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A
2004 Olympian at 5,000m, Jonathon Riley won his third consecutive
USA Indoor 3,000m championship last month at the Reggie Lewis Track
and Athletic Center in Boston, the track where he ran many of his
indoor meets in high school. As in 2003, 2004, and many races in
the NCAA, Riley won a close race against Bolota Asmerom at the end.
On
playing the same script three different ways:
It's been a good three years for me here at the Reggie Lewis Center,
and I'm glad to see that nationals are going to be here until 2007.
It's treated me well. And after winning twice [in 2003 and 2004],
it's fun, and I want to get that same feeling again. I want to do
it for the crowd here which has been so supportive of me in the
past; I want to do it for everyone cheering me on here.
On
how 2005 compared with his previous wins:
It's a bit more similar to the first one. It was a pretty steady
pace, from the first lap, and I had a big last 600 two years ago.
Last year, it was pretty comfortable, and I had a lot of energy
going in to the last 1,000 meters. This one was a lot harder. It
was a progressive buildup, from the second lap, getting faster and
faster. It was very draining, trying to match the pace with each
lap. I was really just hanging on and hoping I would have enough
to get around Bolota at the end. He's a tough runner and put on
a very strong move. I just hoped I would have enough left.
On
keeping track of perennial challenger Asmerom:
I was around fourth place for most of the race, and he was right
ahead of me. When he went around, I knew he was going to put in
a surge. I knew he was someone to pay attention to.
On
his plans to run the USA 8K Championships in New York in March:
It's just to do something for fun. At that time of year, it will
be good for me to do a longer-distance race. I'll be doing a lot
of strength training at that point. Once I get into the track season,
I'll be doing a lot of 1,500s and 5Ks. It's to get that strength
and do something fun. Since I graduated from college, every race
has been more serious. Going to the roads is purely for fun, to
mix it up and have a good time. I've done a couple of 5Ks on the
road, at off times in the fall, just to have some fun with it.
On
whether his two previous wins changed his approach to this race:
I was thinking about that before the race, just to know for myself
if I was feeling more pressure. Really, I wasn't any more nervous
than any other time. Each race is so different, and what's happened
in the last two years is going to have no bearing on how the race
is going to go this year. It really did feel just like it has in
the other races. During the race, I kind of wanted to win because
I had, for the last two years, and I'd gotten used to how exciting
it was to win, especially in front of this crowd, with family and
friends here.
On
the goal-setting process for the summer:
After a successful spring last year, and being able to compete at
the Olympics, I want to be able to compete at that level again.
I want to be able to run faster for 5K than I did last year, and
if that happens, hopefully I should be able to make the World Championships
in Helsinki. The goal is just to be able to compete at the same
level I did last year, and run faster if possible.
On
his Olympic experience:
It's something that, when I was 12 years old, I thought about. In
1996, watching the Olympic Trials, I was a junior in high school,
so I didn't know how I was going to get from where I was to the
Olympics. But it's something that I knew I wanted to do, and after
being in the Olympics there's a sort of weird looking back in astonishment
that everything worked out the way it did, and [there I was]. And
there are people who are deep in their career, and things happened
so they haven't had the opportunity to run the Olympics, I feel
fortunate that I was able to do everything I needed to at that time.
It was an amazing experience.
On
changing his preparation from 2004 to 2005:
I think just a little bit in that I've been doing a lot of strength
work. That helped me in the race, when things started getting tough,
I'd already been through some really difficult workouts, and gotten
through it. I knew that if I was just able to match whatever move
someone made, I'd be all right at the end. That's what I did, just
whenever there was a move, to respond to that, and be where I needed
to be on the last lap.
(Interview
conducted February 26, 2005, and posted March 9, 2005)
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Jonathon
Riley.
(Photo by Alison Wade/New York Road Runners)
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