Haile Gebrselassie looked surprised when asked who his biggest rivals were likely to be at the Standard Chartered Dubai Marathon where he defends his title on tomorrow.
The 35-year-old Ethiopian went off too quickly in the first half of last year's race and believes after consultation with his pacemakers he has the formula which will enable him to attack his current world record of two hours three minutes 59 seconds.
Gebrselassie, who 12 months ago ran the initial split in 61min 27seconds, said: ‘The rabbits are the ones who are doing the important work, especially in the first half and then up to 30km.
‘Last year it was too fast but this year we'll try to do a steady pace.
Gebrselassie will win a bonus of €760,503 (US 1million) in addition to the €190,310 (US 250,000) first prize if successful.
He continued: ‘We have fantastic pacemakers this year.
‘The first half I hope will be close to 62 minutes - not above 62 minutes - which means like if I run 61 minutes 45 seconds or 61 minutes 40 seconds, it's not bad.’
Gebrselassie became the first man to smash the milestone 2hrs 4mins mark for the distance in Berlin last September where he hit the halfway point of that race in 62mins 04secs, before covering the remaining distance in 61:55.
The world's greatest-ever distance runner's description of how he would achieve victory on Friday however did not take into account others aiming to spring an upset.
They include his fellow Ethiopians Tesfaye Tola, 2000 Olympic silver medallist, and Geshaw Melese Asfaw, who finished seventh in the Beijing Olympic marathon, plus Kenya's highly experienced William Kiplagat.
Gebrselassie claimed he had not considered them or any of the other dozen in the field who have ran under 2hr 10min, as he did not want to think about any problems in his bid to retain his title.
He said: ‘If you think about the problems you cannot sleep because you are dreaming every problem.
‘I will pray that everything will be perfect and I hope it will be okay.
‘My preparations have been good. I've been preparing since Berlin but when you attempt something, everything must be perfect like here in Dubai with the weather, the course and the pacemakers.’
The organisers have taken that point on board and the course, which is almost dead straight with just four turns, will be flat and fast.
The start time has been brought forward to 6.30am (0230GMT) to avoid the bright sun at the finish and the temperature is forecast to rise to a comfortable 15 to 18 degrees centigrade after starting at around 10 or 12C.
