Absent from Luncheon, Present in Rivals' Minds: Abdirahman Tabbed 10 Mile Favorite

Although prohibitive Medtronic Twin Cities 10 Mile men's favorite Abdi Abdirahman wasn’t at today’s TC-10 media luncheon, his rivals in attendence certainly felt the two-time Olympian's presence.

None of the athletes on the dais – not 2006 USA 10 Mile runner-up Andrew Carlson, not last year's 3rd place finisher Jason Lehmkuhle, not Abdirahman’s training partner Ryan Shay who finished third in the Medtronic Twin Cities Marathon last year – thought anybody but the defending USA 10 Mile champ deserved the favorite’s mantel.

“I’ve been training with him up in Flag,” Shay said referring to his Flagstaff, Arizona home, “so I’m probably a little more familiar with his fitness level. He’s out for blood.”

Being the defending USA 10 Mile champ, the reigning USA 10,000 meter champion, and the man who ripped a 1:00:29 at the NYC Half Marathon in August has a way of making one's presence felt from afar.

Noting the fast half marathon Abdirahman ran in New York, Lehmkuhle put a number on Abdirahman’s potential on Sunday.

“That’s an incredible half marathon time,” Lehmkuhle said. “He probably went through ten miles there in 45-something.”

The fastest time recorded from the eight runnings of the TC-10 is 48:44 by Chad Johnson in 2004.

With a force like Abdirahman in the field, hometown favorites Lehmkuhle and Carlson stressed that they needed to focus on themselves rather than the three-time USA 10,000 meter champ.

“My strategy coming into these races where it’s very competitive is to just concentrate on my race and how I should be running it. I try not to focus too externally on how other people are running.”

“In the last couple years I’ve finished pretty consistently in that 3rd to 5th range [at USA Championships] employing that kind of strategy," the 3rd place finisher at last month's USA 25K Championship added. "A lot of times guys go out to the front and I know that I can’t handle it, but I also know that occasionally other people get dragged along at a pace they’re not comfortable with and I end up picking off guys at the end.”

Lehmkuhle's Team USA Minnesota teammate Carlson is hoping his faster self shows up for the race.

“I’m a bit of a head-case,” he admitted. “so it kind of depends who shows up on Sunday. If 'Fast Andy' shows up, it will probably be a pretty good one and I’ll probably have an advantage. If the other guy shows up – he’s shown up a few times this year – it’s going to be hard.”

Carlson does have the advantage of being one of the few runners in the field not in the midst of high mileage training for the November 3 U.S. Olympic Marathon Trials. While Shay and Lehmkuhle ran 145 and 150 miles, respectively, last week in preparation for the marathon in New York City, Carlson, who will end his 2007 campaign on Sunday, could have the freshest legs on the startling line.

“I think I have an advantage because I’m not coming off a 150 mile week,” he allowed, “but at the same time you can derive a lot of confidence training that hard.”

The Medtronic Twin Cities 10 Mile starts at 7:10 on Sunday morning.

An elite startlist for the USA Men’s Championship can be found HERE.

USA Track & Field’s media release for the event is HERE.

Results of last year’s USA Men’s 10 Mile Championship, held in Louisville, Kentucky, can be found HERE.