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Sports Backers Blog

Q&A With Esther Erb

By: Hannah Chapman


Sports Backers: You placed 27th at the 2012 Olympic Trials Marathon in Houston, TX on January 14th, with a time of 2:37:21 – are you pleased with your performance?

Esther Erb: I know it’s greedy to run over a 2-minute PR and not be satisfied, but at the same time I know I could have run faster. Through 21 miles, I was still on sub-2:36 pace, but then the fatigue obviously caught up with me in the last 5 miles. If I had started out more conservatively, I could have run a lot more evenly if not forward in those final miles. That being said, it could have gone a lot worse and a PR is never to be taken for granted. Overall, I’m still very pleased despite knowing that I underperformed.

 

SB: What were you feeling inside on the home stretch of that 26.2-mile road race?

EE:  Starting around mile 21, my goal was just not to go backwards and lose my position. I knew it was only going to get uglier, but my only hope was to hold it together as well as I could. I’m pretty sure I was purely focused on finishing as respectably as possible from that point on.

 

SB:  That being your first marathon on U.S. soil, how did it compare to previous marathons you’ve completed abroad?

EE: There were two big differences. This was the first time I actually had women around me the whole way in a marathon. The depth in the American women’s marathon has grown so much in the last 4 years, and I was glad to come home and be part of such an awesome event. The other major difference was that I had my immediate family and college teammates scattered all over the looped course. I had much smaller cheering squads in Vienna and Berlin, and in Seville I knew absolutely no one and didn’t even speak the language. I think those races taught me to be independent, but also helped me to cherish all of the support I got at the trials. That’s part of why some spectators who didn’t know me kept remarking on my smile. They couldn’t believe I was smiling almost the entire race, but it was only because every time I saw someone who I knew was there just for me, a big smile stretched across my face and stayed plastered there until the pain set in around mile 21.  

 

SB: What did you take away from your two-year stint in Vienna, Austria? What did you find most rewarding about that experience?

EE: The most rewarding part of that experience was getting to know my father’s mother’s relatives in Vienna. It taught me so much about myself and family life, and re-solidified how lucky I am to have such a diverse, yet incredibly supportive and amazing family. Second to that would be my experience singing and traveling with a world-renowned professional choir, all the fun I had teaching English to Austrian high school students, music to pre-school students and, of course, all of the awesome running I did in Vienna which led to me qualifying for the trials and earning a highly-coveted spot on the ZAP elite team. 

 

SB: If you go a day or week without running, what do you learn about yourself?

EE: I remember how much I love running. Whenever I have a day off I’ll inevitably see some recreational jogger out on the road or trails and get jealous. Luckily I’ve never taken a full week off so I only know what a few days feels like. I mostly feel like I imagine most people feel like when they go on stimulants. I’m overly energetic, my usual appetite calms down and I have a hard time sleeping.

 

SB:  What’s your day-to-day life like as you live and train as an Olympic hopeful with ZAP Fitness in Blowing Rock, NC?

EE:  I was describing my daily life to Anna Spiers and her reaction summed it up pretty well, she said “Oh, so it’s like The Biggest Loser except you’re all really fit.” Essentially all we do is sleep, eat, run, and take care of some of the chores that come with living on a mini-ranch in the Blue Ridge. 

 

SB:  When you analyze your entire career, it does appear as though you’ve gotten more serious about running in recent years. Do you feel like you are just now starting to come into your element as a runner?

EE:  Absolutely. Coming from the puddle of DIII via the small pond of Austrian distance running, the great lake of American road racing was quite a leap but I’m slowly finding my place. I’d say it’s just been in the last year that I’ve slowly accepted my position as a professional in the U.S. running scene. To be honest, I feel like I’m still in the process of earning it.

 

Favorites:

Shoes:  Training:  Reebok Verona Supreme and Road Supreme

              Flats:  Reebok Taikan

Running Song: “We are Young” by Fun

Running Fuel:  PowerBar Pria line of smaller tasty bars

Marathon Fuel:  PowerBar Energy Gel double latte, Berry Blast or Chocolate flavors

Running Accessory:  iPod shuffle

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