Nov 27, 2007
Martin Rosendahl - Hanson/Brooks Views- 2252

Marty finished 98th place in a time of 2:33.58 at the Trials. Coming into the race Marty had very limited training due to an injury.

RM: What are your thoughts on your performance at the marathon trials looking back?

MR: Looking back on the Marathon Trials, I've got mixed emotions. It was incredible to be there and be a part of the event, and all the promotion that Brooks and team supporters did for the event made it that much more special. If I didn't know any better, I would have thought it was the Brooks Marathon Trials. On the other hand, it was frustrating beyond description to have worked so hard the last year and a half to get into shape for the event, only to get injured and be a complete nonfactor. I suppose deep down I should look at it and think that if I were able to get into such good shape in 18 months, think of what kind of shape I should be in for the next trials 4 years from now. It's just frustrating to think that it'll be 4 years until the next opportunity.

RM: What information/knowledge do you feel like you gained from the marathon trials?

MR: It was tough to really learn much from the event since I wasn't competitive enough to really get the full experience of what racing for a spot on an olympic team is all about. So the things I tried to do was to watch my teammates like Clint and Brian to see how they were handling themselves. The other thing that I tried to do was just to note everything that was going on, the demands placed on the contenders leading up to the race, etc. I just tried to familiarize myself with the surroundings of the contenders so that four years from now (God willing I'll be in that position) I'll already be a little familiar with the expectations.

RM: How did you like the Central Park course setup and the rest of the organization of the NYRR?

MR: I loved the central park course. It really made for a great spectator event. Maybe I'm a little swayed on that because it seemed like everybody was wearing a Hansons-Brooks shirt and was waving a giant cutout head of us. It seemed like everybody out there was cheering for the Hansons-Brooks team, so that probably made it easier to love. I know that the course itself isn't an easy course, so there are probably competitors that received very little team promotion, and the course probably felt a lot tougher because of that.

RM: When will you next run another marathon and what would you like to accomplish in that?

MR: I would like to run another marathon whenever Kevin and Keith say it fits into the long-term goal. I've really come to enjoy doing very little thinking about that and just being able to go out and run. I think if I were to think too much about that I'd probably think I was smarter than I am and I'd make a dumb decision. As a runner, they've got my best interests in mind, and I trust their coaching. I'm like a puppy, I don't want to pick where we're going or what we're doing, I just want to go run!

RM: What was your recovery like after the trials? How much time off and was there any cross training?


MR: It's hard to decide how my recovery was after the trials. I had been injured and I still didn't feel like I had all the muscles returned to a proper balance prior to the race, so I was trying to recover from the run and from the last little bits of the injury at the same time. So the recovery from the race was probably pretty easy, but finishing off that injury recovery was probably a bit more difficult. Hard to tell which was which sometimes though. I did take a full 2 weeks off, and I did a little bit of cross training. I still didn't want to overdo anything and screw up the injury recovery, but I did want to be proactive in continuing to finish healing. So mostly I did yoga, which is great because it gets the muscles warmed up and gets in a great stretch. Most of my cross training was mental. I've been on the whirlwind tour visiting friends and family that I didn't visit while I was training or trying to recover from that injury. It's been great to get home and see my family and my first nephew born to my brother-in-law and his wife. That mental refreshment was probably the best.