Interview with Kim Smith
by Abigail Lorge

Kim Smith (right) and Shalane Flanagan lead the 2003 NCAA Cross Country Championships in the first kilometer. (All Photos: Alison Wade/New York Road Runners)

Smith finishes second at the 2003 NCAA Cross Country Championships.

Smith wins the 2003 Big East Cross Country title.

Smith runs a breakthrough 5,000m at the 2003 Penn Relays.

Kim Smith's first season with the Providence Friars culminated in a second-place finish at the NCAA Cross Country Championships. Smith, a junior, earned All-America honors by finishing the 6-kilometer course in 19:42, 12 seconds behind winner Shalane Flanagan of the University of North Carolina. The NCAAs marked the first time all fall that a non-Providence College runner defeated Smith (her teammate Mary Cullen, fifth at NCAAs, technically "beat" Smith by one second at an early-season meet in Boston, though in reality the two were running together). Smith's 2003 cross country campaign included victories at the Roy Griak Invitational, the Penn State Invitational, the Big East Championships, and the NCAA Northeast Regional. Her Big East performance was particularly dominant: She won by 36 seconds in 20:01, a record for the Van Cortlandt Park (Bronx, New York) 6k course.

Smith, a transfer student, ran track and cross country at Louisiana's McNeese State University in 2000 before returning to her native Auckland, New Zealand, for a year and a half. In 2002, Smith moved to Providence, Rhode Island to train under coach Ray Treacy at Providence College. Competing unattached, she ran 15:47.92 to win the Olympic Development 5,000m at the 2003 Penn Relays. Internationally, she represented New Zealand at the 2002 and 2003 World Cross Country Championships. The junior education major, now 22, became eligible to compete for Providence this fall. We spoke with a reserved Smith in early December.

Fast-Women.com: What were your expectations going into nationals? Did you think you had a chance to win it all?
Kim Smith: Well, I hadn't raced many of those top girls earlier in the season so I was hoping for a top-three finish. I didn't really… I thought I would have a chance of winning but more I was hoping for a top-three finish.

FW: Did you follow the results from the other regions as the season went along? Were you aware of who your top competitors would be?
KS: Yeah, I knew that Shalane [Flanagan, of the University of North Carolina] was going to be, of course, the favorite of the race. I thought Alicia Craig [of Stanford] would also be one to watch.

FW: In terms of strategy, what had you and Ray talked about? Were you going to go out with Shalane no matter what the pace was?
KS: Yeah, I'm used to kind of going out fast at the races. Throughout the season I would try to go out fast and then relax, so I thought I was going to try and go with her from the start.

FW: When she started to pull away (near the mile mark), did you try to go with her?
KS: I didn't really want to get myself in too much trouble early on because if I'd gone too hard then I'd have lost second place. So I just let her go a bit.

FW: And then you were in no-man's land for the rest of the race, behind Flanagan but ahead of the pack. Was that hard with the wind on that day?
KS: It was pretty tough running by myself for most of the race. I was just trying to watch Shalane and make sure she wasn't getting too far away from me and just concentrate on that.

FW: You must've been thrilled with the result.
KS: Yeah, I was really, really happy to finish second and our team also did well. We finished third, and that was really good as well — we didn't really expect that too much.

FW: When you finished and saw that Mary came in right behind you, in fifth…
KS: Yeah, I was really happy for her.

FW: Had you raced in cold like that before?
KS: No, I haven't raced in cold like that before (laughs). Last winter in Providence it was pretty cold so I kind of got used to the cold there but it doesn't get anywhere near that cold in New Zealand.

FW: Did you guys think about racing in long tights like a lot of the other teams?
KS: We just wanted to wear our regular [uniform].

FW: You had a pretty long season (the Providence women ran seven meets, including three in September). Were you concerned about maintaining your high level all the way to Nationals in late November? Were those September meets controlled efforts?
KS: Yeah, the first races were just kind of me and Mary running together. I ran hard at the Roy Griak race against Missy Buttry — that was a really good race. But the other races, other than Big East and Nationals, were controlled. [Note: At the Roy Griak Invitational, held September 27 in Minneapolis, Minnesota, Smith beat Wartburg College's Buttry by 10 seconds.]

FW: Even Regionals?
KS: Regionals, me and Mary just ran together, controlled as well. It was Roy Griak and Big East and Nationals — those were the races we really went out and raced.

FW: What was your weekly mileage like this season?
KS: Probably around 70 miles a week, and on race weeks, it was a lot lower than that.

FW: Did you usually do two runs a day?
KS: Yeah, two-a-days. We'd do one or two workouts [a week] and then a long run and then just short runs the other days — two shorter runs on those days.

FW: How far for the long runs?
KS: About 12 miles.

FW: Are there good places to run in Providence?
KS: There are OK places to run. The kind of places [like] what I'm used to running at home. [I run] on pavement quite a bit. I prefer running on roads [over running on] grass. There are places to run on grass around that some of the other girls run on, but I just prefer running on roads.

FW: Do you like the school there at Providence?
KS: Yeah, I really like it here.

FW: Are your classes challenging, or fairly easy?
KS: They're pretty tough.

FW: And you're majoring in education? Is it a hard balance for you to deal with the training, running twice a day, and all your classes?
KS: It's not too bad. It's not as bad as it was when I went to university at home. It's kind of hard when you have to go into schools as well to do your teaching experience things.

FW: Have you done some student teaching?
KS: We don't do student teaching but I go into an elementary school a couple of times a week to observe and do a little bit of teaching.

FW: Do you have any hobbies? What do you like to do when you're not running?
KS: I don't know (laughs). I guess… just what other people, normal people do.

FW: Are most of your friends there from the team or do you have non-runner friends?
KS: Most of my friends are from the team. We're a pretty close team. We all live in the same apartments and we're all really good friends.

FW: Tell me a little bit about your experience at McNeese State.
KS: I just went over there for a year. I didn't really like it that much. I got homesick.

FW: That was in 2000? You did an outdoor season and then ran cross-country the following fall?
KS: Yeah, because our school years start and finish differently in New Zealand. They start in February. So I went over for the spring and then finished in the fall.

FW: Did you spend that summer (of 2000) between outdoor track and cross-country in New Zealand?
KS: No, I went home. But I guess I just got homesick and it just wasn't…

FW: It wasn't for you?
KS: No.

FW: Did you do cross country nationals that fall of 2000?
KS: No.

FW: Was the team at McNeese State any good? Did you have anyone to run with?
KS: Well I wasn't really very good then. There was another girl from New Zealand there who went to nationals and stuff. And she was pretty good — Sita Waru. [Note: Waru is now an assistant coach at Lamar University in Beaumont, Texas.]

FW: Did you know Sita when you lived in New Zealand?
KS: Yeah, I went over there [to McNeese State] because she'd improved when she got there but I didn't really know a lot about the American distance system. So I just went not really knowing a lot.

FW: So you decided to go home to New Zealand at the end of 2000?
KS: Yeah.

FW: And then what university did you attend in New Zealand?
KS: It's called Auckland College of Education.

FW: Do they have a university athletics system there, or were you running for a club team?
KS: In New Zealand we don't have a university system, we just have club teams. You run with them [from when] you're young. You don't have a high school team or a college team — you just run for a club team.

FW: Do you meet with your club team a few days a week, or every day, for practices?
KS: No, you just race.

FW: You train on your own?
KS: Yeah.

FW: When did you have a breakthrough?
KS: I guess it was when I went home [to New Zealand] and started to train properly. Because at McNeese I learned that you can't just get away with running a couple of times a week — that you have to actually run every day. So then [at home] I started to just run a lot more.

FW: And you qualified for the World Cross Country Championships the past couple of years? Is there a national race that serves as a qualifying for that?
KS: No, they have qualifying times. I think it's about 16:20 for 5k. And if you run that, then you're on.

FW: 16:20 on a cross country course or on the track?
KS: You run it on the track, cause [winter] is our track season. And then World Cross Country is kinda fun.

FW: How was that experience, running at your first World Championships in 2002 in Dublin?
KS: It was a good experience. Because New Zealand is so small, we don't really run against a lot of people. It was really good competition, obviously. [Note: Smith placed 52nd in the long-course (8k) event in 29:24. At the 2003 World Cross Country Championships, held in Lausanne, Switzerland, she ran the short-course (4k) event, finishing 61st in 14:02.]

FW: Were you overwhelmed, or really nervous?
KS: I was kinda nervous, but it was my first one, and you don't really know what to expect. So it wasn't too bad.

FW: Is that (2002 Dublin Worlds) where you met Ray Treacy?
KS: Yeah, I met Ray there.

FW: Did he talk to you about giving the U.S. university system another chance?
KS: Before that I kind of was thinking about coming back over here because there weren't a lot of races or competition in New Zealand... And then just talking to people over there [in Dublin] and talking to Ray... That's when I decided to go [back to the US].

FW: And when did you arrive in Providence?
KS: More than a year ago, in September 2002.

FW: What was your academic standing? Did your credits from McNeese State or from Auckland transfer over?
KS: They both did. Not all of [the courses], but enough. I'm a junior now.

FW: Do you have a lot of eligibility left?
KS: Not really, no, I have two more track seasons — indoor and outdoor — and then cross country and that's it.

FW: So you'll be the top returning runner at next year's NCAA Cross Country Championships.
KS: (Laughs) I guess.

FW: When you first got to Providence did you have a better feeling there than you had at McNeese State?
KS: Yeah, it's totally different.

FW: Because of the environment or because you were a little bit older and more mature?
KS: I think it's a bit of both but more the environment. I like the weather a lot better here [in Providence]. Even though it gets very cold, it's easier to handle than the hot. And just all the team's really nice here, the girls are great and Ray is such a good coach. That makes a big difference, having a really good coach.

FW: It's a really international feel on the team, right? Does that help you knowing that most of your teammates have the same experience of coming from abroad to an American university? [Note: Providence's top four runners at the NCAA Championships were international students; two are Irish and two are from New Zealand.]
KS: Yeah, it helps but that wasn't really a problem at McNeese either because it was all foreigners on the team there also. But I don't really think it makes too much difference, because I get on just as well with the Americans on the team as with the international students.

FW: Did you run all your runs this fall with Mary Cullen?
KS: Our team trains together a lot and me and Mary do workouts together. It really helps having her around.

FW: Is Amy Rudolph (a 1995 graduate of Providence and a two-time Olympian at 5000m) around?
KS: Yeah, she's around. It's good having her around. We did a few workouts with her this fall.

FW: And Roisin McGettigan?
KS: Yeah, she's also around.

FW: You trained in Providence this past summer, right?
KS: Yeah — it's winter in New Zealand then.

FW: Did you go to New Zealand at all? When's the last time you've been home?
KS: Last Christmas I went home. I went to Ireland for a couple of weeks this year, too, to see friends.

FW: How did you start running? Are there other runners in your family?
KS: I started running at the start of high school and I didn't take it very seriously when I was in high school.

FW: But did you realize right away that you had some talent?
KS: Yeah I guess so, and I just kept at it and then didn't really train a whole lot. But then I went to America.

FW: Tell us a bit about your family.
KS: I have an older brother and a twin brother. They're not runners. They're both in New Zealand. My mom gets very excited for me. She kinda runs a little bit herself, just because I ran when I was little — so she started.

FW: Was it an adjustment to go from thinking in kilometers to thinking in miles?
KS: Yeah, that did actually take a little bit of getting used to because I'm used to doing everything in kilometers. Just going from kilometers to miles, the miles just seemed really long. Cause you kinda think it's not too much further than a kilometer, but it really is. Now I do everything in miles.

FW: What was your setup like this summer? Were you taking classes at Providence, or just training?
KS: I took one summer class and then I worked on campus at school in the mail room (laughs). It's a pretty easy job so you can come and go as you want and do as many hours as you want. It's mainly a lot of sitting down and doing nothing so it's a pretty good job for a runner. I was living with a girl on the team — Lisa Cappello (Providence's fifth runner at NCAAs) and her older sister Heather who used to go to Providence as well.

FW: Last spring at the Penn Relays, competing unattached, you won the Olympic Development 5,000m race in 15:47.92. Was that your first indication that you were going to have a major impact on the US collegiate scene? Had you broken 16 minutes before that race?
KS: At home I'd done a 5k, and I was pacing someone for a 10k race, and I needed to get the qualifying time for World Cross Country so they timed me over 5k in the 10k and I ran 16:03. So I hadn't broken 16 minutes yet but…

FW: You knew you were on the verge?
KS: Yeah.

FW: So was that Penn Relays race a breakthrough for you?
KS: Yeah, I was really happy with the race. I didn't really know what to expect, but it was good because I kinda did the running from the front. Although I do like running from the front anyway so it doesn't bother me too much. [I was out in front] pretty much from the second lap.

FW: So based on that effort, you must have known at the start of this fall's cross country season that you were going to be really far up there?
KS: I wasn't really sure because I know that there's just so many girls over here at that kind of standard. Last track season it just seemed like so many girls were running really fast. So I wasn't really sure what to expect. I was kinda at the start of the season hoping for top 10 [at the NCAA Championships]. Me and Mary were kinda hoping for that. We didn't realize that top five [was possible]. We weren't really hoping for that.

FW: What is (2003 NCAA Northeast Regional Coach of the Year) Ray Treacy's style like? What makes him so effective?
KS: He just has so much experience and he really knows what he's talking about. And the athletes really trust him.

FW: Is this the toughest training you've ever done?
KS: Yeah, it's the most intense, I guess. Before I came here I didn't really do that many intense workouts because I was training by myself. But when you have other girls around, you're doing things at a much better quality.

FW: Can you give an example of one of the really hard workouts that you did this fall?
KS: It's not so much just what the hard workouts [are]. It's more just the intensity of the workouts, that I'm doing them a lot faster now because I'm running with other girls.

FW: What about the straight mileage, the recovery days? Are those also faster?
KS: No, we do them pretty easy, but I guess it would be faster than if I did them by myself. Cause I get a little bit lazy (laughs).

FW: What are your plans for the indoor track season?
KS: We were going to have a race last Saturday [December 6] at Boston University. I was just going to do a mile there, but [we didn't go] because of the snow.

FW: When are you going to try to get a qualifying time for the 5k for NCAAs?
KS: In January or February we'll try it. At some of the races at Boston University — they have a really good track there — we'll try and get qualifying times.

FW: It must be hard to focus on peaking for three NCAA meets per year. Is the focus more on outdoor track, or is your emphasis on indoors just as much?
KS: I guess you focus on both, but probably the outdoors would be more focused on.

FW: And what do you think your event will be outdoors?
KS: I'm not sure if I'll be doing the 5k or the 10k. I haven't run a 10k yet, but I'd like to try.

FW: Are you more of a strength runner, would you say?
KS: Yeah, I think it just feels easier for me as it gets longer. I'm not sure if that will be the case for the 10k, because it's so long.

FW: Are you planning to stay in the States to train after college?
KS: It's kind of hard because of visa rules but you can stay at least the year after [graduation] on your student visa, so I'll definitely do that. There's a lot of post-collegiate athletes around Providence, like Amy Rudolph and Roisin McGettigan and Marie McMahon (now Marie Davenport) so it's a really good group to train with.

FW: Does the athletics federation in New Zealand mind that? Do the other elites in New Zealand tend to train at home or abroad?
KS: There's not really that many top women at the moment. But I guess the best guys in New Zealand are all over here anyway, like Adrian Blincoe [formerly of Villanova] and Nick Willis [of the University of Michigan].

FW: Are you going to compete at the World Cross Country Championships this spring?
KS: No, I don't think so.

FW: Are you thinking about the Olympics in Athens next summer?
KS: Maybe. I think New Zealand kind of selects [athletes who have met the] "B" standard if there's no "A" standards met. And that probably won't be the case.

FW: So if no one meets the "A" standard, you think Athletics New Zealand would send someone who has the "B"?
KS: I think they might. I kind of talked to them about it and they said that I should try and go for [the standard].

FW: Can you go for the Olympic "B" standard over here in NCAA races? [Note: The "A" and "B" standards for the women's 5,000m event in Athens are 15:08.70 and 15:20.45, respectively. For the 10,000m, the standards are 31:45 ("A") and 32:17 ("B").]
KS: Yeah, there's no Olympic Trials. I think I would probably go for the 10k.

FW: Is running in the Olympic Games something that you thought might be a possibility a few years ago?
KS: No, not at all. Maybe [I'll go] in four years, anyway. I'm not really expecting too much now for this Olympics.

(Interview conducted December 9, Posted December 24, 2003)