Meb Keflezighi: Lessons Learned from a Life Spent Running Marathons

Hi. My name is Meb Keflezighi. I’m an Olympic silver medalist and New York and Boston Marathon champion. You don’t always learn all the important things when you win races, but you also learn from when you lose races. And sometimes hope is important.

So for example, when I was at the 2005 New York City Marathon on August 8, I remember rupturing my right quad. And you have to be ready by November, first week of November, and you need eight weeks off of not training. But having faith, having hope, it allows you to cope with it, and it allows you to surround yourself with good people, and you end up in third place.

I didn’t run my personal best. I was three seconds off my personal best. And I think, you know what? I’ve got it. If I can stay healthy, if He can keep me healthy, if I do the work, it makes you realize you can win. So injuries are setbacks, but allow you to reflect back what you—you can do even better when you have the faith of the people around you and God, and say, “Hey, you know what? Sometimes He can take it away and teach you. And sometimes He can, when you least expect it, give you more blessings.

My next book is 26 Marathons: What I Have Learned About Faith, Identity, Running, and Life Over My Running Career, and I hope people learn a lot from it, just because like life, there’s a lot of struggles that you go through, ups and downs, and the marathon is a perfect metaphor for life.

And through all the marathons that I have done, 26 competitive marathons, I learned a lot. Where there’s up and down, or hope, or faith that allow you to say, “Well, you know what? If I can stick to it, I think I will prevail.” And most people know me as an Olympic silver medalist, Boston and New York win, but I’ve done 26 marathons. You don’t win all races, but you can learn from all of them.