Flying under the radar

Khannouchi anxious for recognition at Chicago Marathon

Try as he might, Khalid Khannouchi comes up short in the recognition department. That’s just the fate of a marathon man, I assume. You have to remember, we Yanks want our sports heroes super-sized, not looking like jockeys -- and preferably homegrown, to boot.

But this is all wrong here. No world-class athlete has endured more of a cold shoulder, virtually ignored by the mainstream sports media, except when he was scrambling to win U.S. citizenship prior to the 2000 Olympics.

OK, distance running isn’t sexy news. I trust the average sports fan couldn’t tell Khannouchi from rivals like Haile Gebresalassie or Paul Tergat. Still, we’re talking about the world’s fastest marathoner, a diminutive Moroccan who’s twice eclipsed the record in the last three years.

“You don’t get the attention you deserve as the world record-holder or best marathoner in the world,’’ Khannouchi quietly muses. “If you look, other sports get more attention and exposure. But in reality, we work harder. And it takes a lot of sacrifices to make it to the top and break a world record.’’

We’ll get to the work ethic stuff in just a bit -- the roadwork and being holed up in an altitude chamber 12 hours a day. First, let’s stick with what folks are missing here. Khannouchi moved to the U.S. a decade ago, and by 1999 had clocked the fastest marathon ever, covering the Chicago Marathon in 2:05:42.

Khannouchi Q&A Khalid Khannouchi, the world’s fastest marathoner, spoke with CNNSI.com senior writer Mike Fish about his thoughts leading up to the Chicago Marathon on Sunday. CNNSI.com: You’ve twice clocked the fastest marathon ever, is it possible to predict a record run? Khannouchi: I don’t like to go in with the pressure of trying to achieve an award. It happened in Chicago when I was feeling in great shape, but I didn’t think about a world record. In London, I just came from behind and I broke the world record. So I think when you don’t have that pressure your body does better. That is the way I like to run. I won’t chase a world record, but if it comes I’ll be happy with it and it will be a bonus. The most important thing is you go out there and try to win, to be first that day. CNNSI.com: How would you compare the Chicago and London courses? Khannouchi: I think London is a harder course. To me, Chicago is definitely faster. It has many turns and that can be the problem for somebody who doesn’t know how to run turns. CNNSI.com: What is the issue with handling turns? Khannouchi: Well, it is something you have to deal with. If you are tall the turns will take a little out of you. But if you are short, you make your body adjust with the turns and you don’t feel them. Tall people can feel the turn, especially when you have 30 turns over a course.

So when he set out last April with a London Marathon field that included Gebresalassie and Tergat, marathon rookies but two of the greatest distance runners ever, you might assume Khannouchi would rank as the leading man. Not so in the pre-race buildup, anyway. But he engineered a winning pass over the final two miles and took London in 2:05:38.

“Everybody expected Haile or Paul or another person to come and break the world record,’’ Khannouchi reflects. “That didn’t bother me because of what they had accomplished, but what upset me is I should have got some of the attention as the world record-holder.

“That motivated me. People in England bet who is going to win. They put odds in, and I was among those who had the least chance to win. So I couldn’t wait to go out there and prove everybody wrong.’’

Question is, can he handle Tergat twice inside six months? And when the two go at it Sunday in the 25th running of the Chicago Marathon can they again push the world mark?

Perhaps playing it safe, Khannounchi says it’s nearly impossible for him or anyone else to run two fast marathons in a calendar year. Then again, Chicago is a faster course than London and Khannouchi has earned a handsome dollar as three-time winner of the race that this year also features the two fastest female marathoners (Catherine Ndereba and Paula Radcliffe).

“It is not because of the marathon itself, but it is the preparation,’’ he says of the difficulty clocking back-to-back fast marathons. “To be honest, my mind is tired. I just want to get rid of Chicago, because it is the race I am contracted to do. I mean marathon training takes a lot. Mentally, it is probably tougher than physically.

“You train twice a day, the whole week. It has been the same routine for four months. I did it for London and I’m doing the same thing for Chicago. You get tired. The mind gets tired. You just have to wake up, make a lot of sacrifices. Year after year, it just gets harder and harder.’’

Sacrifices? From his London winnings, Khannouchi shelled out $15,000 to have a sealed high-altitude room installed in his Ossining, N.Y., home. The brainchild of Colorado Altitude Training, the chamber allows athletes-in-training to control oxygen levels and approximate altitude levels as high as 12,000 feet (Khannouchi has his set for 10,000 feet).

The system has been incorporated into training by several top American cyclists, marathoners like Radcliffe and Elana Meyer, the French National Ski Team and the U.S. Figure Skating Federation. The catch is to receive meaningful benefits, you have to spend at least 10 hours a day in the chamber. So Khannouchi takes his normal sleep in the room, plus a two-hour nap between daily workouts.

When he traveled to Albuquerque to train at altitude this summer, Khannouchi was able to get right into training the day after arriving. Normally, it would take four or five days to acclimate. He’ll have a better idea Sunday how chamber time translates to racing performance.

And if he handles Tergat again, his stock will only rise in the running community. But to capture the heart of the average sports fan, the guy who tunes in track and field every four years to learn about a Frank Shorter or Bill Rodgers, it’ll likely take a gold medal run at the 2004 Athens Olympics.

“That is the last goal,’’ he says.

Mike Fish is a senior writer for CNNSI.com.

Comments? To e-mail Fish, click here.

 

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