Best Road Races and the UjENA FIT Club is speaking with 100 people who we feel have a lot to say about running, racing and fitness We will give you background information as will as their insights into the future. Be sure to post your feedback and comments.
Read All UjENA FIT Club Running Interviews
Giliat Ghebray - Interview No. 14
Tuesday, January 31st, 2012
“I love competing against people who were unbeatable or better than me. I’m not afraid to admit that it feels really great to beat them.”
Giliat Ghebray, 27, has been running for more than 13 years. He is an NCAA Division 1 All American (5000 meters 2006) and has competed for the US on the NCAA teams in 2006 and 2009. He recently qualified for the Olympic Trials marathon by running 1:03:38 at the 2011 San Jose Rock ‘n Roll Half Marathon, but 22 miles into the Olympic Trials marathon he realized it was a new kind of monster he wasn’t yet prepared to take on. Gil lives in Union City in Northern California where he teaches P.E. grades 6-9. He is a graduate of Cal Berkeley, and his parents come from Eritrea, an African country north of Ethiopia, bordering the Red Sea. His first inspiration for running was simple: “I run to win.” (Interview by Laura Dayton) Personal Bests: 4:02 (Mile), 7:56 (3k), 13:42 (5k), 1:03 (Half Marathon) 1. Gil, you’ve run a bit on all terrain? 2. You qualified for the marathon Trials by running a 1:03 Half Marathon? 3. How long were you training for the Trials?
Photo: Graduation celebration 4. You had some foot issues just before the trials. Can you elaborate on this? 5. How did you resolve this?
Photo: The only person ahead of Gil at the 4 mile mark of the San Jose Half Marathon was Meb. Gil finished second. Photo by Catherine Cross Ujena Fit Club. 6. I talked with you just a couple days before the trials. You said you feeling “fairly” well and planned to show up in Houston as your own “one man wrecking crew!” Comments and Feedback
|
,,,,, |
Photo: At a friend's wedding. 7. Were you disappointed? 8. Do you owe any thanks? 9. Who is on your support team; who is the first person you call after a race? My brother is also part of my support team. He’s three years younger and had been training in Indiana but came back to the Bay Area. He’s a good runner. At Cal we overlapped a little, and he’s very tough. 10. In one of your older blogs you called this your “running stage.” Is that still true or do you think you’ll be a racer for life? 11. What is your strategy for 2012? I’ll probably be running a couple invitationals, maybe Stanford Invitational. I definitely want to qualify for the trials again, this time knowing what it takes to run the marathon. 12. What kind of diet do you regularly eat? 13. Do you have any good luck charms or rituals that you perform before a race? 14. How important do you think your running shoe is to your performance? Photo: Gil finished 8th (13:57) at the San Jose 5k Elite race on Thanksgiving Day 2011. He made running a sub 14 minute 5k look easy. Photo by Bob Anderson, Ujena Fit Club 15. Do you have any sponsors, and if so, what are you getting? 16. Do you use GU or any other running supplements? 17. Do you supplement your running with any other sport or weight training? 18. What first inspired you to take running seriously? 19. What runners do you admire (famous or friends) and for what reasons? 20. Do you think running will continue to grow as a sport, and if so, what is the selling point, the lure that keeps more and more people coming back for more? I also think it’s getting more popular as more and more people become more health conscious. The obesity rates keep going up and it’s hard to avoid all the crappy food, I see it in the schools every day. More people are realizing they need to be active, and get off the computer. Running is one of the best activities for burning calories. |