"I'm still standing."
It's a phone interview but you can imagine the smile on the face of Eamonn Coghlan, Irish running legend and booster for the worldwide work of the Irish international aid agency GOAL.
Coghlan has every excuse at this stage of life if he decided to be a couch potato. But that just isn't in the man's DNA.
Though a "hip job" sent him to the couch a while back he is back to running, jogging and walking with his pals in Dublin's Phoenix Park.
The "Park" is close to sea level so recent outings there will be little in the way of preparation for what Coghlan is planning to do on Sunday, November 17.
That plan involves taking part in the "GOAL Great Ethiopian Run Challenge." At 8,000 feet mind you. And over ten kilometers from start to finish.
As this page goes to print, Coghlan is heading for Frankfurt in Germany and from there, after a brief stopover, to the Ethiopian capital of Addis Ababa.
There the Dubliner will be meeting up with his old friend Haile Gebrselassie, the Ethiopian running legend and gold medal Olympian at 10,000 meters.
Coghlan, who has a World 5,000 meters championship in his career record, will be going the distance with his old friend - though in conversation and reminiscence.
"Haile Gebrselassie founded the run back in 2001. Now it has over 50,000 participants and is a huge cultural festival, as well as being a running event," said Coghlan.
"The serious runners will be up front, but at 8,000 feet I will be undertaking what you would call a controlled heartbeat run," he added with a laugh.
Which is to say moving along with the great throng, and well behind the elite contestants.
"It's all about participation, not performance," Coghlan is keen to stress.
Coghlan, who has a roughly 28 minute 10K best time from back in the day, plans to walk and jog the high altitude in "under an hour."
And there you have the reminder of the fierce competitor that lingers even today in the heart of the "Chairman of the Boards" and for many years holder of the world indoor mile record.
Not an hour, or a little over an hour. But under it.
There will be about twenty or so GOAL runners in the 10K.
"Some will be from New York, some from Ireland. I want to soak up the atmosphere and also focus on the meaning behind why we are in Ethiopia."
Coghlan is referencing the humanitarian aid work that GOAL carries out in the vast African nation.
"I hope our taking part will be a big morale booster for our people working there," Coghlan says.
"And that it draws attention and brings home to people exactly what work GOAL is doing in the country."
Coghlan has been to Kenya and South Africa, but this will be the first time he will set foot in a land that has given the world so many stellar distance athletes.
"I am really looking forward to this. It will be great," he said.
