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ING NEW YORK CITY MARATHONOctober 31, 2012Amy HastingsNEW YORK CITY, NEW YORK Q. Do you live in Providence? AMY HASTINGS: Yeah, I've been in Providence for a couple months now. It was a recent move. I'm not sure yet if it's going to be a permanent one. I'm going to try‑‑ kind of in transition now, trying to find a coach. Trying to figure it out. Q. You were at the Olympic Trials, too? AMY HASTINGS: Yeah, I was in Houston as well as the track trials. Q. So is this your second marathon this year? AMY HASTINGS: Second marathon this year, yeah. Q. How has your preparation been? AMY HASTINGS: It's been good. It was definitely a shorter buildup than I'm used to, but it's been going really well. I'm very confident. It's kind of one of those things where it's a little nerve wracking because you don't want to say, but it's really good just because it was different from the other two. But I feel like I'm right where I need to be in order to have a good race. Q. The other two being‑‑ AMY HASTINGS: I had a longer buildup, a lot more time to prepare for the other two. Q. (Inaudible). AMY HASTINGS: She's been in Los Angeles. Q. When you say a longer buildup, how much time are we talking about? AMY HASTINGS: My other two marathons it was like three, three‑and‑a‑half months, and this was closer to two months. Q. Why, because the Olympics were in the way? AMY HASTINGS: Yeah, I had the 10K for the Olympics, so it was just coming back from that and taking a break and then getting started again. Q. How much time did you take off? AMY HASTINGS: I took two weeks completely off and then another couple weeks of kind of just like running on and off and then got into it 100 percent as soon as I decided I was going to do New York. Q. So that's the shorter buildup, I guess. In September you really started running? AMY HASTINGS: Yeah. Q. Do you think training with Kim has really helped you? AMY HASTINGS: Oh, yeah, definitely. I wouldn't be here if I didn't have her to train with. It's been really great. She knows what she's doing for sure. Q. A veteran? AMY HASTINGS: Yeah. Q. Do you kind of feel like come Sunday you'll have a teammate to go with? AMY HASTINGS: It's going to be really nice warming up with her and everything. However, we are very different racers. She has the ability to go out really fast and recover during the race and finish strong. I am someone where I can really ruin my race within the first few miles if I'm not smart. It kind of will depend on how the race plays out, but it very well‑‑ she might go early and I might wait a little bit longer. But hopefully we'll be seeing each other at the very end. Q. This is your second time running in New York. AMY HASTINGS: I did the 5K and then I actually did the mini‑‑ I guess it's been four or five years now. Q. How is it coming back to the city? AMY HASTINGS: I love the city. I feel so energized every time I come in. There's just something about it. It's wonderful. I've always talked about moving here for a year at some point, but it hasn't happened yet. These little visits are going to have to be good enough for a while. Q. They're special? AMY HASTINGS: Yeah, very special. Q. Where are you from originally? AMY HASTINGS: I grew up in Leavenworth, Kansas, went to Arizona State and I've lived in California the past five years. Q. The 5K from last year, you watched the marathon the next day? AMY HASTINGS: I did, yeah. I was at Tavern on the Green, so that was really fun. It's just cool to be a part of. Q. Just seeing it and being a part of it was special? AMY HASTINGS: Yes, absolutely. I mean, there's just‑‑ the city has an energy all of its own, but the marathon especially, it's just a feeling that I can't really describe. Q. (Inaudible). AMY HASTINGS: Yeah, I think so. It's that same excitement you get. It's kind of funny actually because for the track it really is every four years is when it's important, and for the marathon it's like, yeah, you have the Olympics every four years, but you also have these majors that are huge every year. So it's really cool to be a marathoner because of that, because you get that excitement with every race. Q. And this is your first major? AMY HASTINGS: Uh‑huh, my first major, yeah. Q. Any thoughts going in about that? AMY HASTINGS: I'm nervous, but mostly just excited. I'm ready to go out there and learn from it and race smart and be tough. Q. How much have you seen the coverage of the hurricane? Obviously you came in yesterday. AMY HASTINGS: Yeah, I've seen the hurricane coverage. It's absolutely devastating to some of the people in New York and New Jersey. However, it's New York City, like if any city is going to pull it off, it would be New York. It's going to be incredible when they do, and it's‑‑ Q. Did you see anything on the drive down? AMY HASTINGS: No, the drive down, there was definitely a lot of power outages, but it was the easiest trip probably to any race actually for us, because the highways were so clear that it made it really an easy drive. Q. Do you have any friends or family here? AMY HASTINGS: I have. My family lives in New Jersey. They are out of power right now and a bunch of trees are down by their house, but their house‑‑ and I think on their garage, but the house is okay, and they're staying with friends who have a generator right now. Q. Are they able to get into the city? AMY HASTINGS: I'm not sure. That's not‑‑ definitely not their main concern at this point. Q. They can watch on TV. AMY HASTINGS: Yeah, and then my little brother is going to come up from Providence. I think he'll do everything he possibly can to make it, but I don't think he'll have a problem. Q. Where in New Jersey? AMY HASTINGS:  It's right outside of Llewellen Park, so I'm not sure exactly. Q. You said you're from Kansas? AMY HASTINGS: I'm from Kansas. Q. Leavenworth? AMY HASTINGS: Leavenworth, yep. Q. Is that still a very important prison? AMY HASTINGS: Yeah, it's the federal penitentiary, and then we have quite a few other ones, too. I don't know, it becomes a part of everyday life. Q. (Inaudible). AMY HASTINGS: Yeah, we've had a lot of famous prisoners. Q. Maybe you answered this already, but when we spoke you were hoping to get a train this morning, but I guess you must have heard that they weren't going to run? AMY HASTINGS: We just got a car last night. It seemed‑‑ we talked it over, and it seemed like a pretty easy option. We were like, well, just in case something doesn't work out, we'll just rent a car one way, and it worked out perfectly. It was not only just like easy, all things considered with the weather and stuff, but it ended up being one of the easiest travel days ever. Q. Were the roads pretty deserted? AMY HASTINGS: Yeah, it was really quiet. Even when we got into the city it was really quiet. Yeah, just came straight to the hotel. Q. No troubles with any bridges or anything like that? AMY HASTINGS: No. Q. Did you come down 95 and then go across? I was wondering what bridges are still closed? AMY HASTINGS: You'd have to ask Pat. I was in the backseat hanging out. Q. Were you able to run today? AMY HASTINGS: Yeah, Kim and I ran on the perimeter of Central Park a little bit, but we're going to do a workout tonight, mile repeats over on the bike path. Q. The bike path in‑‑ AMY HASTINGS: I'm not sure. I think she said on the west side. Q. Okay, by the river? AMY HASTINGS: Yeah. Q. This is your first New York. I don't know who's going to show up, but how do you feel about your own positioning, or are you just doing it for the experience? AMY HASTINGS: Oh, I'm definitely doing it‑‑ I would like to be competitive. It's an incredible field. I really don't think that‑‑ a world‑champion gold medalist, yeah. It's a really strong field. I think that‑‑ I really don't think that the weather is going to end up affecting the field at all. I think everyone is going to go out and have a really strong race. I'm pretty sure from the sound of it everyone is going to be able to show up. New York Roadrunners is working really hard to get everyone here, and it's going to be really strong, but my main goal is to run smart and run as tough as I can, and I think if I do those two things, I'll be competitive with the top Americans for sure, and hopefully I'll be able to be competitive toward the end of the race with the top runners. Q. Do you get a bonus if there's a top American? AMY HASTINGS: Well, there's American prize money this year, so that's exciting, too. That's always a nice incentive. Q. As you mentioned it's kind of a shorter buildup than you would have because you're coming off the limbs, but it sounds like you were catching up to Kim in workouts. AMY HASTINGS: I was. My first workout there, actually started‑‑ we do two‑week cycles basically there, and the first two weeks, every workout I was doing about half of what she was doing, and now I do almost everything except like maybe a little less at the end or a little bit slower. It came along fast. The first three weeks of training with her was probably three of the hardest weeks of training I've ever done because I really had to catch up. But I was super careful about getting enough rest at the same time. I honestly thought I was just going to be tired the whole time until the race, and actually once it started coming along, I started getting energy back, which is normal. Q. Have you lived in the back bedroom of another person's house for this long in your life? AMY HASTINGS: Probably not. I was living in my parents' basement for a while before I came here, but yeah, no, it's been really‑‑ they're very laid back. It's been a great situation for me. Q. I know that you have decisions to make after this, but do you this Providence might be the place to stay? AMY HASTINGS: I do. I love the city. The group they have there is just incredible. They're so supportive of one another. Ray is awesome. Like everything about it is just‑‑ I really like it. I'm going to look at all my options because I want my next move to kind of be probably my last move in my learning curve, so I am going to look at every option and kind of go over it and try to figure out the absolute best place for me to be to get my running to the next level and just be happy. Q. Kim has a habit of going out a little hard. Have you talked about running with her? AMY HASTINGS: It's going to definitely depend on how the race plays out. Kim is someone she can go out hard and still finish very strong. I on the other hand can ruin my races in the first few miles. So if it goes out really hard, I'm going to be conservative, and she very well may go at the leaders. If it's a little bit slower, then I think we'll be together for a lot longer, and hopefully either however it plays out, we'll be close to each other at the end. Q. It can be a little seductive because the second mile, which is coming down the bridge, is a huge downhill obviously... AMY HASTINGS: It can. We've talked about that a lot, some of the faster miles where you're feeling incredible can get you in trouble, which is kind of like marathon training, too. You don't always want to push it as hard as you possibly can when you're feeling good. Q. When do you come in, and what's been your experience and ability to train? AMY HASTINGS: We got in last night. We were actually supposed to take a train yesterday, which was canceled, and then we were going‑‑ we changed our tickets to this morning and kind of last‑minute yesterday decided why not just drive there tonight. And so we rented a car and drove last night, and it was completely painless. It was one of the easiest trips to any meet I've ever done. Once we got into the city, it was straight to the hotel, no terrific or anything. It worked out well. I think we definitely lucked out. Out of everyone who has to travel in for the race, I think we had it the easiest. We got lucky. Q. Where did you drive from? AMY HASTINGS: Providence, Rhode Island. Q. How long? AMY HASTINGS: Three, three and a half hours. Q. Did the onset of the storm disrupt your training? AMY HASTINGS: No, it didn't. We switched to one run around. We did our longer run the day before because we knew the bad weather was coming in, and then we did a shorter run the day of the hurricane, or yesterday, I guess. She had a second run yesterday, which I actually didn't have, kind of cool, and she had to run during the pouring rain. That was it. It really wasn't that bad. Q. What are you doing to try to keep ready for the race? AMY HASTINGS: We did a short shake out this morning around the perimeter of Central Park, which was pretty crazy, but the good thing is looking in on the park they're clearing it out really fast. It looks like it's in good condition, so I don't think it'll affect the race at all. I can't wait to get in there. Hopefully they'll open it soon. But we're going to go, Leslie Higgins is taking us to the bike path later today to do mile repeats. We have a little workout tonight. And then after tonight, this is our last workout. After tonight it's just going to be short, easy runs, just keeping the legs moving, and then strides the night before the race. Q. (Inaudible). AMY HASTINGS: We kind of went back and forth, it was just a real short, easy one, and it was a lot of stop and go. But it was‑‑ for a shake‑out it was fine. Q. Are you going to go to the west side bike path? AMY HASTINGS: I think so. Again, Leslie said the bike path, that she was going to take us there. Q. It's pretty close to the water, so you might want to bring your rain gear? AMY HASTINGS: Well, if that's the case‑‑ she's a local New Yorker, so I think she's pretty in touch with all the runners around here and everything, so if anyone knows, it'll be her. She'll figure it out. Q. A lot of people were wondering how the hurricane is going to affect the emotional aspect of the race. AMY HASTINGS: Yeah, to some extent, for sure. Any time there's something like this, especially in New York, I feel like the city comes together and makes it even more of like a special occasion. It's New York City; if it can happen, if there's a possibility of it happening, it's going to happen. People will make it happen here. Yeah, that makes it really special because it brings people together in a way. Yeah, it's just the city no matter what, I guess. It is special. Q. Do you have any friends who are going to be in the race that have to make it across the country, and have you talked to them? AMY HASTINGS: Yeah, I've talked to a lot of‑‑ you've got to talk to Dave Monti. I think, he mentioned, just from my agent he got five messages yesterday changing tickets, five times yesterday, and that's just for one person. I know a couple people coming in from the west coast are‑‑ like Scott Bauhs has changed his ticket a bunch of times. Even Julie Kelly, who lives in New Jersey, she's in D.C. right now and she was stuck in D.C. for a little while. It's crazy for everyone. We definitely lucked out. We were in the best possible place we could be, I think. Yeah, it's a little bit crazy, but I think everyone is going to end up making it here. Q. (Inaudible). AMY HASTINGS: Definitely before a race. I don't afterwards. When I came here for the mini, I remember I had 24 hours from the end of the race until I left the next day, and I was pretty much out like walking around doing stuff for all but a short period of the night when I was in my hotel sleeping. Afterwards I definitely like to take advantage of every minute. But beforehand it's usually in my hotel watching terrible TV and turning my brain off and relaxing. Hopefully the subways will be up and running by then. Q. How many marathons have you done in your career? AMY HASTINGS: This will be my third. Q. You did the trials and‑‑ AMY HASTINGS: And the Los Angeles Marathon. Q. Was it neck and neck? AMY HASTINGS: We ran together for I think 23 miles and she pulled ahead and beat me by about a minute. It was crazy weather that day. It was rainy. There was a storm coming in off the coast and we were running through knee‑deep puddles of water, and it was not what you'd expect from the LA Marathon, but it was a lot of fun. Q.  What do you think about the New York course? How are you approaching it? AMY HASTINGS: It's definitely‑‑ so I've run 2:27 twice, and I would say the equal of those two races in Houston and Los Angeles would be about a 2:29 here. It is a much more difficult course. It's a lot more tactical. You kind of have to go into it not being I want to run this pace, it's I want to run this pace through the marathon but this mile is going to be 15 seconds faster than this mile, and you have to know when to hold back even when it's a fast mile and push in certain areas. More than any other course, the first half is the first 20 miles and the last half is the last 6.2. You just have to be careful. I think it's a course after you do it a couple times you learn it more and more and you are able to race it better, but I'm trying to skip ahead a little bit. I've been doing some research. Hopefully I can have a good one this time. Q. With the training with Kim, have you guys known each other very much before September? AMY HASTINGS: We've gone to a lot of races, and I've always known and seen her at races and stuff. I actually knew Molly better. We had roomed together a lot over the years, and I consider her one of my friends. She was good friends with Kim, and so it was kind of like‑‑ it was like, well, if Molly thinks she's cool, she must be cool. And immediately I talked to her, moved into her house, and within like a day it was just normal. Q. You moved into Kim's house? AMY HASTINGS: Kim's house. Q. Does Molly live there, too? AMY HASTINGS: No. Molly has her own place, but yeah, I've been living in Kim's back bedroom for a couple months. Q. Molly is doing the 5K? AMY HASTINGS: She's not here yet, no. Q. She didn't want to go in the van with you guys? AMY HASTINGS: I'm not sure, like I think she's planning on coming later anyway. Yeah, I'm not sure exactly. Q. What's your training regime been like, how many days a week, how many‑‑ AMY HASTINGS: We go in two‑week cycles, and we have every two weeks in there, it's a long run, kind of shorter intervals, slightly longer intervals, anywhere from mile and a half to three miles, and then a tempo run, which has gotten up to 10 miles. So that's pretty typical. And then a lot of medium and long runs. You go by feel, but most of them have been kind of up pace. But yeah, it's just kind of trying to make them‑‑ every couple weeks it gets a little bit faster and a little bit longer. Q. What are you eating? AMY HASTINGS: Just, I guess, normal food. I don't know. I generally before races, like I'm not a big pasta person, so I usually eat a big steak and veggies and rice and stuff like that. I don't know, over the years I've kind of‑‑ especially for track races now, I don't even really think about it, I just eat whatever I would normally have. But for the marathon you definitely are a little bit nervous and you don't want anything that can upset your stomach because it's a long ways to go. Q. Have you totally converted to the marathon? AMY HASTINGS: I will definitely continue to do the track, but I also‑‑ I don't see it as you have to be one or the other. So I'm going to continue doing 5K, 10K, marathon. I think the marathon will be my best event, and hopefully in four years that's what I'll be doing in Rio. But at the same time I think the 5 and the 10 really help with the marathon and vice versa. I don't think I'll ever be the person that does like three or four marathons in a row without having a track season or short road racing season kind of in between to break it up. Q. New York comes sort of quickly after the Olympics. How did you decide to do New York this year as opposed to Chicago or a spring marathon? AMY HASTINGS: Chicago, as soon as I made the team and the Olympics, Chicago was too soon, so that was out. And honestly like after‑‑ so New York was definitely the one where it was like, okay, it's a possibility. However, this year I've decided to make some changes after the Olympics, and so I was like, okay, no fall marathons, I'm just going to do‑‑ like relax and do training on my own and figure out where I'm moving to. I was living in my parents' basement at the time. Q. Where? AMY HASTINGS: In Leavenworth, Kansas. Dave Monti called me and he said, so I hear you're not going to do the New York City Marathon, and I was kind of bummed at the time because everything was taking longer than I thought it would. It was one of those things where I really wanted to be doing something, but it just seemed like it was impossible. I didn't have people to train with, I didn't have a coach at the time, and I explained that to him. I was like, I feel good except if I'm to do the race I would have to start training tomorrow. As soon as I said that he kind of perked up and he was like, what if there was a temporary solution, and he kind of right there thought of some solutions, and one happened to be go to Providence, train with Kim Smith who was running the New York City Marathon, as well, and it would just be a temporary thing until the race, then we'd both have training partners. So I called her up. It happened to be two days before her wedding, and I was like, yep, I'm the weirdo asking if I can come train with you two days before your wedding, and she immediately got back to me, and within a few days I had a ticket and four days later I was living in their back bedroom and doing every single workout with her. It was the last day when I started training for it, it was the last day where it was like I have to start training today or it's not a possibility. And it just worked out so well because it's been a lot of fun. Q. Do you know what your training will be like after the marathon? AMY HASTINGS: I am actually going to go‑‑ I'm flying to San Diego, clearing out my storage unit, driving back to Kansas, and then after that I'm going to figure out exactly what I'm going to be doing more long‑term, and I'm going to try and figure out every option, and hopefully‑‑ I kind of want to‑‑ it would be a good time to not run as much anyway these next couple months. It's weird, the last two years I've had kind of an early in the year marathon, so I've trained through Christmas and everything, and this year it'll be really nice to just relax during the holidays. Yeah, really, that'll be nice. But going to figure out what I'm doing and then make a permanent move hopefully. Q. Do you have a coach now? AMY HASTINGS: I've been working with Ray Treacy. It's more at this point I would say he definitely advises me what I do. Basically when I came it was just to run with Kim, I was just going to do whatever she did, and there were times because I came in at a different point he's been there to adjust my workouts when I needed it. He's been absolutely wonderful. Q. And you were at your parents' before that? AMY HASTINGS: Yep. Q. Any concerns about the weather as far as how it might impact the race? AMY HASTINGS: It was more just concerns for people living here at the time. The race was something where there's nothing you can really do, so you just keep on thinking that it's going to happen. New York City, if it's possible that it will happen, it will. The New York Roadrunners know how to deal with just about everything, I think. Yeah, I honestly didn't even think‑‑ like I think everyone is going to come in, make it in, and the race is going to go on as planned, and it will be an extreme feat when it does just because there was a hurricane, but I have a feeling it will go on as planned. Q. Will you be able to appreciate that, how much is going to have to go into‑‑ you put so much work into it, but there's going to be a lot of work in the next four or five days just to get this thing to go off. AMY HASTINGS: Oh, absolutely. It's incredible what they do. A hurricane can't stop it. I've seen a little bit and heard a little bit of all the work that's gone into it, just those last couple days, and it's been‑‑ it's insane the amount of work, and I know the very tip of the iceberg of everything that's gone into it. Yeah, it's pretty awesome that they're working so hard, and I think it's going to be a really great event because of that. Q. What have you heard and what are you looking forward to about the race? AMY HASTINGS: Most everyone talks about the course. It's so much more‑‑ it's more difficult and more tactical than just about any other course. It's one of those races where you have to go in knowing that you can't really run even pace because that'll hurt you. It's better to go in being like, okay, this mile is going to be fast, this mile is going to be slow, and it'll even out in the end. I think the hardest thing is going to be not pushing it on those miles that are really fast. Q. The second mile? AMY HASTINGS: Yeah, the second mile, because if you go too fast when you're feeling incredible, it can completely ruin your race. I really want to be conservative the first few miles, play it safe a little bit, and then just start kind of hammering away. Q. Is there any mantra that maybe you'll repeat? AMY HASTINGS: Actually Ray Treacy told me, he's like, great, you're a very interest runner, I've watched you race, you always go by instinct. But in the marathon you can't do that. First instinct comes, you don't go with it, second instinct comes, you don't go with it. Sixth instinct, then you can think about making a move. But until that you just stay in the pack, you stay comfortable and you just appreciate that you feel good. I thought that was really good advice. Q. What time do you think you would do? AMY HASTINGS: I was actually telling people earlier, I've run 2:27 twice. I would say the equivalent of that on New York from LA and Houston would be a 2:29. So 2:29 I'd be happy, I'd consider that like equaling my PR. I feel like I'm in better shape than that. But really, I just think as long as I race smart and just stay mentally in it the entire time, it'll go well. Q. Have you seen the course when you were in the car last year? AMY HASTINGS: No, I watched it on TV a bunch of times, and then coming in we actually went over the Queensboro Bridge yesterday. So we've done that and that's the big one in the middle of the course. And I've run Central Park a few times now. I feel like I have a pretty good grasp of it, but with the marathon you never actually know until you run the marathon. So it will be a new experience for me. Q. Is there any part of the course you don't know much about? AMY HASTINGS: I feel‑‑ even though I've actually raced Central Park, having to do that at the end of the a marathon, no matter how many times I think about it, I don't think there's anyway you can simulate feeling that. Yeah, I'm just going to kind of wait for that and try and be smart at the beginning and run it as hard as I possibly can. Q. Do you think you're the type of runner that you focus and you just don't see anything and focus on the road or you're letting everything obstruct you from the pain? AMY HASTINGS: Yeah, I completely feed off of the energy, so just being in the city is like an incredible energy, and then having it be race day, it's also going to be just nuts. But I'm going to‑‑ I'm definitely going to use it as long as I can control it and not go crazy. Q. Right now you're running 115 miles a week or something like that? AMY HASTINGS: Yeah, I run 110. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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