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NYC HALF MARATHONMarch 18, 2012Firehiwot DadoKim SmithNEW YORK CITY, NEW YORK RICHARD FINN: We have our champion and our second place finisher here for the ladies. Our pleasure, again, to welcome back as second time champion New York City Marathon champion last year and now New York City Half Marathon champion Firehiwot Dado, and one of our favorites, Kim Smith, who continues to push the pace and continues to run so hard in all of our races. I'm going to ask Firehiwot to offer a quick comment about the race and then I'll ask Kim to do the same. FIREHIWOT DADO: The half marathon was a very good race. I expected that I would run well. I've won here in New York and I was able to win here again, so I'm very happy. I can say that New York has been a place of success for me. RICHARD FINN: Kim, your thoughts, you took it straight out from the start as you like to do. Your thoughts about today's race? KIM SMITH: Yeah, I was a little bit disappointed in the end result, but just running into the wind the second half was I found a little tough. Yeah, it didn't turn out how I wanted. I tried to get away from her a few times, tried to throw in some surges, but she was very tough, and obviously she's a very good runner, and she ran very well today. Q. Just your thoughts when Firehiwot sort of took the lead. Did you have anything left or did you sort of realize then that the race was getting away from you? KIM SMITH: Yeah, she kind of took it out, took off a little bit up that little rise in the tunnel, after the tunnel, and I just was feeling pretty tired at that point, and she got away. Q. Kim, as you were throwing in some of those surges and Firehiwot was able to cover them, knowing how she sort of stalked Keitany in the full marathon here in the fall, did you have any sneaking suspicion that it wasn't going to end well? KIM SMITH: Yeah, I mean, I just tried to tell myself that she must be hurting as much as me, but obviously she wasn't (laughs). Obviously she won New York, so she is obviously very good. So I knew it was going to be tough to beat her. Q. This is for Firehiwot: Kim just said she suspected you were hurting at some point. Were you hurting during the race, or did you feel‑‑ how did you feel during the race? FIREHIWOT DADO: She's also a very strong runner, and she led almost the whole way. Yes, I was feeling some fatigue, but I was able to keep up with her and bide my time to kick. RICHARD FINN: If I might ask both of the ladies what are your next plans. Is there a marathon? Sort of look ahead to the London Olympics, what you hope to do in the Olympics, if you're qualified yet. FIREHIWOT DADO: After this I'm running the Boston Marathon. If the results are good, and I hope with God's help they will be good, then I hope I'll be able to run at the London Olympics. But there are some very strong runners in our country who are preparing already for the Olympics, but I hope Boston will be decisive, and I expect to be able to run well there. KIM SMITH: I've qualified for the Olympics, I think. They haven't named the first round of selections for New Zealand yet, but as I'm the only woman with a qualifying time, I should get to go. I think the next race I'm going to do is the 5K before the Boston Marathon. I'm probably going to do the series, the new series that they are putting on with the 5K, 10K and half marathon. I probably will be back here in New York hopefully to do the 10K maybe, and I'm not really sure what other races but maybe a few other road races. But I'm not going to do any track races or anything like that this year, just concentrating on the marathon. RICHARD FINN: And no spring marathon or anything before the London marathon? KIM SMITH: No. RICHARD FINN: Just a question to Firehiwot, course record, what do you feel about a course record? You beat Carolyn Rotich's record here. Any thoughts about that performance today? FIREHIWOT DADO: Well, I'm very happy to have broken the course record. It helps me to prepare for my next race. Q.  This is the first race you've run since New York, right? KIM SMITH: Yeah. Q. What does it tell you in terms of where your fitness is at? Obviously London is the main goal, but what does it tell you? Is this about where you thought you'd be, pleasantly surprised with the time? KIM SMITH: I thought I might run a little bit fitter. I'm better at the flatter courses, I think, than hills. I think times‑wise I've run faster when it's flatter. But I'm happy enough with how it went today, yeah. Q. It gives you confidence? KIM SMITH: Yeah, I mean, there's a long way to go the rest of the year. Q. Kim, how taxing is it to try to push the pace like you did today from the front? KIM SMITH: It was a little harder today because you turned and it was kind of into the wind a bit. I usually don't mind as much, but when it's windy, it's a little bit tougher. RICHARD FINN: Thank you. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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