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By FRANK LITSKY - New York Times
01 November, 2007
A marathon may be a physical punishment, but some runners seem to be gluttons. A few have tried to run one each week. Last year, one man ran 50 in 50 states in 50 days.
But at the highest level, a full marathon schedule usually embraces one in the spring, one in the fall and maybe an Olympic or world or European championship in between. The wear and tear on the body is almost invariably too much.
But don’t tell Gete Wami, a 33-year-old Ethiopian woman. On Sept. 30, she won the Berlin Marathon. On Sunday, only five weeks after that race, she will run in the New York City Marathon.
The exceptional women’s field includes Jelena Prokopcuka of Latvia, the two-time defending champion; Paula Radcliffe of England, the world record-holder; and Catherine Ndereba of Kenya, who has won the Boston Marathon four times, the Chicago Marathon twice and the world championship twice.
Wami is doing this quick comeback for a major reason. She leads Prokopcuka, 65 points to 55, in the first two-year cycle of the World Marathon Majors. This is the last of the 11 races in the two-year series, and either Wami or Prokopcuka will win its $500,000 prize.
Gete Wami (pronounced GATE-ah wah-MEE) is 5 feet ½ inch and 99 pounds and the mother of a 4-year-old daughter, Eva. Her career best, 2 hours 21 minutes 34 seconds, makes her the 19th fastest female marathoner ever. But she has track speed, with three Olympic medals at 5,000 and 10,000 meters.
There have been fast turnarounds by elite marathon runners. In 1983, Grete Waitz of Norway won the world championship and the New York City Marathon 11 weeks apart. In 1990, Wanda Panfil of Poland won in Nagoya and London seven weeks apart.
Wami and her husband and coach, Getaneh Tessema, arrived yesterday after an 18-hour flight from Ethiopia. Speaking in Amharic through a translator, Wami said she planned months ago that if all went well in Berlin, she would do the double.
“In Berlin, I ran on 2:20 pace until the 30K mark,” she said. “When I had a big lead and realized I could win, I slowed down. I didn’t press it that hard. I remembered I would run in New York, too.”
Berlin is a flat course, the wind and rain had stopped, and the day was cool. Wami won by more than a quarter-mile in 2:23:17.
“It didn’t take long to recover,” she said. “I took a two-week break, and since then I’ve felt good. I have been training in Ethiopia on all kinds of surfaces: asphalt, grassy fields, rough roads. I’ve gone two or two and a half hours per run and I also have done speed work on the track. I already had endurance from preparing for Berlin.”
Her husband said: “She didn’t overstress herself in Berlin. She has recovered well.
“Had Berlin worn her out, she wouldn’t run here. She took Berlin as a practice run as well as a major race.”
When Prokopcuka was asked what she thought of Wami’s double, she responded cautiously.
“It depends,” she said. “If Berlin was a tough race, it would be difficult. I didn’t think about Berlin for me. Preparing for this marathon is very serious for me.”
Wami showed no fear of her ambitious double.
“After the Berlin Marathon, I decided to run this race,” she said. “I can handle this one as well. I feel confident when I perform well. I’m well prepared.”