Kastor set to return to NYC Marathon
Posted Tuesday, 20 June, 2006
NEW YORK - Deena Kastor has an Olympic medal and a handful of American running records, winning marathons from Chicago to London.
There is one thing missing: a win in New York. Kastor will try to change that Nov. 5, announcing Monday she will run in the New York City Marathon for the third time. She is coming off a win in the London Marathon in April, where she broke her American record.
In choosing a fall race, Kastor had to choose between Chicago, where she won last year and would have a chance to lower her record, and New York, where she has never won. She called the decision-making process "excruciating" but settled on New York because she has wanted a victory here since 2001, when she finished seventh in her marathon debut.
"From the finish line, I became a marathoner," Kastor said in a phone interview from her home in Mammoth Lakes, Calif. "I couldn't wait to come back. Since that time, it's been my dream to win that race."
The 33-year-old Kastor will try to become the first American to win the women's race since Miki Gorman in 1977. Kastor also ran in New York in 2004, 11 weeks after winning bronze at the Athens Olympics, but had to drop out midway through the race because of leg cramps.
"Deena is such a proven commodity at this stage of the game, for Deena, it is almost beyond individual titles," NYC Marathon race director Mary Wittenberg said. "She's well on her way to establishing a great legacy."
Kastor won in London in 2 hours, 19 minutes, 35 seconds, topping her record of 2:21:16. She was supposed to have a showdown with world-record holder Paula Radcliffe, but the British runner pulled out with a foot injury.
Radcliffe has yet to make a decision on where she will run in the fall, but Wittenberg expects to hear something in the next two weeks. Radcliffe won in New York in 2004 after a disastrous performance in the Olympics.
"My foot is recovered well and now coping excellently with all paces of running," Radcliffe said in a statement. "I'm enjoying my training but not ready to announce my plans for the rest of the year yet."
Radcliffe's decision also is an important part of the new World Marathon Majors series, which features the Boston, London, Berlin, Chicago and New York races. The series will award a total of $1 million to the top male and female series finishers over a two-year scoring period.
Kastor is tied atop the standings after her London win, while Radcliffe has yet to run a marathon this year.
"She's obviously the person I look up to in this sport because she's the world-record holder by an extraordinary amount," Kastor said. "To think I am going to beat her is one thing, but to have a great competition against a well-put together field of athletes, Paula being one of them, I would love that."
Kastor is the first athlete announced in the women's field. As part of her preparation this year, Kastor will return to the track during the summer to keep her legs fresh. She will run a 3,000-meter race in Lucerne, Switzerland, on July 6, followed by a 5,000 in Rome on July 14 and 10,000 in Helsinki, Finland, on July 26.
Then, all her focus will go to winning in New York.
"I feel fortunate I've been able to reach all my goals in this sport," Kastor said. "This is one I'm not going to let rest until I have that laurel wreath on my head at the end of the race."
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