Khalid is back...

In it to win it wrote:

NY runner wrote:

Meb already did for US. It did wonders.

Yeah, it sure did! It showed us that instead of hard work, all we need to do to have an American medal is to have an African wear our singlets!

(Insert Staple's Office Supplies commercial button: That Was Easy)

He's been here since the late 80's. He went to high school and college here. His training is all through the American system. He's American. End of story.

Anyone notice his brother is running for Simmons at VIC? Not sure how old he is but I heard that he has bounced around colleges for a while.

NB Games this past weekend:

24 Khannouchi, Alae Eddine Virginia Intermont 8:35.10

kents wrote:

Anyone notice his brother is running for Simmons at VIC? Not sure how old he is but I heard that he has bounced around colleges for a while.

NB Games this past weekend:

24 Khannouchi, Alae Eddine Virginia Intermont 8:35.10

Must have been training through it.

Yes, he will be in shape, no doubt. Why don't WADA chase such runners? 1.06 is nothing but terrible but im sure he will run 2.06-2.07 again and it stinks... and makes me pissed!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I think you will find that KK has represented the US at least once that I can think of. He DNF'd (with blisters) the marathon at the 2001 world champs in Edmonton.

[quote]NY runner wrote:

Look Meb went HS and College here, he's american enough. KK with that type of performance won't be making the team. He's never competed for US.

[quote]

Can't agree more. Runners close to KK when he really was at his peak know for sure waht he was taking. But with EPO you could race more frequently, since that became detectable blood doping is the solution, but you can't peak all time.

Get a grip!

KK has been in the US for over 15 years; there are avenues whereby you can become a citizen having been in the US for only a year. He went to college in the US, he is married to an American and all of this success has been achieved in the US. Thousands of people immigrate to the US every year; this has been going on for over 200 years. What has KK done that is so different from all of the other immigrants or maybe you don't consider anyone a citizen who was not born.

Also, KK did not come from under a rock; start taking drugs and then run a 2:05 marathon...there is no drug in the world capable of that. He had moderate success on the track as a small college athlete. He began running road races for fun and to supplement his income and realized as he moved up in distance he got better. He eventually ran a marathon and found his calling.

In terms of his talent, he ran the fastest debut marathon in history to win the 1997 Chicago marathon. May be you think he was on drugs then, at that time he was living in Brooklyn washing dishes for a living and living in an apartment with 3 other guys. (Btw - PE drugs would be very expensive on a dishwasher's salary.) KK is a pure marathoner, when he runs a half marathon as a lead up to a marathon, he has run some good times, but other than that, every race you see his name listed in the results, you can completely disregard his performance. KK will not make any adjustment to his marathon training to accommodate other events. KK does almost nothing but run, he runs long and hard everyday; everyone who has tried to train with him has ended up injured. Like I said, he is purely a marathoner; he is not very fleet of feet. I doubt he could run better than a 4:10 mile, yet he can run 4:45 miles forever. He beats other great marathoners but punishing them, at the point where they want to back off, he pushes the pace and never lets it dip above a world record pace. When he is in rhythm, there are only a few athletes in the world who can hang with him.

At the 2002 USATF Annual Meeting, KK was presented with USATFs Pacesetter Award at the. The award is presented on special occasions to individuals who embody the highest ideals of the organization. He is a nice guy, a big supporter of running in general and will do anything that is asked of him as long as it does not interfere with his training. His greatness is in his monk like approach to his lifestyle which is built around training.

I personally think injuries and wear and tear have taken their told on him, but even a half baked KK is still among the top 10.

Yes! Excellent post. That is KK.

From their interview in May of 2002:

Mensracing.com -

"Given your performances on fast courses in London and Chicago, you don't really have much reason to go anywhere else. But you've also run half-marathons like San Blas, which is by no means a fast course. Do you sometimes race just for the fun of racing, just to go out and be the fastest one on the day?"

KK -

Yes. I think you don't want to keep putting pressure on yourself to just follow fast times. Sometimes I go to other races just to see. Especially, in the winter season, I like to go to San Blas because that's a race that is really tough. It tells me if I'm weak or if I need better winter training or not. That really tells me where and what I am. I like to go there because that's a hard race. You cannot [always] go to a fast course just because of the stress of chasing times or records. I don't like to do that."

have you run a 1:06 half? please advise, thanks.

Exactly. KK is one of the toughest runners on this planet. He would make a guy like "Pre" look like a 3 year old still peeing in his pants. Those who bash him are just a bunch of pussies who would crap in their pants if they even thought of trying to follow his training program.

Is this the same tough runner that pussed out and dropped out of the Shamrock Shuffle 8K in Chicago when he was losing to some Hanson guys?

Hyperbole run amock but I do think most here cringe at the thought of closing out 26.2 with 4 x 4:40.

that's a helleva job. he was probably off the juice and pussed out.

world champ wrote:

I think you will find that KK has represented the US at least once that I can think of. He DNF'd (with blisters) the marathon at the 2001 world champs in Edmonton.

[quote]NY runner wrote:

Look Meb went HS and College here, he's american enough. KK with that type of performance won't be making the team. He's never competed for US.

[quote]

Everyone always forgets Abdi in this discussion.

Bernard Lagat, Kenya

Meb Keflezighi, Eritrea

Abdi Abdirahman, Somalia

Khalid Khannouchi, Morocco

All-America Team 2008!

First 8.5 miles uphill. Usually hot, humid, and in the afternoon.

________________________________________________________________________________

NY runner wrote:

Look Meb went HS and College here, he's american enough. KK with that type of performance won't be making the team. He's never competed for US.

________________________________________________________________________________

KK ran for the US at the World Championship Marathon in Edmonton. He DNF'd, but he HAS competed for the US before.

Thats the best comeback you have, NY runner? After all that Track Coach just said about KKs greatness, you still diss him about not being American enough to please you.

You are nothing but a hater. KK is a phenomenal athlete, and will do what it takes LEGALLY to succeed.

Are you as obsessed with finding out if Lance was on drugs too? Or is he too American to cheat?

Get a life.

he held the record at steamboat 4miler for ahwhile