Abdirahman wants it all in Louisville

(NOTE: This is the third in a series of stories about the Papa John's 10 Miler/USA Men's 10 Mile Championship, which will be run in Louisville on Saturday.)

He has returned to Louisville to do more than defend his title in the USA Men’s 10 Mile Championship on Saturday.

“I’m looking for the American record,” he declared.

Not that he’s even certain where to find it on the stopwatch.

“I don’t know what the record is,” he admitted, “but I’m coming to break it.”

And that, ladies and gentlemen, is endearingly ambitious Abdi Abdirahman, one of the best - and most candid - distance runners in the United States.

A two-time Olympian and former University of Arizona star, Abdirahman set two national championship road race records last year - at the USA Men’s 10 Mile Championship in Louisville on April 9 and the USA 20 Kilometer Championships in New Haven, Conn., on Sept. 5 - en route to the USA Running Circuit title. He also won the 10,000 meters at the USA Track and Field Outdoor Championships.

He finished the USA Men’s 10 Mile Championship in 47:27 and is the favorite to win the race again on Saturday, when it will be run in conjunction with the Papa John’s 10 Miler for the fourth year in a row.

Nonetheless, he will have to knock more than a minute off that time to break the American record (46:13) at that distance, which Greg Meyer established in 1983.

“I’m ready,” Abdirahman, a Tucson, Ariz., resident, said during an interview with Beyond the Derby’s Nathan Chambers. “I don’t want to say I can’t be beat. I’m a human being. But if someone is going to beat me, he has to train hard. I know the shape I’m in, and I’m ready to run.”

He won’t get an argument from 2004 champion Dan Browne, one of his challengers on Saturday.

“You have to expect Abdi to make it tough,” Browne said, referencing Abdirahman’s front-running style. “He’s running great right now, and he’s a fantastic competitor. I see him going out fast and making the race difficult.”

Abdirahman has another record on his mind. He wants to break the U.S. 10,000-meter mark, (28:13.98), which Meb Keflezighi set in 2001. He also wants to compete in the 2008 Olympics in Beijing - although not necessarily in the 10,000 meters, where he finished 10th in 2000 and 15th in 2004.

He ran in the New York City Marathon each of the last two years, placing fifth in a personal-best 2:11:24 last year, and he said he will consider the marathon at the 2008 U.S. Olympic Trials. Either way, he intends to make a career at that distance eventually.

“Hopefully I’ll move up permanently after Beijing and do a marathon twice a year,” he said. “My long-term goal is to become a good runner, and the marathon is a challenging distance.”

Abdirahman also is looking forward to the 2007 International Association of Athletics Federations World Cross Country Championships. The 35th annual event will be held in Mombasa, Kenya, where he lived for much of his youth after his birth in Somalia.

“I’m so excited,” said Abdirahman, who came to the U.S. in 1989 and became a citizen on Jan. 28, 2000. “I’ve already started my preparations for it. I’m going to do whatever I need to do to get to that race. I want to be part of it the first time Kenya hosts it. It’s a good homecoming for me.”

In the meantime, he has a race to win in Louisville.

“I won it last year,” he said, “so I want to win it this year and go from there.”