Episode · Jul 15, 2026 · 1 hr 14 min
He Started Running in College—Then Made Five Olympic Teams
with Abdi Abdirahman
Abdi Abdirahman is a five-time U.S. Olympian who coaches runners in Ethiopia and divides his time between there and Tucson.
Summary
Abdi tells Ken he came from Somalia to Tucson with his family in 1990 and spoke no English. He had never run in high school. In his second year at Pima Community College, he joined practice after watching a track meet. He showed up in jeans and boots, finished near the top of the group, then won a 5,000-meter race after a week of training. A scholarship took him to the University of Arizona, where he won conference titles and turned professional.
They compare the business of professional running, from shoe contracts to prize money and appearance fees, and talk about why marathon experience matters after mile 20. Abdi recalls training in Flagstaff, his 80-to-90-mile weeks and tempo workouts, and surviving the cold rain at the 2018 Boston Marathon. He names the 2008 Olympic Trials 10,000 meters as his favorite win, describes coaching runners in Ethiopia, and says he still runs about 50 miles most weeks.
Show notes
Abdi Abdirahman arrived in the United States as a refugee from Somalia in 1990. He spoke no English, settled with his family in Tucson, Arizona, and went through high school without ever competing as a runner.
He did not discover the sport until his sophomore year at Pima Community College.
Abdi showed up to his first practice wearing jeans and boots. Despite having no formal training, he finished second on the team. One week later, he ran 15:05 and won the 5,000 meters in his first track meet.
That unexpected beginning launched one of the most remarkable careers in American distance running.
Abdi became a four-time U.S. champion in the 10,000 meters and represented the United States at five Olympic Games across more than two decades. At 43, he finished third at the 2020 U.S. Olympic Marathon Trials and qualified for his fifth Olympic team. He also became the oldest male runner to reach the podium at the New York City Marathon.
In this conversation, Abdi shares the story of leaving Somalia during civil war, adjusting to life in America, accidentally discovering his talent, racing legends like Meb Keflezighi and Haile Gebrselassie, and building a professional career that lasted far longer than almost anyone expected.
He also opens up about the business behind professional running, the evolution of marathon training and super shoes, making money through prize purses and appearance fees, and why experience becomes so important over 26.2 miles.
Today, Abdi divides his time between Tucson and Ethiopia, where he helps coach and mentor the next generation of elite runners.
This is a conversation about talent, longevity, humility, and continuing to show up long after other people think your opportunity has passed.
Transcript
Made from YouTube's automatic captions and lightly corrected, so a few words and names may be off. Click a time to play the video from there.
Ken Rideout
All right, today's very special guest, one of the greatest US Olympic runners in history, the great Abdi Abdirahman. Thank you for coming.
Abdi Abdirahman
Thanks for having me, Ken. Glad to be here.
Ken Rideout
I've been a huge fan of yours since I first got into running. I just remember seeing you at races. I was showing you last night. I have a picture of you with my daughter from 15 years ago in New York City when I saw you at the race and we posed for a picture after the New York City Half Marathon. And then we take the bus one time to the New York City Marathon and I remember getting on the bus and saying, "Oh [ __ ] there's Abdi."
Abdi Abdirahman
Man, I was just grew old days, man. And I I do remember all those days, you know, was what was a great memory, man. I was And it was also real nice knowing you, you know, just I never I didn't know what you did. I knew you were a great runner, just a great masters runner. So, you know, just always been an inspiration. I've been always been looking, you know, what do you do for your running? you know, just I see you running 20 miles and I say, "Hey, I can't did 20 miles, so I got to do something a little better today." You know, just we motivate each other.
That's the That's something good about running.
Ken Rideout
That's right. I love it. I love the community. Do you Well, let's start from the beginning cuz I have so many questions about your professional career. But before we get there, originally from Somalia.
Abdi Abdirahman
Yes, sir. I'm originally from Somalia, the small part of uh you know, just and Somalia is pretty big country. So, it's a small region of northern Somalia called Somalia Argesa. That's where I'm originally from that. And that's where I was born. Yeah.
Ken Rideout
And how did you end up in the US?
Abdi Abdirahman
Uh, you know, I came here as a refugee. Came with my family in 1990 actually. 1990. Yeah. Beginning of 1990 because there was civil war. So we got a sponsorship to come to the United States. Yeah.
Ken Rideout
And your dad was an oil exec.
Abdi Abdirahman
Yes.
For the oil company. Oil Kono oil company. So yeah.
Ken Rideout
So he come here. Did he work in the oil industry when he got here?
Abdi Abdirahman
No, he didn't come. I just he just working for the company. So they just give him sponsor as an employee just for him to come here. Yeah.
Ken Rideout
And where did you move when you came when you first came here?
Abdi Abdirahman
I moved to Tucson, Arizona. That was my first city and I never left since then.
Ken Rideout
Just Tucson and Flagstaff, right?
Abdi Abdirahman
Just Tucson in Flagst.
Ken Rideout
And so you went to a public high school in Tucson?
Abdi Abdirahman
Yep. I went Tucson High and Tucson High and then I went to Pima Community College. Yeah.
Ken Rideout
And when did you start running?
Abdi Abdirahman
You know the I I didn't start running until my sophomore year at Pima Community College. You know, it just that's when I started running. So, I didn't run in high school at all. Zero. I didn't even know anything about running.
Ken Rideout
So, wait a minute. In college, you in your sophomore season at the community college, you just decided, oh, let me go off for cross country team.
Abdi Abdirahman
Definitely. No, I that was not the reason I started, you know, just like a lot of my friends was doing sports, you know, first year in college. All my friends, some of them play soccer, some of them play football, basketball. It was, you know, kind of the campus was oriented. you used to call like Pima West Campus and that's where the old sports was and that's where I had most of my classes. So every every day at 300 p.m. everybody would go to practice and I would be only the guy who at the cafeteria just sitting doing nothing.
So and I just and I I said you know I need to do something man at that same week UFA had a cross they had a track meet. So I went to go watch the track meet and there's a guy and I remember this guy through this day. He was wearing glasses, young man and he's from central Arizona CAC and he was dead last and I said if they let that guy run I say [clears throat] I can run at least I won't be dead last.
So next next day I went to the Pima Community College coach and I told him I want to join the track meet and he asked me have you ever run before and I said I never when I told him I never run before he never even pay attention to me. He just said okay. He just walked away say we have practice tomorrow if you want to come and I just I next day I came after the class everybody was going to practice pretend I was going to practice too.
Ken Rideout
So
And what was it like when you first started like where were you relative I mean you must have been the worst if you have no running experience.
Abdi Abdirahman
I have no running experience but I have some running I run like I run playing soccer but other than that I didn't I didn't know anything about running.
Ken Rideout
And so how hard was it to acclimate to a college, even a community college cross country team? Like they got to be running huge miles.
Abdi Abdirahman
Oh, they were running like 70, 80 miles a week. And I remember I was wearing jeans and a boot and I just went to practice next day and the coach tell me he didn't even look at what I was wearing. Am I wearing the the you know the pro the proper shoes, the proper clothes? He didn't even pay attention to me. He just said go run with I ran with them with my jeans and
Ken Rideout
No way.
Abdi Abdirahman
Yeah. And I just I came in second on the team there on the first day.
On the first day, never run ever before. And one of my friend, he's he's one of my good friends through to this day. His name is John Lanson. Beat me. And he only beat me because he outsprinted me because I was just I didn't know how to race. So I just like stayed behind him the whole time. So he beat me.
Ken Rideout
And so how quickly did they get you to did the coach get attention and how quickly did it take you him to how quickly did it take for them to get you the proper equipment?
Abdi Abdirahman
Oh man, right away. Like he he tell me, "Come to my office tomorrow." And I went to his office tomorrow. He had a brand new running shoes, the tracksuit. And I remember through this day was orange track suit because Puma the color was orange and black. So orange, black suit and brand new running shoes, everything.
And we had a meet that same weekend we had a meet.
Ken Rideout
And how'd you do? I
Abdi Abdirahman
I won the 5,000 meter
Ken Rideout
In your first track meet with only one week of training.
Abdi Abdirahman
One week of training. Yeah.
Ken Rideout
The coach must have [ __ ] himself.
Abdi Abdirahman
Oh yeah. He didn't know what to do. And he was just like, but I didn't know the rules. And I took my it was so hard in Arizona. So I took my shirt off while I was running because I didn't know the rules.
I just put on top of my head.
Ken Rideout
And they did they disqualify you?
Abdi Abdirahman
No, they didn't disqualified me. They tried but the coach fought for me. So was
Ken Rideout
He probably said this guy's only been running for a few days.
Abdi Abdirahman
Yeah.
Ken Rideout
And what was the time?
Abdi Abdirahman
I'd run 1505.
Ken Rideout
You ran 1505 5K with zero training right out of right off the couch essentially. That's [ __ ] crazy. team. The coach must have thought like, "Oh my god, we've got a superstar."
Abdi Abdirahman
Yeah. He, you know, just uh we had we had some good conversation after that day, you know, just I was the man on the campus. Everything was going well. I went from I went from sitting at the cafeteria with no doing sports to be the main guy on the campus within like a two three weeks.
Ken Rideout
So, what happened after that meet? How did things progress from there?
Abdi Abdirahman
Yeah, you know, everything everything went well. I, you know, I competed the NJCAA championships at the in Odessa, Texas. I did well. I think I I got second on the 1500. I was second on the 5,000 meters. So, you know, I had a great I had a great success. At the same time, the U of A coach heard about me right away. You know, they reach out to me and, you know, transfer to the UVA right away. Just, you know,
Ken Rideout
Full scholarship.
Abdi Abdirahman
Full scholarship. Everything paid for, you know, was
Ken Rideout
Which is rare for track, right? Because they usually give a little bit to everyone.
Abdi Abdirahman
Exactly. You know, that's the one thing. And I I don't even remember through this day like coach Dave Murray he's like he became a father figure to me. We talk about that kind of stuff to be honest. Exact. And you're right Ken. You know they don't they rarely give like a full ride scholarship to athlete unless you're like a super super super talent. But for me I was talent. I was good but I wasn't as good as some of the kids who were running because they were running some crazy times
Because you have like you have people like a me you have people like uh Bernard Lag that they were kind of my era. They were already at the university level. So they already Bernard was at the Washington. May was in UCLA. So and I was in I was coming to Arizona. So they said, "This guy will never beat me. He will never beat Bernard." You know, just and his assistant coach say, "Why would we give him scholarship?" He said, you know, we can give him something, but we can't we can't just give him.
And the coach said, "This guy's going to be good. You just don't know how good he's going to be." And that's the UFA coach. and you know just I remember first year I came to the UAV I remember going to pack 10 I won the 5,000 10,000 meter because I conference meet
Oh at the conference beat up back to back 10 at that time so I beat them names of like me you know just Brad Hower some some of the legend of sports today
Because those guys they didn't know who I was you know just I they didn't know who how good I was just when I get a little bit of training I just you know I just went for the the coach tell me how to run I just did what he told me just he said go out hard they not they can I know they stay with you but I I bet those guy would have stayed with me but they didn't know who I was there they said this guy's going to die
And I just never came back
Ken Rideout
That's awesome and when you before we get to the next state I I meant to ask you um growing up in Somalia what were you doing there were you just playing soccer or
Abdi Abdirahman
I was just I was just playing soccer you know we never have any organized sports you know the organiz sports we have in Somalia was just uh was just soccer and at night we used to run a running game. I think that's where I get my running ability just because at night we'll just the neighborhood the kids will will come we'll come together at night and then we just we make a circle and then that's the goal in the circle and then just some five kids will run out they will go hide the other five kids will stay so you have to go find them but for me one thing I was good at it and I just
When I drag everything back I used to run the neighbor I used to run the farthest to hide so no one can find So the people would always give up and I just come into the go later on.
Ken Rideout
And was um was it like was it tumultuous there? Was it like war torn? Was it a like where you were growing up? Was it kind of like when I think of Somalia sometimes I think of like Mogadishu
And kind of like lawless. What was it like in your neighborhood as a kid?
Abdi Abdirahman
Yeah. You know at that time we lived in Madisha and Modisha was beautiful at that time to be honest. It was a beautiful country you know before the civil war you know everything was great. It was a normal city. you know driving in and it was one of the greatest city in in East Africa to be honest looking back but at this moment it's not the place that you want to go to be honest
Ken Rideout
No and when you came to the US you I assume you couldn't speak English
Abdi Abdirahman
No yeah none zero
Ken Rideout
How quickly did it take you to feel comfortable
Abdi Abdirahman
H you know it just it took me it took me a long time to be honest you know I was a shy kid just and you know just without me without knowing the language doesn't even make it more difficult.
Ken Rideout
Okay, so back to the college career. So, the first meet you win the Pac-10.
Yes. And then what happens from there?
Abdi Abdirahman
Well, just I went to the NCAA. I was second at the 5,000 meter to Adam Adam Goucher.
Ken Rideout
Okay. Oh, Cara Goucher's husband.
Abdi Abdirahman
Carrie Goucher's house. Adam won. And I was third at the I should have won the 5. I should have won the 10,000 but you know we always we used to run against a coach Vin Lada from Stanford and he always have a great plan. He was a great coach. So, you know, just he figure out some some way to beat me and me. So, you know. Yeah.
Ken Rideout
And did you is that when you met me for the first time at the NCAA?
Abdi Abdirahman
Yeah, I I met him at back then. I met him back then. Yeah, he run at UCLA on Arizona. So that's when we met. Yeah.
Ken Rideout
You graduated from UVA?
Abdi Abdirahman
Yes.
Ken Rideout
And then you turned pro.
Abdi Abdirahman
Yes, I turned pro. Yeah.
Ken Rideout
And what happens then? Where like what does the career look like at that point?
Abdi Abdirahman
You know, career was great. You know, it was a great journey to be honest. It's something like, you know, I enjoyed the life. I I met some great people in life just people like you and also made some great friends just uh you know it was it it was a great career. It was it was a long career for me to be honest. Yeah. I've enjoyed and I make the best out of it every single moment.
Yeah. You went to five Olympics over the course of six. So you missed in 2016 with an injury, but theoretically you could have gone to six in a row, which would have been the record for men for for male or female US athletes in track and field. Yeah, I think that's true. Yeah, I could have made the 2000 Olympics and I'm, you know, it's something that I always think about it and I look back and what could have been, you know, and I'm not one of those people who look back in life, you know, just everything happened for a reason and you make the best out of it what you have at that moment.
But I I believe I could have made the Olympics in 2016 because that's when I had my best marathon career that year. I like I missed the trials and also I I was still at New York City Marathon, you know, the following year I was fit at Boston Marathon, you know, just I have won some of the some of the best running times of my life. But and everything happened for a reason. You know, if I would have made the Olympics, could I have been in third in New York City Marathon?
Could I have run in New York City Marathon because everything is so close? So, you know, everything happened for a reason. But, but it was a great journey to be honest. You know, sometimes I look back and I say, you know what, I would as an athlete, you always want to be the best. You know, I wish I could have uh made the Olympics in 2016, but also I'm thankful that I made five Olympics.
Ken Rideout
Yeah. Well, the thing is with the Olympic marathon, I know a lot of times in like Kenya, Ethiopia, they the athletes get mandated to run the marathon and a lot of them don't want to go to the Olympics, right? They want to run the money races in New York, Boston is much more important for marathoners than Olympics.
Abdi Abdirahman
Yeah, that's true. You know, a lot of people get selected in Ethiopia or Kenya. They get select and they get selected by the committee. You know, sometimes even they some of the best guys don't even go to the Olympics because of uh because of the selection process. You know, some you might someone might have a good race, one good race, but they will overlook the guy who had a like, you know, good resume who's been running like a 10 or 12 race. That's great, but he just had a one bad race.
So, and also is a politics, too. You know, just been being, you know, those kind of some coaches will will favor one other athlete. They say, you know what, you want to put this guy athlete if you want to have if you want to get that girl. You know, there's always mind games that they play with each other. So the best athlete don't get always selected in Kenya or Etopia. That's the one thing.
Ken Rideout
But they also will sometimes select and almost mandate that the really good runners have to run, right? They like tell them like I remember Gabriel Gabri Salas I forget the year. I think it was in London in 12. He had just won, I think, New York. And you know, when you're at that level, you can go keep winning these big marathons and having to run an Olympic race in the middle of all these big marathons, it can cost you the opportunity to win somewhere else. And I remember Gabri is running in like 10k, he just pulled over to the side of the road and whether he was faking or not, he was like, "I have an injury.
Abdi Abdirahman
I'm going to stop here." You know that's the that's another mind game that people play because you know they select you to world championship to Olympics if things are not going well they say okay I'm not going to meddal today I'm I'm the you know just it's just something about runners talk about it you know just something we know and you just say they will just put out on the side and they just focus on the next race because they know they don't have their best race at that day and that's and that's something that happens in the marathon to be honest like
You don't think everybody's getting injured Some of them just they're not having a good day and they just, you know, they don't want to waste their energy. Yeah. Shut it down and get ready for the next big one.
Ken Rideout
Well, that's like when Dez won the 2018, was it 18 uh Boston Marathon and she was going to stop and felt terrible and then just gave one last push to help Shellane and was like, "Oh [ __ ] I'm feeling good." And won the whole race. I mean, the perfect conditions for her to win with the rain and the cold. I think a lot of the Africans suffered in those harsh conditions and she won. Um, but yeah, I've had I've had times like that where where I started running in in New York the year that I won the Mast's division 21.
I had the worst calf strain. I had like a um like a muscle spasm in my calf for like a two weeks and it wouldn't go away. I was getting massage everything. It hurt so bad. I even had a metro card under the sole of my shoe in case I had to drop out. I had at least a metro card to get home. That's how concerned I was. And like three or four miles. So it was hurting right from the jump and around 3 or four and I felt terrible like I was just like I was carrying a piano and around 3 or four miles my calf just was let go and it I almost feel like my body was like well he's not going to stop so let's just let go and I suffered the whole entire day but when I finally finished I win the Mast's division by 3 seconds and I remember one of the first texts I get from you say
Hey welcome to the club cuz you had won the M's division previously along with meb.
Abdi Abdirahman
Yeah, you know, it was great, you know, just like, you know, win is a win. Doesn't matter what division, man. Just like I know there's nothing easy in life, man. Just like you 18 years old, you're competing with 18. When you're tw, you know, when you're 30s, you're competing with 30 with the lead. And you know, when you get to your 40s, I know [gasps] that's the 40 is the most I think is the most competitive division in any running to be honest. A lot of those guys are committed.
They're not professional, but they're hard. They're like hardcore people. Those are the people you see Sunday running 30, 40, 50 miles.
Ken Rideout
Yeah.
Abdi Abdirahman
For long run. And you know, and I when I saw you won and I said, damn. And I knew your hard work. I saw you work at everything. And I know you deserve it. So, and I just want to reach out to you as a friend and tell you congratulation and welcome to the club, man. You know, master's champ once you're a champion always champion and that you know things can been taken away from you in life. But some being a champion is always be always a champion.
Your record has been meant to be broken. If you set a record, someone else is gonna come and break it. But when you win, no one can take it away from you that win, man. That's
That's what it's all about.
Ken Rideout
Yeah. And that's what I always tell people, like you and me won in like 210, 212, something like this, and I ran 233. But what I always say to people is you have to, and I was 51, I won the 40 and over. You have to show up on the day, and all I can do is control what I do. So if none of the elite runners, and that's the thing with Masters, if none of the elite runners are there, then you might be able to do it on the day.
But the thing with Masters is you had a long career. How old were you at your last Olympics?
Abdi Abdirahman
I was 40 I was 43 years old. 44, actually. Yeah,
Ken Rideout
That's what I mean. If you had run New York that year, you would have won that easily. But you weren't there. And I was.
Abdi Abdirahman
Yep. And And that's all [clears throat] matters, man. It's not. Yeah. Exactly. So, hey, you never told me not to come. You never You know what? Hey, there's something else going. You should showed up. You showed up and you won the race, so that's that's what matters.
Ken Rideout
Yeah. I still remember looking at the results and thinking like, "Oh my god, I did it. Holy crap." I wouldn't even have dreamed of winning Mast's division. I just thought I could win the 50 and over. So, it was uh it was like a magical day. When you first started running, did you have contract with Nike right away?
Abdi Abdirahman
Yeah, I you know, [clears throat] I was with them for a while. Nike. I was with like most of my crowd was with Nike. I just but now I'm with ASICS and you know things are going well and you know just is a such a great company you know is a is a running company to be honest you know they love runners and you know the product is amazing so yeah
Ken Rideout
It's interesting with um the business of running like with me when Nike didn't want to give him a contract so he signed with Sketchers and then went on to win Boston at New York was so crazy
Abdi Abdirahman
I know man that was that was some that was one of the craziest thing ever man you know It's like sometimes people you know shoe company like I don't I would I would never say oh shoe company but some shoe company just look at you what are you doing at that moment but they you know if you're going through difficult time you know just like sometimes as athlete you know people do go through difficult times you know sometimes things don't go as an athlete if you're not going for in if you don't have any injury of
Any little pains here and there you're not training right
Ken Rideout
Yeah that's right I always say at the marathon like there might be 20 people that are all um have the conditioning and the ability to win that race, but it matters like who's the healthiest after absorbing 140 miles a week for 3 months.
Abdi Abdirahman
That true 100% true, man. Yep. That that's the m that's is it's like who gets to the stand lineup have the least pain or least like injury.
Ken Rideout
Yeah.
Abdi Abdirahman
We all have something. Don't don't ever believe a runner when marathoners tell you say I'm 100% healthy. They might be healthy, but there's always something. always
Ken Rideout
Same thing with fighters. You can't get in good shape to be a fighter without fighting. And when you fight, you get hurt.
The um explain the business of running. Like how do how do you make money when you're just getting started? Is it just a shoe contract or do you have other retainers or other payments from how does it work?
Abdi Abdirahman
It's a complicated man. Like I think it's it's it's better now. It's better. Like a lot of the shoe coming. I think it's pretty well. You know when me and me came in it wasn't wasn't that much of money. Most of we make some money from shoe company but most of money came from like you know price money appearance you know just doing well on road races and that's why a lot most of us like as a as a former distance runners when we moved to the marathon we moved to the marathon because of the financial reason because the marathon was paying really well.
You can you can run two or two two marathons a year and the appearance would be really good and the price money would be really good. So you can make a good living and also have a good decent shoe contractor which is was not the way they are today.
Today kids are are getting paid like way more money than what we what we get used to pay me and all the guys. So you know that I think he's hitting the right direction.
Ken Rideout
Yeah, that's interesting. And and I always tell people with the prize money, if a race offers prize money, you'll see like four or five Ethiopians in New York, they'll show up cuz there's a race in Shelter Island, the Shelter Island 10K. It's in June every year and my wife's family is out there. So I used to run it and every year there'd be like because there was $2,000 for the winner. So all these guys that are living and training in New York, there's a big Ethiopian running community.
Abdi Abdirahman
They'd show up and blitz it and run like, you know, 29 minutes on a difficult course in the heat and it would just be crazy because it's a little tiny race and then you see this little pack of Ethiopian show up in Kenyons and they just dominate. Oh yeah, man. That's and and I remember that I remember the group you talk about in New York City is the Rochester Tri Club. Yes. And then we they show up, you know, and I respect that, man. just, you know, they're trying to make a living and if there's a price money, why not then?
Ken Rideout
Yeah. Yeah, of course.
Abdi Abdirahman
Yeah.
Ken Rideout
And uh I think Boozanesh would show up at Banesha. She was a big fixture in New York City.
Abdi Abdirahman
Yeah.
Ken Rideout
There was so many good Ethiopians. Obviously, I have my daughter is adopted from Ethiopia and I used to love connecting with all the Eth Ethiopian runners. They were so friendly. My friend Ketma and Guay, he would send me like Olympic training suits and everything from Ethiopia. have so much Ethiopian Olympic gear,
Abdi Abdirahman
Man. That's great, man. That's great. Ethiopia good people, man. It's amazing. Just you get to know them.
It's amazing. All the athletes. Yeah. And if you ever decided to come, man, if you ever decide to come to Ethiopia, I have some great friends, great connection to Ethiopia. So, we'll definitely host you.
Ken Rideout
Oh, I love to come to Ethiopian train for a week. I need like two weeks just to acclimate. The the altitude at Addis is high. Yeah.
When I went there to get my daughter, I was running through like on the ble road all through AI in the in the city and I was suffering trying to breathe. It was so high.
Abdi Abdirahman
Well, we have a better place for you. Well, I'll take you to Saluta where we train where our training base is. Saluta
And is a 9,000 above sea level. It's way above is way higher than at this level. So just imagine I remember every time I go every time I go back there
I usually get a headache.
Yeah. just running there just used the first couple of days. Yeah. You get a headache. Yeah.
Ken Rideout
Well, when we adopted her, she was born in Aasa. So, we had to drive down to Aasa and running there was beautiful cuz that was like a village. That was countryside.
Abdi Abdirahman
Yep.
Ken Rideout
And the people I remember the people, Ethiopian people see me running, you know, and it's not a big run. There wasn't a big running community there, but the people see me running like big white guy running through through this little village. It was so funny that every single person would stop and look at me like I was crazy.
Abdi Abdirahman
Definitely. Yeah. You know, you just you're a foreigner when you go there and most of those people probably never left their village.
So when they see white person running, the good thing they didn't call you China because because when you go there, everybody, every white person, they think the especially the kids, they think he's a Chinese guy. Everybody knows China and they Yeah. They say China. China.
Ken Rideout
When we drove from Ais to Aasa, it was probably a hundred miles and took like five hours because the highway is so like dodgy. And along the highway between Aasa and Ais, everything was Chinese. All the factory is Chinese writing everywhere. Even the resort we stayed in, which was gorgeous, was Chinese resort. Everything. They like colonizing the country, it seems like.
Abdi Abdirahman
Oh, yeah man. You know, just it's it's different. That's a lot of Chinese in Ethiopia. Yeah.
Everything. Yeah.
Ken Rideout
And they were originally at one point the was it the Italians that took over Ethiopia or or colonized it? No, they tried but they didn't succeed.
Because there's still Italian influence there. You can get pizza, pasta.
Abdi Abdirahman
Oh, yeah. Definitely there's Italian influence, but uh I don't think it Ethiopia is one of those one of the only African country that never been colonized way. Yeah.
Ken Rideout
And it's the seat of the African Union. So, it's a lot more developed than most people would think.
Abdi Abdirahman
Yeah. And and also changed a lot the last four or five years. Addis you will never recognize. I don't know the last time you were there, but now if you go back to Addis and see it what the new government did, it's amazing. It's a beautiful country. Yeah.
Ken Rideout
Oh, that's great. But they had like civil war and conflict there in the last several years, right?
Abdi Abdirahman
Yeah. Yeah. But that's not in the just outside of the city. Yeah. The great region. Yeah.
Ken Rideout
Tree. Yeah. Yeah. We have a lot of friends that are from there. So when you start running, what were the first like big success that you had as a pro runner? when you start to make some noise. Do you remember like what your best finish was when you first turned pro?
Abdi Abdirahman
Uh, you know, I have a lot, you know, just to be honest, I have won a lot of road races. You know, I I've like, you know, just to be honest and I just I finished the podium New York City marathon. I almost finished the podium in Chicago. I was fit in the Boston Marathon. But like uh but for me was like uh and also making the Olympic teams just for 10,000 meter just like you know to be honest there. But there's a one race that I always look back and it was 2007 when I ran uh no 2006 when I ran New York City half marathon and this this deepest you will ever get I think at that time because like it's like and and I finished second to highlight Gabri Salazi.
He's the he's the legend of the sport. Yeah. Base he's one of the greatest runner to ever lay a shoes as a runner and I finished second to him and Kanisa. Yeah. And I finished second to highly at that time like you know just and you have like Robert Churad on my race at that time who was a five-time Boston marathon champion you know just there's a lot of people who have done a lot of great thing in running and for me to be running with those people and even sometimes even beat them was just an honor for me so and I think that's one race I will always remember finish finishing second at the New York City Marathon to highle Gabrias and also running 60 at that time there was no super shoes there's nothing and there was New York City Marathon
Ken Rideout
At the New York City half marathon. You come in second. And what was the time?
Abdi Abdirahman
60.
Ken Rideout
Flat.
Abdi Abdirahman
Yeah. No. 60 I think 60 20. Yeah.
Ken Rideout
Oh wow.
Abdi Abdirahman
Yeah.
Ken Rideout
Did you ever run under 60?
Abdi Abdirahman
I never run. That's the closest I ever get. Yeah. You know, but it's just like, you know, when all this shoe come out at that time, I was already moved to the half marathon. But I have run 60 times. 61 half marathon. You know, I was I was a decent half marathon runner. Yeah,
I was second in the great N run, one of the biggest world. Yeah,
Ken Rideout
That was great. And like you said, without the um super shoes at the time, like running a marathon, even a half marathon in racing flats would beat the [ __ ] out of my legs.
Abdi Abdirahman
Oh my god.
Ken Rideout
Destroyed.
Abdi Abdirahman
Oh my god. Just tell me about it. I run New York City marathon with a with like a Nike just a normal racing flush before the super shoes. It take me like a month and a half to recover. I remember going back home. I can't even walk the stairs. I can't like it just like I have to go to the pool, hot tub, everything. Just And these days you see the kids running half marathon, next day they're running a marathon. Like they're running back to back marathon.
I don't think that will ever happen back in the day like a 2007 era.
Ken Rideout
Well, I think the thing with the super shoes is more than they make you run fast on the day, they allow you to train excessively and absorb all the miles because it's no much time on your feet, not much punishment on your feet and legs cuz they're so cushioned.
Abdi Abdirahman
Exactly. Yeah. And also make you And also you can recover faster.
Ken Rideout
Yeah. What kind of mileage were you running back then when you first turned pro?
Abdi Abdirahman
I wasn't a high mileage guy for me to be honest. I was like 90 80 miles a week as a marathoner to be honest. Yeah.
Ken Rideout
Really? 80 90 miles a week.
Abdi Abdirahman
Yeah.
Ken Rideout
Wow.
Abdi Abdirahman
I was like for me even through this day that's why I don't have any problem. That's what I have that what you know I don't have a lot of impact on my body you know just that's that's one thing that keep me you know and also I never get surgery in my whole life. I did have I did have uh injuries but I never went under the knife or get the surgery main surgery and and I know a lot of my friend runners all of them get surgery like three or four times but me never did.
I just take care of my body, you know, just I just find out what work for me and I just stick with that.
Ken Rideout
Yeah. And you never take supplements or vitamins or anything. Just real food.
Abdi Abdirahman
Just real food, you know. There's no, you know, just supplement is good, you know, just sometimes good. But I did take a like iron on that stuff. But other than that, I just like I try to stick with the food even though it's a lot of work sometimes eating all the trying to eat. But that time I have nothing else to do. So at least I knew my I can get my, you know, my grocery shopping. I can get my grocery ride.
Ken Rideout
So when you when you first turned pro, you were living in Flagstaff or Tucson?
Abdi Abdirahman
Yeah, I was living in Tucson. Yeah.
Ken Rideout
Okay.
Abdi Abdirahman
And then I moved to Flagstaff in 2000 to train.
Ken Rideout
Okay. And and who were you training with? Who was in the group?
Abdi Abdirahman
Um about that time I used to train with mostly with Bernard Lagard. Yeah. Me and him. Yeah. We used to train together. And also I trained with May in Mahame.
Oh, really? Yeah.
Ken Rideout
That's a great place to train.
Abdi Abdirahman
I I loved it, man. It was nice. It was kind of a little bit like a isolated area for me, but then that was great. Yeah.
Ken Rideout
So, when you would train up there, what would a typical day look like?
Abdi Abdirahman
I'll wake up in the morning, do like, you know, anywhere from 10 10 miles, 12 miles, and then go to the gym, come back, take a nap, eat, and then do another six, seven miles. Yeah. It just everything was like uh
Ken Rideout
Structured
Abdi Abdirahman
Structured through running.
How many days a week would you do workouts? Uh I used to do like uh I used to do a Wednesday, Thursday and then Saturday tempo three days. Three workouts every
Ken Rideout
So mostly tempo just running like hard continuously. No like what? No intervals.
Abdi Abdirahman
No intervals. Yeah. Tempo is more like a steady steady pace. Yeah.
Ken Rideout
Yeah.
Abdi Abdirahman
It's like more they call now threshold.
Ken Rideout
Yes.
Abdi Abdirahman
But that's Yeah. It's not Yeah. Just it's just running like you say coach will tell me run five minute pace. just run five minute pace anywhere from 5 to 10 miles.
Ken Rideout
I remember before I had a coach, Mario Freyoli, I would just go out and run long distance like a minimum of 10 miles every day. And when I felt good, I would just run threshold. And when I didn't feel good, I would just jog and recover. And then on one day a week, I would do one long run. Uh and I would always structure the long run as a progression. So I would start out maybe like low seven minute miles and try to get down to like 550 for the last like three miles of a 20-mi run which was hard.
But I would do that along the beach in um in Santa Monica and the people looking at me like I'm crazy right drenched in sweat running as fast as I can on the boardwalk in in the beach.
Abdi Abdirahman
Yeah. That's that you know and that running that's what makes running great man. You can just sometimes you can just feel how you run you know just especially I think the best one of the best workout as the progression run because you can find out how good you are like starting slowly building into it you know just like and exactly that's one of my favorite thing to do in running progression run I usually like when I'm doing a long run we started like you know
We'll warm up for two miles
Warm ups for two miles and then I'll start like a like a 320 perk this one when I went to 320 and then get down into like a 30 perk the last 5k or 6k. Yeah. You know, and that's and that's when you learn how to run hard.
Ken Rideout
Yeah, that's for sure. Did you ever run Tokyo?
Abdi Abdirahman
I never run Tokyo.
Ken Rideout
Oh, really?
Abdi Abdirahman
But I I did run Tokyo. Yes, I run a I I
I run Tokyo 10,000 m in 2006. 2006 I was sixth in the world like the world championship 10K. Yeah, [clears throat] that's when I and also I run the Ekiden there with the US team.
Ken Rideout
The which one?
Abdi Abdirahman
Ekan. Yeah. No, Ekiden. E cheapen.
Ken Rideout
Oh, okay.
Abdi Abdirahman
It's a relay.
Ken Rideout
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
Abdi Abdirahman
Yeah. It's almost like a marathon relay. Yeah.
Ken Rideout
I got you. I loved to running the Tokyo Marathon. I have one of my best races there. And you know, everyone, this was in maybe 22 when everyone now was on Straa, including the pros. And I remember I finished the strongest I ever finished. Like, you know, there's nothing like racing the end of a marathon versus surviving.
Yeah. And I run through the last like one of the last few Ks in the Tokyo Marathon and I get the Straa KM, the fastest segment for any runners. And there was some pros in there, too.
Abdi Abdirahman
Oh, wow.
Ken Rideout
And I was finishing so strong. I was Oh, man. I felt so good. I went there for a week in advance and just stayed in my room and did nothing for one week to acclimate to the time change.
Abdi Abdirahman
And that's what makes running great, man. Doesn't matter like even sometimes the the pro runners walk
Yeah.
While they're running. just like they die the last three, four, fivek and they just walk and just like and if you have sometimes you like you know just know some somewhere normal some like a medium runner can have a great idea and just like get that excitement and get that everything going and just finish up hard man and and that's what makes running great man.
Ken Rideout
Yeah it's like uh the Japanese guy who won the Boston Marathon in 18.
Abdi Abdirahman
Exactly. Yeah I remember. Yeah I remember I was on that race actually just
Oh you were in 18. Yeah.
How cold was it? It was pretty cold and windy. It was not only the cold. It was the wind was the cold plus the wind plus the rain. Everything that could go wrong as a runner went wrong that day.
Ken Rideout
How did you do?
Abdi Abdirahman
I don't know how I don't even know how I get to the finish line actually to be honest. I But I got to the finish line 220 I think.
Ken Rideout
220.
Oh, that's that was What was your best time?
Abdi Abdirahman
My best time uh my best time for for a marathon at that time.
Ken Rideout
Yeah.
Abdi Abdirahman
Yeah. Was 208.
Ken Rideout
Yeah. So 208 to run 212 30 seconds slower per mile is crazy.
Abdi Abdirahman
Yeah.
But I don't even know like the funniest thing is like one of my training the guy I trained with finished right next to me for the we finished together basically but I don't even remember how he got there. I don't remember him being in the race. Nothing. It just was that how that's how cold it was.
Ken Rideout
Yeah.
Abdi Abdirahman
And we finished together less than a second.
Ken Rideout
Oh my god.
Abdi Abdirahman
Yeah. And he said dude you were right behind. Say yeah. And I said and I told him I was right we were right next to you. I said I didn't see you. And I told him the same thing. I don't I didn't see you either.
Ken Rideout
Yeah.
Ken Rideout
When that race was getting ready to start, do you remember standing on the start line and thinking like, "Holy [ __ ] it is cold." Was it already raining at the starting?
Abdi Abdirahman
No, it didn't start. It just started raining at the right when we started actually. But I remember how windy it was, how cold it was. And for me, I wore like a t-shirt underneath my uniform. So, I didn't know what to do. I was just confused. I wasn't prep I was I was prepared for the cold. I wasn't prepared for the rain. So, I wear like a t-shirt underneath my
T-shirt and then I wear my fist and then everything got wet. The t-shirt just I think someone who got her everything right was dead because she wear the rain jacket. She wore the rain jacket the whole race, which is crazy. Like I've never seen any pro runner wearing a jacket in any event. Even in the freezing cold weather,
Ken Rideout
But it's crazy in the cold weather is always like when it's really cold is always when I ran my fastest times.
I needed to not raining. I didn't like the rain, but when it was cold, like I ran a 110 half marathon in Nashville on a very tough course in like de of November or December. It was freezing. But once you get going two, three mile, as long as I had gloves.
Abdi Abdirahman
Yeah. Oh, you're good. Yeah. You're good. Yeah. As long as you take out your hands and your ears, you good and run. Yeah.
Ken Rideout
Yeah. Yeah. That in the New York City marathon also always was always freezing cold cuz it was in like March. So some days it would be like arctic cold.
Abdi Abdirahman
Yeah. I I run New York City Marathon when it's cold a couple times, you know, just But but that's something that you can deal with actually. Yeah.
What was your favorite race? My favorite um I you know for me I love I just one of my favorite race I got say was New York City New York City half marathon and also New York City marathon and also had a great in Chicago same the Boston has some even great note run
To be honest there's a one there's if I pick one race I would say the New York City half marathon that's one of my favorite
Ken Rideout
I like the half marathon cuz it's much closer to a 10k than a marathon you can really kill yourself in a half marathon. But it's funny because if you think you're going to run a half if you're a good half marathon runner, it doesn't necessarily mean you're going to run good in the marathon cuz they're like two completely different things.
Abdi Abdirahman
Exactly.
Ken Rideout
13 miles is not halfway in the marathon. They always say 20 miles is halfway. Cuz when you get to 20 miles, you still have a 10k to go. And if you have done it wrong, and I've done that many times, it is hell on earth. in Berlin in 2022. I went I was in such good shape and I went out super hard with the second pack of female pros and I started on the start line right next to Elliot Kipogi. I had in the I was in the like pro tent and everything cuz I had run some fast times and I stay with the girls and I'm like the fastest pace I ever ran was 539.
So I ran 228 in 18. And so I'm looking down at and you know these pro girls, they're like metronome. They're on the same pace every mile. So every mile clicks off at like 5:30, 5:30, like clockwork within 3 seconds. And I'm thinking, oh, I'm probably going too fast. But I convinced myself, I feel so good. Maybe this is a breakthrough race. And it was hot, man. I got to like 15 16 miles and I was like, holy [ __ ] I'm going to drop dead.
I can't even I was blurred vision. I was like practically go running sideways. I was a mess. I finished that race 235 and I got to like 20 miles on a 530 pace. So I just I man I thought I was going to die at the finish. I was literally cross the finish line. I said medic medic.
Abdi Abdirahman
Yep. You know marathon there's a saying in marathon. Marathon is a 20 is a 20 miles of running and 10k of racing.
Ken Rideout
Yes.
Abdi Abdirahman
If you can run good last 10k in a marathon you can run well.
Yeah. And also if you kill yourself the first 20 miles, you you feel like you're struggling the first 20 miles, then you have a long day ahead of you.
Ken Rideout
That's for sure.
Abdi Abdirahman
Yeah, definitely. Yeah.
Ken Rideout
But there's no better feeling than being able to race the last 10k. That's when I win the world championships in Chicago. I caught the two guys in the last 10k and they I beat them by less than one minute. Both of those guys, my best going into that race was 229, 22820 and I ran 229 low in Chicago. The two guys who I beat for second and third have both run that same year 225.
Abdi Abdirahman
Wow.
Ken Rideout
But the one early in the race, the guy who was one Australian guy got just ran past me like I was standing still. And I was like, "Oh, now I'm going to have to settle for second because that if he holds that pace, I'll never catch him." I couldn't even catch him. Even at 3 miles, he ran by so fast I couldn't surge to keep up with him. And then around 10 or 12 miles, the guy who won the World Championships for the age group the year before, this guy Tom from Belgium, he ran by me and tapped me.
He's like, "Come on, Ken." You know, we kind of know him a little. And I said to him, "Yo, there's another guy in the age group up the road. You got you got to go get him. He's way up there." So I think that this guy then tried to catch him hard and around 20 21 miles I see him on the side of the road stretching his hamstring and I was like oh [ __ ] maybe I'm back in this and then like 24 miles I see the guy who's leading but he's not coming back to me fast.
I'm just slowly, but you know that feeling where you're like, "Oh, now I have crazy anxiety cuz now I know I have to go."
And it's almost like, "Oh, you don't want to get into a sprint in the end of a marathon." And I run past him at like 25 miles in one by less than one minute.
Abdi Abdirahman
And and that's the best feeling. That's marathon. Marathon, you never count yourself out until you cross the finish.
Ken Rideout
That's right.
Abdi Abdirahman
And that's the one thing. So you you got you got just like, you know, you see a lot of uh you see a lot of runners, they believe in the race or marathoners. You think they're going to win, but they get to 25K and they barely barely running.
Ken Rideout
Yeah.
Abdi Abdirahman
And they end up getting fifth or 10th or sometimes don't even finish it. But that's just a marathon. That's what makes great in a marathon. You just don't know what to expect that day until you cross the finish line. You can have a great day. You can have a bad day. And that's why we, you know, that's why we train and hope for the best for that day.
Ken Rideout
Yeah. Experience counts for so much at the marathon. And you can't explain it to people. Well, I think it's funny when people haven't run a marathon, but they're very good runners, like half marathon, 10K, and they're like, "Yeah, I'm going to run, you know, 245 or something, and I'm like, "Have you run a marathon before?" No. I always think like I don't want to rain on their parade, but I'm always like, "You have no idea."
Abdi Abdirahman
Oh, you have. Exactly. Even, you know, like even I my first my first marathon was 2004 2004 in New York City marathon. I was in the best shape of my life, man. It just like hey I thought I was just like I start running gun goes off I and I just come from track. Yeah
I was a track guy.
They go out like 5 minute pace. I thought this was work at the park man. I can't do this like a [ __ ] five 10
Three days in a row man. You know just like hey
I didn't like through this I remember the way I felt after I get to 21 miles man. I was feeling good and then suddenly like I just felt that something that I never felt in my life because I never run a marathon.
Ken Rideout
Yeah. Were you eating calories and drinking a lot?
Abdi Abdirahman
At that time there was no like calorie eating a lot. You just you just I was taking like this drink was I thought was more like a instead of energy drink or carbohydrate was more like a sugar and water cytoax long the bag back in the day again. I think I just ran out of energy man. I just hit the wall like never before. 20 mi because I was running 20 m at under 5 minutes pace. Yeah.
And I just hit the wall, man. I just remember through this day was was one of the worst feeling, man. Oh, man.
Ken Rideout
And you weren't having any calories?
Abdi Abdirahman
No, I wasn't having any calories that
Crazy. Do you remember when the calories started to come in when people started to take gels and like a time start improving and people start getting more educated on the nutritional aspect? I think that was like late 200 you know late 2008 you know 2008 2000 like you know that era I think that's when the goo started coming out like powder started coming out with gel
You know and those gels through this they were like more sugar oriented instead of
Car now you have a more now you have a lot of other product on the pipeline something coming up you know I think someone [clears throat] will come out with the good thing to be honest
Ken Rideout
Yeah well I think the Morton gels are the best
Yeah yeah I would take one of those like every four or five miles until I get to around 18 miles. Then I would take one or two of caffeinated ones and I feel the caffeine kick in cuz I don't drink a ton of coffee.
But when I take those caffeinated gels late in a race
Abdi Abdirahman
And I think it's good, man. Mortum is something that also keep me in the sports around because in 2016 I was the one of the first few people to use Mortum actually when I was there in New York City Marathon. Yeah.
Ken Rideout
German company.
Abdi Abdirahman
Yeah. No, it's Swiss. Oh, Swiss. Yeah, sorry.
Sweden. Sweden. Sweden. Yeah.
Oh, Sweden.
Ken Rideout
Yeah.
Abdi Abdirahman
Oh, I thought it was Swiss.
Ken Rideout
It's a That's a good brand. They have a lot of good products. I use those in uh when I did the race in Mongolia in the Gobi March. Did you um have you considered doing any ultras?
Abdi Abdirahman
Uh maybe in the future on the line, you know, just now I just this is my first year just like without doing anything. So, I'm going to get back into running now, you know, just um I'm I'm back to running, but
I want to see if I
I want to explore if I can do the long distance, you know, just something that I never done it before and I know how hard it is, you know, just sometimes, you know, like
Running 7 minute sounds slow, but I never done it that long of a distance. If it was 20, 30 miles, I could do that easy, but 50 50 and above, I know it's hard, man. You have to respect the distance and also like um you know it it's very difficult I have to train for if I get everything right I probably I probably will do it one next year or two. Yeah.
Ken Rideout
What's the longest you've ever run?
Abdi Abdirahman
Uh like 27 miles.
Oh okay.
Ken Rideout
Yeah.
The other thing that I find interesting too about a lot of um when I when I first got into running is that a lot of the guys they do even after they run the marathon they then go out and do a little jog like a shakeout run to recover. And I always think that people who don't know about running think it's crazy. But I or or running the next day after the marathon for active recovery. They always think, are you crazy? Don't you shouldn't you rest?
And I think if I don't run after the race and cool down and if I don't run the next day, the second, third, fourth day, my legs are so sore I can't walk.
Abdi Abdirahman
And and that's just like a normal running routine, you know, just even if you cannot run after you finish marathon, just at least to walk. And also I think most important part is just a day after the marathon going for a jog easy like it it doesn't have to be like a 40 30 minute it can be like 10 15 minutes just movement you know just
Just make sure like your muscles are not cramping or like they're not stiffness just keep your body loose. Yep. That's that's the whole thing.
Ken Rideout
After I finish the the race in Mongolia, the next we we we take the bus back from the desert into Ulan Batar. And the next day I have a flight at like noon time. So I get up really early in the morning, run like 5k, and I see some of the people from the race and they're looking at me like I'm crazy cuz we just ran six days in a row, 155 miles.
But I was like, if I'm going to go get on this airplane all day after doing this to my legs, like I need to move these legs before I sit down. And uh but that was a fun race. That that'd be a good one for you to consider.
Abdi Abdirahman
Oh, we'll see. 6 years of running. I don't know. How many miles a day?
Ken Rideout
It was a total of 155 and it was probably an average of 23 miles a day average. So one day was 21 28 26 and it was one day was 50 miles and then the last day was like only six or seven miles like a ceremonial day. Of course I treated that like it was a race to the death just like every single day. Every stage was a fullon sprint.
Abdi Abdirahman
Good. That that that sounds interesting.
Ken Rideout
It was fun. We saw a lot of cool stuff. I didn't like sleeping in the tent and carrying all my own food. Lost a lot of weight. You have to carry everything except the water and miss some mandatory safety equipment plus like the freeze-dried food. It was uh looking back I say, "Oh, wow. That was great." But at the time, I was like, "This sucks." But I thought that I could win. And I was like, "You know what? If I don't show up, I'm definitely not gonna win.
Abdi Abdirahman
Yep. That's say that's half of the battle. Getting there.
Ken Rideout
That's right.
Abdi Abdirahman
Getting to the starting lineup. Yep. Before you win.
Ken Rideout
That's how I treated every race is like, "Oh, that's a very competitive race, but if I don't go, I'm not definitely not going to win."
And then you show up and some days it just all comes together.
Abdi Abdirahman
Oh yeah.
Ken Rideout
What was your favorite win?
Abdi Abdirahman
Man, my favorite win I say was the Olympic trials 10,000 meter in 2008.
Where was that? I was a Eugene organ.
Ken Rideout
Oh, beautiful track, right?
Abdi Abdirahman
Yeah, I jumped on the water pit actually. I was in a sports center the play of the day.
Oh, really?
Ken Rideout
Yeah.
Oh, you jumped in the water pit after the race?
Abdi Abdirahman
Yeah, I I just keep running, man. And then I jump the water pit the steel chase.
Yeah,
I I swim there.
Ken Rideout
That's funny. Who was your first coach when you got in when you turned pro?
Abdi Abdirahman
My coach was so I stay with the uh coach Dave Murray.
Ken Rideout
Yeah,
Dave Murray is my coach from University of Arizona.
Abdi Abdirahman
Yeah, from University of Arizona. Yeah.
Ken Rideout
He's the one who gave you the scholarship and then you just stayed with him your whole career.
Abdi Abdirahman
I just stayed with him. Yeah. They're saying that if it's not broken, don't try to fix it. But I and I went to I I went to Oregon Project for like a month or two with Alberto, but I just Nah.
Ken Rideout
How was that?
Abdi Abdirahman
It was okay. It was It wasn't for me.
They used to have some cool gear. They have a cool gear. So they did have Yeah,
Ken Rideout
They had like that whole house where they had altitude tent in the whole house.
Abdi Abdirahman
That I was the original athlete of two state house, man.
Ken Rideout
Oh, really? Yeah. What was it like?
Abdi Abdirahman
It was great. It was great experience, but it just like for me, it was kind of like structure. So, I thought just it worked for some people, wasn't for me.
Yeah. Yeah.
Ken Rideout
And who was there at the time you were there?
Abdi Abdirahman
Uh the guy named Dan Brown. There's a lot of guys like a Mike Donley. It was a lot of older guys who were there. And Gayen used to come as a as a as I think a high school freshman or something.
Oh, wow.
Ken Rideout
Could you tell right away that he was like good?
Abdi Abdirahman
I I I I see he's going to be great because he used to compete with me even though at that time I was established a professional runner. Yeah. He was always trying to beat me but I used to take him to the mountain to punish him just to show him who was the boss.
Ken Rideout
That's funny. So it didn't work out for you at Oregon Project. You go back to Flagstaff.
Abdi Abdirahman
No, I went back to my coach at the UVA and then Yeah. And then I stay with uh Coach Murray.
Yeah. And then now you're coaching yourself. Now I coach myself. I don't like I'm not I'm coaching now. I'm coaching a lot of athletes throughout like you know in Ethiopia and I also help you know we have a big group. So yeah.
Ken Rideout
And you train you train a bunch of Ethiopian athletes. So you go over to Ethiopia for 6 months.
Abdi Abdirahman
Yeah. I go to Ethiopia for six seven months. So yeah.
Ken Rideout
Yeah. I like the pictures you post on on uh Instagram show you guys eating uh Ethiopian food in Jira all sitting around outside.
Abdi Abdirahman
Oh yeah. It's good man. It's good life there man. It's nice also doing that, you know, coaching the guys, just being around the guys, you know,
Keeping me young.
Ken Rideout
Where do the athletes come from? Just all over the country.
Abdi Abdirahman
Yeah, they come from all the country out there. So, like we have a lot of athletes just there's some athlete come from Europe like, you know, the Somali guys, there's some, you know, the Ethiopian guys, you know, who run for European country and they train there. So, yeah.
Ken Rideout
And do you work for the Ethiopian Federation or you just have your own like group?
Abdi Abdirahman
Uh, we have our own group. Yeah, just our own group. No federation. just have nothing to do with the group is also like most of our guys are A6 athletes. So yeah,
Ken Rideout
That's what I was going to say. Have you ever considered being an agent? Because you speak Amaric and Somali and English, those all those athletes that come from Ethiopia, Kenya, Somali, Somalia, they have um you have a huge advantage in that you know them and you never know. You get the nest kennisa the
Abdi Abdirahman
Actually we already have an agent actually one of me and my partners. He's uh he's based in uh Oakland. So we already do that actually. So yeah, we already like we already have a couple athletes. So we kind of help a lot of the athletes come. Yeah.
Oh wow.
Ken Rideout
Yeah. [snorts]
So what's it like when you go to the training camp in Ethiopia is in Addis
Abdi Abdirahman
Addis? Yes. Well it's just outside of Adisabo but it's just like it's just suburb of Adisabo is just like it's like a 30 minute outside. So it's like on to mountains on the other side. It's just the higher.
Ken Rideout
Yeah. And what's the facilities like?
Abdi Abdirahman
The facilities are great. You is a big grass field like like a 5k lube on the grass field. So we run there a lot. It's like 9,000 above sea level and also there's a Canon's track. So yeah, just Canon hotel. People can stay there.
Yeah.
Ken Rideout
Yeah. He's a great
Can owns a lot of stuff in Ethiopia. Kenny's ai.
Abdi Abdirahman
Yeah. He owns a couple hotels, you know, training centers. He's a great guy. Yeah.
Ken Rideout
He has a hotel in Aasa where we adopted my daughter cuz they were on the big lake there.
Abdi Abdirahman
Yeah. Yeah.
Ken Rideout
Yeah. He's uh he's a legend there, right?
Yeah. He's legend. Yeah. And how many people are in the uh training camp?
Abdi Abdirahman
Uh the people in the training camp like uh we have like almost there's a lot of 30 guys.
Ken Rideout
30 guys and girls.
Abdi Abdirahman
Yeah. Yeah. We have a two girls. Yeah.
Ken Rideout
Only two girls.
Abdi Abdirahman
No, three three girls. Yeah.
Ken Rideout
How's the rivalry between Ethiopia and Kenya? Do they have an internal rivalry?
Abdi Abdirahman
Yeah. You know, as athletic, you know, they it's a two country. They're good at the same sport. So, they want to be the best. You know, just sometimes like, you know, during the especially the rivalry comes out during the Olympics, you know, 5,000 10,000 in a marathon. Yeah.
Ken Rideout
But when do the do they do they talk about that in the training camp like, "Oh, we got to get the Kenyans."
Abdi Abdirahman
Oh, yeah. Definitely. Yeah. Oh, really? Yeah. 100%. Yeah. Even like not only that, even the world major marathons when they running, you see like
It's almost like watching a football Sunday there
When the marathon when the when the New York City is on or Chicago or Boston Marathon or London. Oh man, everybody comes out the whole village on the watches.
Ken Rideout
Yeah. What about the tactics? Like are there team tactics at like New York and Boston? Do you see the countrymen like teaming up? Like you know for instance if when Kenise is at his peak these other Ethiopians maybe they think okay we can't beat him but we can work for him all day and like get on the front and push.
Abdi Abdirahman
Yeah that happened but it doesn't happen during the like world majors. World majors everybody
Ken Rideout
Every man for himself.
Abdi Abdirahman
Yeah because you winning prize money at that time unless you get paid to do that. Yeah.
But during the Olympics the people do that. There's a team or there's a s sacrifice. They say, "Okay, if this guy his strength is for him to race to be fast, we have some guy who like, you know, just we say, "Hey, pace him all the way to 30k and just drop out and let this guy win."
Ken Rideout
They do that in Berlin, too, right? Certain races, they have pacers.
Abdi Abdirahman
Yeah, they have pacemakers. Yeah.
Ken Rideout
I always find it interesting when they have pacemakers in a race. I'm like, what's the like it's a race like do that in practice. I don't like the race. I don't like the pacemakers.
Abdi Abdirahman
I don't like That's why I That's why I like that's one of my favorite race. I love New York City. New York, New York City is like a pure competition. There's no facemakers. There's there's nothing, you know, just you never you just find if you if you're good enough, just find out how good you are.
Ken Rideout
What is a typical appearance fee for athletes?
Abdi Abdirahman
It depends what was your name, what accomplishment you have, you know, just
Ken Rideout
What's the high end and what's the low end?
Abdi Abdirahman
The low end can be anywhere from 5,000 to couple thousand. The high end could be almost 300 400,000.
Ken Rideout
Yeah, I think was it I think the year that Meb won New York with his sketches. I feel like even with the prize money, he made less than like was it Galen who got paid that race like 250,000 for appearance.
It was something crazy. But that's another thing that a lot of people don't know is that these races pay a lot of money to the bigname athletes to show up, especially US Olympic runners.
Abdi Abdirahman
Exactly. And that's also all especially during the Olympia that's when people make most of their money you know just like as an Olympian you get invitation so it's nice
Ken Rideout
And [snorts] when you run the Olympics they give you Olympic ring.
Abdi Abdirahman
Oh yeah I got five of them.
Ken Rideout
Oh really? Everyone gets one or you have to buy
Abdi Abdirahman
You you you have to like everybody gets one actually like but if you wanted a good one like you know just like if you want to upgrade yours get like a like 18 karat gold and get some diamonds you have to pay for extra.
Okay. But for me, I did always I always pay for it, man. At that time, I had the money, so why not? And just like it just like when am I going to be an Olympian again in 2000? Never again.
Ken Rideout
Yeah.
Abdi Abdirahman
2004, never. 200 So, never. Just so I get the best of the best at that time. You know what? Hey,
Ken Rideout
When you turned pro and started running for Nike, do you remember them sending you all the gear and thinking like cuz I know that for me when companies when I work with any brand, even like when I was running for Reebok and they send shoes, I it never got old. I was like, "Oh my god, look at all these shoes."
Abdi Abdirahman
It do. I was like, you know, this for me, I look at it, you know, it doesn't matter how bro you are and or what you have in life. Whenever you get a gift from a shoe company,
Ken Rideout
Yeah.
Abdi Abdirahman
From, you know, from package of your sponsors never get sold. You always like eager to open that. It wasn't it wasn't it even those shoes. But when you see that and say, "Okay, shoes me through this." Like right now ASICS like I I might get a package. I got a backard sometimes like I order things A6 spices something that like I will order it but I just I just can't wait that thing to get home you will track it when it's coming you know just like just like little excitement you just we're just like a big kids man when it comes to that kind of stuff you know this something that you love and you you love represent that that company that sponsors you and they giving you a gift is a you know it's a good thing
Ken Rideout
When you were running for Nike could you request what you wanted like if you say like hey send me all these rare Air Jordans or would they say like you got a stipened.
Abdi Abdirahman
Well, I I had a relationship with one of our equipment lady, good relationship. So, I used to get it like not everybody did it, but I have like I have a good relation with the right people. So, I just, you know,
It's like a Nike just once you're around, you never, you know, you get the running shoes and you can order few things here and there. But for me, good thing was I build relationship with with people, you know, just I treat them the way you want to be treated, you know. Sometimes I just call them without wanting anything. Just say hi, how they do, how, you know, just and they when the people see what kind of person you are, they will always take care of you.
You need something.
Ken Rideout
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And then the other thing is in Ethiopia, I know a friend of mine who was an Ethiopian runner, uh, Katama Enluse, he would get all the shoes from the Ethiopian runners when they would get shoes shipped to Ethiopia and he and they would give them to him and he would sell them in his running shop.
Abdi Abdirahman
Oh yeah. And that's a big business in Ethiopia. Not only him, but there's a lot of running shops there and some of them are not the most
Genuine sho because they get it from China, the fake ones. But the one if you want to if you want to get the original one, you have to get like someone you have to [clears throat] have the connection someone like your friend to get the original shoes even though they kind of little bit pricey too.
Ken Rideout
So because you're paying for the quality is so how would it work? the Ethiopians athletes would get they would get I remember some of them coming to the US like for New York City and and the Nike or the shoe company whoever they're with would give them all the shoes so they could bring them back with them instead of shipping them to Ethiopia.
Abdi Abdirahman
Yeah, definitely. Yeah. And that's and that's like you know that's how like they will give you like if the year they will give you 12 pair of shoes 12 13 pair of shoes and those guys they're not going to use all 12 pairs. They probably sell five of them.
Ken Rideout
Yeah.
Abdi Abdirahman
And and that's that's what I think. I never seen them selling. So, but I think that's what they will do and keep the other five for training. Yeah.
Ken Rideout
12 or 13 pairs in a year. It would seem like I would probably wear them all because they get worn out quickly when you're running. Like I run 70 to 80 miles every day.
Abdi Abdirahman
But as American with different we're spoiled, man. Those guys, they can wear one shoes like 3 4 months.
Ken Rideout
Yeah. Oh, really?
Abdi Abdirahman
Oh, yeah. [clears throat]
Ken Rideout
I would.
Abdi Abdirahman
And then after that, they passed to someone else.
Ken Rideout
when I would run a major marathon, I would always run in a brand new pair of um at the time either Alphly or uh Vaporfly, but when I had a big race, I would make sure on that race I run a brand new shoes. Then I would make them my training shoes, but just for the extra like springiness and like to have them in perfect condition. And then you remember Adidas had the $500 shoe that was good for one race.
Abdi Abdirahman
Yeah, I don't know about that, but I don't recommend those kind of shoes for normal people. Get out of it. You probably those those shoes like athletics are running like 2 hours. You're going to be there 5 hours. You going to finish those shoes before you get to the finish line.
Ken Rideout
I always tell people when they ask me, "What kind of shoes are you running? What kind should I wear?" I say, "Do you ask the winner of the na of uh NASCAR race what kind of tires he's using? I don't know if you have a pickup truck or a Toyota TEL. like your shoes are only for you. You have to find the shoe that works for you through trial and error.
Abdi Abdirahman
Yeah, that's true. Yeah. You know, just it's just like I don't know people like I see those people sold out. Unless you unless you buy as memorabilia, it's okay. But if you're going to use for racing, I say nah, that's not designed for you, man.
Ken Rideout
No, that's right.
Abdi Abdirahman
Because these guys are like 120 115 pounds guys wearing the shoes. They barely weigh anything
Ken Rideout
And their form is perfect.
Abdi Abdirahman
And the form is perfect. But for you, you like a what you are like 180. Let's see like a good marathon normal run. Maybe there might be 160 160 between between 160 and 200. You the pressure that you're putting on those shoes
Will never give you anything returned.
Ken Rideout
That's right. When I first started wearing the um Alpha Fly, my calves would always cramp up at the end because the cushion on the heel was so soft, my heel would sink down. And I saw a guy, you you probably know who he is. I think he's based in San Diego. He's like a shoe expert. He writes about all the shoes. He tracks all the stuff. He's like an independent journalist. And he I met him in New York once and he said to me, "Oh, I watched your last race and I cuz he was, you know, he watches everyone that comes through." He's like, "Those shoes aren't right for you." And I said, "Really?" He said, "Look how low your heel is sinking every time it strikes.
Then your foot is working hard to get over that carbon plate." And he goes, "Your calves hurt after the race." I said, "Yes." And he's like, "Yeah, it's the wrong shoe." So, I switched from AlphaFly to Vaporfly, which is what I wear now for a race, but I um I just recently tried some Puma's um carbon plates. They're they're uh I forget what it's called, but really good shoes. But everyone has good now. Now, ASICS has a super shoe, right?
Abdi Abdirahman
Oh, ASICS have one of the best in the market right now. Uh and then and the good thing about ASICS is like they have like so many. They don't even have like one or two. They have like so many different of them. There's like a there's like elite, there's like a super like just so many if you they have lot lighter shoes that you can buy in the market to the some of the sub elite shoes that you can buy like you know like a sky edge.
Ken Rideout
Yeah.
Abdi Abdirahman
Like Mega Plus. So so many good like you have so many choices man. That's one thing J just I think sometimes I feel like they have too many good shoes. Oh really?
Yeah. Oh yeah.
Ken Rideout
That's funny. when you represent the Ethiopian athletes. So, do you negotiate with the shoe companies on behalf of your athletes?
Abdi Abdirahman
No, no, no, no. I don't actually. I don't do that part of it. We just like they have their own managers. We have managers. Yeah. So,
So there's a manager who does all that stuff. We just do the coaching part of it. So, just help as a group just Yeah. And these guys that we I just I just become one of their mentors because of like you know I went there to train for to train there like about 2016 and then we become first and then when I retired I just go back there just to help them train you know just do the right thing just make sure like they doing everything that they need to do.
Ken Rideout
And when you stay there what is the uh what's the housing like in Ethiopia?
Abdi Abdirahman
The housing is beautiful you know we stay one of our one of our friends house we rent it. Sometimes we find a different house if the house not available. So it just depends like u three of us we stay together and most of other guys they live there permanently. Yeah.
Ken Rideout
Who does all the cooking?
Abdi Abdirahman
Uh we have a we have a lady who worked for us. There a couple ladies who the cookings. Yeah.
Ken Rideout
And they make the injura.
Abdi Abdirahman
Oh they make ana. They make every food that we ever wanted. Yeah.
Ken Rideout
Oh really?
Do most of the athletes eat the meat. Chicken tibs beef tibs.
Abdi Abdirahman
Oh yeah. Everything in
Dorat do is the best man.
Ken Rideout
I love it. Ethiopian food is my favorite food. When the kids have birthday, we always ask them like, "Okay, today's your tomorrow is your birthday. What do you want for dinner?" They always want Ethiopian.
Abdi Abdirahman
That is.
Ken Rideout
And there's one good spot here in Nashville that we have it delivered from.
Abdi Abdirahman
Oh, wow. That's nice.
Ken Rideout
But when we were in New York and LA, we would go to like the Ethiopian sections of the city all the time and eat at the best restaurants there. The best Ethiopian restaurants.
Abdi Abdirahman
Yeah. DC have the best restaurant.
Ken Rideout
DC. Yeah. DC has huge Ethiopian community.
Yeah. Yeah. And it's like uh Somalia with uh Minnesota.
Abdi Abdirahman
Minnesota. Yes. Yeah.
Ken Rideout
But we were talking about it on the way over here. I say, "How angry do you get when you see like the Somali behaving badly in the US?" It's kind of like, "Dude, what are you doing?" Like, cuz cuz Somali and Ethiopians that I know are like very nice, kind people, and then you see the [ __ ] that's going on in Minnesota. It's It makes me angry cuz I'm like, "Yo, represent yourself. Don't do this stupid crap."
Abdi Abdirahman
Yeah. Yeah, man. That's like and that's something that you know just like that's something that make me feel bad sometimes you know it's just like but I know 99.9% of Somalian people are good people you know good like you know good citizen paying the law doing everything right and there's like you know every culture you have those bad apples man that's right
But just these people just happen to be the baddest of the you know the worst you know for me I can I can you know the as you know just I can't I can't imagine someone taking advantage of a system you know just system that people trusted in you and also making up something you know all people do with it I know that just not only Somali there's a lot of ethnics who do it but as a Somali you know I feel bad about I feel bad about what those people doing and I know those they don't represent us because as a Somali community in Minnesota or all over the US there's a lot of us who do the good a lot of good thing you know we have doctors we have lawyers players, you know, we have athletes, we have like, you know, we have people who are who are like who are good people.
Ken Rideout
Yeah.
Abdi Abdirahman
But those people do not define us. And, you know, I do condemn them just but
Ken Rideout
Yeah.
Abdi Abdirahman
Just like uh it's not that it's they're not my kind of people. It's not the people that I want to hang out with, you know, just like especially those bad people. I love my Somali people but those bad Somali it's not some I don't want to hang out if if if my if someone like if someone my friends they doing bad thing I don't want to hang out with they they were my friends you know what I want to
I want to distance that person from myself and that's what I'm going to do to those people too you know just but and I do love my eyes but you know the good people are my friends but those people doing the wrong thing
Ken Rideout
No
Abdi Abdirahman
They deserve what they get they need to be arrested and
Yeah deported whatever
Ken Rideout
Yeah that's Right. So now you now you're spending time 6 months Ethiopia, 6 months in Tucson.
Abdi Abdirahman
Yes.
Ken Rideout
And coaching the group in in Ethiopia and then when you come back to Tucson, what are you doing?
Abdi Abdirahman
I volunteer at the University of Arizona and also you know just like a be part of my community, you know, just giving back and also have my book by the way.
Ken Rideout
Yes.
Abdi Abdirahman
Yes.
Ken Rideout
I I have I forgot to bring it. I have it in my office at my house.
Abdi Abdirahman
Yes.
Ken Rideout
Tell them what's the name?
Abdi Abdirahman
Uh the name is black characters like Abdis World.
Yeah. Abd World. of this world man it just it just motivation just you know a lot of people we we talk about run we I like I wrote about not only running just about motivation life you know just going through difficult time you know just nothing imperfect in life but and not only giving up you know just like staying consistent you know just like and also like you know and also talk about everything about about contracts about everything you know just
Ken Rideout
Okay
Abdi Abdirahman
Facing about the shoe company when they don't believe in you just like and also when people tell you you old, you cannot do it anymore. It's all those all those good stuff.
Ken Rideout
Yeah. And you had the best nickname in running for sure. The black cactus.
Abdi Abdirahman
Yeah.
Ken Rideout
And uh when I think about athletes being too old, I think about like Bernard Lagard was a good mast's runner. Was running so fast for so long.
Abdi Abdirahman
Yeah.
Ken Rideout
So splitting time. And how how do you enjoy coaching the college kids at U Arizona?
Abdi Abdirahman
I love it, man. It's the best, man. I learn everything. I I learn from them, man, to be honest. you know and that's how you stay relevant you know just like learning from those kids you know and also like you know just what the kids like you know what works you know the new technology the new straa the new you know all these new things just learn from I you know I might know the part of running but also I learned something from them too to be honest yeah
Ken Rideout
Yeah [snorts] well Abdi you've had an awesome career it's been so much fun to watch you it's been fun being your friend and uh I'm looking forward to now it was raining really hard here this morning with thunder and lightning. So, we put off our run till after uh we did this chat. So, I'm looking forward to running with you and uh hopefully you don't push me too hard.
Abdi Abdirahman
Oh, no. Don't you just I know I know you're a good runner, man. I know. Now we're in the same position now. Now we are two masters runners pushing each other. So, motivate each other. So, I'm looking forward to running with you, buddy, man.
Ken Rideout
I can't wait. How many miles you run in a week on average now?
Abdi Abdirahman
I do 50 miles a week.
Ken Rideout
Okay.
Abdi Abdirahman
Yeah. My good day. If I get to 60, I'm I'm do I'm I'm like I'll say yes.
Ken Rideout
Oh, I love it.
Well, thanks for doing this, Abby. I really appreciate you and I'm looking forward to uh getting some miles in together.
Abdi Abdirahman
No problem, brother. Thanks for having me, man. It's great.
Ken Rideout
And thanks guys for being with us. Please subscribe to the show. Appreciate you guys. Boom. All right, guys. I hope you enjoyed that conversation as much as I did. Please take a quick minute to subscribe to the podcast wherever you're listening. This is a new show, so subscribing makes a huge difference. Please also take a minute to give it a review and leave a comment on Apple Podcast and on Spotify. You can also subscribe and leave a comment on YouTube. Again, this is really important for us, especially now since we're just getting started.
You can learn more about me, this podcast, and also find links to purchase my upcoming memoir at the other sideofhart.com. My new book is called Everything You Want Is on the Other Side of Hard, and it comes out March 10th, available everywhere you buy books or again go into the other sideofhart.com. There's multiple links there where you can find all the retailers carrying the book.
Thanks a lot for being with us and we'll see you next
Key takeaways
- Talent can surface after a late start, even when the first practice happens in jeans and boots.
- A marathon is 20 miles of running followed by 10K of racing.
- Experience helps runners manage the decisions that come after mile 20.
- Professional runners earn through shoe contracts, prize money and appearance fees.
- A training load should fit the runner, not an arbitrary mileage target.
- Getting to the start line healthy is part of competing.
Nowhere to Hide
A weekly letter from Ken Rideout about doing the uncomfortable part, and the reasons we use to avoid it.
It starts with 3 Days, 3 Hard Things: one short story from Ken and one hard thing to do, every day for three days. Then one letter a week.
One letter a week. Unsubscribe any time. We never share your email.
