Pushing The Pace With Mary Keitany
- By Duncan Larkin
- Published Jun. 6, 2012
- Updated Jun. 6, 2012 at 11:09 AM UTC
She’s been a front runner her whole career.
At last year’s ING New York City Marathon, Kenya’s Mary Keitany took off from the gun. Her front-running tactics, however, eventually came back to bite her in the end as she faded to third.
Most runners would be expected to admit that this kind of do-or-die strategy doesn’t work, but not Keitany. According to a profile in the June issue of Running Times, Keitany says that she would employ the same banzai-esque tactics if she ran New York again.
Her front-running strategy has worked on several occasions. This past February, she ran the RAK Half Marathon in the United Arab Emirates. She headed out at world-reord pace for the first six miles, but slowed for the remainder.
Regardless, she won that race in 66:42.
But the question remains: how fast can Keitany run if she didn’t bolt at the start? Her coach, Gabriele Nicola, is aware of this dilemma.
“Mary began running at a high level as a half marathoner who loved taking the race out at a hard clip to leave the others behind as soon as possible,” he says.
For More: Running Times
FILED UNDER: New York City Marathon / News TAGS: Mary Keitany
Duncan Larkin
Duncan Larkin is the news editor at Competitor.com and a freelance journalist who’s been covering the sport of running for over five years. He’s run 2:32 in the marathon and won the Himalayan 100-Mile Stage Race in 2007. His first running book, RUN SIMPLE, was released last July.