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TCS NEW YORK CITY MARATHONOctober 30, 2014Kara GoucherNEW YORK CITY, NEW YORK Q. So the women's field is really deep, I think probably one of the better ones we've had in the last few years. How much have you been thinking about versus kind of doing your own thing? KARA GOUCHER: Well, I'm here for a performance for myself. I was shooting for 2:28. I don't know that the weather will allow that on Sunday. So I'll have to sort of play that by ear. But I like the depth of the field because I feel like‑‑ I feel like it will be a very large front pack, but I do feel like there will be a solid second pack, and I do feel like, because it is such a good field and so deep, that a lot of that lead pack will come back later in the race. I like that it's deep. It just means people run the whole time. Q. And last year two people broke out so far ahead. Can you talk a little bit about your strategy? KARA GOUCHER: I know there's women here who can run 2:22 or even faster on this course, and that's not the person that I am today. I'm ready to run 2:28 on a good day, a good weather day. So if people are screaming out at 70 minutes through the half or 71 through the half, that's not my race. So I'll be more conservative and look to catch the strugglers in the second half. Q. Kara, how's your training gone since the Philly half? KARA GOUCHER: It's gone really well. I think I needed Philly to remind myself‑‑ you know, to get hurt and get beat and to kind of lick my wounds a little bit. It's gone really well. I'm not going to say, oh, and now I'm ready to go for it. It's not realistic. But it went really well, and I was really happy with it. Q. Did you have to make any major adjustments that you weren't counting on, or has it really gone according to plan? KARA GOUCHER: It's gone according to plan. We said from the beginning we were going to shoot for 2:28, and we weren't going to try to cram in a 2:25 and risk what might come with that. As much as I want to do that so I can be in the hunt, the big goal is to be ready on February 13th, 2016, to make the Olympic team. I have to get through this marathon healthy and strong. We just didn't feel like it was worth the risk to try to cram in some training. So we really didn't make any adjustments. We just stayed the course of 2:28 and letting that pace come, and it did, and it's been really good. Q. I've seen you mention what this, what New York means to you. What can you say about that? What is it‑‑ what is it like now to be here this weekend, to be ready for this one? KARA GOUCHER: It's great to be here. I was born here, but I was so young when I left. Q. How young were you? KARA GOUCHER: I was 4, so very young. I left under like tragic circumstances. My father passed away, and that's why we moved. We moved to Minnesota to move in with my grandparents. So I came here as a child, but I didn't‑‑ I didn't get it. I think as an adult it's been great for me. Coming in '08 was great for me. It really was. It changed the way I looked at the city, and I wanted to get to know the city whereas in the past I just didn't‑‑ there was no connection there. So I love being here, and every year that I come or every race that I come to do, I feel more connected. As an adult now, I feel more connected to my father and to all those things that I've missed out on. Q. Obviously, you have a time goal, 2:28, if everything goes well. Do you have any sort of intangible things about just getting out there and racing the full distance again and you're sort of looking for sort of a checkpoint that you'd really like to go through when you're racing on Sunday? KARA GOUCHER: Yeah, the goal is just a solid performance that's‑‑ shows people I'm back, shows myself I'm back, and is a good starting point now for a big year of training. So I'm not‑‑ 2:28 is what I know I'm capable of running if I'm willing to hurt a little bit at the end and be smart the at the beginning. I know I'm capable of doing that. The time doesn't totally matter. It matters, but it doesn't. It's more about getting out there, finishing strong. I definitely want my last six miles to be the fastest chunk of the race for me. And just coming through it. I'd like to finish as high as possible. Don't get me wrong. If everyone runs slow because everyone's afraid of the wind, I'm going to stick my nose in it and see what happens. I'm just more concerned with the way I feel, the way I finish, and the way I move forward from here. Q. What shoes are you going to be racing in on Sunday? KARA GOUCHER: The Speed 3, GOmeb Speed 3 Skechers. Q. Kara, you talked about your connection to New York specific to like when you came here and ran it in 2008. How about now where you're embarking on this next stage of your running career? Is it any more special that you're kicking it off here? KARA GOUCHER: Yeah, I think so. I mean, it's just‑‑ it's always just a deeper meaning for me here. And I feel like I've sort of, not reinvented myself, but rediscovered myself in the last year and a half. So it feels appropriate to start here. And this is where my marathon career started, right? So it feels like not only was I born here, but this is where everything started for me. So it feels just right that it happens here. I was hoping to run here last year, and I broke my foot, and it was devastating. I was very, very depressed that I missed it last year. But it's been a long time coming, but I always knew I wanted to restart here. Q. Has seeing what Deena did, especially in Philadelphia, where she ran the World Masters record in the half, does that give you confidence to get back to where you were when you raced in New York for the first time a few years ago? KARA GOUCHER: I haven't doubted I could get back. I haven't. I know a lot of people have doubted it, but I haven't. It's fun to watch Deena because I think it just like solidifies what I believe, which is when you're talented, you're talented. You take your lumps, and you come back, and you can be who you want to be. I don't think that Deena is going to be running 69 minutes when she's 50, but I think she could have run faster. The conditions weren't that great in Philly. It was extremely humid. What does that mean? I don't see a limit to what she could have done that day. It just like, in my mind, solidifies that, yeah, there's still a lot of really good running left. Q. Is did you have any connections with family or even family friends still in New York? KARA GOUCHER: Yeah, my dad's sister still lives in Manhattan, and my aunt and uncle also lived here although my uncle passed in the last few years. But, yeah, like my aunt still lives here. She's with my son in the natural museum of history. Q. How much course did you scout? KARA GOUCHER: I just ran the last few miles. When I look back in '08, the part that seemed so daunting and overwhelming was once I came off that bridge. So that was the part of I wanted to go back and conquer and make sure it wasn't so scary. It wasn't so hard as I remember it. Q. And prepping for the wind, how do you get prepared for that? What's the worst you've had to face in your career? KARA GOUCHER: It was really windy here in '08 actually. I just tucked behind Paula and used her as a block basically until she destroyed me. I actually am kind of welcoming the wind. I felt like I've done a lot of runs in the wind. We've had an exceptionally windy fall in Colorado. I kind of welcome it. For me, it's been a little bit of an equalizer, and it adds to the strength element in this course. Honestly, I thought it was going to be super windy on Saturday and not so bad on Sunday, and now it sort of shifted, and I'm happy about it. It makes it a little bit more complicated, obviously, because it throws off the time component. I kind of like that because it brings me back to just the racing component. So I'm kind of like hoping it's hellacious out there on Sunday. Q. Who's out here for you? KARA GOUCHER: Pac‑12 is tomorrow, so they have Pac‑12's tomorrow, and he's going to fly in tomorrow night. But my husband's here and my mom's here. A lot of my friends are here. Q. Do the World Championships for next year feature for you at all? KARA GOUCHER: Yeah. I would like to run the 10,000, possibly the 5,000, depending on how the speed comes along. Next year I plan on doing a full track campaign. We'll see how the body's reacting, but I wouldn't be opposed to trying to make it to the 5K. Q. But not the marathon? KARA GOUCHER: No, not the marathon. I think it's good to do a championship marathon at some point because it gives you an idea what the Olympics will be like. I did the Championship Marathon in '07 and have run a marathon, and running a marathon in China doesn't sound like super interesting. Q. Caroline Wozniacki running this year, usually because this is an active athlete, it's not somebody who's retired, like a lot of folks. Do you have any advice in terms of prevention and challenges that she might face and the commitment like that? KARA GOUCHER: Yeah, I think that she has been doing her training. I read a really big article on her in "The New York Times." It wasn't necessarily something that her team wanted her to do at this point in her career, but I really admire that she is doing it. She's already raised $65,000, which is sensational, and I think it brings a huge awareness to running from a sport‑‑ tennis is a sport where they've got it right. They have their stars. We know who the stars are in tennis, and it's exciting, and you know who's the best. That's something that, in running, we don't necessarily have. So I think it's really cool to see her coming to our sport, bringing awareness to our sport. As far as I advice, I think she's going to be fine. I don't think she's trying to do anything flashy. I think she's trying to raise money and do something that makes her‑‑ that feeds her soul, basically. I think she's going to be fine. She's going to do great, and I'm hoping that I get to meet her at some point over the weekend. Q. Is there any other sport you do, you mentioned soccer, but just sort of for fun‑‑ or tennis, for that matter‑‑ where you've said, Oops. I've got to be a little careful. KARA GOUCHER: I've definitely clamped down on my life in general. I used to nordic ski a lot. I don't do that anymore. Every once in a while in winter, but not very often. I used to play soccer. I do not play anymore. I do do some things. I still go ice skating when I visit my mom. I am definitely a scaredy cat compared to the way I used to be. I used to be fearless and all that kind of stuff. But there will come a point when I'm not aware anymore, just not when my family's livelihood is dependent on my running. Q. So soccer, just pickup games or playing? KARA GOUCHER: No, I even played one summer back in Minnesota after my freshman year of college. So just‑‑ you know, not like super high level or anything, but just like Minnesota team, and I just stayed in that system. And I even played one year after college just because I love it. I love the team aspect of it. I always loved playing soccer. My father was a soccer player. Q. There was a split with Alberto at one point we hear was fairly emotional. Can you elaborate as much as you can with how that came about and getting into a new rhythm after it was over? KARA GOUCHER: I mean, it was very hard for me to leave Alberto. It had been building for a little while, but it was‑‑ you know, it was a family for me. It was safe for me. I discovered myself as a runner with Alberto. So it was an extremely difficult thing to do. I did it at a yucky time, a couple months, just three months out from the Olympic trials. So that made it difficult because now I was putting a lot of pressure on another coach to get me on that Olympic team without really knowing me very well. It was very hard. It was one of the hardest things I've done in my life, but I don't regret it. It was very emotional, but I think we both agree it had to‑‑ it needed to be done. Q. How has changing coaches and changing sponsors changed your outlook on big races like New York? KARA GOUCHER: I think, in my previous situation, I needed to beat certain people in a race like New York to uphold my‑‑ to not set myself up for reduction. So I probably would have crammed a few more workouts in to put myself in better shape to make sure I finished among the top two Americans or be the number one American. With my new sponsors, I don't have restrictions like that. So I can say, oh, I can cram to be in 2:25 shape but possibly risk injury, or I can say, you know what, I'm just going to shoot for 2:28 and keep the big picture in mind. That's something that I'm able to do now that I couldn't do in the past. That's just contract reform that will help with changes in the future. Q. What is big picture? KARA GOUCHER: Big picture is making the team for Rio. At first I thought, if I make the team for Rio, then I'll be happy. After seeing Deena, I don't feel that way at all anymore. But that's the next big, big goal I have. Everything moves back from that. I want to be ready on that day. I want to run a PR before the trials to know I'm ready to make that team. It's not going to happen on Sunday. So I need to find one more marathon in there. Then if I'm going to run a PR, then I need to be faster again. So I need to do some track stuff. It's just building everything around that goal. Q. Do you have‑‑ what would you tell‑‑ I'm running on Sunday. What do you tell just run of the mill regular, recreational athletes, as they prepare for their first marathon or trying to get a PR. What's the biggest piece of advice you give yourself? KARA GOUCHER: I think it's important to run for yourself and not get cut off from what people are doing. Everyone has a different goal. Deena and Desi are trying to win on Saturday, to run 2:25 and run 2:25. It's easy to get caught up in that, just get going. But I have to stay within myself. I think it's important for everybody, no matter what you're trying to do, never give your plan away for someone else. Stick to your guns because you've done the preparation for you, and to have the best possible outcome for you, you need to do what's right for you. Q. Do you have any kind of sort of a mantra or any kind of sports psychology tips that you use? KARA GOUCHER: I have little phrases that I like to say to myself, like, when it gets gritty and I'm thinking like, you know, maybe I could cave a little bit. If it hasn't already been a successful day, I'll say to myself do not feed your cave impulse. We all have an impulse to cave. Don't feed it. Don't give it an ounce of anything. And I like to have like a theme of the season. For me this year, it's been I am not done. Wake up, everybody. I'm still here. I'm still relevant. So I think for me it's kind of fun to pick a different theme for each thing that I'm working towards, but I think that's good, and I think it's important for people to have little mantras. I don't care how fit you are. There's always those moments where it hurts. The fitter you are, the more you can push. So we all go through those phases. It's important to think of a mantra that brings you back to the hard training you've done and focuses you. Just know it's going to happen to everybody. Even Mary Keitany, who's run 65:39 this year is going to have moments like eh. It happens to everybody. Q. What is it like to be back in New York? KARA GOUCHER: It's great to be back in New York. I'm very excited. This is where my marathon career started. It feels really fitting, like the rejuvenation of myself starts here in New York. I'm really excited. Q. What do you remember most about the course? Do you think the experience will play into your hands on Sunday? KARA GOUCHER: The thing I remember is the last ten miles. That's why I was determined to come back and run the ten miles and prove to myself it wasn't that scary. I actually did this run in boulder called Goad Hill, which is a super high elevation, hilly run, and I came the next day and ran the last ten miles, and I was like, it's not that bad. You got this. I remember just the soccer fest and remember everything was so hilly and so tough and come back six years later as an experienced marathon and show my scared little self it's not that bad. Q. Is you came back and trained on the course this year? KARA GOUCHER: Yeah. Q. Was that during fashion week? KARA GOUCHER: Yeah. I didn't get a lot of sleep during that week, but I did get some good training. Q. What was the injury that you've been working your way slowly back from? KARA GOUCHER: So last summer I broke my foot. It was‑‑ a lot of times when people break their metatarsal, it breaks across. Mine broke the length. So it took an exceptionally long time to heal. And I started to come back from that, and I had a pelvic and sacral stress fracture at the same time, which is actually kind of common because your pelvis is like a circle. So if there's trauma on one end, it's usually at the opposite end. Like that was a doozy because everything hurts, right? Your pelvis, everything hurts. But I think it happened for a reason. I'm not really sure why. Q. You've sort of touched on the themes. KARA GOUCHER: On a perfect weather day, the objective was 2:28. And a really solid performance back, historically, the top American times are 2:25, 2:26 and 2:27:11. If I was ready to run 2:28, I'd be in the mix. People are running really fast and have really aggressive goals. So I won't be in the mix. For me, it's about re‑establishing myself, running a solid time, and coming off of it healthy and hungry. In the past, I've run it and been exhausted by the whole process and been dinged up. It's to walk away Sunday with a really good time and be healthy and hungry. Q. You said this is about reminding people that Kara Goucher is one of the best women races in the world. Why is that so important? KARA GOUCHER: I feel as though people are counting me out, and that really bothers me. I'm not out, and I'm not done, and I'm not going to‑‑ I'm not going to lie and say that I'm ready to win on Sunday because I'm not, but I just want to remind everybody that they should be worried. They should be worried about what I do, and they should count me in. Sunday is like hopefully the beginning of a reminder, and then it builds from there. Q. And how do you settle race day nerves? KARA GOUCHER: For me, it's just thinking about all the work I've done. I don't go to the starting line unless I'm ready. So it's just like reminding myself what I've done. I have this thing called a confidence journal that highlights my best workouts, and I'll be looking through that Saturday night, probably Sunday morning before I get on the bus. We've done the work to be here, and for me I just have to remind myself of that. Q. Have you had a chance to look at the race day forecast yet? KARA GOUCHER: Yes. So it looks like it's going to be windy. And I'm fine with that. It definitely changes what pace I end up running, but that's fine. Like I'm in shape to run 2:28 on a good day, I feel like, and it might end up being 2:29:30 or it might end up being 2:30. But as long as I execute what I'm capable of‑‑ obviously, the wind affects you, right? Like nobody has this magic shield around them. So it's going to affect the race, and it will affect some people more than others. But I'm not really worried about it. It just makes the effort slower. That's all. Q. How much do you think that affects the pack dynamic, what the rest of the pack does? Is that something that you have to take into consideration? KARA GOUCHER: In my head all along, I've been running a lot of this race by myself because I feel like the lead pack is going to be pretty aggressive, and I am just not there yet. So I figured that I would let them go and then work my way back up to some people in the second half. If it's really windy, a lot of times you'll get a slow speed. Look what happened in Chicago. It was really windy and it slowed the race down because nobody wanted to run in the wind. However, we have this person called Mary Keitany in the race, who is fearless. I don't think it will affect the race as much as it would if she was in the race. I think she's going to take it on, and how many people will be with her? In a dream world, everyone wouldn't go with her, and I would have a pack to run with the whole time. But I still think I'll be alone a lot of the time. If you're comfortable being in the back, which I am, you can get it. You have to be smart. If I can get that shield but I have to run 2 seconds a mile faster than I wanted, it's worth it. But if I have to run 10 seconds a mile faster, it's not worth it. A lot of it is going to be in that moment making a decision. My coach and I have gone over it a thousand times. It's going to be in that moment unfolding, making that decision as I'm out there. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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