|
|||
|
|||
|
 |
|
|
ING NEW YORK CITY MARATHONNovember 5, 2011Julie CulleySara HallNEW YORK CITY, NEW YORK MARY WITTENBERG: Just want to introduce our fabulous podium and of course American record holder in the marathon start, Deena Kastor, but these ladies graced us with their presence in this race today, and did a phenomenal job. I just want to highlight, Sara has another athlete with a real special connection to New York. So it's great to see you win today. Julie is training here. She's part of Gagliano's group of New York/New Jersey Track Club, and we're so excited about what's happening here locally. We've always been about American distance running, and now we've got a really great thing going here right in New York City and in this area. So it's a thrill to see you run so well. Big effort here. This young woman we're going to see over this marathon finish line and other New York Road Runner finish lines hopefully often, and I think way far up front, so it's a pleasure to have Sally. And Sally and Julie will be joining our lead vehicle program tomorrow in the marathon as well. As always, thanks to Deena coming off a half marathon to be here and carry the flag. So we appreciate it all. Great job, ladies. RICHARD FINN: Sarah is coming off quite a glittering couple of weeks. A win down in the Pan-Am Games I believe in the Steeplechase and now another win here. SARA HALL: So in the beginning of the race Julie and Deena got us off to a big start, and Julie kept it going. She ran really strong up front in the U.S. 5K Championship, so I knew I have to stay close to her to be in contention. I think there is about -- I don't know how big of a pack there was. But Lisa Uhl was up there, Amy Hastings and so just -- I don't know exactly what was going on behind. DEENA KASTOR: I had a clear view of what was going on. It was probably a pack of 10 girls, 10 or 12 girls up there. So it was a good sized pack leading the way. I feel like the pace, and I don't know if I'm speaking on behalf of everyone, but maybe it was just the half marathon's behind me that made me feel this way, but it seemed a lot faster than the clocks were telling us. When we hit the first mile, I think it read 5:15 or something, and I thought, I hope that that is in the wrong spot. That marker's in the wrong spot. But it was definitely -- I don't know if it was the cold weather out there. I definitely felt the cold air in my lungs, so I don't know if it was the cold weather or the hills that slowed things down. But I think with the talented group that was built on the men's and women's sides, the paces would have been a little bit quicker if the conditions were a little warmer. SARA HALL: Yeah, there is definitely quite a bit of uphill. In the first mile I felt it the most. Then right after mile two it climbed quite a bit, and then it went down when we were in the park. So I think point to point they said we gained 10 meters all in all. DEENA KASTOR: When did you start your kick? SARA HALL: I started my kick around 15 meters, and at that point it was just -- RICHARD FINN: Julie, what was it like running at home for and you what was it like out there? JULIE CULLEY: It was awesome. It was a lot of fun. I think for me growing up in New Jersey, being part of the New York City Marathon is a pretty cool thing. It's even cooler that it wasn't the marathon, that it was the 5K. Yeah, the race was really set up nicely. There was such a solid pack of talent. I think from the git-go Deena kind of took it out, and I just kind of went right by her side. I don't even remember seeing the first mile mark. I was just feeling really good, so I started pushing the pace and trying to break it up a little bit. I'm not usually a front runner, but I found myself being a front runner recently, so it's been good. I just kind of went out, and I don't know. It's just such a good feeling for me running down the streets of New York, growing up less than an hour from here. It was just such an awesome energy. I can't imagine what it's like when you're actually running the marathon. There were so many people out there cheering, but it's not like the walls of people that will be out there tomorrow. But it was just really exciting. It was a really good feeling coming into the park. I don't know. I've never felt that good coming into the park before. Even on the hills and everything, it was a lot of fun. RICHARD FINN: Where was home in Jersey? JULIE CULLEY: I grew up in Lebanon, New Jersey, right next to Clinton. So it's about 50 minutes from here. It's a short bus ride. So our group is based out of New York and New Jersey, and there are some kids from the Philadelphia area. But we meet in New Jersey and workout in New Jersey. Our logo and everything is the New York City sky line, because you can only see the New York City skyline from New Jersey, so it has kind of a dual meaning for us. RICHARD FINN: Sally, well done. Your thoughts about today's race what it was like out there on the city streets? SALLY KIPYEGO: It was definitely fun. This is my second New York road race, basically. I ran the Fifth Avenue, and coming back and just being part of the New York Marathon experience for me was just absolutely amazing. I know tomorrow will be exciting. For me, today, basically in the race, I'm just back to training after a few weeks of taking off, so I knew it was going to be tough a little bit. I was excited to be part of the group and to run with such an amazing group was great. RICHARD FINN: Deena, always great to see you back and you seem to be racing fairly regularly now. Just a couple of thoughts about today's atmosphere out there and also where you stand in your racing? DEENA KASTOR: It was great. I was actually I didn't expect to see so many spectators along the course considering it was pretty cold out this morning and early and dark. So it was impressive to me that only in New York City can you draw crowds like this for an inaugural event. In New York Road Runners fashion, this seemed to be a recruiting trip for their marathon. They're bringing in all the hot-shots from the shorter distances to show their thing in New York City and really feel the hype of marathon week here. So just awesome to be able to introduce our rising stars to the marathon distance and they're in for quite a treat tomorrow to be able to watch the race up close and personal. RICHARD FINN: Don't give away all of our recruiting secrets. Q. Sarah, you're coming off a big win at Pan-Am. What does that feel like to go out and win that way? SARA HALL: It feels great. I started my year with New York City, so it feels like a good completion, a good finish to finish with a win here. I love racing here. I've had a lot of good experiences. I've been here in the marathon the last six -- this is my sixth year here, and I've seen the finish every year and how exciting it is. So I couldn't wait to come to this finish line. I knew it probably wouldn't be quite as packed and loud as marathon day, so I'll save that full experience for one day in the future. But I got a little taste of it this morning which was really fun. Q. Sarah, I don't know if you realize this, but you're now the official New York City 5K record holder. SARA HALL: Actually, Sam or David did tell me that. Q. All right. Congratulations. SARA HALL: Thank you. It was also awesome because this is a big weekend for Asics our sponsor, and to have such good representation here means a lot to us. It's fun to be a part of the whole enthusiasm around, seeing Ryan's billboards all over town in Columbus Circle. So getting to be part of the promotional efforts was meaningful. Q. Julie, you're working with Gags, and maybe talk about the group dynamic that's going on right now with Gags and all the people that are coming to the group? JULIE CULLEY: Well, our group has become enormous. Gags has a tough time saying no, so I think we have about 23 athletes in our group now. I'm probably on the upper end of the distance. Most of the group is probably 800, 1500 meters. But there is a group of us on the women's side from the 3K Steeplechase, up to me in the 5K, and probably eventually moving up into stents. The group has really been wonderful. Gags is a fantastic coach, and he's such a wonderful supporter. It is definitely a different dynamic because we have people living in all different areas literally within 90 miles of each other. We travel together like two days a week, and meet at Rutgers University and work out together there. But we also have a group that's forming in my hometown in New Jersey. We have seven athletes there now. We're bringing another five in there just because it's a rural area. There are beautiful trails. It's kind of out of the mix and all the buzz that goes on in New York. So it's a quiet area, which I think is really nice. It's starting to become more of like a training environment which is fun. I just feel really lucky because my parents live five minutes away. It's my hometown track that we do our short stuff on, and the trails that I grew up on. So it's a pretty cool thing. It's been exciting. RICHARD FINN: We thank all the ladies. Today's event was the continuation of our build out of the ING New York City Marathon. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
|
||||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
About ASAP Sports •
FastScripts Archive •
Recent Interviews •
Captioning •
Upcoming Events •
Contact Us
FastScripts | Events Covered | Our Clients | Other Services | ASAP in the News | Site Map | Job Opportunities | Links |
|
ASAP Sports, Inc. | T: 1.212 385 0297
|