Stopped by the Running Company store in the Time Warner Center this morning and picked up a pair of New Balance 1060s for the marathon … I had been running in the Nike Pegasus for the longest time, but I don’t like the feel of their newest model. And I have wide feet … Nike and Asics come in wide models, but the Running Company — like most running stores — doesn’t carry the wide models. Booo! But the store was nice enough to hold onto my old Pegasi (is that the word?) as I went for run in Central Park.
Here’s a sorta sad, sorta inspiring story from the Times about the challenges faced by Ethopian runners in the States:
Several years ago, [Kassahun] Kabiso and [Retta] Feyissa left their large families and meager farms in Ethiopia and came to the United States to run races and win prize money. They did not speak English or have much cash, but they wanted to live in a country that offered more opportunity than their own. …
The two are in the sub-elite category, a notch below the best. [Kabiso is a 2:15 marathoner; Feyissa, 2:27]
Kabiso has no work visa, so his income is limited to what he can win in road races. He made about $10,000 in 20 races last year, he said. . …
Kabiso often sneaks in road races for the cash. A 5-kilometer race here, a 10-miler there. The day before he claimed $750 for winning the New Bedford Half-Marathon in Massachusetts in March, he finished fourth in a 10-kilometer race and won $100. He said he needed to help pay for his wife’s college tuition and some siblings’ schooling, too.
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