Interview with Gretchen Grindle

By Rachel Wallack

Gretchen Grindle, 29, qualified for the 2008 U.S. Olympic Team Trials – Women’s Marathon with a time of 2:46:15 at the 2006 St. George Marathon in her first attempt at the distance. She relocated to New York City in August 2007 with her fiancé, and found the move from Idaho to be good for her running career. Grindle joined the New York Athletic Club (NYAC) in the fall and has enjoyed training with a team again—something, she says, she hadn’t done since her days at Colorado College, where she was a two-time NCAA Division III All American in cross country.

New York Road Runners: How did you feel about your training routine leading up to the Olympic Trials race? Was joining NYAC, and training with your teammate [and fellow Olympic Trials qualifier] Michelle Rorke, an important part of the process for you?

Gretchen Grindle: It was great. I haven’t trained with a team since college; I’ve had training partners, but not a team to work with. Now there’s always someone around to work out with. Both in workouts and in races, there’s always someone pushing you. It’s a great group.
As far as training, Michelle and I started doing repeat Harlem hills in the cold. I ran three or four 70-mile weeks, which may be normal for some other runners, but for me it was a really big deal and a huge accomplishment.

NYRR: You work full time at Merrill Lynch as a financial advisor. Did you take much time off to train?

GG: I worked straight through—even Friday. I’m on a team of financial advisors and one of the guys just got married this weekend; it was a super busy time. Working is good for me; it helps me keep things in perspective. But in retrospect, I should have taken at least one day off before the race.

The work team is really supportive of my running. I had top directors from Merrill Lynch calling me on Friday. The company is really supportive.

NYRR: What was your plan just before the race? How were you feeling in the final moments before the gun?

GG: I really wasn’t that nervous. There have been lots of other races that I was a lot more nervous for. I had kind of a string of disappointing races—starting with the 15K [the NYRR Colon Cancer Challenge on March 9] and then a 10K in Long Island—that didn’t feel that great. In both of those I’d gone out too fast, so for this race my plan was to go out more conservatively. I planned to run 6:15 pace for the first couple of miles and then start picking people off. From talking to others beforehand, I thought I was ready, and I felt really relaxed. I felt really good about my training. I felt great about the quality of my preparation.

NYRR: You ran the race in 3:04:05 for 120th place. Tell us about the race. What was going through your mind?

GG: It was not my day. Unfortunately it’s a big stage to have a bad day. I feel like, first off, falling a bit behind and not being able to change gears to catch the others didn’t feel great. I was thinking, on a normal day I could run with these girls. I was thinking there’s a problem, and I was calculating splits. I kept telling myself to keep a positive attitude. I started thinking about how I didn’t get lapped. I had to focus on other little things in order to keep going. It was a laugh-or-cry situation, and I wouldn’t let myself cry and drop out—that’s defeat in my mind. I was thinking about smiling and keeping my head up.

I think I’ll be most improved in 2012. I think I’ll give myself that award.

NYRR: So, the race wasn’t exactly perfect. Was there another aspect of it, such as the overall experience, that you could enjoy? After all, it was the Olympic Trials and you had earned the right to be there.

GG: The race was really fun. At the technical meeting, I realized I was sitting behind Deena Kastor. She’s from Colorado [Kastor formerly lived in Alamosa, CO]. I’ve never idolized anyone, but I realized it was really great to see her there. At the start, she started talking to me. There were about 20 porta-potties for160 women. She turned to me and said, “Even if they had a porta-potty for each of us, there’d still be a line.” I’m not a shy person, but I was in awe. Looking around, I knew some of the women from past races and from the team, and there was so much support. It was really cool to look around and think, “Wow, these are my peers.”

The weather was perfect at first. Then the wind picked up after my first two laps. But the support in Boston was fantastic. Everyone had a cowbell and was out there cheering. For a while, I ran next to Joan Benoit Samuelson and the crowd was going wild. So many people stayed out in the far northeastern corner of the race, and they were still out there cheering me on—looking me up and yelling “let’s go Gretchen”—even on my last lap.

NYRR: What was it like racing in Boston with all of the excitement based on two incredible days of running events? How did it compare to running in New York?

GG: Later that day, I ran into a girl from high school, and she came up to me congratulating me and talking about the race.  People came out of the woodwork—to wish me good luck before and wish me well afterward.

These two cities [New York and Boston] are unbelievable. I’m from Portland [OR] and there’s a lot of running, but not the crowd support. Boston and New York are different. People come out to cheer for even normal 4-mile runs in the park—like yours [NYRR].

NYRR: What are your plans now?

GG: I want to do some shorter races. Training for long races out in Idaho is so fun—there are so many long roads that go on for miles. Central Park is so much better than I imagined for running, but it’s tough when you’re training, with multiple laps, for the long races.
I’m looking forward to changing my focus and doing some shorter stuff and maybe some track work. And I’m really looking forward to continuing the team competition and road races. I’d like to really see if there’s another race that clicks for me. I’m not quitting the marathon, but it’s a fun opportunity to try other races. I haven’t done a 5K since college. It’s kind of fun to try those again. It’s great when you have a kick. I did a race at the New Balance Track & Field Center at the Armory this year. I just showed up for a speed workout because it was cold outside. I seeded myself in the second heat of the 1500. Then I realized I was running a 1500 on a 200-meter track. It was almost funny, and so bizarre, to run that fast on a track.

Interview conducted April 22, 2008, and posted April 24, 2008