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NYC HALF MARATHONMarch 17, 2013Daniele MeucciDathan RitzenheinNEW YORK CITY, NEW YORK THE MODERATOR: On the men's results sheet that we handed out, we apologize, we're making the correction. Hopefully, everybody else caught it. We had flipped Dathan and Daniele. So Daniele is our second place finisher in 1:01:06. Daniele comes back to us from winning the Healthy Kidney in New York last May. So he must like running here in New York. And, of course, our good friend Dathan Ritzenhein was third in 1:01:10. I'll ask Daniele first for a comment about the race, and then we'll go to Dathan. Daniele? DANIELE MEUCCI: The race is very difficult because today is early, and it's cold. The start of the race is early. But on the race, I feel good, and I stood behind the group of Kenyans and the other runners, and the last 5K, I push, and I feel good, and I go in front to finish. THE MODERATOR: Dathan? DATHAN RITZENHEIN: I'm very happy today. It was definitely, like Daniele said, it was not great for running fast, but it was a great race still. It was pretty hard during the second half. The first half was fairly easy. But once we got out to the West Side Highway, I really tried to push it, and then Wilson took off really shortly thereafter. For the last 5K, me and Daniele just kind of went back and forth. It was good, though. It was good to have that competition. It helps to make up for some of the time that was lost early on. It was cold and early, and I didn't sleep at all last night. I'm just happy to be done. THE MODERATOR: Before we move on, just a thought to you. Bernard Lagat finished 12th. I don't know whether you saw him in the race or certainly when you pulled ahead. Any thoughts about Bernard's effort here and possibly looking at him as a road runner moving down the road here? DATHAN RITZENHEIN: Early on, yeah. Bernard, he was there, I don't know how long after I kind of took the lead, about eight miles or so. I didn't see him again. So I was kind of in a battle myself. So I didn't even‑‑ I wasn't paying attention about him at all. Bernard is an amazing athlete. I didn't really want him to be there. I think Alberto wanted me to wait a little bit longer, but the pace was really slow. I was like, I'm going to try to get it going, and Wilson took off and got the pace going fast. So that kind of got rid of him. Q. Dathan, looking ahead, what's the goal going to be the next few months? Is the 10,000 on the track the goal? Just tell us what your focus is from here on out for the rest of the summer. DATHAN RITZENHEIN: I think for me now I'm going to really try to replicate what I did last year, same schedule, maybe a fast 10K before the U.S. Championships, but I'm not sure. I have to talk with Alberto and see if that's something we'll do maybe pre‑Classic or if that's too close to the U.S. Championships, I don't know. May main goal is to make the 10K team for the USA in the Moscow World Championships, and come back and try to have a really good PR in the Chicago Marathon in October. Q. Daniele, you won in New York City, I believe, last year. What do you like about the city, and how does it feel to finish on the podium again? DANIELE MEUCCI: New York people, I like, and on the road there is very more people than Italy that they push you. THE MODERATOR: He likes the crowds. They push him, right? DANIELE MEUCCI: Yeah. THE MODERATOR: Did you hear anybody cheering in Italian for you or cheering the race? DANIELE MEUCCI: Yeah, yeah. Many Italian people speak with me when I run, and I listen. Q. Ritz, you talked a little bit about the cold. Did temperatures change your race plan at all? And how long was it into the race before you really started to warm up and feel comfortable? DATHAN RITZENHEIN: The race went about exactly how I thought it would be, just a little bit slower. I thought it would be‑‑ I thought we'd be a little closer to 16 minutes. I still anticipated it being slower early on just because of the park and the cold. I mean, the cold, it's just hard to get going. So the race went very much how I thought it would. Yeah, I didn't feel great early on. I didn't sleep at all last night. I've never had that happen before. And so I was a little bit wired, and even like right now, I've had way too much coffee, I think, because I feel jittery and my stomach feels messed up, and I'm cold. But it just kind of takes over, the instincts, and the race. You compete, and that's what the second half was really about, just competing and trying to‑‑ wasn't thinking about the time at all. I just tried to do as good as possible, tried to win. Wilson and Daniele were a little too strong today, but I'm happy still. THE MODERATOR: Maybe you missed the kids. It was too quiet in the hotel room. DATHAN RITZENHEIN: Maybe that's what it was. Q. Dathan, why do you think you didn't sleep last night? Nerves? Wasn't feeling well? DATHAN RITZENHEIN: No, I wasn't nervous. My brain wasn't working. I don't know. I've never had that happen before where I just don't sleep. I was really tired yesterday afternoon, and I was like, no, I'm not going to take a nap because I want to be able to sleep. Now I wish I would have and just would have stayed up anyway. But I'll sleep good on the plane. Q. So, Ritz, what was kind of the race plan that you talked about with Alberto? Because it really picked up around Times Square, and then after that you kind of picked up the pace shortly after that as well. What was some of the race plan that you talked about with him? DATHAN RITZENHEIN: I think you have to have a fairly flexible race plan. Alberto, it was kind of‑‑ it was a little bit hard for me. We had kind of some mixed signals a little bit. He wanted me to wait as long as possible, and we talked to our sports psychologist and stuff just trying to think of‑‑ I like to be able to be in the lead a little bit. I don't want to spend the whole time there, but I just kind of was in between. So I could tell that the pace was slow and still a big pack. So I pushed it, but I didn't want to keep pushing it the whole way. I was hoping someone else would. I just tried to get it going, and that happened, and then Wilson took off. I think it was the right move. Just really kind of separated the pack, but Wilson was just very strong today too. Q. Daniele, Italy's had a great tradition of distance runners, marathons, New York City multiple champions, Gelindo Bordin, Olympic champion, and then there's sort of a down period for a while. Are you part of a new wave? And how is it coming back? Why? DANIELE MEUCCI: In Italy in the last year, the boys that run the marathon are younger because the older generation is finished running. Now in Italy more people are hoping that me and Lalli Andrea. But here we are 26, 28 years old and now it's early for the marathon. In the future, I want to run the marathon, but in the last for one and two years ago, I was doing track and field for now. THE MODERATOR: So is his plan to run a marathon? Would he run a marathon this year? MARCELLO MAGNANI (AGENT): He would run a marathon absolutely, but for the near future, he will be concentrating on the track. Him and Andrea Lalli, the other middle distance runner we have in Italy, of course in their future, it will be the marathon for sure. Andrea Lalli is the current European cross country champion. Q. Dathan, we talked about the cold before. How about the early start? Some people are morning people. Some people are not morning people. The starting at 7:30 was a problem? And how early did you have to get up? DATHAN RITZENHEIN: The early start makes it hard, like I come from the West Coast, so it's three hours difference. So it's 4:30 a.m. to me. And Daylight Savings was just this week. So it felt really early. But it depends‑‑ if I was to go to Europe, it would be really early too. I just didn't do a very good job transitioning this time. Usually, I'll start trying to get up earlier back at home and go to bed earlier and stuff. I don't know, this week I just couldn't get into that rhythm with doing it. I think with Daylight Savings Time and stuff, I never started switching over. So when I got here, I was just like, oh, I'll just sleep as much as possible. I've been sleeping in when I got here just to try to get more sleep, and the last few days before this. Yeah, the early start was hard, but everybody had to do it. So guys were coming from Japan. It's not really an excuse. THE MODERATOR: We're going to finish up. I'll just finish up with two quick thoughts here. Dathan, we'll welcome you back so you can get it right or get your sleep next time. We always love having you. Daniele, hopefully, you'll make your marathon or come back here in the fall and run New York. There will be a lot more Italians out there to cheer you on. Thank you for both of our athletes. Thank you. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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