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Olympian Meb Keflezighi Ranks Favorite Races Before Final Marathon

After Sunday’s New York City Marathon, the two-time Olympian will have completed 26 races at 42 years old. He takes a look back at his top four races.

San Diegan and two-time Olympian Meb Keflezighi will take his mark for the final race of his competitive career Sunday, at the same place where it all began 15 years ago — the New York City Marathon.

Keflezighi ran his first New York City Marathon in 2002. He said it would be his last. He was wrong.

“I never want to do this again because it was so painful, Keflezighi told NBC 7. “But thank God for short memories. I ended up doing 24 other ones.”

After Sunday’s marathon, Keflezighi will have completed 26 races at 42 years old. There are 26 full miles in a marathon. Internationally, that’s 42 kilometers. He took it as a sign that it was time to end his career.

In 2004, the Olympian won a silver medal for the United States in Athens — the first Olympic marathon medal for an American man since 1976. He finished in fourth place at the London Olympics in 2012. Four years later, at the age of 41, he made history again at the 2016 Rio Olympics as the oldest U.S. Olympic runner of all time.

America’s Finest City has claimed Keflezighi as its own athletics legend. That’s because Keflezighi attended Roosevelt Middle School in San Diego and graduated from San Diego High School in 1994. He went on to graduate from the University of California Los Angeles.

As he prepared in San Diego for his final marathon, he took some time to look back at his career and rank his all-time favorite races.

Here is what Keflezighi says were his most memorable:

4) 2012 London Summer Olympics

Keflezighi was 36 years old when he won the top spot on Team USA for the 2012 Summer Olympics in London. He took fourth place.

“2012 London was technically supposed to be my last Olympics,” Keflezighi told NBC 7 in 2016. “I thought it was going to be my last Olympics but I got another spark of energy by finishing fourth there.”

3) 2004 Athens Summer Olympics

Keflezighi became the first American man to medal in an Olympic marathon since 1976 at the 2004 Olympic Games. The marathoner won silver for the U.S. and called the accomplishment “huge.”

2) 2009 New York City Marathon

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Meb Keflezighi crosses the finish line to win the mens during the 40th ING New York City Marathon on November 1, 2009.

Keflezighi has competed in 11 New York City Marathons. In 2009, he made history as the first American to finish first in 27 years. The race was important to Keflezighi because it gave him a chance to practice for another shot at the Olympics after not attending the 2008 Beijing Summer Olympics.

1) Boston Marathon in 2014

Keflezighi calls his 2014 Boston Marathon win his “most memorable and most beautiful victory.”

The athlete became emotional as he crossed the finish line to chants of “USA! USA! USA!” just one year after the deadly Boston Marathon bombings. The athlete wore the names of the three victims across his running bib as tribute.

The marathon marked several milestones for the runner. Keflezighi topped his personal best race time when he finished in 2:08:37. He also became the first American to win the race since 1983.

His final race this Sunday may soon make the rankings, but Keflezighi said he hasn’t had time to think about his emotions too much yet.

After the race, Keflezighi will enjoy spending time with his wife and kids in sunny San Diego and hopes to motivate others through speaking engagements and his organization, the MEB Foundation – “Maintaining. Excellent. Balance” – which promotes youth health, education and fitness.

“For 27 years total, it’s been, ‘What’s next, what’s next, what’s next?’ and it’s time to decompress a little bit,” Keflezighi said.

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