AFP, Addis Ababa
Ethiopian running legend Kenenisa Bekele says he is in shape and hopeful for a win ahead of his hotly-awaited marathon debut on the streets of Paris on Sunday.
The double world recorder holder in 5,000 and 10,000m will be the star draw at the Paris marathon, and although not considered a world record course like Berlin, Chicago, or London, all eyes will be on Bekele to see how he manages the leap to track superstardom to the ultimate distance.
“I have a good chance to win because I prepared well. I will run to win, I cannot expect myself to lose,” he told AFP. “I can’t sit, I can’t sleep… it’s the race.”
Bekele said his training volume peaked at 240 kilometers (150 miles) a week, all of it at high altitude at his training base in the hills outside Addis Ababa. He admitted though that he found the higher volume of training for a marathon was at times “boring”.
Now tapering his training for the big day, he said he was just running easy and mixing in some shorter track sessions.
“I’m just minimising, decreasing the kilometres… that’s very important now, just easy training,” he said.
After an illustrious career in shorter distances, the 31 year-old is hoping to follow in the footsteps of Ethiopian “emperor” Haile Gebreselassie, who made a successful leap from the track to the marathon.
