I was in Ireland for four weeks, but it seemed like four months. I was there to be treated by Gerard Hartmann, a physiotherapist many elite athletes consider the world’s best. It was a very depressing time because of the pain, the intensity of the treatment and I missed the wonderful atmosphere of competing. At the time I was there, Steve Holman, Suzy Hamilton, Moses Kiptanui, Paula Radcliff and others were there and meeting them helped me to keep my motivation high. Gerard is one of the people that I respect and trust the most. He has helped me before to come back into shape after struggling with injuries. This was my fourth time visiting him. Even though I know that this is a painful period, I am excited to be there because the purpose of visiting him is to get back on the road. This time was the worst, however: the most painful physically and emotionally. We alternated therapy with light running. The treatment consisted of friction, heat, ultrasound, laser and ice. I did whatever running Gerard asked of me: strides, light running 15-40 minutes each day. The only day off from treatment is Sunday. I kept myself busy watching European soccer and cooking. I was very happy to come home! 

Right now, I am feeling much better, running every day. I have no pain, just a little bit of discomfort. Sometimes twice a day, but not trying to force the training. My mileage is up to 80-85 miles per week and hopefully will reach 100 in the near future. I’m doing one, sometimes two, track workouts per week. It is a tough period, when you are trying to get back in shape. I will go to Albuquerque to do altitude training soon. My first race will be the Beach to Beacon in Maine and I will use this to gain motivation and assess my training and fitness. Hopefully, I can peak for a fall marathon. 

I will start with short races to get the confidence back and not risk re-injuring myself. After Beach to Beacon, I will decide on my schedule. I don’t expect to be doing the National Championship Half Marathon in August-it is too difficult a course for me so soon after my injury. I am looking forward to getting back to competition, which I miss a lot. It is what I love about running. 

Finally, I just want to say that I am happy the way things are calming down with the media and my injuries so I can concentrate on my running. Soon, I will see you on the roads…

Khalid
June 28, 2000

Why I decided not to run the Olympic Trials

I have decided not to run in the Olympic trials next month. I don't think that I will be able to win a medal for the US this year. I would need to run a qualifying time to be eligible to compete in the trials. New Balance has a track meet on July 1^st with a 10000 meter and I was focusing on that race, to try to run the qualifying time there. I am in Ireland, training and getting treatment at the same time. This is my third week here and at this point I don't consider myself in top shape. I haven’t been using my spikes yet since I still have my injury and I am afraid that I could make it worse if I start using my spikes. I thought that maybe I could go and run the race in my road racing shoes. But it still would be stressful for me to go from treating an injury straight to a race on the track. I do not have time to train for the track trials. In order to do that, I would have to train too fast, too soon and risk getting injured again. To make it safe I prefer to call off consideration of the trials. I believe that I have many years of great running ahead of me and I still have another Olympics ahead of me. 

Now, I really feel depressed about this and I needed a new goal. I decided to make that goal my next fall marathon and the world marathon championships next year in Canada. Hopefully, we will not have to run our marathon trials for the championships too close to the race. I am planning to go to Albuquerque as soon as I get back to the US to do altitude training and my base training for the marathon. I will be on schedule to for a fall marathon and try to go for another fast performance. My wife and I are planning to start racing again in August. Joan Benoit's race, the Beach to Beacon 10K, will be the ideal race to do due to fact that Joan is a hero for all of us. Supporting her race will bring me much pride.  Running Joan's race as my first race as an American citizen will be bring more emotional feelings toward my new country and will push me to train harder.  I hope that I can bring a good performance. I can't say that I will win the race but I will do my best. Please consider that I am coming off an injury and from my base training for the full marathon. I will let you know soon about my exact plans for the fall. I haven't made a final decision yet.

Thank you all for your support.
Khalid Khannouchi, June 14, 2000
 
 
Khalid responds
Published in the Chicago Tribune (5/14/2000)

Morrissey makes it seem like I knew I would get my citizenship. The truth is it looked very bad for that to happen when we left for Europe to do final preparations for the London Marathon. It wasn't until a little more than a week before the April 16 race that things began to look better.

At one point it did seem there was a good chance citizenship would come through before the U.S. trials. However, as soon as we got good news, we also got bad news: The Moroccan federation said it would not allow me to run even if I got citizenship because I had once represented Morocco in some world competitions.

The International Olympic Committee charter does give a former country some rights under certain situations to do that, and when this came up we were confused. USATF, the governing body for track in the United States, said they did not think the competitions I was in were of a level to which the IOC rule applied. But no one from the IOC or the IAAF could guarantee us this was true. To this day they have not made a clear decision.

So there we were, getting closer to the race and getting conflicting information. One year ago I was scheduled to run in London and had to cancel because of injury. I promised the London organizers that if citizenship was not a definite thing for me by one week before their race, I would run. Seven days out, nothing was sure.

I had to think about this: What if I got citizenship (there was still a 20 to 25 percent chance it would not happen), did not run London and then the Moroccan federation succeeded in preventing me from running in the U.S. trials? Then I would have wasted months of training for a spring marathon and once again failed to run London. I also wanted to prove myself on a course other than Chicago because some people think it's the only place I can win. I did not feel I had any choice but to go ahead and run.

Morrissey says I "took the money and ran" and that I was "another greedy athlete." A greedy athlete does not go out and run 26 miles in 2 hours 8 minutes 36 seconds and finish third. If I were a greedy athlete I could have done what other distance runners have been known to do and only started the race, not finished it. My contract paid me the entire amount regardless of how far I ran. As long as I started, I could have collected the money.

If I was so greedy and so sure I was going to get my citizenship and be cleared by the IOC to compete, why didn't I just run a mile or so, pull out because of my injury, get the money and still be fresh for Pittsburgh? I was not at all sure that would happen, so I did the honorable thing and lived up to my contract.

Morrissey stated that I was paid an appearance fee of $250,000, which is not true. My contract with London, signed long before I set the world record in Chicago last fall, was for $175,000. After I set that record, a lot of races offered me more than $250,000 to appear. Again, if I were greedy, I could have canceled out of London and taken bigger paydays elsewhere, but I didn't. I am a man of my word, so I scheduled my winter/spring months of training and races in preparation for the London Marathon and let a lot of money go away.

Someone could break my world record tomorrow and I will never get those kinds of offers again, but so be it.

I have meant everything I have said about how important it is for me to run for the United States. But I did not get my citizenship to represent the USA in one single race; I did it to represent the USA for the rest of my career. I wanted so badly to run in Sydney for my new country, but because of the uncertainty before London and now the injury that got worse there, I will not be running the marathon in 2000. You should know that if I were the kind of person Rick Morrissey thinks I am, I could still go run in the Olympics for Morocco. The king himself has called to ask me to do that. My own father, whom I love dearly, has asked me to do that. The Moroccan track federation said it would put me on the team.

But this I will not do. I will run in the Olympics for the United States, God willing, either this summer in the 10,000 meters or in the marathon four years from now, and I will be in world meets for this country in the near future.

What hurts most about what Morrissey wrote is that he wrote it in a Chicago newspaper. Chicago has become a home away from home for my wife and me. We have many friends there and many, many fans. I have had sleepless nights in the last week thinking those people were reading things about us that were not true and not told in a fair way. I hope this clears some of it up.

I will be back in Chicago. I will run well and I will prove that I earned and deserve the respect Rick Morrissey does not want to give me.

Khalid and Sandra at home, finally!
by Greg Diamond

I sat down with Khalid and Sandra the morning of the Marathon trials to 'watch' online and talk about their plans.

Khalid: I want to apologize for not keeping up with sending messages and the website. We were overseas, had a lot of things to do, and were busy with my citizenship, training, and races. Now that this is over, we can talk. I'm happy to think about representing the USA the way that I really promised and the way that I wanted. This is the time to think about making the right decision to fulfill that dream. A lot of people have been talking about my case and too much attention has been paid to me. Please don't blame me. The media has been talking a lot about it and keeping it in the news all the time. I am concerned that the people that run in the trials have been affected by the attention and I apologize and hope that everyone can do well in the trials and the US can have a good team in the Olympics.

GD: How much effect did all the media attention before the London Marathon have on your performance?

Khalid: I got to a point that I was almost going to cancel both London and the trials because I couldn't be trusted to make a good decision. I had a contract with London; the media were asking and my lawyer was also putting pressure on me and I think it did affect me. How much I don't know. I really went to London a little bit disturbed because I couldn't focus. From the start of the training it was always London or the trials--it was always this or that--it was unusual for me. It was my first time in that kind of situation so it was hard for me to focus, but I don't know how much it affected my running.

GD: Last year you canceled London due to an injury and you felt bad about that. Was that on your mind this time?

Khalid: The reason that I said to myself that I had to do a spring marathon was that I had canceled twice. I canceled Boston in '98 and London in '99. Mentally, I was a little disturbed because this time of year I always have problems. I realized that I had to get rid of this fear. That was a main reason I went to London even with a few problems. I had twisted my ankle in March first and from there the problems started. But I was in very good shape to run another good time and ready to run with anybody. I couldn't manage to stay healthy until the day of the race. That was the key of my performance, but I was happy with how I ran because it was my first spring marathon experience. To be competitive in a major championship, you have to do two marathons. Look at the Olympics-you have to do the trials and you have to do the Olympics. Your body has to be fit to do two marathons. I still find it difficult to do two marathons a year. That's why I said this year I am going to step up and do two marathons.

GD: As we sit here right now Rod DeHaven has pulled behind Peter De La Cerda at about the 22nd mile and there is still a small chance they will run under 2:14.

Khalid: it will be interesting to see him run under 2:14 to allow three runners to go to the Olympics. If no one goes under it will be another hit to long distance running. It is not the runner's fault; they are putting the trials in the wrong place at the wrong time. To give the best chance to everyone, give a year for everyone to run and choose the three fastest. Right now all those that run under 2:22 get to go to the trials, but in my opinion it would be better if the fastest three Americans would go to the Olympics. Give the athletes two or three chances, not one chance. Even if you are in shape for 2:10 anything can happen and you might run 2:19 or 2:20 and that is not fair for the athletes that can represent our country best not to go to the Olympics. 

Sandra: if you are going to use one marathon, give them a year or so for an athlete to make the standard; for instance, select Chicago for the trials and if a runner does not make the standard, then they will have the chance in the spring; they are putting the trials too close to the Olympics. 

Khalid: I prefer to have two or three chances; you have a 2:09 man that might not go.

GD: Say they would pick a group of marathons over a period of a year...

Sandra: exactly! Tell the athletes: these are the marathons that you can run to qualify for the Olympics. Whoever has the three fastest times will go; and I'm sure these marathons will provide whatever economic support to US Track and Field to be one of those marathons. Don't only pick one, because you are picking the worst one. With the women, they chose February, which was good, but it was the worst marathon. Why didn't they pick a marathon that was cooler and flatter. Why do they have to give them such a hard race to qualify for something so important?

GD: So if they had to pick one marathon, pick one cooler and flatter and closer to a year before the Olympics, like Chicago… 

Khalid: Chicago would be perfect.

Sandra: a lot of people were complaining that Khalid did not run. Had he run and made the team, he would have gone back to Ireland for treatment by his physical therapist with no running for a month; then he would have started easy running for four weeks and then start marathon training. This would not be enough time to be healthy and well trained; so it would not be fair to go poorly trained, just as it isn't fair that our best runners might not go after the trials today. And this is a problem with the US runners after the trials-there is not enough time for proper training; if they start training right away, they have a good chance of getting hurt

GD: What about the track trials? 

Khalid: I have to deal with the injury first, then we will decide. Right now I can not run fast and I can only run for about 30 to 40 minutes. 

Sandra: we are going to do some cross-training right now; he might have to go to Ireland first to get treatment during the training. We are going to Spain in a couple of weeks to Madrid because I have my office there- then 

Khalid can go to Ireland to start his training

GD: Rod DeHaven looks like the winner but over the a standard... 

Khalid: I feel sorry for those guys

What will you say to those people who will criticize you for not going to Pittsburgh, saying that if you were here the US would have three people on the team?

Khalid: they should not mention my name; I am injured; I am like all the runners; they shouldn't look at me like the world record holder, tell them to look at me as an American. That's it, things didn't work out, I wished that I knew I would get my citizenship in time, but I can't go with an injury and risk everything.

GD: And maybe you wouldn't have won

Khalid: yeah, this is something everyone should know-this is the marathon-there is no world record holder, there is no favorite, there is the one that is stronger and tougher that day, that is the person that is going to win; the person who is mentally tough, who is going to go through all the obstacles; it doesn't matter who is running and who isn't. First you have to prove yourself, and then you taI didn't want to do interviews and I didn't say I would win. Look at David Morris, 2:09 in Chicago, he was going to win, but he is not even close. I could go in 2:06 shape and on a hot day I might run 2:16, who knows.

GD: What are the differences between training for a track race and a road race? Khalid: totally different. First of all you are using spikes and I haven't been using them in 5 years. Training for road races, I always use my racing shoes on the track. Also, the quality of the training will be different; when you train for the marathon and road races you are not under a lot of pressure of times. On the track it is different: you have to look for fast workouts on the track and look for a fast pace.

GD: With the injuries that you have, will using spikes make things worse 

Khalid: I think using spikes will hurt my calves; I am going to go slowly, start short workouts with the spikes, and not go too strongly with the spikes. But I need to treat the injuries first and to get rid of them, because the way that I am right now I can't do first training.

GD: Is ten weeks enough time? 

Khalid: it is going to be tight, but I will do my best.

GD: You once said to me that you were better on the track than on the roads. 

Khalid: I think that I am now getting used to racing on the roads more than the track since I haven't raced on the track in so long; I'm still doing my track workouts, but the tactics of running track I have lost. I was pretty good running track, but when you make the transition to the track it is pretty different. But I believe if I have a reasonable period of time I won't be worried. I know that I can have a great time and at least make the Olympic team.

GD: Will you go to Europe over the summer to practice racing tactics? 

Khalid: there is not much time and that will make it difficult, but definitely, if you need to get the qualifying time for the Olympics, that is the place do to it. Also, you have to race more often so you can get confident and aggressive and learn how to run races.

GD: You are probably best admired for how you run road races, with your patience... 

Khalid: I was patient on the track, too. 

Sandra: you should be patient on the road or the track; you should not take the lead. 

Khalid: and you should run in the first lane so you don't run further than the distance and 10000 and 5000 meters are too long to have to worry about being blocked in. 

Sandra: if he makes the team, then we have to go run track to race with the people that are the favorites in the 10000 meters, to find out how close you are to your competition. So, if God is willing, and Khalid makes it to the team, then we will pick races in Europe with the best runners, even knowing that the first couple of races Khalid will not run well because he doesn't have the experience. One week he can run the 10000 and another week the 5000 

Khalid: it is going to take time to get to the top; to compete with Gabreselasie and Tergat, it takes a lot of time.

GD: Would you go to the trials even if you are not in your best shape at that time, knowing you will have more time to get in shape for the Olympics? 

Khalid: if I have a chance to go to the Olympics, I will do it. 

Sandra: I think Khalid can run 27:20 on the track with at least 12 or 16 weeks of training; he had 6 weeks of training for Peachtree and he ran well; that was in Atlanta on a hilly course; on the track you are at least 27:30. 

Khalid: I can run that; last year Bob Kennedy ran 27:38 and Alan Culpepper ran 27:39; then other people ran under 28 minutes. The level of competition in the 10000 meters is improving; it is not only Bob Kennedy any more, it should be interesting this year. I will do the trials.

GD: Provided you are healthy. 

Khalid: yes, of course, I will go and do my best.