Alan Culpepper
Alan Culpepper
Alan Culpepperis an American distance runner and two time United States Olympian. Along with competing on four World Championship teams, his accomplishments include finishing fourth in the Boston Marathon in 2005, winning the 2004 U.S. Olympic Trials Marathon and finishing 12th at the 2004 Olympic marathon in Athens. His 2:09:41 at the 2002 Chicago Marathon tied him with Alberto Salazar for the fastest ever debut marathon by an American, and remains his fastest marathon. Culpepper has won three U.S. Cross...
adds course focused friendly help helps knowing loops mental middle needs side spectator stay
Our sport needs spectator friendly and all the help it can get on that side. That adds to the allure of the race. And just from the mental side it helps you stay focused better knowing you do these loops and you're not just off on the course out in the middle of nowhere.
countries race
Most countries around the world, they just don't think that way. They think, 'I'm just going to get in the race and I'm just there to race.'
people profession surprised
Well, I think for those of us that are in it, as we make our profession this way, we're not probably as surprised as some other people are, honestly.
guy onto
I thought he was some guy who jumped onto the course.
people seen surprised
But for those of us in it, we're not as surprised as some other people are. We've seen it building.
problem three
Look, we have that problem solved, because there are only three of them in the Olympics. We got 187 of them out of the way for you.
attention felt miles mindful pay race trying
I felt good; I was trying to be mindful of what was coming. There's always that balance. You have to race but pay attention that there's another 15 miles or so.
bad conditions course people starts tough
I feel like the bad conditions and the tough course is to my advantage, just because a lot of people are going to be disheartened when it starts going poorly,
brian guy onto ran
When Brian went by me, I thought it was some guy who ran onto the course.
brian guy
When Brian went by me, I thought he was some guy that jumped on the course.
athens marathon prepared run tough whereas
For Athens and Boston, I had really prepared for tough conditions, whereas here you can just prepare to run the marathon at your pace,
crowd mind opens point tour
It went through my mind at that point that this is like the Tour de France, where the crowd opens up as you go by. It was really cool.
delicate race
It's a delicate balance. Because you don't want the race to go without you.
changes coming definitely dynamics opens race spot
Yeah, it changes the dynamics of the race because he is such a big-time marathoner. And I definitely think it opens up a spot because someone of his caliber, even if he were coming in at 75 percent, would be a 2:10-type runner.