Feyisa Lilesa



Aissa Dghoughi with Ethiopian marathoner Feyisa Lilesa

 I met up with Feyisa Lilesa, the winner of this year's Ethiopian national championship.  Lilesa ran 2:04:52 in the marathon last year which is one of the 20 fastest marathon times ever run.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Feyisa_Lilesa

Lilesa finished 9th place in last week's World Cross Country Championships.  Here are the results ...

Berkane, Morocco

I will run a half marathon in Berkane, Morocco on Sunday.  That is the birthplace of Hicham El Guerrouj.  My training has been going very good and I think that I can run under 62 mintues.

Ethiopia 15k training run

Aissa is towards the front, red shirt, black shorts, and a stocking hat.

Ethiopia training run

I'm in the back, blue shirt, and a stocking cap.

Here is a video from my work out.  This was on March 9th.  It was a 30km tempo run at 2900 meter altitude or about 9000 feet.

Runner's World on-line article

I was mentioned at the end of a Runners World on-line article.  Link to article

The last few sentences said:

I'm still in touch with several of the elites I met in Puerto Rico, and a few have become close friends. Last July, two of them met me in Davenport, Iowa, for the Bix 7, a challenging 7-mile road race that each year draws a world-class field.

While visiting them in the elite-housing dorm the day before the race, I met a 30-year-old Moroccan named Aissa Dghoughi, who trains in Oregon and had recently run a 14:09 5K at altitude.

He asked me if I was in the elite field, too. "No," I said. "I'm competitive, but far from elite." I told him I run low 35 for the 10K and mid-16 for the 5K, and he smiled. "Then you know," he said, one runner talking to another. "It's not easy."

Training in Ethiopia

I'm spending about 3 months in Ethiopia training.

I'm registered to run the Rock 'n' Roll half marathon in Portland, Oregon
on May 17, 2013.

Financial Help for Training

Training Budget for 2.5 months in Africa

Altitude Training Camp at Addis Abba Ethiopia South Africa

Long term goal: To run in the 2016 Olympic

Short term goal: To run the New York half Marathon

I came to this country six years ago to work hard and achieve new goals as a professional elite runner.  I am excited that I will be eligible to become a U.S citizen in less than two years and I would be honored to represent USA in major running competitions.