12 Quick Facts of Meb Keflezighi

By Scott Bush

What a win! Meb Keflezighi continues to inspire a generation of American distance runners with his truly amazing and courageous win in Boston. Get to know the Olympic silver medalist, NYC Marathon winner and now Boston Marathon winner a little better.

Follow Meb on Twitter (@runmeb) and bookmark his website (marathonmeb.com)

1. Born on May 5, 1975, Meb is currently 38 years old…the oldest winner of the Boston Marathon in it’s 118 year history.

2.  His 2:08:37 win in Boston is the first time an American man has crossed first since 1983 and the first American overall since 1985.

3. Meb is the only American to win an Olympic medal (silver in 2004), NYC Marathon and Boston Marathon (courtesy of David Monti)

4. He moved to the United States when he was 12 years old with his family, as a refugee from Eritrea.

5. Meb started running in middle school in San Diego and went on to be California state champion for 1,600m and 3,200m in 1994 before heading off to UCLA.

6. A 3-time Olympic qualifier, Meb finished 12^th in the 10k in 2000, won silver in the marathon in 2004 and finished fourth in the marathon in 2012.

7. Talk about smashing streaks…in addition to his historic Boston win, Meb became the first American man to win the NYC Marathon since 1982 and first American man to win an Olympic marathon medal since 1976.

8. Meb wrote ‘Run to Overcome,’ after his 2009 NYC Marathon victory. Looks like he’ll need to update it.

9. An expert over all terrains (track, roads, fields), Meb is winner of three USA Cross Country titles (2001, 2002, 2009).

10. His personal best over 10k of 27:13.98 was the American 10,000m record from 2001-2010.

11. Meb has had the same coach,Bob Larsen, since his freshman year at UCLA.

12. Meb’s winning Boston Marathon bib listed the names of those killed in last year’s marathon.