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ING NEW YORK CITY MARATHON

October 29, 2009

NEW YORK CITY, NEW YORK

Q. When was your last race?
RYAN HALL: I ran Philadelphia Distance Classic. That was six weeks ago.

Q. How'd you do?
RYAN HALL: I won. I don't remember my time, 1:01:52 maybe.

Q. That was heavy training?
RYAN HALL: Yeah.

Q. So you're pleased?
RYAN HALL: Yeah, yeah. It was great. I mean, the race is just kind of like you go and you do the best you can, but the real thing it tells you whether you're ready or not to train. So I'm way more confident with my training with those races, so, yeah.

Q. You talked about key workouts earlier. Somebody, you know, what is that key workout that told you or tells you you're really ready in training?
RYAN HALL: Tempo runs and long runs are kind of the key. I hit some pretty special tempo runs. I'm not going to tell you until after the race though (laughing). But it was good. I had some good tempo runs.

Q. In, I guess, in London in '08, you went up and told the rabbit, "pick it up a little bit," and next thing you know it dropped you down. Then in Boston, you went to the front early on. You have a tendency to be aggressive in your races. Against fields like this, is that something you have to monitor or do you have to watch when to be aggressive? How do you look at -- have you learned more and more by running these races how to race the marathon most effectively?
RYAN HALL: Yeah, yeah, I've definitely learned a lot, especially from Boston. I think what I learned the most was just you've got to listen to your body. You can't force it, you know.
Like I had it -- also, there is a time and place to run for time. And in Boston I was thinking about time when I was out there even though we had a head wind. So it just wasn't a good idea to go out as hard as I did considering the conditions in the wind and how the course played out, having never run the course.
So here in New York I'm not thinking about time, you know. I'm not thinking about course records or anything like that. I'm thinking about finishing as high as possible. So that will kind of take the pressure off that early pace, you know.
I want it to be a true marathon race though. I want it to be 26.2 mile race. I'm not interested in jogging the first half of the race and making it a Half Marathon. They're paying me to come out here and run a marathon, so I'm going to run one.
And I think it benefits me. The longer I go, the stronger I get, the better I am. So, it behooves me to have a good strong pace in the beginning. But not necessarily going out and sub 4:40 per mile.

Q. Having said that, somebody like Kwambai who is so fast goes and really takes it to like a suicidal pace, are you going to go with him?
RYAN HALL: It's hard to know until you're actually out there in the race because, like, for example, for the Olympics, I could not go at the pace that they set. It just wasn't physically possible for me.
I'm in a whole different world of shape right now, so I have a hard time imagining them going out faster than me than I'm able to handle. You've got to know who the players are, if they're being smart or not, you've got to pay attention to how your body's feeling.
That is something that I learned from Dorena. And she was saying I learned to run my own race. You have to find a good middle ground between letting your competitors help you run faster and running your own race.

Q. Courage?
RYAN HALL: Yeah.

Q. How do you cope with the pressure to end the drought of the Americans by winning on Sunday?
RYAN HALL: Well, I had six other guys up here with me to share the pressure with. I don't really feel any pressure. I mean, any race you go to, whether it's Philadelphia, ING, Distance Classic - where they're like no American has won this since the '80s - it's like there's going to be that. It just comes with the territory. So you get used to it.
You're like it's just, and also my perspective is it's just a matter of time. I honestly believe that I'm going to win this race whether it's tomorrow or a year from now or two years from now or ten years from now. I believe it's just a matter of time. So that kind of takes pressure off, too. You know, it's like this could be it. If not, I'll be back. A lot of these other Americans will be back, too, taking their shot at it.

Q. Do you think it is unfair when reading such headlines in Runner's World is, Will he ever win a race?
RYAN HALL: I don't read headlines (laughing).

Q. I don't write the headlines. Don't blame the writers for headlines. We all know that.
RYAN HALL: Honestly, I don't pay attention to my own media. It doesn't matter what other people think about me. What matters is what I think about me. Especially when I'm not there running. So I stay focused on that.

Q. How do you say your shape compares coming into this race as compared to previous marathons?
RYAN HALL: I've done stuff in practice that I didn't think would ever be possible, so we'll see how that plays out on Sunday. But even if I don't hit it on Sunday, I'll know that I've gotten, and I've broken new territory. I'm in a new land, and it's going to show itself eventually.
Like I said, if it doesn't happen for this year, for whatever reason, I don't know why it wouldn't, then it will happen in the spring. If it doesn't happen in the spring, maybe it will happen next fall. And I'll just keep coming back.

Q. When do you know in a race when to give it -- in Philadelphia, you have the clocks all set up, and then obviously, I don't feel 100% even though you had a really good race. When do you know generally speaking say, All right, today's a good day? In the race or in preparation or in warm-ups?
RYAN HALL: Yeah, you get a good feeling, you know. Like that last month of training, I think gives you a good feeling. But in terms of when you're actually out there running, you might not know until really late. You might go through some patches. In London when I ran 2:06, it felt really fast the first 10K. And I felt like I was out of my comfort zone. And I still ran a great race there.
So it's really tough to tell. You've got to nurse yourself through some of those hard miles that everyone goes through, whether you're running a four hour marathon or two-hour marathon. You're going to go through those tough moments.
So you just get through those the best you can. Maybe you're on, but you might not know it until 10 or 15 miles.

Q. So it's a head game as much as a physical game?
RYAN HALL: Certainly. The marathon is so much mental. The longer the distance gets, the more mental it becomes.

Q. So talking about mental, do you do any mental preparation, any exercises for coping with this?
RYAN HALL: I read my Bible and pray (smiling).

Q. Just specific, any specific verses that you bring to specific races?
RYAN HALL: I have a ton of verses that have inspired me throughout the years, and they'll just come up in my head as I'm out there running. For example, I was running the Half Marathon in the Distance Classic. About 11 miles into the race, I wasn't feeling that great, and I was sitting behind a bunch of Kenyan guys. I didn't know how they were feeling. And I felt like God gave me this verse, "As a man thinks in his heart, so he is."

Q. Say again?
RYAN HALL: "As a man thinks in his heart, so he is." So the importance of what you believe about yourself, what are you thinking in your mind. And it really changed my thought process in the middle of that race. And I got five minutes out, and one mile to go, and I was like, All right, I'm going to run as hard as I can. I'm not thinking about anything else besides the task at hand. I'm going to run hard. It really helped me a lot.
So different verses come up at different times in different situations.

Q. They just sort of form themselves? Like most running thoughts? They percolate?
RYAN HALL: Yeah, it's not like I have a list of verses or I'm going to think this one at this mind.

Q. They perk up?
RYAN HALL: Yeah.

Q. Throwing time out, Philly was a great performance for you, of course. And the way it happened was atypical for Ryan. Did something -- did that give you something good?
RYAN HALL: Yeah, Phillie gave me a lot of confidence in my ability to close. You know, I don't think I've ever won a race that way. So that was huge for me. And didn't know that even if I'm not feeling that great. I can put my head down and run hard that last mile and run really good. Hard close. So that was a big confidence booster for me. And with the field they have here in New York, it could very well come down to that.

Q. Running against Kenyans? Running against that level of athlete?
RYAN HALL: Yeah, yeah. I mean these guys are the best in the world, so you hope to get away earlier than a mile to go. But, you know, I'm watching the marathon last year, and it came down to the last K, you know.

Q. Do you anticipate that with the quality of the field and the depth of the field, is it in your mind feeling like just at the match up at First Avenue, not doing anything special, just cover, cover, cover, and let it come down to the park where you feel you've done some of the best running in your life?
RYAN HALL: I feel really fit. So I'm not picturing it coming down to the last mile or even the last two miles. But like I said, I have no idea what kind of fitness the other guys I'm running with are in.
You just have to be ready for every situation. You hope that you're going to hit one of those really great days, but you're prepared even if you don't.

Q. What did you know in 2007 at the trials? When did you say, okay, you knew you had a great race, and it was a matter of letting it flow out when you decide to call upon it?
RYAN HALL: Yeah, after I took off. I saw Khalid coming.

Q. That was cheating by the way. That was cheating.
RYAN HALL: So I took off. And then I started to see my mile splits, you know. Getting into it. I was like sub 4:40, and it was just coming really easy. So I knew that I was on. And then at that point it was just a matter of staying focused and enjoying the ride kind of.

Q. Ever felt better in a race?
RYAN HALL: No, that was the easiest race I ever ran. I felt like I could have kept going.

Q. It's nice to have your agent as your brother? He's a very close relationship?
MEB KEFLEZIGHI: It is. He's great. And he flew from San Diego to Reno to help out with the traveling and the family. And you know, he drives or he flies to San Jose. If he drives there, and then he drives to San Diego for us, and things like that.
No other agent would do that for me. He's very, very helpful and very supportive.

Q. When did you get healthy? When were you fully healthy and ready to train hard again?
MEB KEFLEZIGHI: You know, end of last year.

Q. In '08?
MEB KEFLEZIGHI: Yeah, yeah. I was pretty much getting healthy for this race. I thought I could run, you know 2:10, 2:11 last year. But with how stacked the field was I was a little nervous to show up, you know, in this race. So I watched the race, and, you know, they went 1:06 and 1:07 it was like I can keep up with those guys, but you know.

Q. You don't know about it ahead of time?
MEB KEFLEZIGHI: Yeah, you know. I ran very well the Half Marathon, and that was my first race.

Q. How long were you unhealthy?
MEB KEFLEZIGHI: November 3rd', 07.

Q. Did you come in 100% healthy that day? Were you all tweaked coming in?
MEB KEFLEZIGHI: No, I've done phenomenal workouts. I was healthy. You know, I just it was surprising, you know.

Q. You had like a broken hip?
MEB KEFLEZIGHI: Yeah. I don't think if I had that problem I wouldn't be able to go for 12, 14 miles at that pace.

Q. There was no sense it was coming up?
MEB KEFLEZIGHI: No, no.

Q. So it was about a year to get your shape back to health?
MEB KEFLEZIGHI: Yeah.

Q. You have three national championships this year? Is that cross country, Half Marathon?
MEB KEFLEZIGHI: Yeah.

Q. And you have a total of 19?
MEB KEFLEZIGHI: 19. A good way to get a 20th on a big day here on Sunday.

Q. After that race after the 10K that was the end of a pretty rough stretch before you've had this comeback that you've had this year. Was there a point when you considered leaving the sport?
MEB KEFLEZIGHI: Not at the trials. Definitely after the trials marathon, yes. Just because, you know, I wasn't able to walk. If I was you know moving over, I had to lift my leg up.
No, no, the trials I had a great workout. It just hasn't kicked in yet. I was hoping to be top three, and just get the third place and get in good shape.
But you have to remember in August I ran the best time of my life at 7 miles. So the workout, I was very encouraged with what I was doing before the trials. It was just a little bit of the time.

Q. The Eugene trials?
MEB KEFLEZIGHI: Yeah.

Q. So you had the 7-mile workout was after that?
MEB KEFLEZIGHI: The 7-mile race at Cape Cod. I ran the best time ever for me. It was only five weeks later. My wife said why don't you take a break, and go to Italy, visit your teacher I know I'm fit. I just need to put in some results.

Q. So it was at Falmouth that you knew you were going to have a good year this year?
MEB KEFLEZIGHI: Yeah, you could say that. I was optimistic about that. And then I went to Brussels last summer. And, you know, I was hoping I could run sub 7 for the team and faster than the American record. But my muscles started firing back again, and I had a long trip. But I knew the workout was the best I'd ever done.

Q. Now you've had some experience in the Half Marathons, some short distances, then you went out and ran London. How did your race in London affect your decision to run today or this weekend in New York?
MEB KEFLEZIGHI: You know, it's very encouraging to get your UPR after a long 2004 was my best time ever after the Olympics, I ran 9:53 here, and break that record. So it's very encouraging. We were hoping for a big UPR, to be honest. But I was a little banged up beforehand, so I didn't have the great build-up that I did for this race. And I feel like this race should be good, because I had a tune-up race in the Half Marathon. And I ran as far as 27 miles in my long runs, so we'll see what happens.

Q. So you're looking pretty fit.
MEB KEFLEZIGHI: Yeah (laughing). My weight's where I want it to be. And I'm healthy since London, you know. With the two races that I didn't get out of this year were the U.S. Nationals. I was in the top three. In Falmouth, I ran Falmouth before UPR, and I got sick.
On Friday I lost my voice. I couldn't swallow. So I was there. But other than that, every race I've run faster. But the PR is the PR.

Q. When you ran London, it was a PR. The first time you had run a marathon since 2004, is it something you changed in your training that you think you can contribute that to?
MEB KEFLEZIGHI: For London you mean or this race?

Q. Just for this year. Is it something you've changed in your training?
MEB KEFLEZIGHI: Yeah, instead of going 6-minute pace all the time when I was 25 or 26 years old, but now I'm holding a 7-minute pace. Get up 7:30, and work six on an easy day. Just go right away and run at a 6-minute pace.
Obviously I'm do being therapy, and paying more attention to my body, and balancing and things like that. I'm all balanced out. And they've been helping me out with muscle tests and, yeah, I run the race. But there are a lot of people that help me get healthy for the starting line.

Q. Ryan said that you have been over there the past year training out in Mammoth. You've given him advice on the course. What is what have you told him about running the New York Marathon?
MEB KEFLEZIGHI: I said First Avenue, don't make mistakes there. And Ryan's a great guy. He's a good listener. I gave him some tips before London. And he made a fast time. But, you know, he just we talk a lot about it in our runs, and we've run together. When we can run together.
But he's a good listener, and he's a good listener of the sport. I don't give him a lot of advice. But I ask him the same question somebody else asks him. Which one do you think is tougher the trials or the marathon course? He said I haven't run it yet.
So I remember the first year you ran New York. You said you'd never again run a marathon?
ABDI ABDIRAHMAN: Yes, I did say that.

Q. So of all the marathon courses, what do you think about New York? What is your favorite?
ABDI ABDIRAHMAN: New York is just -- you know, it's just, New York's one of those courses, you know, if you like challenges this is the race for you. New York's not a place that you just enjoy the run. Like Chicago's fast, but New York's just brutal.
What I figured out is just you have to train on a tough course for a tough course, so that's what I did. I trained a lot of roads, hills, downhills.

Q. What do you think Jorge will say after the race?
ABDI ABDIRAHMAN: He'll say the same thing. You just don't know what to expect for a marathon. You can train for the marathon, but there's only a few people that can ride the marathon. Ryan chose to ride in his debut of the New York Marathon.

Q. It's a hard debut. So the 2007 trials, you were the favorite, Meb was the favorite. Not a good day for either one of you. So here it is again, all the Americans all together.
ABDI ABDIRAHMAN: I'm not the favorite.

Q. Well, no, but you're still one of the three. There's only three of you. Is this going to be some sort of redemption as well?
ABDI ABDIRAHMAN: I don't know. I just want to get back to New York, and just run well. I know in 2007 it was a tough year for me, for all the running community. You know, it was a sad day for us. But, you know, I just want to come back this year and just run well. That's my main goal. And I hope all the Americans run well, too.
I want to show the Kenyans that we can run with them. I want to show them that this year.

Q. Did you run the spring marathon?
ABDI ABDIRAHMAN: No. I only run one marathon a year.

Q. Why is that?
ABDI ABDIRAHMAN: I don't know. I just enjoy it.

Q. But you're doing all these hard 23 miles every other weekend.
ABDI ABDIRAHMAN: Yeah. It's just -- I only did that this year to be honest. I never -- like before like last year, my longest time was two hours once.

Q. Really?
ABDI ABDIRAHMAN: Yes, I swear to you.

Q. Really? So when was your last -- what's your table been like?
ABDI ABDIRAHMAN: My table has been great. My table is the best. That's one thing I enjoy. My table I came back I've been running like an hour, an hour. After that I just boost my table. Yesterday, before I left, I did my last run. From my house, I did the seven-mile loop, and I said, oh, this is my last run of the season. When I come back home, I don't have to run on Tuesday morning. I can sleep in.

Q. Do you ever run in the park?
ABDI ABDIRAHMAN: I am going to run. I'll probably jog like 7, 8 miles.

Q. It's kind of wet out there because of the rain. It's been pouring rain.
ABDI ABDIRAHMAN: Is it?

Q. It will be okay. It's not that bad. But it's been raining.
ABDI ABDIRAHMAN: Not that bad around the loop.

Q. Your PR's at 2:06?
ABDI ABDIRAHMAN: No, 2:08. I thought I could run 2:07 easy. What happened is I grabbed my water, and the guys broke away from me at the last water stop.

Q. Did you say New York's going to be my last pressure, and maybe that helped the workouts start coming around and stuff like that and making that decision?
BRIAN SELL: Yeah, maybe a little bit. Sometimes you just go through those funks, you know, and it just takes one workout to get you snapped out of it. I think we did a 4 by 3k workout or a 3 by 4k workout. And I was just going in there, and trying to get one. If I can do that, that would be a good run, because I had dropped out of a couple of workouts. Went through and ran them all. Nothing spectacular. 5:00 minute pace, 5:05. But that was kind of the changing point. So I've been feeling a little bit better and that helped.

Q. So this being your last, what about going out? Going out hard?
BRIAN SELL: Problem is though I already ran the first 20 and last 16, and I know the course.

Q. So you kind of expect to go out conservative?
BRIAN SELL: Yeah, yeah. I mean, 2:14 is top American. I did 2:14 last year, so I'd be happy with something like that.

Q. And then like in Michigan, I know you have a house there. Are you basically moving out after this race?
BRIAN SELL: We tried to sell our house for a little while. It's just not the right time. The market's really down. So I applied to the University of Detroit, the school and applied to a couple of other schools. So if I get in to Detroit, we'll be in Detroit for another four years. If not, we'll have to fire sell or something.

Q. Do you plan on sticking to marathons on the roads for a while?
JORGE TORRES: We'll go to the track in the spring. But my focus from here on out will be the roads. The 26.2 miles.

Q. You still live in Boulder?
JORGE TORRES: I do.

Q. Did you see his 5k?
JORGE TORRES: I did.

Q. Were you watching it online?
JORGE TORRES: I did. I watched it online. We were at my house, and looked at it. And we were sitting there -- actually, he called us up like 15 minutes before he started warming up.

Q. Is that right?
JORGE TORRES: Yeah. He was just like, hey, how's it going over there? It was like, great. I said wait a minute, you're going to race in a come minutes, right. I'm like what are you doing? He said, I'm bored. I said, so how's the field looking? He said, oh, there is a bunch of African runners. I can't see anybody but African runners. Said best of luck, Ed. I hope you run fast. He said, yeah, we'll see how it goes. I said go warm-up. We'll be watching you.
Sure enough the race goes on, and it's a see of Africans and he's in the back by himself.

Q. He was well in the back?
JORGE TORRES: We're like he's paying the price. We looked at his pace. It was pretty fast.

Q. He was running 63's. They were running 61's?
JORGE TORRES: He kept on going 63's through the kilometers. I said all right, you're either going to die hard or click the 63s, and he's going to catch up to the front. But we thought that for sure like 85% chance that he's going to die hard. And sure enough, as the laps got closer and closer, it was just like he might do this, you know.

Q. Was it exciting to watch?
JORGE TORRES: Oh, it was very exciting. And the last lap Jason and I were screaming and yelling at the TV, at the computer screen. When he crossed the line, we were so excited.

Q. Is that, I mean, you've spent a lot of time running with him. Not in the last couple of years, but you spent so much time on American runners. Do you draw on that in your own training in? In your own career?
JORGE TORRES: It definitely makes you believe. You know, that's what it takes. It takes one person to show it. That you can do it. You can compete with the best.
You know, for me, especially that I've been able to train with over the years and really gotten to know as a good training partner and a good runner, and more importantly as a good friend. You know, it gives me good inspiration and good focus. To me, that's all I could ask for from Dayton, is to make me believe in myself. And watching him perform that well, you know, it makes me believe that I can get to that level.

Q. It's not like watching McKinley run, and make you wonder if I can run with that guy?
JORGE TORRES: Exactly. It's somebody home grown, and grew up in the same area as you did. Same cereal box.

End of FastScripts

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ING NEW YORK CITY MARATHON

October 29, 2009

Ryan Hall

Meb Keflezighi

Jason Lehmkuhle

Brian Sell

Jorge Torres