“It Will Be Amazing to See New York Come Back”: Meb Keflezighi Tells Why He Believes in NYC, Now More Than Ever

Meb Keflezighi is the only athlete in history to win the New York City Marathon, the Boston Marathon, and an Olympic medal. In 2009, he became the first American since 1982 to win the men's open division of the New York City Marathon. He finished in the top 10 in New York eight times and was the top American seven times. In 2015, he set a TCS New York City Marathon masters event record of 2:13:32, and he’s now an NYRR Team for Kids Ambassador. Meb writes of his love for New York City, which he calls his “home away from home.”

Dear New York City,

New York has always been a special place for me. The first time I came to New York was in 1987, when I was 12 years old. Our family was immigrating from Italy to California, and we had a layover at JFK airport. I remember being aware that we were in one of the biggest cities in the world—a huge, bright place that I knew only from the movies I had watched in Italy. I’d grown up in a village with no electricity, so New York seemed like another world to me.

The second time I came to New York was for the Goodwill Games in 1998, a big sporting event at the time. I didn’t get a chance to experience much of New York, but I had the same impression of being somewhere huge and important. I remember stepping into a crosswalk and nearly getting run over. Everywhere I’d lived, when a pedestrian stepped into the street, the cars always slowed and stopped. I remember being told, “Hey, be careful—you’re in New York!”

In 2001, like everyone else, when I heard the news about 9/11, I couldn’t believe what had happened in New York. I’d been starting to think about running my first marathon, and as the city recovered, I realized that when I did run a marathon, it would have to be in New York. I was invited to run the New York City Marathon in 2002 and I spent over a week in the city. I have strong memories of the excitement, the crowds, the noise, and all the different kinds of people from all over the world. That made me feel at home—I’ve lived in different countries and traveled a lot, so I’m used to being around all different kinds of people. New York is the most global place there is.

Over all the years, New York has been a home away from home for me— some people actually think I live in New York! It’s still as big and bright as ever, but within the running community it doesn’t feel big. When I run in Central Park, people say hello, they wave, they high-five, they stop and talk. [Meb has not been in NYC during the pandemic.] There’s a camaraderie everywhere that pulls runners together, but I feel that runner camaraderie more in New York than everywhere else.

Right now, I’m in Florida with my family. We’re all safe and healthy, and everyone else in my family is safe and healthy too, thankfully. My heart goes out to all the people working on the front lines of this crisis, putting themselves in danger to help others. One of my sisters is a doctor in San Diego. She’s doing fine, but some of the people in her clinic have tested positive. This is real—the dangers are real, and we won’t be over this for some time. I know doctors in New York who are working on the front lines. New York has great frontline workers, great doctors, great leadership. New York will recover, because the world needs New York. Again, in these trying times, New York is an example of how to overcome adversity. Overcoming adversity isn’t pretty or smooth, but it is critical.

I’ve had some amazing opportunities in New York. Besides all the races I ran where so many people supported me, I’ve also been to see New York’s great sports teams—Yankees, Mets, Knicks—and I’m always struck by their resilience and toughness and how that symbolizes the resilience and toughness of New Yorkers.

It will be amazing to see New York come back from this crisis. I think about runners coming back from injury, how hard it is, how patient you have to be, how if you don’t do it right, you’ll have a setback or even a worse injury—that’s happened to me. You have to follow protocol, you can’t rush the recovery. Runners know this—they know that coming back from the coronavirus in going to be a long road. Running can help us get through this and runners can help motivate and inspire people to do it right.

I love New York and I love New York Road Runners and all the people in the organization. I can’t wait to come back and run the magical streets with all of you.

Love, Meb