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CNN Sunday Morning
Interview With Julia Emmons
Aired November 02, 2003 - 09:21 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: It is a seven-day odyssey of running and running and running. British explorer Ranulph Fiennes, makes that Sir Fiennes (sic), is in New York this morning for the New York City marathon, which will be his seventh marathon -- not just his seventh marathon, but his seventh marathon in seven days. He ran number four in Singapore on Thursday, and then it was on to London and Cairo before heading state-side.
And if you are wondering what would possess a man to do such a thing, tune in Monday when Sir Fiennes (sic) joins the "LIVE FROM..." crew at 3:00 p.m. Eastern time.
OK, while you are grabbing that first cup of coffee this morning, 34,000 people are getting ready to run the New York City marathon. If you think running 26.2 miles is beyond your wildest dreams, oh, think again. Here to tell us how anyone can do it, even you, is Julia Emmons, executive director of the Atlanta Track Club. Good morning.
JULIA EMMONS, ATLANTA TRACK CLUB: Good morning.
COSTELLO: Is it 9:00? Oh, it's 9:25. The marathon is already under way in New York City.
EMMONS: But the citizen athlete has not started yet.
COSTELLO: The citizen athlete. One of the citizen athletes this year, Sean P. Diddy Combs. Have you heard about this?
EMMONS: I have. It's wonderful.
COSTELLO: He says in eight weeks he could train to run the marathon, 26.2 miles, and he is going to beat Oprah Winfrey's time.
EMMONS: Well, we'll see. I would have my doubts. Oprah really did train and she did it in under four hours. And you really generally need about six months of good training to do a decent marathon. So I think Mr. Combs is going to be quite miserable.
COSTELLO: If you have seen any of his television coverage of his training, he is...
(CROSSTALK)
COSTELLO: But you know, I ran the marathon in Washington, D.C. And the mantra was, if Oprah can do it, I can do it. She has really given runners the sense that they can do it if she can. That's a good thing.
EMMONS: It's a wonderful thing. And a citizen athlete really can do it. But you do need about six months of decent training. The whole clue to it, that Mr. Combs is ignoring, is that you have a long run every week the way you did, and then you slowly build -- add a mile every two weeks. So you start at six or seven miles, the next two weeks eight miles on your long run, nine, 10, and eventually you get to 20. And you feel pretty good, and you won't get injured. I think Mr. Combs, well, bless his heart.
COSTELLO: I can't wait to see how he does. He is going to take off in, what, oh, about five minutes.
Let's get back to anyone can run the marathon. I know you say it takes a lot of training, months and months of training. What about the person who says, you know, I can't even run a mile. How am I going to run 10 or 26.2 miles?
EMMONS: Well, that's how you start. And I would actually -- if I was the citizen athlete who hasn't started yet, I would take a full year and by late spring, I would be running a long run of about six miles. I would start doing short little races around town. Every town in the States have five kilometer, a three-mile race or a six- mile race. And then I would, at that point, with a base of about six months I would go back to that program I mentioned, that you run one long run on the weekend, and have some friends. It gets pretty boring after a while. And so it's really a lot more fun with your fellow suckers (ph).
COSTELLO: And when you talk about long runs on the weekend, this comes after, what, four months of training, and we're talking about a 10-mile run, and then two weeks later...
EMMONS: Later, 11 -- 11 -- no, you run every week, a long run. And then a couple of other runs, of course, during the week. And that long run, you slowly add a mile to that long run every week, every couple of weeks. So you run a 10 and a 10, and then you go up to 11 miles, and then 11 miles, 12 and 12, 13 and 13. Eventually you're...
(CROSSTALK)
COSTELLO: Julia, can't you hear people in the audience going, come on?
EMMONS: We're not talking running with elegance or fast. Because you are training at a talking pace, which could be a 10 minute or 11-minute pace. Only the truly gifted can do six minutes, seven minute paces.
COSTELLO: I think the 2001 woman winner of the New York marathon ran it in, what, two hours and 24 minutes.
EMMONS: That's right. That's the record.
COSTELLO: That's insane.
EMMONS: That's very good.
COSTELLO: You know, the thing that amazed me as I was running my marathon, as I looked around, and not all of the people running seemed to be in very good shape. There were some very heavy people running. I was stunned at that.
EMMONS: Well, as long as they have trained, they can still be pretty heavy, and they may be just heavy body types, or they may be just heavy. But you have to have purpose and determination, and then get this long run up to the marathon length.
COSTELLO: And what is a reasonable time for your first marathon?
EMMONS: Well, I would say around four hours, four to five hours. If you are gifted, maybe three and a half.
COSTELLO: How many marathons have you run?
EMMONS: I've done 20.
COSTELLO: Oh, my gosh.
EMMONS: I know, I know. It's a lot. But quite along time ago. And I just -- I liked it. I liked the intellectual challenge of it, and you learned over time to look at it as a series of shorter distances. The only way to think about it. So I would have the first 10-mile distance, and then there's the 15-mile. And at 15 miles, there's a period of about five miles, between 15 miles and 20 miles that you have to sort of look around and become friends with somebody going your pace, because it's the really...
COSTELLO: Or get support from the crowd.
EMMONS: Support from the crowd. Certainly in New York you'd get that. And then at 20 miles you only got a 10k. So I direct the Peachtree (ph) road race, so I envision the Peachtree (ph) road race, and those last six miles of the marathon I would be in the first mile of the Peachtree (ph) road race, the second mile, which is a downhill mile, that kind of thing, and then you just talk your way through that last six miles.
COSTELLO: Well, you know what I was doing at mile 24? Crying. I was stopping. I literally walked it.
EMMONS: Did you enjoy it?
COSTELLO: No, in terror that I wasn't going to finish this thing. In fact, the Marines were waiting for us at the end. And I kissed him right on the lips.
EMMONS: Well, that was great. Great.
(CROSSTALK)
COSTELLO: So, Renay, there is your bit of inspiration from Julia this morning. So I expect you to be running after work this morning. RENAY SAN MIGUEL, CNN ANCHOR: Well, actually, I had a quick question for Ms. Emmons. Do they let you use music, run with music, like in headphones, during the New York City marathon?
EMMONS: I'm not sure they would yank it off your face. We tend to prefer people are aware of what's going on around them. And if you are wearing anything that prevents the outside environment...
COSTELLO: Yeah, because it could be dangerous.
(CROSSTALK)
EMMONS: So just in general we prefer, we meaning the running community...
COSTELLO: You have to enjoy your own thoughts, Renay.
SAN MIGUEL: Well, thank you for that. I guess that's too bad, because if they put like the theme from Rocky, I could do that marathon in two hours or something like that.
EMMONS: You'll hear a lot of it. A lot of people bring their radios and play it for you.
SAN MIGUEL: Yeah, there you go. Put those loudspeakers on.
Thanks so much. We appreciate that.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Aired November 2, 2003 - 09:21 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: It is a seven-day odyssey of running and running and running. British explorer Ranulph Fiennes, makes that Sir Fiennes (sic), is in New York this morning for the New York City marathon, which will be his seventh marathon -- not just his seventh marathon, but his seventh marathon in seven days. He ran number four in Singapore on Thursday, and then it was on to London and Cairo before heading state-side.
And if you are wondering what would possess a man to do such a thing, tune in Monday when Sir Fiennes (sic) joins the "LIVE FROM..." crew at 3:00 p.m. Eastern time.
OK, while you are grabbing that first cup of coffee this morning, 34,000 people are getting ready to run the New York City marathon. If you think running 26.2 miles is beyond your wildest dreams, oh, think again. Here to tell us how anyone can do it, even you, is Julia Emmons, executive director of the Atlanta Track Club. Good morning.
JULIA EMMONS, ATLANTA TRACK CLUB: Good morning.
COSTELLO: Is it 9:00? Oh, it's 9:25. The marathon is already under way in New York City.
EMMONS: But the citizen athlete has not started yet.
COSTELLO: The citizen athlete. One of the citizen athletes this year, Sean P. Diddy Combs. Have you heard about this?
EMMONS: I have. It's wonderful.
COSTELLO: He says in eight weeks he could train to run the marathon, 26.2 miles, and he is going to beat Oprah Winfrey's time.
EMMONS: Well, we'll see. I would have my doubts. Oprah really did train and she did it in under four hours. And you really generally need about six months of good training to do a decent marathon. So I think Mr. Combs is going to be quite miserable.
COSTELLO: If you have seen any of his television coverage of his training, he is...
(CROSSTALK)
COSTELLO: But you know, I ran the marathon in Washington, D.C. And the mantra was, if Oprah can do it, I can do it. She has really given runners the sense that they can do it if she can. That's a good thing.
EMMONS: It's a wonderful thing. And a citizen athlete really can do it. But you do need about six months of decent training. The whole clue to it, that Mr. Combs is ignoring, is that you have a long run every week the way you did, and then you slowly build -- add a mile every two weeks. So you start at six or seven miles, the next two weeks eight miles on your long run, nine, 10, and eventually you get to 20. And you feel pretty good, and you won't get injured. I think Mr. Combs, well, bless his heart.
COSTELLO: I can't wait to see how he does. He is going to take off in, what, oh, about five minutes.
Let's get back to anyone can run the marathon. I know you say it takes a lot of training, months and months of training. What about the person who says, you know, I can't even run a mile. How am I going to run 10 or 26.2 miles?
EMMONS: Well, that's how you start. And I would actually -- if I was the citizen athlete who hasn't started yet, I would take a full year and by late spring, I would be running a long run of about six miles. I would start doing short little races around town. Every town in the States have five kilometer, a three-mile race or a six- mile race. And then I would, at that point, with a base of about six months I would go back to that program I mentioned, that you run one long run on the weekend, and have some friends. It gets pretty boring after a while. And so it's really a lot more fun with your fellow suckers (ph).
COSTELLO: And when you talk about long runs on the weekend, this comes after, what, four months of training, and we're talking about a 10-mile run, and then two weeks later...
EMMONS: Later, 11 -- 11 -- no, you run every week, a long run. And then a couple of other runs, of course, during the week. And that long run, you slowly add a mile to that long run every week, every couple of weeks. So you run a 10 and a 10, and then you go up to 11 miles, and then 11 miles, 12 and 12, 13 and 13. Eventually you're...
(CROSSTALK)
COSTELLO: Julia, can't you hear people in the audience going, come on?
EMMONS: We're not talking running with elegance or fast. Because you are training at a talking pace, which could be a 10 minute or 11-minute pace. Only the truly gifted can do six minutes, seven minute paces.
COSTELLO: I think the 2001 woman winner of the New York marathon ran it in, what, two hours and 24 minutes.
EMMONS: That's right. That's the record.
COSTELLO: That's insane.
EMMONS: That's very good.
COSTELLO: You know, the thing that amazed me as I was running my marathon, as I looked around, and not all of the people running seemed to be in very good shape. There were some very heavy people running. I was stunned at that.
EMMONS: Well, as long as they have trained, they can still be pretty heavy, and they may be just heavy body types, or they may be just heavy. But you have to have purpose and determination, and then get this long run up to the marathon length.
COSTELLO: And what is a reasonable time for your first marathon?
EMMONS: Well, I would say around four hours, four to five hours. If you are gifted, maybe three and a half.
COSTELLO: How many marathons have you run?
EMMONS: I've done 20.
COSTELLO: Oh, my gosh.
EMMONS: I know, I know. It's a lot. But quite along time ago. And I just -- I liked it. I liked the intellectual challenge of it, and you learned over time to look at it as a series of shorter distances. The only way to think about it. So I would have the first 10-mile distance, and then there's the 15-mile. And at 15 miles, there's a period of about five miles, between 15 miles and 20 miles that you have to sort of look around and become friends with somebody going your pace, because it's the really...
COSTELLO: Or get support from the crowd.
EMMONS: Support from the crowd. Certainly in New York you'd get that. And then at 20 miles you only got a 10k. So I direct the Peachtree (ph) road race, so I envision the Peachtree (ph) road race, and those last six miles of the marathon I would be in the first mile of the Peachtree (ph) road race, the second mile, which is a downhill mile, that kind of thing, and then you just talk your way through that last six miles.
COSTELLO: Well, you know what I was doing at mile 24? Crying. I was stopping. I literally walked it.
EMMONS: Did you enjoy it?
COSTELLO: No, in terror that I wasn't going to finish this thing. In fact, the Marines were waiting for us at the end. And I kissed him right on the lips.
EMMONS: Well, that was great. Great.
(CROSSTALK)
COSTELLO: So, Renay, there is your bit of inspiration from Julia this morning. So I expect you to be running after work this morning. RENAY SAN MIGUEL, CNN ANCHOR: Well, actually, I had a quick question for Ms. Emmons. Do they let you use music, run with music, like in headphones, during the New York City marathon?
EMMONS: I'm not sure they would yank it off your face. We tend to prefer people are aware of what's going on around them. And if you are wearing anything that prevents the outside environment...
COSTELLO: Yeah, because it could be dangerous.
(CROSSTALK)
EMMONS: So just in general we prefer, we meaning the running community...
COSTELLO: You have to enjoy your own thoughts, Renay.
SAN MIGUEL: Well, thank you for that. I guess that's too bad, because if they put like the theme from Rocky, I could do that marathon in two hours or something like that.
EMMONS: You'll hear a lot of it. A lot of people bring their radios and play it for you.
SAN MIGUEL: Yeah, there you go. Put those loudspeakers on.
Thanks so much. We appreciate that.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
