In celebration of Meb Keflezighi’s 10 year anniversary of his 2014 Boston Marathon victory, we will be featuring a Celebration of Meb, highlighting and sharing an aspect of Meb’s life on and off the track and roads leading up to the 2024 Boston Marathon on Monday, April 15. We are thankful to both Meb and Hawi (Meb’s brother and agent) for their partnership on this feature.
The individual nature of running appealed to me. You start at the same place with your fellow runners. You all finish at the same place. How you do is largely up too you.
Meb Keflezighi | Run to Overcome
Finding His Place in Cross Country
In ninth grade, Meb was able to join the high school cross country team for the first time. His two older brothers, Fitsum and Aklilu, were already part of the team. Due to San Diego High School being just grades 10 through 12, Meb was still attending Memorial Academy and would take a bus to SDHS for team practices.
His affinity for running continued to grow and was on display nearly immediately. By the mid-point of his first season with the team, Meb had already become the top runner on the team (a distinction he would not give up for the remainder of his prep tenure). In that season, Meb and his brothers would lead the team in their sectional meet in order to qualify for the state championship event, where Meb would finish 25th overall and first freshman in the state.
Joining the cross country team was about more than just running to Meb. In a post to Instagram in August, he wrote, “For me, cross country was a way to assimilate myself into a new culture, still feeling fairly new to the USA at the time of my freshman year in high school. It gave me an identity other than the kid with a hard name to pronounce.”
His talent in cross country flourished as he continued through high school. He would earn consistently higher places at the California state championship meet, 17th as a sophomore and 3rd as a junior. Meb’s ultimate goal, however, was to find himself toeing the line at the Foot Locker Cross Country Championships, vying for a national title. His senior year at San Diego High presented just that opportunity.
While Meb’s talent for running could not be questioned, he still had much to learn about strategy and racing. It was around this time that he would connect with Ron Tabb in the off-season. In Run to Overcome, Meb said of Coach Tabb, “He was a demanding coach. If we were supposed to run 400 meters in 66 seconds but ran it in 63 or faster, he’d make us do it again. (This happened once – we learned our lesson.) It was okay to go slower than goal pace. It was not okay to go faster. He wanted to teach us a sense of pace, discipline, and patience.”
During his 12th grade season, Meb was undefeated running through the sectional qualifiers, setting course records along the way. First on his homefield of Morley Park at the state qualifier, he ran 15:04.5 (nearly 20 seconds faster than the previous course record). Following the race he told the press, “Last year, I’d just go ‘Zoom,’ I didn’t have any strategy. I have more maturity.” Meb’s growth as a runner had begun to pay dividends, as his unbeaten streak continued and made him the favorite for the upcoming state meet, which he would win and earn his first California state cross country title.
Winning the state meet entered Meb into the regional qualifier ahead of Foot Locker Nationals. Having finished 10th at this meet the year prior, just missing nationals by two spots, he was motivated and running smarter than before, and came away from the day with a third place finish and a berth as one of the 32 runners vying for the national title.
At the 1993 Foot Locker Cross Country nationals, Meb joined a deep field and would face experienced national-meet runner Adam Goucher (who had run the meet the two years prior as well), in addition to Bob Keino (son of legendary Kip Keino). They maintained the lead pack for the race, though at the end of the day, it was Goucher who would come away with the victory, and Meb as runner-up. He wrote in Run to Overcome, “As much as I wanted to win, I couldn’t complain about second place. Goucher had more experience…He had a great day. I was consoled that our West team achieved our goal of winning the team title.” Memorably for Meb, his father lifted him high above the ground in celebration.
A Miler at Heart
Now that cross country season had come to a close, Meb was focused on track. Though he was well skilled in the longer distances, he considered himself a miler, and in his senior season, was ready to once again prove himself on the national stage.
Much like his senior cross country season, Meb’s track season was filled with victories and records. He would primarily run 800m, 1600m, and 3200m, and ran the fastest time nationally on the year in the 3200m (8:51.8). At the state meet, Meb would earn titles in the mile and 3200m, but the goal was nationals.
For the national meet, Meb traveled to North Carolina to face off against the best prep runners in the country in his final high school meet. He was entered in both the mile and 3000m, that latter of which would be contested first. He wrote in Run to Overcome, “Entering the meet, I wasn’t sure whether I would try to double in the 3000 meters and mile or just focus on the mile. On Saturday night, about 45 minutes before the 3000, I decided to enter the event. I figured since I’d won both the 1600 and the 3200 on the same day at sectionals, I could double at nationals.”
The decision to run the 3000m was the right one, and Meb earned his first national title. He knew, however, that the next race, the mile, would be the big test. In that race, he faced Seneca Lassiter (who would go on to become an NCAA and USA Champion in the 1500m). After pushing the pace early, ensuring it would not turn into a kicker’s race, Meb broke the tape a second and a half ahead of Lassiter, finishing in 4:05.58 to earn his second national title as the fastest high school miler in the country.
Though he would go on to greater distances through his time at UCLA and his well-known professional career, the mile still holds a special place in Meb’s heart. Again, from Run to Overcome, he says, “I didn’t realize it at the end of my senior year, but my identity as a miler was coming to a close. I haven’t run a mile competitively since 1998…part of my still remains a miler.”
Check back each day between now and April 15 for the continuation of the 26 Days of Meb.
Day 1: Meb’s First Mile | Day 3: New York Times Best Selling Author
