35-year-old Keflezighi looks to run in another Olympics to add to the silver medal he won at the 2004 Athens Games. He said he’s recovered from a knee injury that occurred during an altercation with a dog in Central Park during a training jaunt before the NYC Half-Marathon in March. The dog nipped at him, and he attempted to get out of the way. He finished 15th.
“It’s nice to run without pain,” Keflezighi said.
He is familiar with short turnarounds between marathons. After the second-place finish in Athens, he was runner-up 70 days later at the NYC Marathon.
“He’s a little older, so he has to take care of his body,” said Hawi Keflezighi, his brother and manager.
Keflezighi will run his seventh NYC Marathon, where he’s had five top-10 finishes. The runner from Eritrea, who graduated from UCLA and became a U.S. citizen in 1998, has finished on every step of the podium, sixth (last year) and ninth.
“New York has been good to me,” he said.
Olympic speedskating gold medalist Apolo Anton Ohno will run his first marathon. He characterized his training as “sporadic” because he often travels. His longest run is 10 miles so far.
“I’ve been cross-training and boxing,” said Ohno, who added he’s been working out with NFL players.
TV host Al Roker, actor Ed Norton and Yankee Curtis Granderson were at Central Park on Wednesday for the announcement of lottery winners for the race. A record 140,000 runners applied for the marathon, and about 45,000 will compete in the 26.2-mile, five-borough race.
The 2010 event had an economic impact of $340 million, according to NYRR president and race director Mary Wittenberg. That was a 25 percent increase from 2006 and included growth in the charity program that raised more than $30 million in 2010.