He made an appearance in Almeria in 2005 -- the first year we went out there. He was coming back from injury, I believe, and wanted a low key race to act as a training run to help his recovery.
Training run? He won, of course, in, I believe, 1 hour and 1 minute. Almeria being a 2-lap affair, I can boast that it took Haile Gebrselassie more than half an hour to catch up and finally get past me in a half marathon. I still recall the buzz of the world's fastest man moving past me. Commentators overuse the word "effortless" but I can honestly say he appeared to be literally expending no unnusual effort whatsoever. No panting, no straining, no sweating, no sound at all.
[pause]
Dammit -- I had to look it up. This is what I wrote at the time --
Quote:As I came to the end of the long downhill stretch and swung left again towards the stadium towards the end of the first lap, a motorbike drew up beside me, and the police rider gestured for me to move over to the side. For a bizarre moment I thought he wanted to check my credentials or something, but no, he was just warning me that the leaders were coming through. And what happened next reminded me why running is the king of all participation sports.
The race leader appeared alongside me without warning. Made of nothing but a piece of glistening muscle, he seemed to bounce and lope along with no effort. No obvious sign of strain or fatigue, or even concentration. Instinctively, I began to clap furiously. It was all I could think to do as the world’s greatest ever distance runner, Haile Gebrselassie, deigned to overtake me in a race. The sound made him throw a languorous glance my way, looking for all the world like a wistful young Nelson Mandela. The exchange of looks was fleeting. I’d love to be able to report that he smiled at me, or even raised a contemptuous eyebrow. Even better, that he pulled up alongside me and said: "Cripes, you’re the geezer with that website, aren’t you? I think you’ve got me beat this time, mate. I’m all in."
But no, all I got from Haile was a glance. Then he saw the gap, and went for it, skipping past me while I was distracted…
OK, so he was on his second lap, 10 miles into the race, while I was still on the first, 5 miles behind him, but still. To have Haile Gebrselassie overtake me in a competitive running race must have been the greatest thrill I’ve had in my short plodding career. I could have cried.
While the great man veered off towards the finish line, I plunged on towards the halfway point.
Link --
Almeria 2005
A great runner, and as natural an athlete as I will ever witness with my own eyes.
http://www.iaaf.org/news/Kind=2/newsId=28364.html
