Mesfin Emeyu Shifter
Events: Half-Marathon, Marathon
Shoe size: 42.5 EU/8 UK/8.5 US
Year of birth: 1988
Personal Best Times:
Half-Marathon: 1:03* (3rd place Arsi Zone Championship, Asella, December 2008)
*Unofficial course
About: I grew up in a village near the city of Asella. I have seven brothers and three sisters. My school was about 5km away from my home growing up. I started running through the athletics team at my school about six years ago. Then recently Coach Melaku noticed me doing well in races and thought I could become a good marathon runner one day. There aren’t any marathon races or marathon training groups out in the rural area so Melaku let me come stay in his house in Addis Ababa so I could train with his athletes. He let me eat with his family every day and sleep in the saloon while Running Across Borders worked to raise enough money to open their camp facility. Then for the training, Melaku has many top marathon runners, guys who run 2:08 or 2:09, and it is really hard training for me sometimes. Some days I come home and I’m so tired I can barely move. But I think I am doing well and one day I can be as good as or better than the older athletes in the group.
