Since leaving the track after the 2004 Olympics, Gebrselassie has focused on road racing and the marathon. His adult marathons to date include London 2002, Amsterdam 2005 (1st place), London 2006, Berlin 2006 (1st place), Fukuoka 2006 (1st place), London 2007, Berlin 2007 (1st place and World Record) and Dubai 2008 (1st place).
In 2005 Gebrselassie went undefeated in all of his road races. This included a British All-Comers record in the 10K at Manchester (27:25), a win in the Amsterdam Marathon in the fastest marathon time in the world for 2006 (2:06:20), and a new world best for 10 miles in Tilburg, The Netherlands (44:24). (His unofficial split of 41:22 at the 15K mark was 7 seconds faster than the official world best.)
Gebrselassie started 2006 positively by beating the world half marathon record by a full 21 seconds, recording a time of 58 minutes and 55 seconds on January 15th. He broke the record, his first one on American soil, by running the second half of the Rock 'n' Roll Arizona Marathon. During the race he also broke Paul Tergat's 20 km record, both records having stood since 1998. (Gebrselassie passed the 20 km mark in 55:48.) 2006 also marked another victory for Gebrselassie as he shattered the 25 km world road record (albeit in non-IAAF ratified fashion) by 68 seconds in a time of 1:11:37. The race was organized where Gebrselassie and six other runners would run 5 kilometers and then cross the starting line of the 20 kilometer Alphen race in Alphen aan den Rijn of the Netherlands.
On April 23, 2006, he finished 9th in the London Marathon with a time of 2:09:05 (the race was won by Kenyan Felix Limo, who clocked 2:06:39). Gebrselassie referred to the 9th-place finish as "the worst race of my career".[12] However, on September 24 he came back with a win in the Berlin Marathon in the fastest time of the year, 2:05:56. This was followed by a win in the Fukuoka Marathon, Japan in 2:06:52. His time in Berlin made him only the fifth man in history to run under 2:06 for the marathon.
In London on April 22, 2007 Gebrselassie challenged the 2006 London Marathon winner Felix Limo, the 2005 London Marathon winner Martin Lel, the 2004 Athens gold medalist Stefano Baldini, the 2006 New York Marathon winner Marilson Gomes dos Santos, and the current marathon world record holder Paul Tergat in what organizers anticipated would be an exciting race.[13] However Gebrselassie dropped out at the 18 mile stage complaining of a stitch and inability to breathe, which turned out to be an allergic reaction to the pollen in the air. This left the 2005 winner Martin Lel to come home in first place.
One month later, Gebrselassie made a surprise return to the track where he ran a 26:52.81 in finishing 5th in a very competitive 10,000 meter race in Hengelo, The Netherlands. What made Gebrselassie's time so noteworthy, besides being the 8th time in his career to run under 27 minutes (more than anyone in history) is the fact that Gebrselassie is the only man older than 30 to break 27 minutes in the 10,000 meters. Moreover, his twelve year range of doing so (from 1995 to 2007) is remarkable.
On June 27, 2007, Gebrselassie launched an attack upon the world record for the one hour run, in Ostrava, Czech Republic. This record attempt was successful as Gebrselassie passed the hour mark at 21,285 m (13 miles 397 yards), thus eclipsing the previous best, 21,101 m, set by Mexican Arturo Barrios in La Fléche, France, on 30 March 1991. Furthermore, Gebrselassie covered 50 laps (20,000 m) in 56:25.98, another world best, well within the previous 56:55.6 also set by Barrios in 1991. These were his 23rd and 24th world records.
Gebrselassie made his running debut in New York City when he won the New York City Half Marathon on August 5, 2007 in 59:24, breaking the previous course record by two minutes. He has a perfect record of 8-0 in winning all of his half marathons.
On September 30, 2007 Gebrselassie won the Berlin Marathon in 2:04:26[14] (4:44.8 per mile), setting the world record and shaving 29 seconds off Paul Tergat's record, set on the same course in 2003. His victory further energized the celebrations of the Ethiopian Millennium (unique to the Ethiopian calendar), which began on September 12, 2007. On the winners podium he wore a blue ribbon to signify his support for Vicky's Water Project - a project set up in memory of Vicky Buchanan to bring clean running water to Lera Town in Ethiopia.
Prior to the 2008 Dubai Marathon, his manager suggested that Gebrselassie would be able to run a sub 2:04 time for a new world record. While Gebrselassie agreed that a sub 2:04 was possible, he stated that the conditions would need to be perfect for such a time.[15] The event was held on 18 January 2008 and was won by Gebrselassie in a time of 2:04:53, making it the second fastest marathon in history. However the early pace had been too fast and he was unable to continue at that speed, resulting in a time 27 seconds short of his own world
