The 37-year-old Keflezighi will be testing his limits against younger athletes in London, but there is precedent for Olympic marathon success. Portugal’s Carlos Lopes was the same age when he won the gold medal at the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics. And Romania’s Constantina Dita was 38 when she won the gold medal in the women’s marathon at the 2008 Beijing Games. Keflezighi has been running about 209 kilometers a week in his build-up to the London Olympics, but he says that’s only part of his training.

“It’s not just the running part but the little details such as stretching, drills, planks, weight training and the ice bath and all that stuff … massage, that you take care of yourself 24-7 because the rest, the nutrition and all of the stuff that goes on. It’s not just the running that people see, you know. We try to make it easy when we run 26.2 miles in two hours and nine minutes or faster but the work that goes into it year round is a lot. You better hope you nail it that day,” Keflezighi said.

Meb Keflezighi hopes to nail it on August 12 in London and once again stand on the Olympic podium.