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U.S. OLYMPIC TEAM TRIALS: MEN'S MARATHON

November 3, 2007

NEW YORK CITY, NEW YORK

THE MODERATOR: We have No. 4 and No. 5 here, Khalid Khannouchi and Jason Lehmkuhle. What I'll ask is that each of you make a brief opening comment about the race, the result, and then we'll open it up for questions. Khalid?
KHALID KHANNOUCHI: What can I say? It was a truly emotional race out there. And first of all, I would like to thank you for your great support. The crowd I thought was unbelievable, and I think they did a great job and great effort. It was so tough not making the top three, but a lot of people came out, so I think they did a pretty good job. Hopefully I can improve for my next race. But this is definitely a good education. It's been a boost in my confidence just to have the foot injury out of my mind and hopefully focus on training for next season.
THE MODERATOR: Jason?
JASON LEHMKUHLE: Just like Khalid, the crowd out there was definitely amazing. It was a big breakthrough marathon for me, again, being a couple spots short of the team is on some level disappointing, but I'm really happy with my race overall. I struggled with my last couple marathons, so to finally finish one and feel good in the last few miles was really good for me.

Q. Khalid, it's a long time until Beijing and you're the first alternate. Are you going to keep that in mind as far as what you do between now and then?
KHALID KHANNOUCHI: Definitely. I will also race more. I'm definitely going to have my racing schedule set. If I get the opportunity to go to Beijing, then I'll be happy to take it. I mean, I'd be very honored to take it.

Q. Khalid, how proud of yourself are you after all those struggles, to have a race as good as you had today?
KHALID KHANNOUCHI: I'm very proud, very proud of the people around me, I think. They were more excited and more confident than myself. It is difficult for a pro athlete when you start losing confidence in yourself. I think the people around me did a great job just to keep me focused. My wife did a great job, my brothers, and I thank all the people that came to watch me. That just says a lot about me. I think they have so much respect for me, and I think that is the motivation that is keeping me around. What I had to go through, if it happens to another athlete, I think they'd be very tired by now by it. Just to have the people around me just makes a big difference in my running career. Two months of training, this is a great result, and definitely it's going to help me keep going.
I'm going to have other goals, so we'll see.

Q. What do you think your chances are of making that team, considering Dathan may be interested in the 10,000 meter? There are a lot of things that can happen.
KHALID KHANNOUCHI: I think there's a chance. My wife was crying at the finish line. I was so happy because it's good to be in New York, and I think the crowd gives me great support today. She was crying, and I told her if we get to go to Beijing, we're going to go.
You always look at other possibilities. Dathan is a great 10,000 meter runner. He's still young, and it's good to have young people in the marathon because you have a good chance -- Ryan Hall is running well, and we talked in the past about do you prefer experience or fresh legs, and I always say fresh legs. So a lot of fresh guys. They're going to have their shots. Brian can make the 10,000 team if they want to.
If I don't run Beijing, then I'll know I did the best I can. I don't want to make excuses. I didn't have enough time. I had a lot of challenges throughout my training. Believe it or not, I did my first marathon with brand new racing orthotics, and for that reason I thank Dr. Osorio who is here. He came all the way from Spain to watch me, and I talk about racing the race in his father's honor, so I did that. It means a lot to me. I mean, I struggled in the last stages of the marathon. That's something I never faced, but at the same time, the sight of his dad was always running with me. I truly thank you because you gave me the opportunity to be here. We know that we have two months. Eight or nine weeks of training is not enough, but I did the best I can. I don't want to make excuses. These guys run very well. They deserve to be on the team, and I wish them well.

Q. How difficult is it on a loop course undulating to be able to keep the people ahead of you in sight?
KHALID KHANNOUCHI: Well, I wouldn't say difficult because I was able to see them. Just the fact that I think -- if we talk about the tactics today, I think I made small mistake. I didn't know that Brian Sell was going to make it all the way from behind, and whether to chase the group or stay behind. I thought, look, my goal is to be top three. I don't want to be number four, number five or number six, I have to take my chances. And they were already 30 seconds ahead of us. I wish that knew that Brian Sell and Jason would come back because I was able to stay with them and work together with them, and I was able to save a little bit of energy at the end, which was very significant.

Q. At the paces like 32:35 at 10-K it couldn't have been more moderate. Why weren't you there? You were off the pack.
JASON LEHMKUHLE: I guess I thought I was with the pack. It was a rather large pack. I was traveling in the back somewhere.

Q. Where did they lose you then?
JASON LEHMKUHLE: There was a break of about like five or six guys, maybe around seven or eight miles, and that's when stuff sort of really split up. I sort of put myself back in that second chase. I had to be patient because I really struggled at the end of my last couple marathons, so I was very much conscious of trying to parse my effort out and not make any huge moves really early on.
KHALID KHANNOUCHI: Like Jason said, it was a huge break, and sometimes you're thinking about getting water or something, and there was a break right there. There were good guys with the group of us, so I said, what is this, you have to go, you have to stay. And sometimes it's very difficult to make a quick decision like that.
So by mile 11 I said I think this is the time for me to move and try to chase them, and I did that. I got close to them, I thought they would come back to me, so that was very important, also.

Q. After the break it was a very different race than you had run in the past because you had to kind of play catch-up and you haven't been in that. How did you adjust to that because you were the first guy to really set off to it?
And Jason, what you did, it looked like you keyed on Khalid, but you've been there in Boston, and for you it was putting the whole race together. Could you both talk about that?
KHALID KHANNOUCHI: You had to make adjustments. I had to do that in Chicago in 2005, I think, and I almost run more than half of the race alone. Those are adjustments you have to make. Sometimes you don't have a lot of time to decide. You have either to go or wait. You wait, sometimes you pay for it, and I think that's what happened. I thought I waited a little bit then. I said, you know what, the guys around me didn't look good, and I said I had to go on my own. That was very important today. It was very difficult to run in windy conditions more than 11 miles away. But no complaint. I feel good, I'm happy with my effort.
JASON LEHMKUHLE: Yeah, again, I was just very conscious of trying to parse my effort out, and I knew when that initial break was made that that was -- they were running at a pace at that point that I wouldn't be able to maintain and would probably pay for later. I knew running around Brian Sell and Peter Gilmore and some other guys who are marathon veterans who tend to finish strong that I'd be able to feed off of them and finish strong in that second half and just feed off it. I was willing to take my chances with that second pack, I think. I think that was the right decision for me.

Q. Jason, how important has the Team Minnesota been in getting this result for you?
JASON LEHMKUHLE: They've been -- I mean, I certainly wouldn't be up here if it wasn't for Team USA Minnesota. I've come so far in the five or six years I've been with that program, and the support I get is invaluable. I mean, you see with the results here today that the times on this tough course in difficult conditions, the general trend in American distance running is up, and I think the training groups have a lot to do with that. Team USA Minnesota, the group in Mammoth, Hanson's obviously, so no, it's certainly been invaluable to me.

Q. Khalid, when Brian went by you at about 22 miles, were you able to respond to that or were you kind of -- figured that was it?
KHALID KHANNOUCHI: I wasn't able to. Prior to that I had to run 11 miles alone, so I couldn't have the energy. I wish I knew that he was going to make -- I think he ran a very smart race and he deserves to be on the team.

End of FastScripts

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