NYC Marathon winner speaks to his hometown San Diego
Read related: San Diego High School alum Keflezighi wins NYC marathon
Meb was happy to be home and celebrate with the crowd, made up mostly of San Diego running enthusiasts, former coaches, running partners, and fans.
“You can read, you can practice, you can visualize all you want, but to actually do it… even more so, to wear that U.S.A. jersey,” Meb said.
Meb, a San Diego High School alumnus became the first American man since 1982 to win the New York City marathon on Sunday.
Born in Eritrea, the 34-year-old runner became a U.S. citizen in 1998. He was second in New York in 2004 and third in 2005. Wearing “U.S.A.” on the front of his jersey, Keflezighi won in two hours, nine minutes, 15 seconds.
Keflezighi’s first marathon victory caps a stirring comeback for the 2004 Olympic silver medalist, who underwent 18 months of therapy on a stress fracture in his hip. Keflezighi’s results in 2009 have included: U.S. championships, victories and personal bests in the marathon, half-marathon, cross country and in the seven-mile distances.
City News Service and Associated Press contributed to this article.
Tags: Balboa Park, first, Gold, hall of champions, Meb, Meb Keflezighi, new york marathon, race, running, SDNN, Uncategorized, winner
READER COMMENTS
2 comments
POST A COMMENT
* Required to comment
-
- Man falls to his death at Qualcomm office building
55 - Sheriff Gore confirms body found in Chelsea King case 45
- Remembering Chelsea King: Leave your comments 45
- NAACP urges UCSD to punish creators of 'Compton Cookout' party 41
- Rancho Bernardo community concerned by sex offender mail carrier 33
- Yates: Ire about racism at UCSD is misguided 29
- Barber: Who killed Chelsea? A sexually violent predator 27
- UCSD race tensions rise after 'Compton Cookout,' use of n-word 26
- Ladd: It isn't impossible to stop illegal immigration 25
- San Diego Zoo coping with cranky elephants 23
- Man falls to his death at Qualcomm office building
-
- Obama rallies support for final health care votes Rallying support at a campaign-style rally in northern Virginia on Friday, Obama said the insurance industry will continue to "run wild" if the House vote set for Sunday fails.
- Woman struck, killed in Oceanside ID'd Maria Elena Gomez-Bucio was struck in the 4000 block of Oceanside Boulevard around 1:15 p.m. Thursday.
- Hundreds without power after East County blackout The outage occurred at 2:19 a.m. and affected addresses in Fletcher Hills, El Cajon, Lake Murray, Mission Gorge and Sycamore Canyon, the utility reported on its Web site.
- Empowering Parents: Dealing with education budget cuts Video: Find out today what you can do to ensure your child has the choice of attending college and let the educators worry about where the money will come from.
- Hacksaw: SDSU loss to Tennessee not a defeat for Aztecs program Opinion: In losing, SDSU fell to (0-6) in its March Madness history. But this was not really a defeat. It was a testament to hard work, brightness, court awareness and leadership.
- 21-year-old Marine killed in rollover crash The passenger was a Marine stationed at Marine Corps Air Station Miramar, the county coroner's office reported on its Web site. His name was withheld pending family notification.
Blogs
A More Perfect Union
Salgado: My wheelchair can’t hold me back but budget cuts can
1 hour, 44 minutes ago
A More Perfect Union
Parent: First Environmental Report Card finds city leaders lacking
1 hour, 54 minutes ago
America's Finest Sports Blog
Chargers trade Whitehurst for draft positioning
17 hours, 38 minutes ago
Comment by: Elliot Posted: November 6, 2009, 5:11 pm
Pretty cool to see a San Diego runner accomplish as much as Meb has!
Comment by: hmmmm Posted: November 7, 2009, 10:59 am
How is he a San Diego native if he was born in Eritrea?