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US running star Meb Keflezighi running final Boston Marathon this year

BOSTON — America's premier marathoner is taking his victory lap.

Meb Keflezighi says he'll hang up his racing shoes for good after running next month's Boston Marathon and the TCS New York City Marathon in November.

By then, he'll have racked up 26 marathons and he'll be 42.

Considering the metric equivalent of the classic 26.2-mile distance is 42.2 kilometers, it feels to Keflezighi like the universe is saying it's time to call it a career.

Keflezighi gained folk hero status when he won Boston in 2014 - the year after bombs planted near the finish line killed three spectators and wounded more than 260 others.

He tells The Associated Press he'll still jump into the occasional 5K or half-marathon in retirement "so I can run with the people."