{"id":461,"date":"2010-07-03T06:59:58","date_gmt":"2010-07-03T13:59:58","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/eatdrinkrunwoman.com\/?p=461"},"modified":"2010-07-04T07:55:50","modified_gmt":"2010-07-04T14:55:50","slug":"my-interview-with-meb","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/eatdrinkrunwoman.com\/?p=461","title":{"rendered":"My interview with Meb"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

While I was thrilled with the opportunity to interview Meb Keflezighi<\/a>, winner of the 2009 New York Marathon and Olympic silver medalist, I started to panic. I wanted to ask him about running, but I hoped to ask him something I could relate to.\u00a0 What could we possibly have in common?\u00a0 Yes, we both ran the 2010 Boston Marathon, but he crossed the finish line more than two hours before I dragged my sorry ass across.<\/p>\n

Mind you, I didn’t have much time to prepare — I had only found out about the opportunity two hours before I was to meet him.\u00a0 Since I hadn’t actually spoken to the Sony PR rep myself, I had no idea if I’d be meeting him one-on-one, or if it would be a group interview.\u00a0 But my darling and I mulled over a couple of questions as we drove back to the expo.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

We arrived at the Sony booth to find a long line snaking around waiting for his autograph.\u00a0 I spoke to one of the Sony reps who had just found out I’d be coming.\u00a0 The autograph session was supposed to go until 1 p.m., then he was all mine.\u00a0 I decided to hop in line myself in order to get my bibs signed (I brought my Boston bib as well).\u00a0 When I realized the session would go long, I told the Sony rep we could skip the interview as I didn’t want to take even more of his time.\u00a0 But they kept assuring me it’d happen (perhaps they thought I was some big-shot running blogger!)<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>When I finally got to sit down with him, I was starstruck; it was as if I was in the presence of royalty (extremely humble royalty!)\u00a0 He greets you with a warm smile that lights up his face, grasping your hand in both of his.\u00a0 He’s clearly appreciative of the opportunities his adoptive country has given him, and I couldn’t think of a better ambassador. (He was floored — and extremely honored — when my darling asked him to sign his passport as a patriotic gesture).<\/p>\n

When asked what opportunities he sees for his young daughters that he didn’t have in his native Eritrea, he beamed.<\/p>\n

“This is a great country, a melting pot,” he said.\u00a0 “I want them to follow their passions.\u00a0 If it’s running, great, but if it’s something else, that’s fine.\u00a0 It’s all about self fulfillment.”<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>His two oldest daughters, ages 4 and 2 (his youngest is 5 months) are already expressing some interest in running.\u00a0 They’ll position themselves as if on a starting line for a track race, then yell out “On your mark, get set — GO!” and sprint off.\u00a0 While he’d love them to follow his passion for running, he simply hopes they’ll stay active.<\/p>\n

“Anything to get them off the couch,” he said.\u00a0 “Sports teaches you a lot about life — accountability, hard work — there are no short cuts.\u00a0 Same with education; you wouldn’t skip high school and go directly into college.”<\/p>\n

In addition to fitness, health and education are his other passions, and to promote and support these causes he is launching the MEB Foundation, which he says stands for “maintaining excellent balance.”<\/p>\n

I was also curious how he approached his races in terms of a goal.\u00a0 I assumed his “A” goal would be to win, but does he come up with secondary or even tertiary goals?\u00a0 Ever since my blowup at the North Olympic Discovery Marathon in 2008 — where my end all\/be all goal was to BQ — I’ve learned to come up with other goals to keep me motivated should my A goal slip away.\u00a0 Do elites think the same way?<\/p>\n

Turns out Meb does.\u00a0 “You don’t want to make your primary goal untouchable, but you should some up with A-Z goals.\u00a0 It’s all about self fulfillment.”<\/p>\n

As I left the expo clutching my autographed Rock ‘n Roll bib, it dawned on me I blew it with Meb — Food!\u00a0 THAT’S what we ALL have in common!\u00a0 Here I am a personal chef and runner, why didn’t I ask him about food?\u00a0 What does he eat before a race?\u00a0 Does he allow himself any guilty indulgences afterward?\u00a0 Is he able to find food from his native country here in the U.S.?<\/p>\n

Oh well, perhaps I’ll get a second chance to talk to him in Boston next year<\/p>\n

\n

\ud83d\ude42<\/p>\n

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While I was thrilled with the opportunity to interview Meb Keflezighi, winner of the 2009 New York Marathon and Olympic silver medalist, I started to panic. I wanted to ask him about running, but I hoped to ask him something I could relate to.\u00a0 What could we possibly have in common?\u00a0 Yes, we both ran […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[143,115,145],"class_list":["post-461","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-fitness-musings","tag-meb-keflezighi","tag-seattle-rock-n-roll-marathon","tag-sony"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/eatdrinkrunwoman.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/461","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/eatdrinkrunwoman.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/eatdrinkrunwoman.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eatdrinkrunwoman.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eatdrinkrunwoman.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=461"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/eatdrinkrunwoman.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/461\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":483,"href":"https:\/\/eatdrinkrunwoman.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/461\/revisions\/483"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/eatdrinkrunwoman.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=461"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eatdrinkrunwoman.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=461"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eatdrinkrunwoman.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=461"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}