duathlon.com recently sat down for an interview with top American distance runner Bob Kennedy.  Bob primarily races the 3000 meters and 5000 meters on the European track circuit.  Bob has the American Record in the 3000 meters (set in 1998 - 7:30.89) and 5000 meters (1996 -12:58.21).  In setting the 5000 record, Bob was the first non-African to break 13 minutes.  He competed in the 5000 meters in the 1992 Olympics and 1996 Olympics, finishing 6th in 1996.  Bob is coached by his agent, Kim McDonald. Bob grew up in Ohio and graduated from Indiana University in 1992.  Now 28, he currently resides in Indianapolis with his wife, Melina, and 2 dogs. 

Part I of the interview:

duathlon.com:    What has been your most memorable race since graduating from Indiana University in 1992?

Bob Kennedy:   Two races come to mind.  In 1994 running the mile at the Prefontaine Classic.  I had a stress fracture all spring and I was on only 3 weeks of track training.  It was my first major injury and I was really nervous. I ended up coming around 5 people in the last 150 meters and winning by another 20 meters on top of that, in my PR, which is 3:56.21. That was thrilling because of the uncertainty, when you pull something off that you are not certain you can do.

The other race was the Olympic Final in Atlanta. Even though I didn't medal and I finished 6^th, I was really proud of myself in that I laid it on the line and I gave it my best shot. It was thrilling to do it in front of the US crowd - 80,000 people, 79,000 of which knew nothing about distance running, but they went ballistic anyway.  I ran 1:57.8 for the last 800 meters and still got dusted. 

duathlon.com:  Could you hear the crowd cheering?

Bob Kennedy:  Kind of in a very surreal way. In one sense it was like any other race and in another sense it was different, if that makes any sense.

duathlon.com:  What has been your most disappointing race?

Bob Kennedy: A couple. Going back to the end of 1997 when I dropped out of the Berlin 5000m and dropping out of the Zurich 5000m this year. Up until those 2 races I have never dropped out of a race.

duathlon.com: The Zurich 5000m was 4 days after setting the American Record in the 3000m.  What happened?

Bob Kennedy:  A combination of things. I didn't recover as well, and it was abnormally hot and humid. It was over 90 degrees. I don't think I was focused. I had a problem this year for most of the year in the sense that I trained as hard or harder than I have ever trained before. I put in more miles, I was running faster in the interval sessions. So when I stepped on the track in places like Zurich and Paris and all these places I expected to perform better than I ever had. And what I forgot was that you still have to go out there and focus and run hard and hurt and go through the pain and make the decisions to keep going and not back off.   I forgot that. I just expected to step on the track and have it happen.

And so I think that is part of what happened in Zurich. I was able to correct that in the last week of the season [a 13:03 5000m in Berlin and the Grand Prix Final in Moscow, a tactical 3000m in which Bob ran 7:52] which was really the only positive going into the next year. That kind of retooled my mind back to the old Bob Kennedy where I was always tough.  Maybe I got beat or I didn't run quite so well, but I always ran tough every time out. I kicked myself in the ass and chewed myself out before I raced in Berlin and hopefully I got that taken care of.

duathlon.com:  Before you refocused in the last 2 races of the 1998 season, how would your races go?

Bob Kennedy:  Mostly during the races I would step on the line and feel great for the first 3 or 4 laps, which is the easy part. As you know, the pain goes in waves.  It really hurts and then it gets better, and it really hurts and then it gets better, and as long as you keep sticking it out through the parts that really hurt, you end up doing alright. But as soon as it got to the point when it really hurt bad and I had to make that decision to get through it, I would just bale, because I think I was asking myself 'Why isn't this working? I have trained harder than I ever had'.  But it was working.  The physical part was working but the mental part wasn't. I forgot to combine them both.

duathlon.com:  And so after you refocused for the last 2 races of 1998 in Berlin and Moscow....?

Bob Kennedy:  It was amazing really. I really was hard on myself before Berlin. I asked myself, 'Why are you doing this?'  I have been doing this for 9 years and am I just getting tired, is it getting too normal, is it not exciting anymore? I make a lot of money, is that making me complacent?  The bottom line was none of those factors should matter. I want to get back to the core of why I do this and I do this because I want to be good. .

Going into Berlin I wondered if something was physically wrong or my training wasn't proper. But I said going into Berlin I don't care if I run 13:40 I am going to run tough the whole way. I'm not going to give up, I am not going to drop out. And that was the difference. So you don't put the pressure on yourself that I have to run 13:00 or 13:02. The pressure you put on yourself is that I have to run tough. I know when I do that that I am going to run solid.

The difference in focus at Berlin was amazing.  I was back to my old self. I was happy because, although it took a negative to change it, I think in the end it was a positive, because I actually realized it on my own. And I corrected the problem which is going to be more effective in the future.

duathlon.com:  Have you ever had the urge to do a duathlon?

Bob Kennedy: I can't say I have ever had an urge to do a duathlon, but I can say that it would be interesting.