Interview with Kelly Chin

By Sabrina Tillman

For the past five years, Kelly Chin, 27, of Brooklyn, NY, has appeared regularly at the start line of NYRR races. Chin was a member of track and cross country teams at Holmdel High School in Holmdel, NJ, and at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh. Although she made the all-conference and all-state teams in high school, she describes her formative running years as “nothing special.” In high school, Chin followed a low-mileage program prescribed by a coach who wanted his athletes to avoid burnout. In college, she prioritized academics over running, although she reports that running took a solid second place.

After graduation, Chin found more time to train. She moved to New York City and began participating in NYRR races, and after a year of racing, found camaraderie in the women-only local running club Moving Comfort New York. Ever since her first NYRR race, the Not Quite the NYC Marathon in October 2002, Chin has scored in the top 10 of her age group more often than not, and she has placed among the top five women in 19 of the 63 NYRR races she’s started. Chin won the NYRR Fred Lebow Cross Country race in September 2005, the NYRR Half-Marathon Grand Prix: Queens in April 2006, the AHA Start! Wall Street Run in May 2007, and the JPMorgan Chase Corporate Challenge in June 2007. Chin attempted to meet the qualifying standard for the 2008 U.S. Olympic Team Trials – Women’s Marathon last fall at the LaSalle Bank Chicago Marathon, and on January 13 at the Chevron Houston Marathon.

New York Road Runners: Congratulations on a great performance at the Houston Marathon on January 13—2:47:49 was a great PR! How much of a PR was it, and what number marathon was this?
Kelly Chin: It was disappointing that I didn’t make the Olympic Trials qualification, but it was a big PR—about a 3 ½-minute PR. Houston was my sixth marathon.

NYRR: I know that attempting to qualify to compete in the U.S. Olympic Team Trials – Women’s Marathon has been a goal of yours for a while. You tried to meet the standard this fall at the Chicago Marathon, but dropped out of the race near the 10K mark. What happened there?
KC: I was injured. It was so frustrating because I did a really big buildup and was probably in the best shape of my life. Two weeks before the marathon, I went to London on a business trip and pulled my glute and couldn’t walk without a limp—it was quite painful to walk. A week before the marathon, I went to therapists and doctors to see if there was anything that could be done, but in the end there wasn’t really much they could do.

NYRR: Let’s go back to Houston. Can you describe your experience there?
KC: I went back and watched the video of me finishing, and I don’t recall feeling that terrible, but I looked awful at the finish. The wheels came off right around mile 20—I was running with another girl, Crystal. We created enough of a cushion until about 25 miles, and we just needed one more mile at the right pace, which did not happen. When I came down the straightway and saw the clock, and it was already 2:47, at that point, I just fell to my knees. It didn’t even really register with me that I had done that, but I guess it was just the physical reacting to the visual and mental. But I got right back up and finished the race.

NYRR: What made you decide to try for the qualifier in Houston?
KC: I always had Houston in the back of my mind if I didn’t get the qualifier in Chicago. Being injured, I couldn’t run at all. I really did want to start my buildup earlier, but I couldn’t. I contacted the race director at Houston and they gave me a number, and I just decided this is probably the fastest winter marathon I could find, and I just decided to go for it.

NYRR: How did you prepare for Houston?
KC: I only did eight weeks of mileage, but I usually like to do a better buildup of mileage over a longer period of time—about three or four months. My general marathon preparation is just long runs and long tempo runs—a lot of mileage really helps in the marathon.

For the Houston buildup, I didn’t do any speedwork—I was injured for six weeks and didn’t run a single step. Ten weeks to go, I finally got better. I went to John Henwood, my coach, and asked him to help get me there. We decided we didn’t need speedwork, and so that worked out, luckily. The whole buildup was strength, long runs, hill workouts. We built up mileage pretty quickly. At first I did a lot of my mileage on grass, and every week I would get a massage. I think it was a combo of being really careful with the surfaces I run on with the extra icing and massage—I did a lot of dynamic stretching and Pilates.

NYRR: How are you recovering from your effort in Houston?
KC: I don’t feel like I ran a marathon—usually my toenails fall off during a marathon, and this is the first time they didn’t and I don’t feel the usual soreness. I feel really normal. I did get a massage right after the race, but that was it. I think it might just be experience.

NYRR: You’ve progressed as a runner over the past few years—to what can you attribute this overall improvement? Is it more focused training, or simply a desire to do better?
KC: It’s really just hard work. In the last couple of years, I’ve just run more miles and been much more focused than I was in the past. There are no shortcuts, really. It’s just hard work and dedication. I definitely want to get this Trials time [in the future]—that’s definitely on my radar.

NYRR: Do you feel that living in New York and participating in local races has helped you develop as a runner?
KC: People ask me all the time how is it running in New York City. What makes it so motivating is that everyone runs in Central Park, and you can always see your competition training. It’s inspiring to see all the other 20-somethings out there running so fast. A few years ago, there weren’t nearly as many people who run as fast and it wasn’t as hard to win a race. They’ve definitely raised the bar, and it’s motivating to try to keep up.

NYRR: You work full-time for Lehman Brothers, correct?
KC: I am a business analyst. We develop technological solutions, and I support a software program for fixed income trading. I like what I do, and I’d like to stay at Lehman as long as I can.

NYRR: How do you achieve work-life-running balance?
KC: It helps that I have the [Moving Comfort New York] team. Most of my closest friends are runners, so it’s nice to run and socialize with them at the same time.

I think everyone has to have a balancing act even if they don’t run. I’m young and single and I don’t have a family, but there are so many people I work with who do have families, and I think everyone has that kind of challenge. For me, running and working is easier than working and having a family—for me, I can make my own schedule.

NYRR: Will you take some time off from competition now, or do you have plans to race again soon?
KC: I’ll take some time off—I have to sit down with John and see what we want to do in the spring. I’ve taken a yoga class and a Pilates class since the marathon, and I’m just enjoying life as a non-runner for a few days (or maybe weeks). I ate French fries today, and I’m giving blood in a few weeks—that’s something I couldn’t do while training for a marathon. When I was training, I was training through the holidays and I was running on my own and everyone was eating treats. But now that I’m finished with the marathon, everyone is back from the holidays and trying to follow their New Year’s resolutions.

I sometimes toy with the idea of doing Boston because all of the good women will be running the Trials the day before, so I could be the top American. I am planning on running the ING New York City Marathon this year.

Interview conducted January 17, 2008, and posted January 29, 2008.