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Alicia Shay on her way to victory at the 2007 USA 20k Championships in New Haven, Connecticut.

Interview with Alicia Shay

Posted on September 3, 2007, Interview conducted September 3, 2007

Madeleine Marecki

It's been a bumpy road for Alicia Shay for the past couple of years, but for the spectators watching her run the USA 20k Championships hosted by the New Haven Road Race in Connecticut this Labor Day, only one thought crossed the minds of those who have followed her career: "She's back." Shay, formerly Alicia Craig, made a bold move at the 7 mile mark, pulling away from pre-race favorite Elva Dryer and Kate O'Neill. Shay would cover the rest of the course unchallenged and win in a time of 1:06:56, 22 seconds faster than Dryer. The former Stanford Cardinal's victory comes on the heels of a solid performance at the Falmouth Road Race on August 12, where she finished fifth with a time of 37:28. As a collegiate runner, Shay was a two-time NCAA champion in the 10,000 meters, and she held the collegiate record in that distance (32:19.97 at the 2004 Cardinal Invitational) until Sally Kipyego broke it earlier this year. She also boasts a PR of 15:25.75 in the 5,000 meters. Shay, who now resides in Flagstaff, Arizona, took a moment to speak with eliterunning.com after receiving her prize.

Although it was early in the race, it seemed like you dropped back a little bit from Kate O'Neill and Elva Dryer at one point.
We were running really fast at the beginning of the race. Our splits were a lot faster than the rest of the race. I think part of it is that I live at altitude, so when you train at altitude, the air is a lot thinner so you run a little bit slower. So when you come down at sea level, it takes your body a little bit of time to transition. So whenever I start a race when I come down from altitude, I feel kind of sluggish at the beginning, and then I get rolling. Those first few miles I was feeling a little sluggish. I wanted to drop back a little so I wouldn't tax myself too much. Once I got my legs under me, I just felt great and I started moving forward. I kind of wanted to take a mile or two to let my body calm down a minute after the fast pace and then go for it.

Around mile 7, you made that decisive move and you dropped that fast mile. Were you waiting for that 10k, 7 mile mark?
You know, if I felt good, I was not going to make a move that soon. I was going to wait until the hills because I like running downhill; I am pretty confident with my downhill. But when I caught those women, I was gearing up to catch them, relax, and try to stick with them. But then I caught them and it seemed like they weren't moving forward. I caught them and kept going forward and they didn't really respond. I thought, 'Well, if I'm going to make a move, I've just got to do it now and make it a kind of a big one.'

Were you at all worried because it was pretty early in the race?
Yeah. I tried to stay focused. The hard part with that was that there weren't that many other runners out there so I was kind of by myself. I was having trouble kind of engaging and maintaining a pace. I was trying every little mind trick like [thinking] 'Pretend that guy up there is a girl' or 'Try to put in a surge.' It's hard to try to talk yourself into that when out there running yourself. I kept wanting someone telling me 'She's right behind you,' because that would have kicked me into gear. Fortunately I was able to hang on for the win, but I definitely struggled with keeping the momentum going.

I saw you glancing back a few times.
Yeah. If they were behind me, I wanted to see they were behind me because I knew that would snap me out of my pace because I was slowing down. So I just wanted to see if they were back there, and if they were, I could turn it on a little bit.

Obviously you're going to hurt in a race, but was there any point where you were really feeling it?
The main thing for me is I just haven't done a lot of long road races. The cardiovascular, the breathing—everything like that—felt fine. It's just that the pounding of my legs on the pavement for so many miles, that's the thing I felt—the ache in my muscles from the pavement. I need to work through that and just deal with that and get over it.

So what does your racing look like in the future? Are you going to race longer distances?
My plan is to move up to marathons. I probably will not do one this year, but I want to focus on the 10k through the half marathon and then move up.

Any immediate races in the future?
Yeah, I'm going to do the women's U.S. 10k Championship in Boston in October, and then I'm going to do the World Road Running Championships in Italy, so that will be what October looks like.

So training is going well?
Yeah, it's going great. I took a lot of time off because I kind of quit running. I had a bad head and neck injury. I trained for a while, then I had to take a few weeks off; I got married in July, so I just got back into the training.

Can you put into words what this race means to you? It's a confidence booster, obviously.
Oh man, I'll probably get emotional if I really start to think about it. The last couple of years were really frustrating, but at the same time it makes me really grateful to be where I am right now. I feel really blessed because I've come across an amazing support system, between my husband [Ryan Shay] and my family and the friends that I made up in Flagstaff, Arizona. They've all just helped me along and really got me back on my feet again and encouraged me. I can't say enough about the group I train with in Flagstaff. They're just amazing people.