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In order to place as he did, McKeeman overtook several top-flight international and US racers - and having finished sub 2:20 - is now assured a spot in the U.S. Olympic Trials in New York next November. McKeeman's time jumped him from 55th place to about 28th in the list of fastest American Olympic hopefuls this year, according to the sanctioning organization, U.S.A. Track and Field (USATF).
"I was thinking coming into it that I would have a shot, just based on results of past years," said McKeeman of the Philadelphia race. His first marathon had been clocked in 2:20:27 in London this year. "A week before the race, I heard that they had brought in some guys [with strong credentials]...I was still hoping to finish that high, but I knew that it would be harder."
McKeeman started picking off the leaders after a friend hollered his place to him at mile 17 and said, except for eventual winner Hosea Kimutai, the racers ahead did not look very strong. He had only just learned he was in fifth place at the halfway point. Fortunately, he had conserved his strength and had plenty left on tap.
"I'm fired up that I'm catching them, McKeeman said, "I didn't catch those guys until mile 21. I caught the fourth place guy, then third..."
By mile 23, he was in second place, and continued in pursuit of Kimutai who had dropped everyone after mile 18. Inside of the last three miles, McKeeman opened a five-and¬-a-half-minute gap ahead of Vitaliy Myeltsayev of the Ukraine, who came in third at 2:23.12.
So who is McKeeman, and where did he come from?
He grew up in Lansdale, and raced for North Penn High School. After graduating from the University of North Carolina (UNC) in 1999 with a BA in economics, he moved to Ardmore in 2000 on an invitation to train with Villanova's team.
McKeeman has a good admixture of competitiveness, talent and ability to stick to the goal. His desire to compete was stoked when at age 13 he found he was not the fastest kid at school in a required one-mile run.
"I finished like 3rd or 4th in my gym class, and I wanted to be fastest," McKeeman said. So he started running a three-quarter mile loop around his neighborhood block, and soon found he was a natural.
He turned in good times in distance events in high school, and was a 3-time All-Conference performer in the 3000-meter Steeplechase while competing for the UNC Tar Heels.
But his marathon career never got started until he devoted himself to helping the fastest woman in America with hers. One of McKeeman's main roles now is as a training partner for Deena Kastor, a 2004 Olympic bronze medallist, and a contender for gold in 2008.
In Winter 2005, Terrence Mahon, a friend from Villanova and Kastor's coach, needed someone to help Kastor excel. She was training with the USA Running team in Mammoth Lakes, California, and simply had no other women who could push her. It was realized a man was needed.
"He called me in February and he asked me if I'd like to come out and run with Deena," McKeeman said, "It was kind of luck also, in that I fit in the range that can run with her."
Typically a much faster runner would have had his own training schedule, and would not have sacrificed it to develop another's. But McKeeman was just fast enough to give Kastor all she could handle, and not so fast as to not benefit too.
"I didn't have a whole lot here tying me down here," McKeeman said, "It was a great."
In April this year, at the London Flora Marathon, McKeeman was entered in an all women's race with a job to do - not to win, but to pace Kastor. And sure enough, she won, setting a personal record of 2:19:36, and dropping McKeeman in the process by almost a minute.
But McKeeman is earning dividends. His 2:17:50 last week attests to the kinds of workouts he is giving - and getting. Training in the thin air of the 8053-foot elevation town of Mammoth Lakes, on up to 9400 feet, and down to 4000 feet has only helped. McKeeman said his training with Kastor and other USA Running athletes prior to the Philadelphia Marathon had him running 90 to 100 miles per week. A 20 to 23 mile run was typical every Sunday, and the week was interspersed with high intensity road, interval and tempo runs.
"Mike is a hard worker. Persistent work over time leads to results," Mahon said. "He just continued to stay at it and put in the miles and is just starting to see the fruits of the labor now."
Mahon was particularly impressed with McKeeman's patience, even though he is still learning as a marathoner. "He did not know what he could do and not blow up," Mahon said, so he paced himself like a world-class athlete should and managed to cut his time for the second half of the Philadelphia race by a whopping two minutes. "It's a good indicator that he probably had more in the tank," Mahon said.
When asked what it was like to run so fast, seeing the crowd as he flew by at an average 5:15 per mile, McKeeman said it is not what one might think. "Running a marathon is a strange feeling, it's a different kind of pain," he said, "Running 5:15 pace doesn't feel all that fast...it's just hard to maintain the pace."
It's a long, grueling, struggle to keep churning out 26 consecutive miles at a speed the average recreational athlete could not accomplish even for one mile. "It's kind of hard to explain," he said with no apparent sense that he is like a hare among tortoises.
And while McKeeman does not think he can do a 2:10 or better to truly be among the best of the best, he is happy to be living the life of a working runner. In addition to training Kastor, he is sponsored by Asics, coaches online (www.spiridonrunning.com), sells shoes at the Bryn Mawr Running Company, and earns prize money. When he is not running, a favorite pastime is playing regular games of "high stakes poker."
Whether he earns a place on the Olympic team will remain to be seen, however, "It's a really nice accomplishment to make the trials," said Tom Suber of USATF "but making the team is a whole other goal and a greater achievement"
But McKeeman, who said it was a goal since he was 15 to make the trials, is for now content. He is still improving, and does not have to work nine-to-five to earn his living.
"I want to do this as long as I can," McKeeman said, "I enjoy it a lot more than sitting at a desk. It's cool to get paid to do something you like to do...it's a pretty sweet gig."
