HONOLULU MARATHON
FL MORRIS / FMORRIS@STARBULLETIN.COM
American marathon runner Meb Keflezighi earned a silver medal at the 2004 Olympics.
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Marathon, Meb charm each other this week
Officials hope the star runner will love Honolulu enough to want to run next year -- at an affordable fee
Mr. Honolulu Marathon, five-time winner Jimmy Muindi of Kenya, walked into the elevator at the Outrigger Reef Hotel yesterday. A man capable of wresting that title from him, American Meb Keflezighi, stepped out.
Destiny calls for them to eventually meet again, on the streets of East Honolulu.
"I welcome the challenge," Muindi said. "Better runners make the race better. Meb is one of the best."
THE 34TH ANNUAL HONOLULU MARATHON
Start: Sunday, 5 a.m., at intersection of Ala Moana Boulevard and Queen Street; ends at Kapiolani Park.
Participants: About 29,000 runners are expected.
Prize money: $40,000 each for winners in men's and women's division, and an extra $10,000 for breaking course record; $150,000 total purse.
Dominant nation: The Kenyans have won the men's division 16 times since 1985. Women from former Soviet republics have won nine of the last 10.
Course records: Jimmy Muindi, Kenya, 2:11.12; Lyubov Morgunova, Russia, 2:27.33
Economic impact: $100 million in visitor spending and $4.4 million in tax revenue.
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The dream matchup won't happen this year, but it could in 2008, Keflezighi said. The 2004 Olympic marathon silver medalist is here ostensibly to take part in a 5K today as one of the legends of distance running.
"I feel a little awkward about it," said Keflezighi -- he's the only legend still in his prime.
Race director Jon Cross is a smart guy. He met Keflezighi at the Boston Marathon, and invited him to come check things out. He knows Keflezighi is a big draw no matter what he does. And he can hope Keflezighi will like what he sees this week and want to run in the real race one of these years -- enough to do so at a discount.
No one's coming out and saying it directly, but it's a recruiting visit.
Keflezighi's six-figure appearance fee causes sticker shock to all but the biggest-budgeted of race directors.
"It's safe to say that among the American distance runners, he's top of the scale," said David Monti, editor and
publisher of Race Results Weekly and a consultant for major races.
But Keflezighi said he would like to run Honolulu in 2008, after he completes a little task of winning Olympic gold in Beijing.
"Hopefully I can do (Honolulu). The timing is right," said Keflezighi, who, like most elites, runs just two or three marathons a year. "Everything is negotiable."
The Hawaii sun and spirit can melt away hard business edges. And the charismatic Keflezighi is smart enough to not rule out anything. Plus, Honolulu's slow track doesn't bother him.
"I run well in the heat," said Keflezighi, who honeymooned on Maui exactly a year ago. "A title would be more meaningful to me (than a shot at a world's record time)."
Keflezighi almost didn't come for today's fun run with his heroes and the beach time with his wife, Yordanos, and baby daughter, Sara. He's hurting inside; three close relatives of his were murdered last week in Oakland, and Keflezighi is here only because of his strong sense of honor.
"I didn't run a step last week, because of what happened, and now is not a good time for that. But when I make commitments, I try to make them come true. Running teaches you about commitment," Keflezighi said. "It was a very tough decision. It was tragic what happened, there's no answer to what happened. Two of them were at my wedding last year, all of them at my brother's wedding. We were close."
Keflezighi is no stranger to senseless violence. When he was a child in his native Eritrea, he saw a lot of it during that country's civil war. That's why his parents moved him and his 10 siblings to Italy and then San Diego when Keflezighi was 12.
"I knew no English. It was very difficult. I had to watch cartoons to learn the language and I was held back a year," Keflezighi said.
He didn't know he had running talent until he ran a 5:20 mile in a middle-school P.E. class without any training.
"That gave me a lot of self-esteem," he said.
He shined academically, too, and dominated in track and cross country at San Diego High School. Along the way, he graduated from UCLA, where he was a multiple NCAA champion, and became a naturalized U.S. citizen in 1998.
"(Being American) is a very big honor for me. Independence is huge, and this is the land of opportunity. Sometimes there is too much freedom, and some take it for granted," he said. "But I was born into a civil war, and no electricity or running water, so I don't think I ever will."
His father drove a taxi double shifts so Meb and his siblings could get the best education possible. Brothers and sisters are doctors, lawyers and engineers.
Keflezighi has developed into a shrewd businessman. He approached Nike in 2001, and with the help of running legend Alberto Salazar, secured a lucrative sponsorship deal.
At age 31, he is still looking for his first marathon victory in eight attempts.
"I thought it might be at New York (last month), everything seemed right," he said.
But food poisoning caused by a bad piece of chicken did Keflezighi in, and he finished 21st. He's loved in New York, where he's run the marathon four times, coming in second with a p.r. of 2:09:53 in 2004, just a few months after Athens.
"It's Meb's story, coming to America as a young kid and being raised here, but he still has one foot firmly in his Eritrea roots," Monti said. "He's very Eritrean, but embodies the American Dream. In New York, people really relate to his success as an American and his roots."
Donation to Masya family:
The Honolulu Marathon Association will present Joan Masya with $5,000 tonight. Masya is the widow of three-time Honolulu Marathon winner Benson Masya, who is being inducted into the race's hall of fame tonight at 7 p.m. at Oahu Country Club.
Benson Masya won the 1991, 1992 and 1994 races. He died in 2003 after a long illness at age 33.
Joan Masya and the couple's three young sons live in poverty in Kenya.
"There are some days when Joan has to decide if she eats or not so the children can have enough," marathon spokesman Pat Bigold said.