Meb Keflezighi, Caroline Wozniacki To Run In 2014 NYC Marathon
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork/AP) -- Olympic silver medalist Meb Keflezighi and tennis star Caroline Wozniacki plan to run in the 2014 New York City Marathon on behalf of Team for Kids, which supports running programs in New York City schools WCBS 880's Marla Diamond reported.
Keflezighi, who will be running in the marathon for his ninth time, won in 2009. Since then, there has not been an American male first place finisher. He most recently won the 2014 Boston Marathon.
"I feel blessed to have this opportunity again knowing that my career has been fulfilled, but having a greater cause like Team For Kids," Keflezighi said. "I won't be coasting. I'm a competitor by nature, you know, I want to do the best that I can."
Wozniacki plans to play a full tournament schedule this fall while fitting in time to train for the marathon.
The former No. 1 player said Thursday that she long had wanted to do a marathon and decided before Wimbledon that she could pull it off this year. She says seeking this challenge wasn't an attempt to distract herself from her personal life-- golfer Rory McIlroy broke off their engagement in late May.
"Doing something that's outside of your comfort zone, it's going to be a great thing to show, also for other kids and women and men out there, you know, that you can actually do something that you never thought was possible," Wozniacki said. "It's always been on my bucket list to run the New York City Marathon and in kind of November, my plans kind of opened up and I looked and I thought, 'Why not?'"
Wozniacki says she typically runs for a half-hour at a time in training and plans to add hour-long runs to prepare for the 26.2-mile race. The 24-year-old Dane says the longest she's ever run is 10 kilometers, less than a quarter of a marathon.
She will compete in the U.S. Open in New York this August.
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