Interview with Alan Culpepper

By Cecil Harris

Alan Culpepper, a two-time Olympian, will seek his third berth at the 2008 U.S. Olympic Team Trials – Men’s Marathon in Central Park this Saturday. Culpepper won the 2004 Trials marathon in Birmingham, Alabama, edging Meb Keflezighi in a sprint to the finish line in 2:11:42. He finished 12th in the Olympic Marathon in 2:15:26. In a 10,000-meter race at the 2000 Olympic Trials, Culpepper won by beating Keflezighi in an exciting race to the tape.

Culpepper, a Texas native, starred at the University of Colorado; he won the 1996 NCAA Division I 5000-meter title. He ran a personal-best 2:09:41 at the 2002 LaSalle Bank Chicago Marathon, which tied Alberto Salazar for the fastest-ever debut marathon by an American. (Ryan Hall has since broken the record at the 2007 Flora London Marathon.) Culpepper twice has finished in the top five at the Boston Marathon.

MensRacing.com caught up with Culpepper in Lafayette, Colorado, where he lives with his wife, Shayne, a two-time Olympic middle-distance runner, and their two children. At 35, Culpepper admits that Saturday’s race represents his last chance to compete for an Olympic medal. And nobody expects him to give anything less than his best. As fellow Trials competitor Peter Gilmore said, “He’s definitely not a guy who’s going to show up on race day and give you half an effort.”