Pre-Race Interview with Cara Kiernan
By Becky Orfinger

Cara Kiernan during Friday's course tour. (Photo by Alison Wade/NYRR)

Fast-Women.com: Are you excited to be here?

Cara Kiernan: I can't believe it -- I'm so excited. Warm weather and a great course -- it's so much fun.

Was this one of your goals all season?
When I started, I never thought that I would take cross country this far. But as I progressed and kept improving, it sort of came into view and became one of my goals.

And then you did really well at the regional meet?
Yes. It was really a surprise. But it felt great, and making it here is just unbelievable.

Coming from a private school, did you get to go to many big meets?
We ran in a few big invitational meets. And our state meet included parochial schools, also, so it was pretty big.

Did you run last year, too?
I ran track in the spring. That was the first time I ran, ever.

Wow. How did you get so good so fast?
I just kept improving every meet, more and more. I just wanted to get better and better and it was a lot of fun. I never expected to be a cross country runner. I was running cross country to stay in shape for track, but it worked out well and I realized I liked the longer distances.

So do you think you will move up this year in track and do the longer distances?
I think I'll still do the mile but maybe try the two-mile sometimes, too.

Do you have a plan yet for the indoor season?
I'm going to keep working out with my coach because our school doesn't have an indoor track team, and then run some invitational meets with my one other teammate who is going to keep training through the winter.

Your coaches, Amy Ross-Schroer and Mike Schroer, are pretty good runners, right?
My coaches are amazing. They both ran at the Olympic Trials and did incredibly well. They are phenomenal. They know exactly what each person needs, every day. Mike is our main coach, and he knows exactly when to give us hard workouts, easy days or long runs.

Does he have you doing pretty high mileage?
It's pretty moderate. I actually don't calculate the mileage that I run. I just follow Mike's schedule -- he tells us everything we need to do.

So what are you shooting for tomorrow?
I'm just going to go out and run as fast as I can. Top half would be nice, but if it doesn't happen, I'm just going to make sure that I run the best race I can.

(Interview conducted and posted December 13, 2002)