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Sweet Caroline vs. New York City Marathon: Beauty and The Beast
27 Comments · Posted by Scoop Malinowski in Bios, Scoop
The New York City Marathon is one of the most grueling, physically demanding sporting events in the world. On Sunday over 50,000 runners will take on the formidable challenge of 26.2 miles of running the streets of New York City against so many other competitors and of course the unpredictable weather, which can be brutally cold and windy. And, although it’s rare, runners have even died trying to finish the race.
Caroline Wozniacki arrived in New York at ten o’clock Tuesday night, after a physically demanding week at the WTA Finals in Singapore where she played four matches, including two marathon matches against Maria Sharapova and Serena Williams. Caroline, who has raised $50,000 for her charity Team For Kids, met the media today at noon and discussed her thoughts going into the race.
“This will be the first time I’ve run so far. I’m really looking forward to it. love New York. It will be an unbelievable experience. It’s the perfect time for my schedule. It’s been on my bucket list. I’m nervous and excited. I probably won’t get much sleep the night before.”
The former WTA world number one ranked player enjoys running and how it’s enhanced her tennis. “Once you start running you get hooked. You want to keep going. It helped me a lot for tennis. Once I get to a third set, I feel like I can keep on going. I feel like a machine. You feel lean and fit from running. I feel in the best shape of my life. It’s nice to look good at the same time.”
Her training regimen for the New York City Marathon has been unorthodox. “I don’t have a routine. It’s so hard. When you’re playing matches and practicing at different times it’s hard to make time to run. In Singapore I didn’t run much but I was able to step up the running the two weeks before Singapore. I feel good today. I probably will do a couple of short runs this week.”
What’s the longest distance Caroline has ever run? “Half (marathon, thirteen miles). I know usually you should be doing more. I just want to finish, that’s my main goal. As far as a goal time, I’m a very competitive person, you always have a goal in mind.”
Other tennis pros have been supportive of Wozniacki’s marathon quest and her intention of helping her Team For Kids charity. “Players have been supportive. Andy Murray asked me the other day, he donated. The WTA will donate too. Serena you’re still missing. No pressure (smiles). She asked me the other day how to donate, I gave her the web site. It’s nice to have the support of the players.”
“Kimiko Date has run marathons (The Japanese WTA veteran clocked a 3:27 in London in 2004). She said she had a tough time and a lot of fun too. I’m going out there to enjoy the whole experience.”
“Central Park is amazing. I like running there. I can keep going there.”
As for her gameplan for conquering the daunting task that awaits her on Sunday morning…”I know it’s not a sprint. I’m not going to start off too fast.”
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Scoop Malinowski · October 29, 2014 at 8:37 pm
Caro arrived twenty minutes early too. Good media turnout, Filip Bondy of NY Daily News was there, so was Brian Lewis of the Post and John Jeansonne of Newsday. Four video cameras. The NYC Marathon Expo at the Javitz Center is just huge. This really is a gargantuan world sporting event. God Bless Fred Lebow for having the creativity and fortitude to give birth to this fantastic competition and for all the logistics required to make it happen and grow each year from the Mickey Mouse operation it was in the early years to now being a premier international event.
Dan Markowitz · October 30, 2014 at 2:49 am
Nice piece, Scoop. I ran the marathon three times. My old high school coach, Alan Seinfeld, became Fred Lebow’s successor as president of the NY Road Runner’s Club and overseer of the NY City Marathon and he got me in my first two times. I ran my first NYC Marathon in 1978 when I was 18 and ran 3:31. I ran two marathons in 2:48, but New York City was always tougher with the mass of people and the bridges to transverse.
Even though the Woz is in great shape obviously, it’s going to cost her that she didn’t do long training runs in advance of the marathon. I hear it’s going to be a cold day, 45 degrees, and I’d be surprised even though she’s in great shape, if she doesn’t hit the Runner’s Wall seriously around Mile 18.
I’m curious to see how she does.
Scoop Malinowski · October 30, 2014 at 8:22 am
Dan I think it’s more challenging now, the number of runners expands every year. I have never run it but been at the finish many years, some years it’s very very frigidly cold. TO run and finish in that is just brutal. It was brutal just standing there as a media guy. I’m in awe of this event and how much it’s grown from the early years when it was really a rag tag run event. Dave Herscher, the media maven, has told me stories about how hard it was to coordinate everything back in the day. Amazing historic fantastic event. Look forward to it every year. You should have covered it this year, cover Caro for Tennis-prose.com. You’d love it from a media perspective. To be honest, I’m not sure Caro will finish it if it’s going to be 45 degrees and windy. Those hills and winds are just brutal. Even a tough guy like Mark Messier strugglied MIGHTILY when he ran a few years ago.
Dan markowitz · October 30, 2014 at 11:48 am
I don’t think it’s gotten any tougher. When I ran 2;55 in 1990 it was plenty tough. Not as many people ran it, but it was still like 20,000. And the bulk of runners are doing it in 4 hours plus so once you get past the first couple of miles, as a sub-3 hour runner, it thins out a whole lot. Gimel’s ran it a few years back. I’d be shocked if The Woz didn’t finish, but not having those long runs under her belt might make it tough. But having the mindset your going to finish no matter what and being 22 helps a lot.
Scoop Malinowski · October 31, 2014 at 8:49 am
Wozniacki’s body has changed, she looked like a supermodel Weds with her form fitting tight outfit. I think she could hit a point in the run where the pain is so bad she might be worrying about a lower body injury which could jeopardize her next season. If Messier suffered, Caro is also going to suffer. Yet she has many years of her career ahead of her. I’m stunned by how many people were at the EXPO yesterday, endless crowds from all over the world, Chile, Germany, France, Italy, Japan, etc. It’s a massive event.
Dan Markowitz · October 31, 2014 at 12:24 pm
It is a massive event. I haven’t really been around it in years. The Woz will do fine. She’s very fit. A guy like Mark Messier or Gimelstob, they’re not cut out to be marathoners and that’s why they suffer more in the late miles. The Woz probably only weighs about 125 pounds. That’s a good weight to run a marathon in. She looks a little like the great NYC marathon champ, Grete Waitz. Maybe the marathon organizers can have Rory run after her and re-propose at the finish line. That might make for a more interesting marathon.
Let me talk here about the marathon because I ran it first in 1978 and my second job out of college was with Runner’s World Magazine in Mountain View, Ca., running is dead in this country as far as big time running. We used to have Frank Shorter, Bill Rogers, Alberto Salazar and Joan Benoit Samuelson, all winners of the NYC Marathon multiple times, maybe not Shorter, but he’s the last American man to win the Olympic marathon. Now you can’t name one good American marathon runner. The luster is out in this country. It’d be nice to see one good American marathoner again.
Scoop Malinowski · October 31, 2014 at 7:38 pm
You’re right Dan, the sport is dominated by Africans, Kenyans, Ethiopians, S, Africans. The top American is Meb Keflizighi, who won Boston last year, but he wasn’t born here. Chalk up another sport that USA has lost it’s dominance over – tennis, boxing, sprinting, golf.
Dan markowitz · October 31, 2014 at 10:51 pm
How about baseball? When is the last time or only time US won World Baseball Classic or Little League World Series?
Bryan · November 1, 2014 at 3:48 pm
Woz better make it a slow run if she’s only gone 13 miles before. She could end up slowing down to a job or even a walk, but her competitive instincts will likely force her to keep grinding. There’s also a risk of injury. Luckily the season’s almost over so it won’t hamper her ranking if she gets busted up.
Scoop Malinowski · November 1, 2014 at 6:46 pm
It’s getting cold and windy here, no way will she finish it. By the way top US threat to win Kara Goucher told me in her Biofile this week her favorite athlete to watch is Federer.
Dan markowitz · November 1, 2014 at 11:16 pm
Who’s the top male American hopeful. Better to run marathon in cool weather so if it’s sunny and 45 won’t be so bad.
Scoop Malinowski · November 2, 2014 at 4:49 pm
It wasn’t that windy in Central Park at all. Was surprised. Very windy in NJ tho and by the start of the race. Good running conditions in midtown. Caro finished in 3:26 and Serena was there to help her at finish. Nice gesture by Serena, big achievement by Caro.
Dan Markowitz · November 2, 2014 at 6:07 pm
Wow, that’s very cool that Serena was at finish line to finish The Woz. 3:26 is a very legitimate time to finish her first marathon, particularly as it seems she didn’t train properly.
Did you see Serena?
Michael · November 2, 2014 at 8:06 pm
I was in CP about 4 hours and I found it was very windy at times and it got cold once the park went into shadow. I really wish they would either move the race to Saturday or move DST a week later or, better still, scrap going off DST.
Scoop must have been watching from some heated enclosure behind the finish line. Unlike Scoop, I like to mix it up with the proletariat but that means braving the elements.
The Woz ! That is a great result I thought.
Two parting thoughts (ala Wertheim):
(1) AirBnB can give out all the race day crapola it wants but I would be saving my money for the defense fund because A.G. Schneiderman is going to win reelection in a landslide !
(2) The “security theater” bag check to get toward the finish line made no sense to me.
Dan, you’re clearly the sensible one authoring this site. Please explain to me (1) why we still roll the clocks forward every November and (2) why a half-assed security check at one place along a 26 mile race packed with people and runners the entire way makes sense in terms of deploying security resources ?
jeanius · November 2, 2014 at 9:53 pm
Serena was there. But did she donate money?
Scoop Malinowski · November 3, 2014 at 9:01 am
The return of the eternal provocateur Michael aka You know Who :0 Sorry Mike I was busy at work in the drafty media center tent, enjoying the cuisine and cookies. The running media are different than tennis, they seem very close with the runners. I witnessed some shocking sights: Kara Goucher was crying as she gave a one on one to the guy from NBC Universal’s website, standing next to me. Lloyd Carroll asked Meb Keflezighi about the Millrose Games – NOT “the marathon” – and got squawked at by a reporter. Half the running media wears warmup suits and are all super fit just like the runners. Almost all of them look like runners or former runners. The organizers could take better care of the athletes though, the top 3 finishers had to stand out there half naked after the race, they should have been given cotton sweats right after the race to warm up in. Even at the press conference, the winner Mary Keitani had some kind of towel wrapped around her legs as she sat on the media stage fielding questions. How could someone not have had a pear of sweats for her? All the athletes are impeccably polite and nice, nobody says anything remotely controversial. At times it seems more a sport of running robot machines, can only imagine if one of these running champs comes in with a colorful fun personality to shake things up. It’s a great sport and that’s all it needs is a colorful charismatic entertaining personality like a Djokovic or McEnroe. BTW Airbnb is a new sponsor and this pissed off the Mandarin Oriental Hotel which was the luxurious post race media headquarters the last two years, up at the 40th floor overlooking the park at Columbus Circle. Yesterday we were stuck in that overcrowded drafty tent which seemed beneath the quality these athletes deserved better.
Scoop Malinowski · November 3, 2014 at 9:03 am
I’m sure she did Jeanius.
Scoop Malinowski · November 3, 2014 at 9:18 am
Caro: “I’ve never tried anything this hard.” She averaged 7:50 per mile. That’s a good pace.
Scoop Malinowski · November 3, 2014 at 12:00 pm
50,564 runners finished the NYCMarathon yesterday. Wow. What a giant event. Imagine all those 3-digit entry fees and the boost to the NYC economy. Fred Lebow had the vision but I don’t think he could have ever imagined his brainchild would become what it is.
Dan Markowitz · November 4, 2014 at 8:05 am
Michael, good to hear your input and that you’re not only a tennis fanatic, but a marathon fan as well. Answers to your questions I do not have. I hate DST, especially in the Fall.
As for the marathon, I heard the native American runners did very well. I think there were two in the Top 10 and 1 woman American runner who finished in Top 5. Have to check those stats.
Scoop Malinowski · November 5, 2014 at 8:37 am
USA had 3 top ten men – Meb, Ryan Vail (9) and Nick Arciniaga (ten). Desiree Linden got 5th for women. I think Caro got more ink and pub than even the two winners though. What a brilliant move by Caro to up her profile. With or without a major Sweet Caro can eclipse Maria someday with her popularity and likeable factor.
Mike · November 6, 2014 at 1:31 am
Dan, I’m not a marathon fan per se. More a fan of the NYC Marathon which is simply a great event to watch. I couldn’t name a single elite runner which I would guess puts me in the same company as 95% maybe 99.9% of the fans nor do I think the pros are the point of the race. So when Scoop is scooping caviar and other treats in the Press Tent I think he is missing the real drama of the race which involves the other 49,900 or so runners that will never make the podium.
PS, I took my niece to see ABT a week or so ago and we saw Ms. Brandt, among others. She is really superb.
Scoop Malinowski · November 6, 2014 at 8:24 am
Mike I did spend some time at the finish area and on CPW where all the finished runners herd back into real life. I noticed the crowds watching were smaller this year. Did you notice that? Kidding about the caviar it was just fish rice chicken, veggies, sweet potatoes, cookies and water and coffee. I like how they blast the music at the finish line, pretty inspiring to see the joy of the runners when they finish. Also, the mens winners had energy to burn after he won, he was running around waving to people after he won, without even a hint of fatigue in his legs. I wish Mary Wittenberg would have given the runners some special heavy cotton NYCM sweats to wear as soon as they finished. To see them half naked out in the cold after two hours of extremely intense running just seems not right.
Mike · November 6, 2014 at 11:47 pm
Tjhe crowd appeared smaller this year to me as well. But it was colder than normal.
I didn’t get to the finish line but in the past they used to provide runners those sheet looking things to drape around themselves that retain body heat ?
Guillermo Morales-Rubert · November 8, 2014 at 2:53 am
Does anybody know her finish time? Great piece. Maybe onto Boston!I am running a half marathon at Disney early next year.
Scoop Malinowski · November 8, 2014 at 9:40 am
I forget now Guillermo, pretty sure it was around 3:26. Good luck at Disney Half, be ready that it can be rather cold down there in Jan/Feb.
Dan Markowitz · November 9, 2014 at 6:49 am
I know what you mean that you’re a fan of the event and not running, per se. Running, at least in the US, again, has lost a lot of its luster because we can’t name or recognize the top guns. When I was growing up I knew all the top milers, Jim Ryun, Marty Liquori, Eamon Coghlin, etc. and the top marathoners, Frank Shorter, Bill Rogers, Alberto Salazar etc. But now while we know a few of them, they’re not as distinctive, and there seemingly aren’t any top American, Japanese, Australian, Italian marathoners the way there were in the 1980’s. I remember this Australian chap, Rob de Castella, plucky dude, fun to watch run.
But being on the streets of New York or in the park when the race takes place is still a thrill.
Glad to hear you saw Skyler Brandt dance. I’ll tell her proud dad. She’s the third daughter and the first daughter and second tried to be ballerinas, and didn’t cut it, but I guess Sky has done it. The first daughter was actually a Knicks City Dancer.