Who else read Meb Keflezighi’s new book 26 Marathons: What I Learned About Faith, Identity, Running, and Life from My Marathon Career and loved it? I obviously did, as I keep talking about it. I read a copy from the library, but am going to put it on my birthday (in July, ha) wishlist so I have my own copy to mark up!

I like memoirs, especially running ones, and I love Meb, so this book was right up my alley. In 26 Marathons, Meb discusses each of the, yes, 26 marathons he ran over his 15 year marathon career, beginning with the NYC Marathon in 2002 and ending with the NYC Marathon in 2017. Meb is the only US runner to have medaled in the Olympics in the Marathon (Athens 2004, silver), and won both the NYC Marathon (2009) and Boston Marathon (2014). But if you’ve read this far, you probably already knew that! And he’s no slouch in the shorter distances – holding records in the 10K and half marathon (and probably other distances I am too lazy to look up) at certain points of his career. But yeah, this book was mostly about his marathons.

Each chapter of the book devotes ten or less pages to each marathon, and begins with the “key lesson” from each race. It was a quick, easy read, and I enjoyed learning more about his experiences at each race, and the training leading up to them! And I especially loved the behind the scenes deets/secrets <— cause I’m nosy.

I won’t review each chapter, but I do want to share some thoughts from the book:

• The marathon is SUCH a tactical race for elites. A lot of thinking goes in to when to stay with the pack/share the load, and when to make your move to break away. A lot of it seems to come down to who you can break away from in the last 10K (or even 5K), by surging for 400 meters then slowing back down to their pace, and hoping they are so beat down they can’t catch back up. Meb learned from each race what the best tactics were for him, and for the course. For example, he learned right away that runners surge at First Avenue (miles 17-19) in the NYC Marathon (he went with the surge at his first race and that wasn’t the right decision for him!). He also learned a lot about how to race the Boston Marathon (don’t go out too fast on the downhills like he did his first time there!).
• Elite athletes work together at races. They draft off each other, and talk about whose turn it is to lead the pack. They (mostly) encourage each other, and congratulate each other after. There was a mention of Galen Rupp bumping in to Meb too much at the 2016 LA Olympic Trials. Meb told Galen to back off and he didn’t. Why did reading that NOT surprise me?!
• Elite marathoners have a lot of financial stress to finish in certain placements at races (Meb did in his Nike clause), to make enough money to support themselves and their families. Meb gave a bit of insight in to his Nike contract, which I found interesting. (Meb’s contract with Nike ended in January 2011 and he signed with Sketchers in August 2011.)
• Man, Meb went through so much physically. He messed his left foot up at a half marathon in 2007, and the foot was a wreck (blisters) in every marathon after that. Then at NYC in 2011 he raced the entire race with a Breathe Right strip in his left shoe! That didn’t help the situation. He also dealt with bone fractures and ruptured muscles. Later on in his career, heat affected him more and he’d have vomiting waves at races. Eek! Meb is amazing, and always came back smart and strong but reading all that made me wonder if human bodies are meant to run that many marathons and at that pace!!!
• Meb had a lot of great races, but he also had a lot of not so great ones that he learned from. His biggest takeaway from the mishaps was to always control what you can, including your attitude. Him sharing the random things that happened to him and derailed him made me feel better about what happened to me at my last marathon. Totally not on the same scale, I know!
• I can’t believe someone stole Meb’s laurel wreath from the 2004 Athens medal ceremony. What the eff, folks.
• Reading this made me want to reread Meb for Mortals, but alas, it’s in storage, with the rest of my books.
• Reading this also made me wish I’ve been a Meb fan since I started running. I wish I was following him when he won NYC. I was when he won Boston, and was lucky enough to watch the live coverage of him winning!
• If you’re interested, here is Runner’s World’s “10 Things We Learned Reading Meb’s Marathon Memoir.” (pdf here)