ING NEW YORK CITY MARATHON

November 7, 2004

Deena Kastor

Allan Steinfeld

DEENA KASTOR: I'm sorry to inform you there was no real drama out there in this story. My race preparation coming in here the last three weeks have been pretty tough. And I knew this was going to be a tough haul, trying to come back so soon after the Olympic games. My training partner nailed it and I didn't. I ran a fabulous race but could not get my legs under me these past few legs to feel refreshed, especially on the starting line, which is so essential in a marathon. I cut way back on my mileage because my legs felt so bad in the last few weeks, cut down on my intensity runs and got town to running 30-minute runs each day and every day there was just this achiness, this depletion, this tiredness in my legs day after day on top of the massages and ice packs, trying to get them recovered. Just thought I could rely on this one week of not doing very much and resting here in New York City and get myself together, but in the very early stages of my race, my body was not ready for this. I ended up at the halfway point telling myself, okay, let's just celebrate a marathon finish here, and that didn't even prove like at all feasible on a day like this. I started getting cramps in my hamstrings and my glutes. Once my knees started feeling some pain, I decided to pull off to the side of the road at about 16 miles.

DEENA KASTOR: Paula was out here today to prove herself as one of the best marathoners in the world and she did that. She had a rough race but that's the nature of this sport, is when it's bad, it's really ugly and when it's good, we can come out with shiny medals and strong performances. It was great she was able to get herself together to win today. She fought hard for it and it was really an exciting race to come out and spectate along the course to see these women fighting so hard towards the finish.

DEENA KASTOR: I don't think an Athens strategy would have worked on a day like this. The conditions were great and you're in a talented field. Athens was not just running against a talented field but also against very harsh conditions but brutal hills and brutal temperatures. New York City in the fall is a wonderful place to be, and we can't afford to have partial tactics. So today was an aggressive race and the only chance on winning a race of this caliber and under these conditions is by being aggressive. I put myself out there a lot faster than my training days in the past few weeks, a lot faster pace, but you never know. I mean, I guess -- I guess you don't do miraculous things unless you really dig down deep and try to do them. To go for a win, which is my dream here in New York City, I couldn't have run a sub-par race. I went out there to be aggressive and tried to get it and didn't have it on this day. So, that's all I can explain.

DEENA KASTOR: Yeah, and I think it wasn't Athens that took a toll; it was the training leading up to Athens that took its toll. I had never worked such long miles and such quite miles in my entire life so I think it was the training for Athens that took a lot out of my body. Like I said, after the press conference, it was the easiest race of my life and I felt wonderful afterwards and dazed afterwards, even coming home. So I don't think the race took much out of me but the preparations definitely did.

DEENA KASTOR: I was running 1:40 mile week, probably two and three in a row and then dropped out of and to 1:20 and then back up to 1:40. But ranging anywhere from 1:20 to 1:40 miles each week. That included only two easy days a week and the rest of the week was for the workout. So I really worked hard for that medal and to try to get to the finish line as fit as possible.

DEENA KASTOR: Previously, I would throw in either 1:01 and a 1:40-mile week very early in the training phase but usually around 1:20. Not so consistently high like I was for Athens.

DEENA KASTOR: I heard it. I heard the finish in my mom was -- my dad was sitting next to me in the athlete-gathering area after the race, and my mom was giving him the updates on the cell phone.

DEENA KASTOR: No. I just slowly came to a halt. (Laughter) I didn't cry. I didn't -- I didn't fall to the ground. I only cry for joy, not for embarrassment or humiliation.

ALLAN STEINFELD: It was a great race. We had Bob Kennedy, Abdi, Dave Ewing, we had two gentlemen at 2:04, who really thought something could happen there. We speak of dreams in the race, dreams can sometime come true and it came true today. To have the women's race so close and people dropping off and just be a few seconds apart is a race director's dream. And the men's race, Dan Browne, he had a stitch, you heard before, he came back, pushed and came in second. Just to see this, and I've got to be biased because we've been pushing the Americans in our race since 2001 and we would love in this country to have American champions. And certainly we saw Matt and Deena in the Olympics and we saw today in our event, too.

ALLAN STEINFELD: Probably the equivalent of the Silver Medal in the Olympics. It's certainly not gold, but the world will know what Paula has done, she won the New York City Marathon, unlike any race in the world outside of the Olympics, and that says it all.

ALLAN STEINFELD: To see him here and do so well and be so jubilant across the line, even though he didn't come across the line at the finish --

DEENA KASTOR: Yeah, I think he was concentrating, looking down, down the center. The tape breaking, I don't know if he knew he'd won, maybe he thought it was an obstacle in his way.

DEENA KASTOR: Yes, he was great out there and what always happens, he pulled off to the side and it was a chance for him to redeem himself which he did. I'm not sure, with respect to Paula, certainly she proved to the world, in hot conditions and coming off the Olympics, she came back here and proved herself. She's ready to take on the world. She did today, and she will in the future. Thank you for being here.