Interview with Fasil Bizuneh

By Cecil Harris

Fasil Bizuneh, 27, showed his mettle against an elite field when he finished second at the USA Half-Marathon Championships in January. Ryan Hall won the race in an American-record 59:43. Bizuneh finished in 1:02:20, two seconds ahead of Olympic silver medalist Meb Keflezighi.

Bizuneh, a four-time All-American at Arizona State, where he earned a degree in chemical engineering, will again take on America’s best at the U.S. Olympic Team Trials – Men’s Marathon in Central Park in New York City on November 3. Disappointed with his results in his first two marathons—a 2:18:14 at the 2006 Medtronic Twin Cities Marathon and a 2:29:30 at this year’s Flora London Marathon—Bizuneh is training in Boulder, Colorado, with the KIMbia group, which includes Coach Dieter Hogan and such superb Kenyan athletes as Stephen “Baba” Kiogora, who was third in this year’s Boston Marathon and second in the ING New York City Marathon 2006, and Thomas Nyariki, the 2006 champion of the NYC Half-Marathon Presented by NIKE.

Mensracing.com caught up with Bizuneh in Boulder, where he talked about training for the biggest race of his career the KIMbia way and his upcoming star turn in Born to Run, a documentary produced by his brother Amsalu. Born to Run will profile Bizuneh the runner and describe how his family escaped political turmoil in his native Ethiopia and settled in Indianapolis to pursue the American dream.

MensRacing.com: How did you hook up with the KIMbia group?

Fasil Bizuneh: Through Matt Taylor, the journalist who does the website [www.chasingkimbia.com]. He approached me in April because I’m sponsored by New Balance and the Chasing KIMbia Web site is sponsored by New Balance as well. W\hen they found out that the Olympic Trials would be the day before the ING New York City Marathon, they wanted to have an American come and train with them, and I was interested.

MR: Where were you in April when you were approached with this offer?

FB: I had just returned from London after running the marathon. I was based in Flagstaff at the time, training at the Center for High Altitude Training.

MR: How has working with the KIMbia runners helped in your preparation for the Trials?

FB: It’s helped a lot. Previously, I was coached by Scott Simmons. He was in Virginia and all the coaching was being done by long distance—e-mails and phone calls. But just having a coach there every day to help me with water and to actually see me running, and to have actual training partners on the same schedule, has been a big help.

MR: Have you changed your diet? Do you eat differently now?

FB: Yeah. Mainly we’re eating traditional Kenyan food—ugali [corn meal] with chicken and kale for dinner most nights. The preparation is different compared to my first two marathons. My focus and preparation wasn’t on those marathons as much as it should have been. Now, the marathon on November 3 will be my first race in about four months.

MR: So the preparation of the KIMbia athletes does not include tune-up races before a big marathon?

FB: That’s right. That’s just the way they do it here, and they’ve had a lot of success. Rather than tune-up races, the focus is more on getting in the workouts that are necessary to compete well in a marathon, the certain key workouts, the rest and recovery. Everything is planned out—the travel to a race, leaving altitude and the recovery that’s necessary after that. I think knowing that so many people have gone through this system and run well gives me the confidence to know that if I survive the preparation, then I’ll race well.

MR: Have you run more mileage in preparation for the Trials than you have before your previous marathons?

FB: This is the most miles I’ve ever done before a race. Before my other two marathons, the highest mileage I got to in a week was 120, whereas I’ve been over 140 for a few weeks here. I expected that I would be doing more than I’ve ever done before in terms of volume and intensity. I decided to come here with an open mind and no preconceived notions about what would be happening and just have total faith in the system. I think that’s one of the most important parts of any coach-athlete relationship..

MR: I don’t know if you’ve heard this yet, but the temperature in New York today almost reached 70 degrees. I don’t know if it will be as unseasonably warm on November 3, but does warm weather on a race day agree with you?

FB: Well, in the two marathons I’ve run, a lot of things haven’t been ideal as far as preparation. Over-racing, I think. The London race this year was the hottest on record, and Twin Cities was also pretty warm. It’s something that I can’t control, so I try not to worry too much about the weather. I’ll try to just be as fit as possible on the day of the race.

MR: Has training with the great Kenyan runners changed your mental approach to the marathon?

FB: Well, yeah. It changes my perspective on what’s good and what’s hard work. For example, I’m training with Stephen “Baba” Kiogora, who’s running [the ING New York City Marathon] the day after the Trials. He’s had great results in big-city marathons. I have a better understanding of what I have to do if I ever want to be on that level. On our last long run, I finished three minutes behind him. But at the same time, it was my fastest long run. The pace was even faster than the runs we had done over shorter distances. It was the fastest long run of my life—and the longest one, too. It was 40K. But at the end, I’m three minutes behind Stephen. But that’s also the closest I’ve ever been to him. I’d finished up to seven minutes behind him on runs that were only 30K. It shows that if I want to get to that level, I still have some work to do. But had I been by myself and done that same 40K run, maybe I’d think now I’m ready to compete against the best in the world. Now, I have a better idea of the level I’d like to get to eventually.

MR: Had you known Baba before you started training with him?

FB: No, I’d never met him. He’s a very nice guy. He’s very encouraging, always ready to give advice. He’ll say that I had a good workout or that I looked strong. We’re getting along very well.

MR: I saw your blog posting on the KIMbia Web site describing how Baba was taken aback by your torn jeans, a uniquely American fashion statement.

FB: [laughs] Yeah, he thought it was pretty funny to buy jeans that were already torn.

MR: Any other examples of cultural differences between the two of you that produced a funny moment?

FB: There’s usually something funny that happens every warm-up or cool-down, something funny that he says.

MR: Give me an example.

FB: O.K. My older brother came to Boulder and he was videotaping some of my workouts. He used to run at Butler University [in Indianapolis]. He’s a doctor now in Charlotte, North Carolina. He’s very busy in his work and doesn’t have too much time to run anymore, so you could say he’s a little bit fuller now. Baba said to him, “If you come to Kenya, you would be able to drive any car and they would allow you to enter any office without being questioned. But if I was driving a nice car, the authorities would pull me over because I don’t have a tummy like yours.”

MR: Tell me about the documentary, Born to Run

FB:It’s actually going to feature several of the Trials athletes, including Abdi Abdirahman. And Fernando Cabada, who qualified but is no longer running the Trials [because of an injury], is going to be a large part of the story. It’s going to have a back story about becoming a naturalized U.S. citizen. They’ve done interviews with lots of different people, including Mark Plaatjes here in Boulder and Dr. Jack Daniels [of the Center for High Altitude Training] in Flagstaff. It should be pretty interesting. They’ve done filming in London, Jacksonville, and Atlanta. They were in Atlanta during the Peachtree Road Race, doing some interviews in the hotel lobby, and there was an armed robbery in the hotel. This guy ran through the lobby with a woman’s purse and holding a gun! The police were chasing him, and the cameraman who was filming the interviews followed the police, and he ended up sharing his footage from the police chase with the local news.

MR: When does the filming conclude on this documentary?

FB: The filming will conclude with the Trials, and the documentary is supposed to be finished sometime in the spring. There’s been some discussion about having the documentary debut during the Olympic track and field trials in Eugene, Oregon.

MR: Very interesting. Will the documentary also include the story of how you and your family came to America? That’s a dramatic story in itself.

FB: Yeah. My parents were interviewed in Indianapolis, so people will get a first-hand perspective on their story.

MR: Getting back to the Trials, you must be doing plenty of training on hills and different terrain to prepare for Central Park.

FB: Definitely. We don’t do any workouts on flat courses. We don’t do this anymore, but we had been going up to Magnolia Road here in Boulder, which starts at 8,200 feet and goes up to 8,800 feet. We were doing long runs up there. It was pretty challenging, the elevation change. What we’re doing is going to prepare me for the Central Park course.

MR: Have you run in Central Park before?

FB: I was there as a non-competing guest of New York Road Runners for the NYC Half-Marathon in August. That was actually my first time spending time in New York City. I got a chance to run the course every day. I did a tempo run and a long run, and one day I just walked around the course and took a lot of pictures.

MR: What’s your impression of the course?

FB: I’ve done things that will prepare me to run the course. I think the thing about a course like that, that’s constantly undulating, is that when someone does start to fall off or lose their legs, it’s going to be much more drastic than it would be on a flat course. As long as you’re able to maintain your composure, your form, and your strength, I don’t think it will be terrible. It could be a slight benefit to be able to use different muscle groups the whole way. I think people who prepare specifically for the course are going to do well. But you might see some people running much slower second halves of the race than their first halves.

MR: Do you have a specific time in mind that makes you think, if I run this time, I’ve got a really good shot of getting one of the three spots?

FB: I think you really have to be careful with that because you might set up a limit in your mind. This is not something that I’m tying myself to at all, but 2:11 should be good for the top three. But I’m not going to limit myself to that. Actually, I’ve started running here without a watch, just to see how my body’s feeling and trying to get a sense of that rather than looking for exterior input from a watch. I’m trying to monitor my body to see what pace I can handle. I’m really going to be focused more on myself and how I’m feeling and how smooth I am rather than checking the mile splits as I’m going along.

MR: Meb Keflezighi told me there are “six or seven real contenders” for the three Olympic berths. How do you see it?

FB: Well, I hesitate to mention any names because there could be a real surprise, like Trent Briney in 2004. There could be other surprising runners, considering the way U.S. distance running has grown over the last four years and how many more people we have hitting the “A” standard in the marathon and the “B” standard in the 5,000 and 10,000. You just have to focus on running your best race. I’m going to say that the three guys who make the team are going to run very good races. There’s not going to be a favorite who has an off day and still makes the team. If a favorite has an off day, he’s not going to make it.

MR: Ryan Hall will be in the spotlight before the race because of his strong debut in London. Do you like going into this race without being in the spotlight? I mean, you’re capable of getting one of the three spots, but your name won’t be on everyone’s lips before the race.

FB: Yeah, I like that position, definitely. No one’s expecting much out of me. I’m sure I wouldn’t be on too many people’s short list. I doubt that Meb was considering me when he said six or seven people are real contenders. I haven’t put together a solid marathon yet in the two I’ve run. But I’m out here working hard, and I just want to get to the line healthy and in the best shape possible.

MR: Would you say that you’re in the best shape of your career?

FB: Yeah. I would say that.

MR: And training with KIMbia has had a great deal to do with that?

FB: Definitely. Because I just don’t think I prepared properly for my other two marathons. Hopefully, this one will be more in line with my half-marathon performance. Hopefully, I’ll have the good luck that I got from doing the pre-race interview with you before Houston [laughs].

MR: Yeah. If you have the same result at the Trials, you’re going to Beijing.

FB: Exactly.

MR: As the Trials draw near, do you allow yourself to think about how great it would be to earn a spot on the Olympic team?

FB: No. I’m not focusing on that too much. It would be a bonus, icing on the cake, definitely. I’m really just trying to keep my mind on the race. I know there’s going to be a lot of attention on the Trials, perhaps more than any other Trials. I don’t know if focusing on the hype is really going to help me have my best race. So I’m trying to look at it as any other race. I’m trying to do the same things I would do as far as preparing. I’m not going to be there too early. I’m going to get there Wednesday night. I’m going to just settle in and get out there and run just like all the other races I’ve run.

MR: Was the decision to come to New York on Wednesday night for a Saturday race made by the KIMbia group?

FB: Yeah. That’s the way the KIMbia group does it. They arrive three days before the race. It has to do with coming down from altitude. They subscribe to the theory of going to the city right before your race. We have our last workout here on the Tuesday before the race. Then I’ll travel to New York, have a few days to get settled, and then wake up and run. It’s definitely a plan.

MR: Will you remain part of the KIMbia group after the Trials?

FB: No. I’m not under KIMbia management. I’m still managed by Chris Layne of Total Sports. This is kind of a trial to see how the marathon preparation goes. We’ll see after the Trials what happens.

MR: Well, we wish you success at the Trials and with Born to Run.

FB: Thank you so much.

Interview conducted October 20, 2007, and posted October 23, 2007.