Philadelphia Half Marathon-99

Khalid tried to push the pace early on, but had no followers. Look at his splits for the race and notice that the third mile was the slowest, as noone wanted to take the pace. Also notice how evenly paced this race was, something we should all strive for. At 8 miles, Khalid surged and took a lead, which he kept without a fight to the end. 

Khalid's next race will be a 5 Miler in Attleboro, MA, the Ro-Jack 5M on October 3. He is looking for a race to keep his confidence up as he peaks for the Chicago Marathon. He will do his last long run a few days after the race, then will taper to 75 percent of his usual mileage with 2 weeks to go and to 40 percent in the last week. 

4:38
4:41
4:53
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4:34
4:38
4:40
4:43
4:35
4:31
4:39
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4:25
:29

Falmouth Road Race

Khalid gives credit to John Korir for running an aggressive race in very difficult conditions. Torrential downpours had left puddles all over the racecourse, so while the ran had slowed during the race, the footing was difficult. Khalid felt he couldn't run aggresively himself- he would have liked to put the hammer down as usual, but he couldn't. This was a race he really wanted to win to give him the fourth threepeat of the year. He will go for this third victory at Falmouth next year.

People's Beach to Beacon 10K

Khalid says this is a race to do: scenic course, great cool weather. The first part of the course is easier than the latter half, which is hilly. The last mile he ran in 4:40, slow for him due to the hills. 

    1   27:48 KHALID KHANNOUCHI      27 
    2   28:19 JOSEPH KIMANI          26 
    3   28:22 WILLIAM KIPTUM         28 
    4   28:41 ABRAHAM ASSEFA         27 
    5   28:49 ABEL ONDEYO            22 
    6   28:56 JOHANNES MABITLE       31 
    7   29:01 JACKSON KABIGA         22 
    8   29:17 NIGUSO URGE            34 
    9   29:40 TODD WILLIAMS          30 
   10   29:51 TERRANCE MAHON         28  

Arthur Anderson Bastille Day 5K

 Khalid Khannouchi  13:38
 Nigussu Urge       14:04
 Joseph Kahugu      14:12

A talk with Khalid
by Greg Diamond

I talked to Khalid the week after his Peachtree victory, and while it is easy to get him animated about his running, there was another passion that excited him. A few days before his second place at the LaSalle Banks Chicago Marathon last year, he threw out the first ball at the White Sox game. He wasn't too happy with the results, as the ball bounced well before it's intended recipient. He says he will be more prepared this time, if he gets the chance to throw out the first ball at a Chicago Cubs game, which seems likely. And when Khalid says he'll be prepared, you know he will.

After months of a frustrating achilles injury, Khalid finally put together some quality training at altitude in the past couple of months. He trains in Albuquerque with a Southern Mississippi student, Yousri Elmejdoubi. They stay in an apartment with no phone at about 5000 feet. Khalid says it takes three to four days of easy running to feel more comfortable at the 7000 foot level at which they do their trail running. Then they add in some fartlek, gradually increasing the intensity. Eventually, they add track workouts, doing those at 6000 feet. He therefore goes against the general feeling that one should live at higher altitude and move lower for high intensity workouts to retain speed. Khalid feels he can do his track workouts at high intensity even at 6000 feet. Upon returning to sea level, after a few days to acclimate, he feels very fast and fit. Khalid won't return to altitude this year. Marathon training, with it's higher mileage, takes enough of a toll. The added recovery needed from workouts at altitude add an additional burden to high mileage, so Khalid will stay at sea level until Chicago.

After Khalid's poor performance in Cleveland, he heard through the elite grapevine that his career was over. His performance at the 4 miler in Steamboat recently did not reduce that feeling, as his time was not near last year's. But Khalid was very happy with the race, feeling he did what he had to do, answering competitors' moves and winning with relative ease. Coming into Peachtree he had regained his confidence and felt that winning the very competitive 10K was possible.

At Peachtree, the competition was good and the race was hard, with heat and hills to contend with. After the first three miles, before the hills, Khalid was a few seconds back, keeping contact with the pack of about eight or nine runners. Once they reached the hill, the pack began to dwindle and he was left with John Korir to beat with one mile to go. As has been his way over the last several years, Khalid broke the race open at that point, taking a large lead into the last downhill section. He didn't have to use his famous speed at that point, and remembering his months of achilles problems, coasted in with a two second personal best. Clearly, better was possible.

As he enters the next few races, marathon training becomes the focus, with less importance given to the shorter races he will run in the next two months. Chicago is the primary goal, since Khalid wants dearly to regain his  crown there. He has had great experiences in Chicago and he loves to go back. Time is of secondary importance to him. In the coming weeks he will run the Arthur Anderson Bastille Day 5K in Chicago on July 16, followed by the Peoples Beach to Beacon 10K on August 7 in Maine and then the Harvard Pilgrim Falmouth Road Race the following Sunday, where he looks to become the first runner to win three in a row. That race is much like Peachtree with warm temperatures, high humidity and a great downhill finish.

After Chicago, things are a bit up in the air. The week prior to Peachtree, a meeting with Immigration Subcommittee chairman Lamar Smith revealed that Khalid's bid for citizenship via Congress was not going to work. According to Smith, it is against the law to approve the bill allowing Khalid to gain citizenship. The same was true for Martina Navratilova and a number of other elite athletes in the past. So as of now, the chances of Khalid running in the Olympic trials are very low.

If he doesn't run in the trials, there are a few things he'd like to do. He wants to run a spring marathon, most likely London. He was very sorry to have missed this year's London Marathon due to injury. He wants one day to run a marathon against Paul Tergat, a runner he respects a lot. In the fall next year, if he doesn't get to the Olympics, he would like to run the New York City Marathon for the New Yorkers. 

As I left him to do my (measly) track workout with our local club, the Taconic Road Runners, Khalid left for the track to do one of his workouts. Currently, he is doing 16x400 with 35-40 second rests. He will move up to 25x400 as he gets closer to the marathon. His message for his fans is that he is back. He wants his title back in Chicago. And his career is not over! Unless, of course, he finds baseball more to his liking.

Peachtree Road Race

CVS CLEVELAND 10K

First I want to start by apologizing to you for not been able to write as often as I would like. I know that you always are there for me and in the last few months I have just left quietly and said nothing after my races.

Since the Sam Blas Half Marathon I have been dealing with an Achilles injury that has driven me crazy and kept me from training since February. I was driving my wife crazy with all of this frustration of not been able to run. Then I got a call from New Balance asking me to see a specialist in Ireland. So my wife and I flew there and in three weeks this doctor made me run again. I came home with just enough time to do some training for the Cleveland 10k run which was last May 2. It was only three weeks, but I thought it was going to be enough for a faster performance. I guess I was wrong. My wife was right when she told me that I had lost most of my fitness and that I need it at least 2 months to go back to normal shape and 4 months to get back into real shape.

I ran the worst race since 1995. I felt so fast during the race but I was running so slow. My time was 29:47. I couldn't believe it. Sandra was able to just laugh about it, knowing that I was not going to perform well, but that I needed to race because was the only way for me to stop being afraid of my injury. I guess I was too concerned about it and never wanted to run fast during the race. I also felt that I couldn't get my race rhythm and never got that momentum to keep that fast pace. Any way, I am not there yet. I really felt very embarrassed, but this will teach me to be more careful next time and I promise you that I'll come back to seek other victories.

My main goal for this year is Chicago Marathon and I will dedicate all my training time to give you the best of my performance that day.

My next race will be the Bay to Breakers race in San Francisco. Even though I don't want to go because I feel that I am not in the right shape to compete, I'll be there. God Willing, I'll try to do my best and show my fellows competitors that I am not afraid of anybody even if I am not in the same shape.

I just have one last thing to say......"I'LL BE BACK"!!!

Khalid Khannouchi

The Sas Blas Half Marathon

Before...

After...

Thank you for been here and hope to see you on the road. If you see me out there don’t hesitate to say hello.

Love you all,
Khalid