5 Takeaways From The 2014 New Balance Boston Indoor Grand Prix Women’s Press Conference
by LetsRun.com
February 7, 2014
Here are our five takeaways from the women’s pre-race press conference for tomorrow’s 2014 New Balance Indoor Grand Prix which featured Americans Kim Conley, Emma Coburn, Mary Cain and Jenny Simpson.
You can watch a video of the majority of the main part of the press conference at the bottom of this article and follow the links as well to our one on one interviews with all four women.
1) Mary Cain would make a great public relations staffer for USATF.
Jenny Simpson, Mary Cain, Emma Coburn, Kim Conley (click for photo gallery)
USATF press staff, watch out. Mary Cain would be an awesome press liason for USATF. Mary Cain had a great quip today, “We are the greatest sport in the world. What’s Football without running?”
As for Cain’s race tomorrow, she said the 1k tomorrow is expected to go out at American record pace and she thinks she’s capable of getting it but doesn’t want to be too focused on time.
Our one on one with Mary Cain is here: LRC Mary Cain talks about Alexa Efraimson and a possible American record in the 1000 tomorrow
2) Jenny Simpson thinks she’s in good shape and will run USA Cross Country next week but will not run World Indoors.
Simpson being very pleased with her fitness was a bit of a surprise as she lost by 1:40 at the famous Cinque Mulini cross country race in Italy last month. Simpson said the race was very difficult in terms of conditions and course and she’s excited to be running on a track which will reward her for her “efficiency.”
As for the famous Cinque Mulini, Simpson said the trouncing she received there was good for her as after it she immediately “felt the fire” in her belly. She thinks it’s good to still feel that fire after all of these years of being a runner. That fire is motivating her to “train really hard.”
Off camera, Simpson said in some ways her 2013 silver medal was “a little bit sweeter” than her 2011 gold as she went into Worlds in 2013 expecting to medal. In 2011, she certainly received a few breaks with the mid-race fall.
Our one on one interview with Simpson is here: LRC Jenny Simpson talks about Genzebe Dibaba’s World Record and her own fitness prior to 2014 New Balance Indoor Grand Prix
3) Kim Conley wasn’t surprised by her 4:24 mile but despite that fitness she will not run World Indoors.
Conley explained that the reason she’ll skip World Indoors is because she really wants to run a fast 10,000 and given the paucity of Women’s 10,000 on the circuit, Stanford’s Payton Jordan meet on May 4th is the place to do it. She indicated Molly Huddle was likely to run it there as well and said she’d like to run around 31 flat. Breaking 15:00 will then be her main goal for the outdoor season.
Our one on one with Conley is here: LRC Kim Conley says she won’t do World Indoors, is focused on running a fast 10,000 at Stanford
4) Kara Goucher is currently doing about 2/3rds the volume of her normal marathon training, is focused on the 10,000 this spring, but will definitely run a fall marathon.
We spoke with coach Mark Wetmore about Kara Goucher who has returned to his tutelage in the last few months. When asked what she was currently focused on, Wetmore quipped she was focused on “moving to Boulder.” As a mom and wife, she needs to get a house, find good baby sitters, etc. While she focuses on that, she’s doing about 2/3rds of her standard marathon training and is in a base phase. The goal is the 10,000 this spring and at USAs, so she can get the legs moving a bit faster again and then ‘definitely’ a Fall Marathon.
5) Emma Coburn, who races tomorrow February 8th for the first time since June 8th (8 months exactly), thinks she’s in good shape and is hoping to PR in the mile at Millrose next week.
Her pb is 4:29.86.
We also learned today that Coburn was a bridesmaid in Jenny Simpson’s wedding.
Our one on with Coburn is here: LRC Emma Coburn is hoping to PR in mile next week at Millrose.
Note the video below is taking forever to upload and should be available by roughly 10 pm ET.