Abdi Abdirahman arrives in Louisville , Kentucky this week fully prepared to defend his US National 10 mile road race title on Saturday, April 15th.

The event held in conjunction with the Papa John's 10 mile, has been the official USATF championship event for the past four years and the 28 year old Somali born American believes the course record of 47:27, which he set a year ago, is also in jeopardy. Solid winter training near his home in Tucson , Arizona this past winter has evidently gone very, very well.

"I was fit last year but I think I am in really good shape right now. I think I am doing the same workouts but better," he reveals. "Last year I was coming down from (8,000 ft) altitude training up in Mammoth Lakes, California for that race so this year I have been training at 4,000 feet near Tucson . My training has been going well and I think I can run faster than I ran last year. I can break the course record again."

"We have a big training group in Tucson . We have a couple of guys who have run 13:13 (for 5,000m), we have somebody who has run under 13 minutes, (American 1,500m record holder) Bernard Lagat and his younger brother Robert Cheseret. We have a lot of guys. But it's just me with Dave Murray (University of Arizona Coach) and then Dave Murray and (USATF) Coach Joe Vigil who work together."

Twice Abdirahman has represented the United States at the Olympic Games finishing 10th in the Sydney 10,000m final and 15th in Athens two years ago. But he has since proven he is on the cusp of world class performances. The US National 10 mile championships, he says, is a good start to the 2006 campaign and he has approached the season a little differently.

"My mileage has not been that high (this year)," he explains. "My mileage has been between 85 and 90 miles a week. I am getting ready for the 5,000m -- 10,000m for the summer. We are doing a little more speed work so my mileage has not been that high - not like when I was training for the marathon."

"I am looking to run in some good 5,000m's I don't know how fast, I don't want to say I am going to run a time then I don't run it. At the same time I am getting ready to break the American 10,000m record, hopefully, if everything goes well. So far everything is going well. That's my main goal just to run fast over 5,000m and 10,000m this year."

After competing in the 2005 World Championships in Helsinki , Abdirahman made his marathon debut at the ING New York City Marathon finishing a credible 5th in 2:11:24. At the moment he is planning on either a New York repeat or chasing after a fast time at the Chicago Marathon. Ultimately, he expects his greatest successes will come at the classic distance.

After competing in the 2005 World Championships in Helsinki , Abdirahman returned to the scene of his marathon debut finishing a credible 5th in 2:11:24 in the ING New York Marathon.

Along with Coach Dave Murray, who mentored him during his days at the University of Arizona , and Ray Flynn, his agent, Adbirahman will look at the quality of the fields in both races as well as other incentives.

If he wins the US National Championships Abdirahman will collect $10,000 first prize. And with a respectable Nike shoe contract ensuring he doesn't need to worry about where his next meal is coming from life is grand. But it's not the money that motivates him, he says.

"Not really. The way I look at is you don't look at the prize money," he claims. "It's good prize money. It's the reason we are running but if you think about the prize money you might end up not doing well. If I finish 5th or 6th I want to know I have given my best shot."

Since becoming eligible to represent the U.S. (in 2000) he has earned a reputation for his front running preference. Always he is concerned with running to his full potential and not leaving competition to chance. With Ray Flynn in his corner he is sure to get into some faster races this summer where his personal bests on the track can be reduced.

"I like leading, that is one of my strengths," he says laughing. "I don't like to run slow races. When I have gone to Europe I have run well - 13:13 (5,000m) and 27:30 (10,000m). I like fast races. Here in the U.S. most of the races are won in slow times. I don't like slow times. I like professional people."

Born in the Somalian capital of Mogadishu, Abdirahman was fortunate that his father frequently travelled back and forth between Mogadishu and Mombasa, Kenya , which, it must be said, is to be the site of the 2007 IAAF World Cross Country Championships. He didn't endure the horrendous conditions in his homeland for too long.

"I spent seven or eight years in Mombasa . I went there in 1987 when I was ten," he recalls. "Before, we used to go back and forth because my dad was working for an oil company."

"I remember a little bit about Mogadishu . I haven't been back since I came to the U.S. I was planning on going there last year but I was training for the marathon. After the fall marathon this year I plan to go back. I still have close relatives there. I have uncles and aunties and cousins."

Although he is a little too young to remember Abdi Bile's historic 1,500m victory at the 1987 IAAF World Athletics Championships in Rome , he is fully aware of the impact of Bile's achievement on the Somalian people. And in his travels he has been befriended by the man who first inspired Abdi Bile , Somalia 's first sub four minute miler, Jama Aden. The latter is now the head athletics coach of the Sudanese Athletics Federation. "Definitely I looked up to Adbi Bile and to Jama Aden. Both opened the door for us," Abdirahman admits, "When I started running I saw Jama and he said 'you have got to hang in there. You have got to be a fighter. '"

Ultimately, Abidrahman has some lofty goals he wishes to achieve before he retires from the sport including a go at Meb Keflezighi's five year old American 10,000m record of 27:13.98.

"Just winning a medal, any medal, gold medal, a silver medal or something," he says, "and to break the American 10,000m record. The American 10,000m record that is something I want so badly. Hopefully that is in the future. Then going to Beijing and then the 2007 World Championships in Osaka . Hopefully getting a medal in the marathon in the 2008 Olympics."

A successful defence of his USATF National 10 mile championship would surely be a giant step on that path.