From an article on ESPN.com today about Meb. From the little I know, Meb has always been the consummate professional (and knows you have to finish races to win them).
http://espn.go.com/sports/endurance/story/_/id/12469971/endurance-sports-meb-keflezighi-done-yet
"How has he managed to be so good in his late 30s?
Keflezighi ticks off the reasons. He lists his supportive wife and sponsors, his attention to proper nutrition, and the way he takes care of himself when he's not actually running.
He gets physical therapy, he visits chiropractors, he makes rest a priority and he uses the low-impact ElliptiGO for cross training.
"I spent tons and tons of money and tons of time to stay healthy, because that's the name of the game for me at this point," he says.
[+] EnlargeMeb Keflezighi
AP Photo/Seth Wenig
The support of fans -- in San Diego and elsewhere -- is something Meb Keflezighi enjoys and is thankful for.
Running is the easy part. He can run hard for two hours, but says what he does in the other 22 may be more important.
Also, that high school mentality -- wanting to be a miler, not a marathoner -- has played a role. He evolved from the 5K to the 10K to the half-marathon to the marathon.
"I was never the high-mileage guy," he says. His body was spared a bit, relative to his age.
Plus he knows his body completely. He'll often change his workout plans during a day based on how he feels.
Former UCLA coach Bob Larsen, who recruited Keflezighi and has been his coach or mentor since that freshman season of 1994, says he's been able to be elite for so long because of his intelligent approach and work ethic.
"He's been very good at doing the more boring parts of training and taking care of himself," says Larsen, who encouraged such runners as Keflezighi and American women's marathon record-holder Deena Kastor to work with him at altitude in Mammoth after he retired from UCLA in 1999.
"Great distance runners like to go out and run. Very seldom have I known a runner that didn't want to put the miles in. But very few guys want to do the stretching, do the ancillary work that helps them get to the top level, stay at the top level for a long period of time."
Whether it's his diet, warm-ups, cooldowns, cross-training work or injury recovery, Larsen says Keflezighi takes every aspect seriously."