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Alan Webb won the men's 1,500 in 3:41.97 by sprinting away from
the field on the final lap.
Q:
Was that the kind of race you thought it would be?
Alan Webb:
Pretty much. I kind of wanted to take it out a little earlier, but
I got pushed around a lot in the first half of the race. I wasn't
really feeling like making a move in the middle of the race. I tried
to just not panic, and when the race went, I was totally ready for
it. At that point, it was basically a 400m race.
Q:
Did Chris [Lukezic] surprise you today?
AW:
No, not at all. I think he's ready to run; if anybody knows that,
I know that. I do a lot of workouts with him, I know what he's capable
of, so I wasn't the least bit surprised. He was disappointed in
[his race at] the NCAAs, so he was that much more motivated to make
up for it.
Q:
When he came up behind you, did you know it was him?
AW:
Not until the very end. I thought it was Rob [Myers]. We all made
a move on the backstretch. Rob came up on my right, and I was holding
him off. He sort of went back, and I thought it was him again. About
30 meters out, I was thinking, 'Don't,' because I have a tendency
to either look at a person, or look at the clock. So I was looking
straight ahead. Then they announced, 'Here comes Chris Lukezic.'
And I thought, 'Yes!' We couldn't have asked for a better result.
Q:
Why were you looking at your watch during the race?
AW:
The plan was for me to take off with 800m to go. I figured I would
start my watch with 800 to go, because if I was going to run on
my own, I wanted to have a gauge of how I was doing. I was planning
on making a move halfway through the race, so I just started it
with 800 to go. I think I forgot, actually, with 800 to go. I figured
it would help to see how I was doing.
Q:
You and Chris have different training programs and different coaches.
But clearly there's some overlap.
AW:
Obviously, Chris is on more of an NCAA schedule. The two of us,
a lot of times, we're doing different things. But Coach [Scott]
Razcko will call Juli and Pat [Henner], and if it fits, we'll do
it together, or do part of it together. If it doesn't, we'll still
go and warm up together. It's good for the camaraderie. It's the
closest thing to a team that I've had. I feel like that way, we're
doing our own thing, because we are on different schedules, but
we can help each other a lot.
Q:
How much of a lift is it to have somebody to do workouts with?
AW:
It's a big lift. Even when we're not doing the same thing, it's
just nice to have somebody there at the track.
Q:
How far are you from being 100% for Helsinki?
AW:
I'd say, about a month and a half.
(Interview
conducted June 25, 2005)
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Alan
Webb.
(Photo by Alison Wade/New York Road Runners)
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