| Caroline Rotich won the 2015 Boston Marathon, battling two other women in the last half mile before kicking to win by four seconds in 2:24:55. She finished in fourth place at the 2011 Boston Marathon. Caro finished fifth at the 2012 Chicago Marathon, in her personal best time of 2:23:22. Other Marathon Majors top finishes include fourth place at the 2014 Tokyo Marathon and two top ten finishes at the New York City Marathon. She won the Las Vegas Marathon in 2009 and Prague Marathon in 2013. Caroline represented Kenya at the 2011 World Championships Marathon, finishing in 29th place. She won the 2011 New York Half Marathon in her personal best time of 1:08:52 and repeated that victory in 2013. Her other victories include the Boston Half Marathon, Bix 7-Mile, Ogden Newspapers 20K, Grandma’s Half Marathon and Crim 10-Mile. Caroline earned a sports scholarship in Japan at Sendai Ikuei Gakuen High School, an institution known for long-distance running. She was born in Nyahururu, Kenya, but lives in Sante Fe, New Mexico. Caro is coached by Ryan Bolton and is a member of the Harambee Project, which means, ‘by working together, we achieve more.’ She was very gracious in spending an hour on the telephone for this interview in June, 2015. |
|
| GCR: | It’s been a month and a half since you won the 2015 Boston Marathon. How does the immediate excitement of the victory compare with the realization of what this means and will mean in terms of inspiring young women to do their best and also the raised expectations for future performances? |
| CR | Everything has been different since I won in Boston. When I am doing my training, trying to recover and comeback, there are so many people who tell me that they are motivated and are going to start running because of me. It has made a difference in the way I live each day. |
|
| GCR: | Some people may think that you came out of nowhere to win the Boston Marathon, but several times previously, including at the 2011 Boston Marathon, you finished in the top five at World Marathon Majors. What were the differences in training preparation, previous experience on the course and race day strategy that pushed you from being close to being victorious? |
| CR | A lot of people thought it was a surprise, but it has been a long time of me training and running and trying to learn from these races I have done. I even dropped out at Boston once. But every time I go out I always think that it isn’t over, I want to do this and I have goals like winning or being better every time. It motivates me and keeps me going all of the time. It’s not like it was a surprise to me, but something I knew was going to come because every day I train and always want to be better. |
|
| GCR: | Sometimes when a runner doesn’t win a race when they are in the hunt it is a disappointment, but how much did your previous experience in finishing fourth at the 2011 Boston Marathon help you in terms of understanding how to race this course and in the tactics needed to win? |
| CR | Before I ran New York and I was eighth and then at Boston I was fourth, so I was thinking that I was improving at all of these big races. Going back to 2011 you never know what is going to happen, but I knew I was better this year than I was then. At the same time I wasn’t disappointed about that race in 2011 but I was hoping at that time to have a chance to go back and to do my best again. |
|
| GCR: | The big moves in the Boston Marathon usually happen in the Newton hills. When Mare Dibaba pushed the pace at the 35K mark, and only Buzunesh Deba and you were able to go with her, were you feeling strong and it was relatively easy to go with her, or was it tough and you had to hang on there as the pace changed at that point? |
| CR | I’m not going to lie to you and say it was really easy. The only thing I had on my mind was that we were over twenty miles and there were six miles to go. Then I kept counting as the race went on that there were four miles to go and three miles to go. I felt like I wasn’t going to let them go – that I was going to continue to fight to the finish line. I had to see if I had more fight and I could keep fighting to go with them. |
|
| GCR: | It’s interesting how you said at the twenty-mile point that you thought about six more miles to go. I’ve raced fifty marathons, including at Boston twelve times, and often at that twenty mile point I think that there is a 10k to go and then I run a mile at a time, like six consecutive one mile focused segments. Do you sort of have that feeling? |
| CR | Yes, you know I waited for twenty miles and was thinking that there were six miles to go, but there was still a big group of us. I felt like, ‘let’s see what is going to happen.’ I tried to be focused in the race more to see how everyone was reacting, how they were trying to push harder and how they were straining. |
|
| GCR: | In the final kilometer of the race there were some decisive moves. First you pushed the pace up Hereford and that hill of less than 100 meters which dropped Deba. Was that just a test to see if either Dibaba or Deba was strong going into the final turn and finish on Boylston? |
| CR | At that time I knew there was less than a mile to go and I thought I could hold the pace so I tried to see if anyone could go with me. I tried once and Deba tried back and I was thinking that the finish line was still far away. Deba wasn’t letting go so I tried to go back and see if I was stronger or if she could push it. |
|
| GCR: | You moved strong on Boylston where it was still a bit of a distance to the finish, but then Dibaba countered and went by you. This was the final big point where few are able to come back and retake the lead. What were you thinking and feeling and how were you able to summon up the mental and physical strength for that decisive move for the win? |
| CR | It was a long way, but I was trying to go. Then I realized the finish line was so far away that I couldn’t even see it. It was still far away so I thought, ‘Whoops, I think I made a mistake a little bit.’ I didn’t think I could sprint from there to the finish so I let it go for a while. Then she came so hard and I thought then that I was getting close to the finish line. So I was going to let it all out again and I knew that I had to push all of the way to the finish. |
|
| GCR: | When you won and were in the finish area it must have been almost surreal as you had worked so hard and all of a sudden – boom – it happens and you are the champion, your coach is there and it must have been almost overwhelming at that point. |
| CR | When I crossed the finish line, for about a minute it was like – whoa – this just happened. At the same time I couldn’t even process what had happened. |
|
| GCR: | Since your Boston Marathon victory there was a Sante Fe parade in your honor, you met New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson and have done other appearances such as throwing out the first pitch at Albuquerque Isotopes baseball game. Is it both exciting and humbling to be so recognized? |
| CR | For sure I didn’t know what was going to happen when I came back to Santa Fe with the parade and everything, but I was enjoying every moment where I had these opportunities. It has been amazing to me. |
|
| GCR: | You were able to go back to Kenya and to spend time with your family and people in your village. How nice is it after all of the excitement to go back to your beginnings and to relax and be that girl from your village again? |
| CR | Even though I was there to relax, even back in Kenya people would be saying, ‘She’s the one.’ It was different back home, but I was just telling people that this was my job being a runner, but that it is still me. |
|
| GCR: | How surreal is it when you think back to your childhood in rural Kenya with that time of possibly no electricity, walking and jogging to school and getting a lot of physical activity and developing the characteristics that turned you into a top athlete and Boston Marathon Champion? |
| CR | My background was the same as many athletes from Kenya. We would go running to school from home. Children would go from miles away running back and forth to school. |
|
| GCR: | In the United States most kids don’t do much running. When did you really start developing as a runner, competing in school races and noticing that you were a pretty good runner? |
| CR | When I was about nine or ten years old when we started doing physical exercises in school I noticed that I could run well. I thought that maybe I could do this. I didn’t feel like I wanted to be a runner right away but it was something to do at school like all the kids do. Then about twelve or thirteen years old is when I started thinking about wanting to run more and maybe making it my career and my life. Then after that I got a scholarship to go to Japan when I was fourteen. That is when I really knew I wanted to do this for sure. |
|
| GCR: | How scary was it to leave your home, family and village at the age of 14 to attend high school in Sendai, Japan when you were still a young girl trying to find your way in life? |
| CR | For sure it was tough but at the same time was so cool because I got to go to a different country and be out of Kenya. I was scared to be far away from my family and from my friends. When I got to Japan I was thinking that I wanted to go back. It was different - the food, the running – everything was different. I was homesick from the time I got to Japan so it was hard. When you get to Japan it isn’t like everyone speaks English so that was hard for a while. In time I got used to it and loved it. By then I liked being in Japan and running there. |
|
| GCR: | How did your running ability develop during this period, what were some highlights of your training and key points you learned in your growth as an athlete and was it much more regimented and structured? |
| CR | In Kenya I was too young so I was running for fun. In Japan I was competing for my school and they expected me to do well because I was different. I had to do more to maintain my scholarship and to be better and better. My training went to running a lot of kilometers – they use kilometers in Japan. My longest run in Kenya used to be forty minutes. When I got to Japan my morning run was for an hour, then I went to school and after school I had to run again. I had to get used to the mileage. In Kenya every run was like a race. In the morning when every new person would run they would take a lead and run so hard. In Japan we would run a lot of mileage but we had to follow the plan for the day. So it was a lot different than in Kenya. |
|
| GCR: | I’m sure it is a lot different than here in the United States where most top runners run four years in high school, then four more years in college and then, if they are good enough, run professionally. But you went to Japan and afterward it wasn’t it less certain for you after graduating? |
| CR | When you graduate in Japan you sometimes can get hired by a company and run for them. But when I graduated from high school I didn’t get a company that wanted me to run for them so I decided to go back to Kenya. I didn’t get any backing in Kenya to go to races in Europe. |
|
| GCR: | It is highly unusual for top Kenyan distance runners to be coached by Americans or live in the United States, yet both of these are the case for you. How did you decide to be coached by Ryan Bolton and how has he helped harness your talent and allow you to reach your potential? |
| CR | When I first came to the U.S., I stayed here for a while to run. Then I went home and came back and happened to meet Ryan. He was coaching some runners already and I remember telling him what I wanted to do and to accomplish. I knew that he was someone who wanted to coach me. He used to compete in triathlons and distance running and, after talking with him, I decided to try his coaching and it worked for me. |
|
| GCR: | Regarding Ryan’s triathlon background, he was on the U.S. Olympic triathlon team for the 2000 Sydney Olympics. How do you think that the fact he has a running and triathlon background makes him different and perhaps better as a running coach? |
| CR | When people were first telling me about it, I was thinking about how he combined the three training routines into one for him. I thought that if he took the three ways of training and the best of them when he coached me in running that I could be better. So that’s why I decided to be coached by him, to take a chance, and it turned out all right. |
|
| GCR: | Coach Bolton founded the Harambee Project which comes from Kenyan word which means ‘by working together, we achieve more.’ More runners in the United States are using the group concept, whether it is the Hanson’s or the Mammoth, California group. Could you succeed as you do without this group of athletes who live and train together? |
| CR | Having a group is a good thing. Sometimes you go out for your run and don’t want to do it, but if you have someone there who is doing the same thing as you, then you can push more each day. But even if you have a group, you have to put your heart into it. |
|
| GCR: | Let’s talk about your training. What is your typical training volume in miles or kilometers when you are in a marathon building phase? |
| CR | When we go high in miles, we do 115 or 120 miles in a week, depending on where we are in training. But most of the time we are running between 100 and 110 miles each week. |
|
| GCR: | How long are your long runs, how many do you do leading up to a marathon and at what pace? Do you run steadily at a pace slower than your marathon pace or do some fast finish long runs? |
| CR | We have tried almost every type of long run. Sometimes when it is early in the marathon build up we just try to get the distance in. As we get closer to the race we put some speed work in the middle of the long runs and run some of the way at marathon pace. |
|
| GCR: | One of the more interesting long runs I have discussed was done by Steve Spence, who earned the Bronze Medal in the marathon at the 1991 World Championships. He would do 30-mile long runs with the last three miles at marathon pace. Have you done long runs that were farther than a marathon with a fast finish? |
| CR | No, I don’t think I’ve ever run that long in miles, but we do twenty miles sometimes where we finish the last few miles at marathon pace. People try different things, so I wouldn’t be surprised if Ryan tried something like that. |
|
| GCR: | What are some of your favorite sessions on the road or track to build stamina? |
| CR | We do 1000s. Sometimes I will warm up for four miles and then run a tempo pace for four or five or up to eight miles and then I do a cool down. |
|
| GCR: | How about when you are working on speed? Do you do 200s or 400s or ladder workouts on the track? |
| CR | In track we do from 400s to 1000s. |
|
| GCR: | Do you incorporate hill repetitions and barefoot running or barefoot stride outs into your training regimen? |
| CR | We do hills but I don’t try any barefoot running now. I used to do it a long time ago. |
|
| GCR: | How inspirational as role models are those who went before you in your country such as John Ngugi, Catherine Ndereba and Sammi Wanjiru? |
| CR | I knew Sammy from high school in Japan because we went to the same high school. So seeing him running was part of my motivation. Catherine was one of the biggest running names so I grew up knowing about her as she was winning big races. John Ngugi was from my hometown. |
|
| GCR: | How important is your faith and belief in God to give you the will to train and compete to be your best? |
| CR | Back in Kenya we went to church more than I do here in the U.S. When I go home I always go to church. |
|
| GCR: | Let’s talk a bit about some other racing milestones in your running career. You finished 11th in your debut marathon in 2006 at the Nairobi Marathon. What were your thoughts after your first marathon? |
| CR | I didn’t think when I crossed the finish line that it was so tough or so hard. At the same time I knew that I wanted to do marathon racing and to get better. It was the event that I wanted to do more. |
|
| GCR: | What I’ve found along with many other distance racers is that we have to get faster at the half marathon to help our marathon racing. After you joined Coach Bolton’s group in 2009 you had top three finishes in the half marathon at the Yuengling, Coban, Spirit of Columbus and Grandma's. Did you adjust to and like the half marathon distance and what was the thought process about moving up to running the marathon regularly? |
| CR | It’s hard because it’s shorter and faster than a marathon. But I often think that I am just starting my race when I run a half marathon. This is what I love, running a marathon. |
|
| GCR: | Back to the marathon distance, how big of a career breakthrough was it to win the Las Vegas Marathon, and to break 2:30 with a time of 2:29:47? |
| CR | I was there and was just trying to see how I could run it and to improve for the next year. Of course I was feeling like it was time to start running more marathons and to focus on the marathon. I wanted to see and to know how it felt. Going there and running under 2:30 and winning the race, I thought, ‘Whoa! I think I will love this more than I thought.’ |
|
| GCR: | Then you were running well at both the full and half marathon distances. When you won the 2011 New York Half Marathon in a personal best and course record of 68:52 it seemed to propel you to a new level. Did you and Coach Bolton fell that this race was a real indication of the strides you were making in your training? |
| CR | We thought that was one of the big points for me and that we had to continue with what we were doing. |
|
| GCR: | You were selected to represent Kenya at the 2011 World Championships Marathon and finished in 29th place. How exciting was it to race on that championship stage? |
| CR | That was one of my dreams come true. I wanted to represent my country. I wanted to be a part of it. Being selected was my working hard, waiting for it and it all coming together. That was one of the things I wanted to do – I wanted to represent Kenya and it kept motivating me to train harder. |
|
| GCR: | At the 2012 Chicago Marathon, you finished in fifth position with a personal best time of 2:23:22. Do you like the faster flat courses like in Chicago or the more challenging routes with hills like in Boston? |
| CR | I love running the courses more like in Boston, but I know that to run faster times I have to run courses like in Chicago. Going to Chicago that year I wanted to run a fast time and get my PR. |
|
| GCR: | Running in the Marathon Majors makes it tough to win as the competition is so deep. Placing high and running fast are always nice, but don’t compare with winning. What did it mean to win the Prague Marathon in 2013 in one of Europe’s historic cities? |
| CR | That was one of those races where I won; it boosted my confidence and made me want to do more. At the same time, after winning when I would go to other races I would feel like I had something in my pocket. I felt more motivated to do well. |
|
| GCR: | Even though you are getting more well known for your marathon exploits, you race many distances such as the Ogden Newspapers 20K, Bay to Breakers 12K, Bix 7-Mile, New York Mini 10K and Crim 10-Miler. Is there any distance that is your favorite and how nice is it to run in all of these cities around the USA? |
| CR | I like running long distances like marathons because my body has time to warm up and my body has time to think. And I can see how my body feels, how I’m running and how the race is going. I like running all over the U.S. There are people I meet who haven’t been to many of these places and I can say, ‘Oh, I was there.’ |
|
| GCR: | Who are some of your favorite competitors and racing adversaries due to their toughness or that you know when you race them you have to run strong? |
| CR | I think that most of the time when I go to races I don’t look at one person and think that I want to try to beat that one person. My thing is to go to the races and whoever is there I will race against and do the best I can. |
|
| GCR: | It was so deep in Boston this year with Kilel and Linden who had finished ahead of you in 2011 and so many others – maybe ten in all – who were really, really good. |
| CR | Yes, and when I look back to the 2011 Boston Marathon, it wasn’t like I was trying to be fourth. That day I wanted to win but it didn’t happen. This year I was thinking about the win and putting everything I have into that. |
|
| GCR: | We talked about when you were in your early days as a runner and there were runners like John Ngugi, Catherine Ndereba and Sammi Wanjiru whom you admired. How important is it to you to be a role model for young girls, women and all of your country? |
| CR | It’s something that I didn’t think about or know was going to come when I was racing. But at the same time it happened. Now it is good for me to be involved and to motivate others. |
|
| GCR: | Do you have a major marathon in your sights for this fall? |
| CR | We are looking at this fall but we haven’t decided yet. |
|
| GCR: | In 2016 there are both the Olympics and defending your Boston Marathon title. If you are selected for the Kenyan Olympic team in the marathon, do you think you would compete in both races? |
| CR | Right now I don’t know about that because the way we are selected for the Olympics in Kenya isn’t like in the United States where there is a Trials race to qualify. So, we will see when the time comes. For now I don’t have anything else I can say about that. |
|
| GCR: | You have lived in the United States for many years. Could you please describe the importance of possibly becoming a citizen in this country which has given you so many opportunities to excel? |
| CR | I still love representing Kenya now. I haven’t decided about making the decision about that. But I enjoy the opportunities I have here every day. |
|
| GCR: | Touching back once more on the Boston Marathon, people who aren’t experienced marathon runners often wonder what we think about during such a long race. Of course we think about pace, how we’re feeling and hydrating. When you were racing for close to two and a half hours, what were the thoughts that propelled you forward and motivated you? |
| CR | One of the things that kept me going was my training and how hard it was. There was so much I put into the training. I was thinking about all of the people cheering me on. Also I was thinking a lot about what was going on in the race all of the way. |
|
| GCR: | I’ve run fifty marathons, including Boston twelve times, and it is hard to describe to people the cheering and energy along the entire race course. Any time we runners are feeling tired or down, the crowd picks us up and moves us. Did you get the feeling that the spectators were with you and willing you to do your best? |
| CR | Yes, that’s one of the things I feel – the energy from the people. I feel like I have to do this, this is fun and something I want to do again and again. |
|
| GCR: | When you are asked to sum up your philosophy of what you’ve learned in your fabulous life from growing up in a small town in Kenya, the discipline of running, huge racing success and having ups and down, what do you say that are the main points to inspire and motivate others? |
| CR | I always try to let them know, whether I have a good day or a bad day, that it isn’t easy to do this, to run hard and to put everything together to make it happen. It’s not like something where you wake up and the next day you are on the starting line for 26.2 miles to try to win the race. It is easy when you cross the finish line, but there is a lot that comes before the race to get you ready. |
|