Interview with James Carney

By Cecil Harris

After not running up to his high standards at the 2008 U.S. Olympic Trials – Men’s Marathon last November, James Carney decided not to get mad but to get even. In his next big race, Carney abandoned the conservative approach and ran aggressively, winning his first U.S. title at the USA Half-Marathon Championships in Houston in January. His winning time of 1:02:21 was more than 11 seconds ahead of runner-up Jason Lehmkuhle.

Carney, 29, promises more of the same the rest of the year. He and Fasil Bizuneh are the newest members of the formidable KIMbia racing team. Carney is about to relocate from Boulder, CO, to Eugene, OR, the site of the upcoming 2008 U.S. Olympic Team Trials – T rack & Field, where his goal is to qualify in the 10,000 meters. He ran a 27:43:64 at Stanford last year, and finished sixth in the 10,000 at the 2004 Olympic Trials. But he is stronger and more experienced now.

And Carney is not done with marathons, either. He had never completed the 26.2-mile distance before running a 2:16:54 at the Trials, good for 14th place overall. But it was not good enough for the determined Carney, a former small-college runner at Division II Millersville University in Pennsylvania, who has earned his place among the sport’s elite.

Carney will line up against the best on March 15 at the USA 8K Championship in New York’s Central Park. New York Road Runners caught up with Carney as he drove home following a workout in Boulder.

New York Road Runners: How do you feel about the way you’ve run and trained this year?
James Carney: This year has been awesome. I feel like I have a whole new outlook on what it takes to reach my goals and make the Olympic team. I just have a lot more confidence in myself now. I don’t think I had as much confidence in the past year or so. But now, I feel like I’m running at a whole new level now.

NYRR: After competing in the U.S. Olympic Team Trials – Men’s Marathon this past November, will you also compete in the Trials on the track?
JC: Yeah, definitely. I have the Olympic standard in the 10,000, so I’m going to try to make the team in that event.

NYRR: What do you think your chances will come down to in that race?
JC: I think there are six to eight guys who have a legitimate chance to win that race. I’m one of them. I’m training very well right now. If I can keep this momentum going for the next three or four months, then I think I have a pretty good chance.

NYRR: What are your thoughts on how you ran at the U.S. Olympic Team Trials – Men’s Marathon?
JC: I was really disappointed in how I ran. But that also has fueled my fire for this year. I came into that race maybe scared of the distance a lot. I probably ran my last five miles as fast as anybody, with the possible exception of Ryan Hall. There’s nothing worse than finishing a race knowing that you had a lot more left. My preparation for the race, I thought, was spot on. I’m not going to change a whole lot in my preparation the next time I run a marathon. I’m just going to run more aggressively. I’m going to run from the front. I’ve been telling myself that in 2008 I’m never going to run like that again.

NYRR: So, did aggressiveness pay off for you at the USA Half in Houston?
JC: Yeah, it did. I just took it right from the gun. Through the early miles, I had a couple of 4:35s in there, and a 4:32. There’s a turnaround point in the Houston course where you have to head into the wind, and my splits were dropping like 10 seconds a mile. That cost me a lot of time. But that race gave me a lot of confidence that I can run better in my races this year.

NYRR: What else did you learn about yourself after running in the Trials?
JC: It was the first marathon I finished. Now, I know I can run a marathon a whole hell of a lot faster. All I have to do is be a lot more aggressive with it. I tried to finesse it, instead of just being myself and running hard the whole way. I thought at the time, “Well, will I be able to finish?” [He laughs.] Going into it, my coach and I looked at the course, and we said, “Okay, it’s a hilly course. A lot of people probably will go out aggressively and they’ll fade, so you need to be more conservative.” But I was way too conservative. The course wasn’t nearly as bad as everyone made it out to be. I just needed to really stick my foot in the fire, and run with the top three to five guys, and then if I come unglued, at least I would know I gave it my best. Looking back on the race and comparing myself to my physiological peers—guys like Jason Lehmkuhle and Dan Browne—those guys finished fifth and sixth at the Trials. I competed well against those guys in the months leading up to the race, but I wasn’t even close to those guys [at the Trials]. That leads me to believe that I have a lot more potential in the marathon. The next time around will be a lot better.

NYRR: Did you wish you had completed a marathon prior to the Trials?
JC: Yeah. But I don’t second-guess myself. There was never really a time where I thought another marathon would have fit into my schedule. Maybe I could have run one last spring, but I was running on the track and enjoying myself, so I didn’t want to disrupt that at all. And I’ve got a lot stronger since then because of my preparation for the Marathon Trials.

NYRR: Did your parents come up to New York from Orlando for the Trials?
JC: They did, and they had a fantastic time. My mother got to meet Rod Stewart, who was there. That was cool. She was raving about that [laughs]. She was trying to sidle up next to him and get a picture taken with him without him knowing it. But he busted her on it [laughs]. He was like, “Are you trying to get a photo with me? Is that what you’re trying to do here?” He said, “Get over here.” He put his arm around her, and she was very excited.

NYRR: Did she tell Rod Stewart, “My son is in the race?”
JC: She did. And every time I came past [Tavern on the Green], he’d make up a song with my name in it [laughs]. He sounds like a funny guy. He’s a real entertainer.

NYRR: Meeting Rod Stewart, that’s a great memory for your mom to take from the race.
JC: It was really great to be part of that event. I thought the start of the race was awesome. We’re at Rockefeller Center. It’s still dark out. We’re on national television. That’s the stuff that gives a runner goose bumps.

NYRR: You’re greatly admired by a lot of small-college runners because of your background, Millersville, a Division II school. What kind of response did you get from those runners after the Trials?
JC: I feel like I let them down a little bit. I wish I had been up in the mix a little bit. Then if I didn’t finish in the top three, at least I would’ve gone down swinging. I’m almost at the point now that if I’m not in the top three [at the Olympic 10,000 meters] Trials, then I might as well step off the track. If I finish fourth, then I might as well be last. That’s the difference for me between this year and last year. Last year, I was just kind of happy to be there. This year, I want to make the team. I think about that every day. I try not to dwell on it. I try to enjoy the journey. But it’s hard not to think about it because it’s something I’ve been dreaming about for the last 15 years.

NYRR: The Olympic Trials were overshadowed by the death of Ryan Shay. I know that you and Ryan were friends. What are your thoughts about him?
JC: I had a really tough time with that. I was pretty close with Ryan. I was never in the same training camp with him, but every single race I was in last year, he was there. Among us runners, there’s definitely a brotherhood. You definitely get very close to one another. We’re arch-enemies when that gun goes off, but as soon as the race is over, we’re friends again. I remember the good times, hanging out with Ryan after races and just shooting the [breeze], having a good time. [Pause] His death has really affected me. I don’t want to think about it too much. I kind of get choked up a little bit. For a while, Ryan and I had the same agent [Ray Flynn], and we would room together at meets. He was always a great guy to hang out with. I really miss him.

NYRR: When I spoke with you this past September before the Trials, you said, “I just hope the winner of the Trials is on “SportsCenter” that night and on the cover of Sports Illustrated. That would be great.” “SportsCenter” that night reported extensively on Ryan Shay’s death, which was understandable, but there were no highlights of the race. How frustrating is it to you as an elite runner to have national TV and radio give major coverage to running only when there’s some sort of tragedy?
JC: I think about that sometimes. It’s a little bit ironic. Ryan Shay and I probably have the same outlook. What Ryan Hall did on November 3 was absolutely remarkable. It was one of the greatest performances ever by a distance runner, an American distance runner, not only because he won, but also the way he won. It’s almost like the way Tiger Woods wins. It was so dominant, and he wore his emotions on his sleeve. It’s ironical that the performance Ryan Hall put on was overshadowed by Ryan Shay’s passing.

NYRR: What do you see as the future of Ryan Hall, particularly if he wins an Olympic medal this year and has the forum and the stature to speak out on issues—?
JC: I’m hoping that Ryan Hall will become an ambassador for our sport and make the sport better for all of us. That’s what I’m hoping for, and I think that’s what Ryan Shay would have hoped for. I hope that will happen if Ryan Hall wins an Olympic medal, or if he wins [the marathon in] Boston or New York, whatever Joe Public sees as the biggest race in the world. The best thing we have going for us is that we have a guy who is winning so well and with such dominance, and he’s so charismatic. I don’t know anybody who doesn’t like Ryan Hall or says a bad word about him. He’s a great guy.

NYRR: How about the rest of our Olympic marathon team, Dathan Ritzenhein and Brian Sell?
JC: I couldn’t ask for three better guys representing the U.S. Ryan Hall’s a great guy. Dathan is in my training group, and we’re both coached by the same guy. And Brian Sell is a guy I’ve known for a long time, since we were ran against each other in college. We’re pretty good friends. We’re both Pennsylvania guys. We both sucked in high school [laughs], but now we’re both enjoying the fruits of our labor. Brian’s kind of like me, a blue-collar guy who gives hope to a lot of other guys from the smaller schools. I’m kind of the track version of Brian Sell.

NYRR: Do you still see yourself as an underdog when you’re competing?
JC: I’m starting to not see myself as an underdog. But I think everybody else still does. I still don’t get much respect, but that’s fine. That fuels my fire. In my mind, I know I can mix it up with anybody at this point. I’m not going to back down from anybody at this point. It’s almost an advantage for me that people don’t necessarily respect my athletic ability. If I’m in a race and I make a move, then they’ll less likely to cover it. But if an Alan Webb or a Dathan makes a move, everybody is going to cover it.

NYRR: If Dathan qualifies for the Olympic Team in the 10,000 after having already qualified in the marathon, what do you think he’ll do?
JC: Personally, if I were him in that position, I’d just run the marathon [laughs]. I think he has a great shot at medaling in the marathon. I think you have to run the event where you have the best chance of getting an Olympic medal. The 10,000 meters is just so difficult right now. The Africans can close in, like, 51 seconds in the last 400 meters. It’s just mind-boggling. He’s definitely going to run the Trials in the 10,000. I don’t see why he wouldn’t run the Trials in his hometown in front of the biggest track meet in the U.S. every four years. The track is a mile from his house, so why wouldn’t he run the 10,000?

NYRR: What sort of race do you expect at the USA 8K?
JC: I’m pumped up about it. It’s going to be fast. It’s definitely the deepest road championship in the country, because it’s a distance that anybody from milers to marathoners can run. There are so many good guys in the race. We’re definitely going to go out quickly, which is good for me. I’m kind of a strength-type runner, not a guy with much raw speed. I’ve got that overall strength from marathon training, and this race definitely plays to my strengths.

NYRR: What’s your schedule between the USA 8K and the Olympic Trials?
JC: After the 8K, I’m staying on the east coast, at sea level, for about a week and a half. Then I’m going to run the World Cross Country Championships in Edinburgh, Scotland, on March 30. After that, my coach wants me to take a mini-break and then run some events on the track before the Trials. I’m going to move up to Eugene when I come back from the World Cross, so I can be close to my coach and my training partners. That’ll be good because there are a lot of meets I can run in Eugene, 5Ks and 3Ks, races like that.

NYRR: Are you looking forward to the move to Eugene?
JC: Well, Eugene is a pretty cool town. The only thing I’m not really into is the rain [laughs]. That’s why it has taken me so long to move there. I just held out as long as I could [laughs]. I’ll be up there in April, and it will still be raining probably. I figure it will stop raining there sometime in May. I’m going from one of the sunniest locations in the country to one of the grayest.

NYRR: You have a bachelor’s degree in finance and a master’s degree in logistics. When do you intend to work in finance full-time?
JC: I guess we’ll cross that bridge in a few years [laughs]. I would like to eventually. But I’m really excited about my running right now.

NYRR: When is your next marathon?
JC: I don’t know. Maybe New York. I haven’t done the [ING] New York City Marathon yet. That would be kind of nice, to come back to New York and get some revenge [laughs]. That’s one of the reasons I’m running the 8K. I just want to get back to New York and run fast because I know I can. And I just know that in the marathon, there’s a lot more in the tank. If I go out and mix it up with the best guys in the world in the first half, I’d be happy and maybe I could hang on. My coach thinks I have the ability to run a 2:08 or 2:09, which would be awesome. According to my track times, I project to eventually running a 2:08, 2:09 marathon.

NYRR: Well, we wish you well next week in New York and beyond.
JC: Thanks a lot.