FW: Are you excited about this race?
JR: Yeah, I’m really excited. I’m excited that it came together and that we were able to put such a strong team together. For me, I have always enjoyed the aspect of competing on a team, like in cross country. This is the same type of thing, except it is on the roads, which I enjoy even a little more [laughing]. So, I’m really excited about it!

FW: Have you run in an ekiden before?
JR: No, I have only been to Japan once, and that was for the Tokyo Marathon. It did give me a taste of what it’s going to be like over there though. I ran in a women-only marathon and there were tons of media there. They were really excited about it. It was cold and rainy, but there were still people lining the course and a lot of people in the finishing stadium. I think that’s the kind of thing we can expect for the ekiden. It’s going to be a lot of fun. It’s going to be great.

FW: Your team has a strong chance of medaling.
JR: Yes, that’s the goal.

FW: It fascinates me how popular these types of races are in Japan.
JR: When we were over there in November, we were at the training center in Chiba and an ekiden of college-aged women came on TV; everyone sat around and watched it; they were really into it. Even though that particular race was more of a junior level, it was definitely great to see that the people there had such a high level of interest in the sport.

FW: I know you enjoyed the shopping aspect of Japan when you went there for the Tokyo Marathon. Are there any shopping plans in the works for this trip?
JR: [Laughing] Probably. When I was over there for the Tokyo Marathon, they had tons and tons of shopping, so hopefully, we’ll be able to get out and do some of that.

FW: Your next race after the ekiden is the Gate River Run in Jacksonville, which serves as the USA 15K road championships. You won this race twice in the past including the first time you ever ran it in 1998.
JR: I have won it twice before. I won it in 1998 and 2005. Jacksonville is one of my favorite road races, so whenever it fits in the schedule I try to run it. It’s definitely going to be tough to win this year, with Deena [Kastor] running, but I am sure that there is going to be a great competitive field. I thought it would be good to do this race because it will basically be my only over-distance race before running the 10K at the Cardinal Invite this spring. So, I think that fits in well because I will do the 15K and then I will do a couple of shorter races, and then the 10K at the end of April.

FW: What makes the Gate River Run one of your favorite races?
JR: I have always enjoyed the atmosphere there and the course. Sentimentally, it’s the first big race that I won as a professional runner, which automatically made it one of my favorites.

FW: I really enjoyed your journal entry about hating the marathon. You wrote that entry shortly after you ran the Tokyo International Marathon last November. Do you still have the same feelings about the marathon now that some time has passed? Are you still planning on switching gears this year and focusing primarily on the 5K and the 10K on the track?
JR: [Laughing] I’m definitely going to be switching gears over the next couple of years. I think I need a little break from the marathon because it just wasn’t coming together. I really enjoyed last summer’s track season, so I’m excited to put everything into getting faster in events ranging from the 1500 to the 10K, instead of just squeezing [a track season] in between a spring marathon and a fall marathon. I think that leaves a lot of room for improvement on the track.

FW: The weird weather patterns this year have altered many runners’ training plans. Has the weather in Mammoth Lakes this winter worked out okay for your training?
JR: The weather has been nice actually. Like this week, it snowed earlier in the week, but now it’s sunny and it was in the 40s and 50s when we did our workout this morning, so we have kind of lucked out. It’s supposed to stay nice until we leave [for Japan]. We have been able to do some workouts up higher because we haven’t gotten a ton of snow this year, which the skiers don’t like, but it’s ideal for us [laughing].

FW: You do your altitude work there and then you go down to San Diego to do your sea level workouts, right?
JR: Yes, that’s right. We will be going down there [to San Diego] later in the year, closer to track season.

FW: Has the transitioning between Mammoth Lakes and San Diego worked out well for your training?
JR: Yeah, we [Team Running USA] all enjoy being down in San Diego and it has worked out well, to be able to go down to sea level to get sharper. We’re looking forward to that later on.

FW: I spoke to Sara Hall a few weeks ago and she was telling me that you all have been implementing this new type of core training into your strength training routine and that it has been working very well for her. Has it been working well for you?
JR: It’s been working really well for me. Our strength coach Dennis Klein has worked with Andrew Rock and a wide range of athletes. He writes all of our schedules specifically for each person and for my first two track races, I had pretty strong finishes; I had some definite speed at the end, so the [core training] is definitely helping me to develop my finish and getting everything that I can out of myself in terms of power and speed. It’s been working really well.

FW: What is your favorite aspect about being a part of Team Running USA?
JR: I enjoy the whole thing! I love still being in a team atmosphere, even though the sport is pretty individual. We’re all very close and these guys are my best friends. Meeting people everyday [to run] makes it so much more enjoyable than having to always do it on your own. I like a little solitary time, like I do a lot of my evening runs on my own, but I also like having a group to run with. Another thing that I like about being part of this team is that when someone is down, someone else is up, so it makes it easier to get back up if you are in a slump and to just keep moving forward, so it’s always exciting.

FW: All of your team members have been accomplishing so much the past year, so that must be exciting as well.
JR: Exactly. It was really inspiring to see Ryan [Hall] have such a great race down in Houston [In his debut at this distance, Ryan Hall won the Aramco Houston Half-Marathon in an American record time of 59:43]. Being up here training with him, you could definitely see something like this coming; it was really exciting seeing how his hard work came to fruition. [Laughing] It seems like there is always something exciting going on with one of us!

FW: Someone on your team is always accomplishing something great.
JR: [Laughing] That’s right, so it’s always inspiring and I also see the level that Deena trains at and what she has done to accomplish what she has, so it also always keeps you on your toes. Everyday, you realize what you need to be doing to reach your own goals.

FW: I’m assuming that one of your goals this year is to break 31:00 in the 10K.
JR: That’s my goal, to break 31:00. So, right now, I’m focusing on the Ekiden and then I want to peak for the Cardinal Invitational at the end of April, where I will be running the 10K.

FW: You’ll have the opportunity to run on some speedy tracks over in Europe this summer as well, right?
JR: [Laughing] Right, exactly!

FW: How have your workouts changed since letting go of the marathon?
JR: First of all, my long runs aren’t as long. The longest I have run this year is like an hour and 50 [minutes]. My tempos aren’t as long, but they are starting to get quicker. I have one day of faster stuff a week, but since it is still earlier in the year, some of our longer workouts are mostly threshold or a combination of a little speed and threshold. We haven’t really gotten to the more intense stuff yet. Overall, the main difference is less volume than when I am training for a marathon.

FW: How many years has it been since you have focused solely on shorter distances?
JR: Well, I focused on track in 2005 for the first half of the year and then I ran the ING New York City Marathon in the fall, so I basically had a track season from May through part of August.

FW: Are you excited to be able to focus on shorter distances for an entire year?
JR: Definitely! I was really excited to run such a good 5K last summer, so I’m excited to go back and try to take some more time off of that. I didn’t really do any shorter races last year. I did one 1500 and one 3K, but they weren’t very fast times, so I’m excited to see what I can do in the 5K and 10K after doing more shorter races.

FW: Two final questions. What are your favorite workouts and what are your hardest workouts?
JR: My favorites are doing the faster workouts, because I don’t do them all that often and it’s just fun for me. I like doing 200s, 300s, and 400s or running fast 1Ks, which we do later in the year. The long tempos are the most challenging workouts for me. I’ve definitely become a lot stronger than I used to be, but running a 12-mile tempo is still very challenging.

Interview conducted on February 16, 2007, and posted on February 23, 2007.