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ING NEW YORK CITY MARATHON

November 6, 2011

NEW YORK CITY, NEW YORK

RICHARD FINN: We welcome several of our leading Americans today. Closest to me, one of our freshmen class of 2011, Molly Pritz. 12th place. 2:31:52. Next to Molly, another member of our freshman class of 2011, Lauren Fleshman, 16th place. 2:37:23. I think we are all interested, Lauren, in whether you really did hit the wall or not.
LAUREN FLESHMAN: I was faking it.
RICHARD FINN: And our Dean of New York, running his seventh New York, and, again, putting in a fabulous and, as always, workmanlike, and professional performance here, sixth-place finisher, Meb Keflezighi, our 2009 champion in 2:09:13.
As we like to do here in New York, we'll start with the women. We'll ask each of our ladies to have a couple of comments about what it was like out there and hopefully you're going to come back to the marathon distance. Molly?
MOLLY PRITZ: I think it's the most fun you can have on a Sunday. It was a lot of fun running with Lauren. I've only met her once before, so it was great to run with her for the first 13 miles or so, and just experiencing New York, seeing all five boroughs. I hit the wall as hard as possible around mile 23, and now I know what it feels like to have wobbly legs and being dizzy. But I was excited to have my first marathon under my belt.
RICHARD FINN: Lauren?
LAUREN FLESHMAN: Wow, that was really hard. It was definitely the hardest thing I've ever done. Huge leap up from the 5K for me, but I was excited for the task, and I promised myself I would smile no matter what. I even managed, I think, to squeeze one out somewhere in Central Park, and my legs completely stopped working.
But I am really happy. I'm filled with a big sense of pride in finishing that and being able to call myself a marathoner, and I'll definitely be geeking out with this thing on all day.
RICHARD FINN: Meb? Your comments?
MEB KEFLEZIGHI: Well, it's always great to be in New York, and congratulations to the New York Road Runners on a wonderful event. It was a perfect day, and the results speak. The results were phenomenal. You have the best runners in the world here, and I went for it. I always run to win and to get the best out of myself. So to run a PR at 36 with new shoes, Skechers GOrun, I couldn't be happier.
Congratulations to those who finished on the podium, congratulations to the people who did their debut. It's just a fabulous day in New York. My second home, basically. I love it, I love being here, and look forward to 68 days and a half.
I'm very excited. It's going to be fun. Once the pack got broken up, I kind of conserved myself. I had to stop, unfortunately, and took up puking and moved on and finished. To be able to do that and a PR, I'm delighted to be here.
RICHARD FINN: We're joined by Bobby Curtis, another member of our freshman class of 2011. 15th place, 2:16:46. Ladies had some interesting thoughts about running their first marathon. How about yourself?
BOBBY CURTIS: It was a good marathon until about 21 miles for me. I was running about a five-minute mile pace until then. Then I got a little tired and thought, all right, I'll slow it down to 5:15 pace. But in actuality I was slowing down to a 5:30 pace, then when I realized I was running a 5:30 pace, I realized okay, let's slow down to a 6-minute pace, then it was a 7-minute pace. Each mile split I ran by, the news was worse and worse. It was a rough last four miles for me.

Q. Meb, you described it as a perfect day, and certainly the performances were quite astonishing. But it's not a perfect day when you have to stop and puke or whatever. What happened? Tell us a little bit more as graphically as you'd like.
MEB KEFLEZIGHI: Basically, putting myself with those guys that have run 2:05s, and 2:03, and 2:04, I was one of the slowest guys, but I was having a great time. Just to be able to wear that New York uniform, and New York Athletic Club, and people were cheering me, "Go USA! Go Meb!" We're not going to win every time we get there unless you're Geoffrey and passed everyone here.
But it's just I was going through good patches and bad patches. When that happened with the bad patches, I had to stop, and Gharib, and the other guy that was ahead of him just got away from me, and I ran by myself most of the way. Still digging deep. I said, "even if I have to walk, I'll get there because a lot of people have invested in me to be involved, to have a good day and be able to perform," and I did that:
RICHARD FINN: Where was the bad patch?
MEB KEFLEZIGHI: The bad patch was about 22 when I stopped going into Central Park. And not a pretty site because you have people on the left, people on the right screaming. You kind of like pause. Then all of a sudden when I started running again, they started cheering, so I just kind of dug deep, and that's what New York is all about.
It's not always about winning. It's getting the best out of yourself, and they were very happy for me as I am.

Q. Could you tell us about the point in the race before then when things really split up? Maybe it was 30K?
MEB KEFLEZIGHI: Yeah, it was just about 30K or so, they made a move. Like I said, it was a 30K drink that I had, and it didn't settle down as it should, and the others were fine. Maybe because we picked up the pace, and it forced me to stop. You know, you've just got to stop, take care of business. But I'm always determined to do the best that I can. Even if I have to walk, I don't care, I'll do it. People were asking me before press conferences do you ever think about the 69 days before the trials? I'm thinking about today. The rest will take care of itself.

Q. Meb, after Geoffrey won in Boston, there was a lot of talk about the 2:03:02 wasn't a legitimate time, there was the wind, it's a different course. You've run Boston, you've won here. How do you put his performance today up with whether that might make him a world record-holder-type person given how well he performed with this field?
MEB KEFLEZIGHI: Both New York and Boston are tough courses. New York is the beginning of the bridges, but when you go through Heartbreak Hill and see those hills in front of you, you're like, wow, you're going to have to climb. You've got back-to-back three hills.
To run that fast is pretty incredible. People ask is two hours possible? Of course it is. I mean, it's going to be getting closer and closer and hopefully we can see it soon. You want to see people develop and do it well.
It's not often a guy that runs Boston and New York says you're a role model. He just said that to me. Show and lead by example and work together and things like that. So it's a team effort. We help each other whoever has a better day will succeed.

Q. For those of us who have known you for years, you look fitter, leaner more cut than you've ever looked and you got a PR out of yourself at 36th, and you're 7th in New York. So what kind of training have you been doing really that's different that really got this out of you?
MEB KEFLEZIGHI: We've been doing very similar training with Coach Larsen. We have the Mammoth Track Club that Terrence did a little bit of talking about nutrition. But it's just staying healthy. If I can stay healthy, I can train. If I can train, I can perform. That's the secret.
It's one foot after another. It's that simple. But we changed a little bit of my nutrition. I take more protein instead of just carbohydrates. But my wife says, "I can't see you anymore," because I'm so thin. But those guys, everybody else is thinner. I'm the lightest I've been. I'm 122 or a little under, and I'm a little over 5'5", so just the key is to stay healthy. I've been training 126, 125 miles. I run 26 and a half miles twice on my Skechers ProSpeed. It's just for the first time in 14 years I'm not even wearing orthotics. That's different because of the stride it allows me to propel forward. Instead of the heel stride, I go to the left or to the right. And Coach Larsen and I have been looking at my mechanics.
Just nutrition is important. I've been the last three months I've been sleeping, eating, and breathing running because of my wife's sacrifice, and my coaches, and my brother Hawi, it was a tough year for me to start with, without a shoe contract for eight months. I was a New York champion and Silver medalist, that shouldn't happen, but I'm so happy to be with Skechers. They invested in me, and others, PowerBar, Sony, and the list goes on. But I hope to perform the best I can. That's what I've been doing since high school: The best runner I could be in high school, the best runner I could be in college, the best runner I can be as a professional, and the results have been great. I'm so satisfied with my career. If I can make it to the Olympic team, I'll be thrilled so my wife and daughters and family can go. But if not, I got a Silver medal.

Q. Bobby, what did you learn about yourself in your first marathon, and what will you do differently next time?
BOBBY CURTIS: I knew that it was possible going in that people have a crisis moment toward the later stages of the race. Being it was my first one, I knew that was possible. So I just learned something that I already knew that not everyone who runs well on the track or over a half marathon, that doesn't necessarily mean you're going to run well in a marathon.
I'm not discouraged in any way. I didn't run great, but I finished. I was out there running five-minute miles for a while. So I'll definitely give it another try. I have a little bit of a new found respect for this course. There are a lot of hills and bridges. But overall, it was a good experience.

Q. Ladies, will you come back to it or one-and-done?
MOLLY PRITZ: The reason I'm here is because ever since I started running I wanted to be a marathoner. I didn't know if I was going to be good at it or I didn't know anything about marathon running. I've just been chipping away at the block for as long as I've been running, and this has been the goal. This has been the dream. I definitely want to run another marathon. I learned that no matter how hard it gets, no matter how hard life gets, you have to keep moving. You might not want to be going at the pace you want to or you might be feeling horrible, but you keep making progress. That's all you have to do to finish the race.
LAUREN FLESHMAN: I think one thing I learned about myself, which was part of the reason I did it, I wanted to test my will and my toughness. I figured there would be a good chance that things would get rough for me at the end of this race coming from the 5K, but I tried to just stay positive. There was a moment where I thought, hey, maybe I'm going to get away with this. I still felt pretty good, but then, yeah, not so much.
I think that you can dig into surprisingly deep places for fuel. That's one thing I learned. Like maybe six days ago's dinner, for example, around mile 25. I do like it though. I like the challenge. Even the parts that were terrible were just such a test. They bring you to a place that I don't know what else can match that, and it just breaks you down. It's almost like you get a little sneak peek of hell or something, but you know you're going to be okay.
So, yeah, I liked that about it. I like challenges.
RICHARD FINN: I'm not sure anybody's ever called the New York race course hell.
LAUREN FLESHMAN: It was my own personal hell. It wasn't New York's fault.

Q. Meb and Molly, now that you've gotten through this race, how do you plan to approach the next 68 days until the trials?
MOLLY PRITZ: I think recovery is key. The first thing I did when I crossed the finish line was trying to get recovery fuel in me and rehydrate and replenish. I think the last thing I want to do is jump into training too quickly, but at the same time make sure I'm a hundred percent ready for the trials. So take it one day at a time, listen to my body, and do whatever I can to get to the starting line as fit as possible.
RICHARD FINN: So you are committed to running?
MOLLY PRITZ: I didn't want to think about it until after today because New York took everything I have. But now that I'm done, yeah, on to the next marathon.
MEB KEFLEZIGHI: Just like Molly said, you've got to recover. You've got to listen to the body. Coach Larsen and I have talked about maybe jogging three days or four days, 15 minutes, 20 minutes, just to see if there are any injuries that we need to pay attention to. But it's the same position I was in 2004. I just ran my best time even though it's six years or seven years later.
I'm very excited. We've been doing the same training. I'm not getting my -- I didn't change a lot about my training just because I don't want to give others a clue. But it's just going to go back to the training log. Coach Larsen is very detailed on what he writes what I've done. I have a training log that goes back to 1993. We'll look at those. I've been running for 21 years, so all I've got to be is healthy, and that day will hopefully be another good day like this, and I'll make the team, and a first or third is as good on that day. I hope to represent my country if I make the team.
RICHARD FINN: Just an historical note. It was 70 days from Athens to New York. And it is 70 days from today to Houston.

Q. Molly, who is coaching you now? Are you no longer in the Hansons program, so I'm curious to who is coaching you? And for Bobby, is there any chance that you'll be at the Olympic marathon trials?
MOLLY PRITZ: My coach right now is Mark Hadley, he's based out of Charlotte, North Carolina, and I've been working with him since about mid-August. It's been a great partnership. He's very easy to communicate with, and his training seems to fit the type of training I need perfectly. It's been a great match. I'm still in Michigan training until further notice.
BOBBY CURTIS: I won't be doing the marathon trials. I think I thought there was maybe like 1% chance I would if I came out and really excelled at the marathon and had the confidence to give it a go. It would have been foolish if I had run so well that I didn't even try. But given how things went today, I think the 10K is my best chance, so I have to focus exclusively on that.

Q. Meb, 21 years of running. What's kind of amazing is almost half of that is now as a marathoner. One of the things you have to deal with as a veteran runner is while the skillset of your speed gears are fading, you have great experience. One of the things as a veteran marathoner, you can tap the experience not only for training, but in racing. Could you tell us how that helped you and did it help you cope at all with the splits like you've never seen before in a race?
MEB KEFLEZIGHI: Yeah, today very indicative of what splits I hit. I have my splits on my watch. A lot of 4:43s, quite a bit of 4:39s, 4:41s until I had the incident, that was my slowest mile, 5:30, and the rest the end was a strong finish. Once I realize I'm not going to win, you know what, I'm going to keep going, but protect my place and finish strong. When you finish strong in a marathon, you can recover faster.
Before that the key to success was preparation. We've done very well to prepare for this. We went over 25-plus miles a few times, three or four times. I've recovered very well from Athens. I can walk well, I just got maybe a few blisters, but that's normal for a marathon.
Other than that, Coach Larsen and I do 400-meter repeats, 800-meter repeats. I still do the 10K. It just makes a lot of things easier and not try to avoid those. The key is to recover, stay healthy, and maintain fitness. Nothing new.
RICHARD FINN: I was remiss to say we also had Ed Moran who finished 10th this year. And Ed finished in 2:11:46, so that's two men, two U.S. men in the Top 10, three U.S. men in the top 15. Thank you.

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