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ING NEW YORK CITY MARATHONNovember 4, 2011Viktor RothlinNEW YORK CITY, NEW YORK VIKTOR ROTHLIN: It's amazing. It will be a big challenge for me to run uphill like this. Q. Have you done New York before? VIKTOR ROTHLIN: Yes, it's my third time in New York. In '05, and in '07. Last year I dropped out at the 25K Mark. Q. Why is that? VIKTOR ROTHLIN: I won the Europeans in August, and we all knew that it is a race to go directly to New York, but I had to try. I have been such in a happy condition, so I talked to David, and he told me try. And if it's not, you don't feel good, you drop out. We want to have a European champion in New York, so. Of course, it was not my idea to drop out, but I felt no good after half, so I decided not to kill myself to the finish line and to destroy my body. Q. How long do you typically need after a marathon to be ready for the next one? VIKTOR ROTHLIN: I would say four or five months. Four months. Q. So two and a half is pushing it a little bit? VIKTOR ROTHLIN: Yeah. Q. How do you strategize with a race with such a deep elite field? VIKTOR ROTHLIN: Yes, a non-African born, I really have to focus not to kill myself in the first part of the race. I expect a very fast race because everybody was watching Haile. This year they don't care, especially the two Mutais. My job is to stay on good pace and maybe to close run on the last part of the race if they overload themselves in the beginning. Q. Is that typically the way you go for it is to pick people off towards the end? VIKTOR ROTHLIN: Yeah. I'm not able to run on this top speed like the Africans do, but maybe I have a lot of experience. I'm almost the oldest in that race in the elite field, so, yeah. That is my chance to go in Top 10, but I don't think to win the race. Q. Will you be guided by your watch so you can check the pace you're running in the race? VIKTOR ROTHLIN: Yeah, the feeling most of all. It's a feeling. Because I'm not that used to miles, I have to achieve to see the distance. Because you're always thinking in kilometers. When you have mile marks, you get confused. So that's why I chose to pace. But I check the pace every 5K, so it's not like it's a feeling. It's like a life insurance. If you don't feel the pace, you will never be successful in the race like this. Q. How does the strategy change when there is no pace makers in a race? VIKTOR ROTHLIN: It's more open. From my opinion, as a spectator, to watch a race and world record, it's not interesting. It's only the 5 seconds on the finish line you feel like, wow, I have seen a world record. But the other 42 kilometers is just boring. Six pace makers, one athlete like in Berlin or two athletes. But if you break the world record, it's still an argument to a race like this. But as a fan, I like to see races. With stories, with drama. You will see on Sunday somebody goes crazy on First Avenue and dies away in the Bronx, that's what I like. For me as a runner, yeah, I don't have this psychology to have a top speed to run world records. So to me it's more interesting to be in the races. It's hard to say. Maybe you need more brain than legs to do the right decisions. Q. So it's like you're a spectator, but you have the best view in the house watching these guys? VIKTOR ROTHLIN: Yeah. Q. Who do you think the guy to beat is? Is he in here right now? VIKTOR ROTHLIN: The guy? Q. The favorite? VIKTOR ROTHLIN: For me there is no big name. For me there are five to eight people or names that can win this race. That makes the race so special, because that is to focus only on one person. Q. Yeah, it's not as fun. VIKTOR ROTHLIN: Yeah. Q. Is the atmosphere in New York one of the best you've known? VIKTOR ROTHLIN: It's unbelievable. The feeling on the starting line, and the bridge starts to shake, the noise on First Avenue. You can run everywhere in the world marathons, but it's never that much noise like in New York. The music in the Bronx is better than everywhere, and Central Park is tougher than everywhere else. So it's really the top of the life of a marathoner, like me and everybody who runs. If you have been once in New York, you have to come back again and again and again. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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