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NYC HALF MARATHONMarch 16, 2012Wesley KorirNEW YORK CITY, NEW YORK Q.  Does faith play a big role in your running? WESLEY KORIR: It does, it does. It plays a mega role in my running because it gives me a purpose for running. I feel like if you just run without any reason, you're just like chasing after the wind. It's like there's no purpose of it. But every time I get out there and I run, I know I'm running for a reason and for a purpose, because of my faith, because I know it is what God wants me to do. It is a calling from God that he's given me to do this. So it gives me that motivation to be able to do what I do. Q. Someone told me that if you're a marathon runner, because it's such an impossible race, especially an elite runner, that you have to believe in something more than your training, that you have to believe in something beyond yourself. Is that true do you think? WESLEY KORIR: That is true. I think as a marathoner you're crazy. When my coach first of all told me in the beginning that I was going to run the marathon, I thought he was crazy. But after getting into it and just knowing that this is what God wants me to do, I think it makes you feel like you're doing something not crazy. It changes from crazy to not crazy when you believe in something. I think if someone is not a Christian and is a marathon runner, he definitely has something that he knows that he's believing in. Because running a marathon, you go to a point of no return. The body gives up and you just don't have anything to do with yourself. That's why now I think that we believe that God gives you the power to finish the race. Q. You're running Boston this year? WESLEY KORIR: Yeah, I'm running Boston. I'm excited. Q. You have not run it before? WESLEY KORIR: No, it's my first time. I've never ran it before. It's my first time, so I'm excited about it. I've been talking to Ryan about it and he's been giving me a lot of advice, how the course is, and he's been helping me a lot. In Chicago he was telling me about how Boston is, and he loves that race. He has a passion for Boston. I'm happy to be going there. Q. What sort of advice has he given you? WESLEY KORIR: He has been giving me the fun part of it, what to expect, where the hills are, and I've never been there before, so he's really been helping me. He's a veteran there. He knows where the hard part is and where to start running fast and where to hold back. So he's been really helping me with it. Q. What will you be trying to do here this weekend as you prepare? WESLEY KORIR: I think mostly gauging myself to see where I am and see what I need to work on. I just got back from Kenya, like yesterday, and I think this is the longest I've ever been in altitude since when I started running. I've been there for three months. So I just want to see where I am before I start now the sea level training and just getting to speed work and stuff. It will definitely help me just gauge where I am and see what I need to do better. Q. How did your great performance in Chicago last year change you at all? Has it changed your way of thinking about the marathon at all? WESLEY KORIR: I think it doesn't really change me personally, but I think it changes‑‑ it gives me the motivation to know that I can do better. I think I'm now not scared of running fast in the marathon. I feel like it gave me the motivation that I can do it. I used to think that somebody who runs 2:06, 2:03, 2:04 is crazy, but now I feel like I'm part of that and I feel like I can do better, and it makes me hungry for doing more. Q. Have you been named to the Olympic team? WESLEY KORIR: No, I haven't. Kenya didn't name me to the Olympics. It's crazy bad, but I'm excited about where I am, thinking about what God has put in me to do, and just content with what I get. That's the biggest part, just getting content with what comes my way. Q. You always thought about the guys who could run that fast were crazy and now you're there. Are you a little crazy? WESLEY KORIR: I think I'm crazy. But I remember coach telling me, this is the goal, 2:06:24. That was the goal, and I looked at him, and I thought, you're crazy. He gave me the mile pace, and I was like, Coach, this is crazy. I can't do this. So that, knowing that‑‑ and coach laughed at me. He's like, no, it's not crazy, you can do this. After that he was like, do you think it's crazy? I'm like, no, I don't think it's crazy, I think it's fun. It's painful, but it's short pain. Coach always tells me you run 2:10, 2:15, you're hurting about it longer, nine more minutes of pain. You run faster, it's pain but shorter. So it's true, the pain definitely ends quick. Q. I read somewhere recently that Patrick Makau was coaching himself. Do you know if that's true? WESLEY KORIR: I don't know much about it, but I know there's a group of guys that he runs with. I'm not sure if he coaches himself. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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