Catching up with Deena Kastor

The New York City Marathon took place early on in November, and it was a weekend to remember for the fans, former and current athletes who participated in the festivities.

Prior to the main event which took place on November 5, there was a special event on the 3rd called New York Road Runners’ Night of Champions that inducted select individuals into the NYRR Hall of Fame. One of those individuals was Deena Kastor, who is one of the greatest marathoners in the history of the event. 

Kastor made her debut at the New York City Marathon in 2001, finishing as the top American in the field and seventh overall. Her time of 2:26:58 was the fastest debuting time for an American woman in the history of the race.

In her career, she ran a personal best time of 2:19:36, and she finished with a bronze medal at the Athens Olympic Games in 2004. She also won the Chicago Marathon in 2005, as well as the London Marathon in 2006.

I had the opportunity to catch up with Deena about being inducted into the Hall of Fame, as well as what she’s been up to in the sport.

Dom: Well, first of all, congratulations on a well deserved honor. It’s about time we put you into New York Road Running’s Hall of Fame. Did you have a good time?

Deena: Yeah, it was. As every weekend in New York is during marathon weekend, it was crazy with obligations. The honor of getting into the New York Road Runners Hall of Fame, but then also working the broadcast for the world feed. So it was a busy weekend. But it’s always fun to be a part of New York City Marathon weekend. And really just since my very first marathon major back in 2001, I’ve been going back to New York in some capacity, whether it’s to race over the weekend, to pace people to Olympic qualifying standards, to work television, or run the 5k. The day before, there always seems to be an excuse that pulls me to New York that weekend. So it was an honor and a privilege to be inducted into the Hall of Fame with Ernst Van Dyke who I’ve looked up to since entering into this sport a couple of decades ago. So he’s just such a decorated athlete and really paved the way for so many other wheelchair athletes, probably him and Tatyana McFadden are solely responsible for professionalizing the sport of wheelchair racing. So it was an honor to be inducted in the same year as he was.

Dom: You achieved such great success in New York. And that’s not an easy course. What about just being in New York being affiliated with the NYRR that you love so much that keeps you going back? You’re an ambassador, you help out in the community, and obviously in 2001, you kind of gave the country hope during what was kind of a dark time, essentially. What is it about New York that you love so much?

Deena: I think I’m probably the only person inducted into the Hall of Fame that has not won that race. God knows I came back time and time again to try, but I’ve been a part of a lot of their events, their SHAPE half marathon in the summer, and MasterCard Mini 10k. So I’ve been to a lot of their events over the years, and I think what makes me go back to New York is that it’s about the entire community of running. It’s sitting down and having lunch with sponsors, it’s sitting with the media and the privilege of being able to sit there and have them tell your story eloquently, it’s the other athletes that you’re eating breakfast with each morning in the hospitality suite, and the spectators that you interact with. Whether it’s a 10k, or the marathon distance, that is a community that from 2001 until now, I have a deep appreciation for it. I said during my speech Friday night before the marathon, in this sport, it always felt like a performance –  like we were performing for the crowds in stadiums around the world, performing for our countries in cross country, and it was the marathon that just felt like it was such a bigger community of people that you weren’t competing with, as opposed to against or for.

So it’s a community I think I would never retire from, even though I’m not competing at a high level anymore. It’s something that you just want to be a part of, because it expands boundaries that you would ever think – socioeconomic boundaries, religious boundaries. When we’re in kind of a hostile place in the world right now, a hostile time, running is a reminder that hundreds of countries – 51,000 people strong – can celebrate our similarities and our differences in the course of a marathon. And there’s no more beautiful spectacle really of humanity than that of people raising awareness and raising funds and collaborating running with each other. All are really accomplishing and striving for different goals, specific goals, but the respect and camaraderie among those differences is so big and profound. It should be an example for every country to follow.

Dom: The one thing about you is, even though you’ve retired, it’s so cool kind of seeing this new wave of marathoners and how the event continues to progress. And you are a pioneer for that. From your vantage point as a commentator and as a spectator how cool is it to see that you lead the charge for something that is so unique, so global, and then becoming bigger and bigger here in the United States? Because if it wasn’t for you, I don’t think we would see a lot of the great things that we continue to see in the marathon, especially the women’s marathon.

Deena: Well, I mean, I wouldn’t just cut it myself. There were so many women ahead of me starting from Bobbi Gibb and Kathrine Switzer, Joan Benoit Samuelson, Nina Kuscsik –  so many women that came before me that paved the way, so that I only saw equal opportunity in this sport. I was never fighting for equal paychecks or for a spot on the starting line. And so I feel grateful for those women who came before me. And then, in the time that I was growing up in the sport of marathoning, I had amazing competitors, but more so mentors in the sport with Paula Radcliffe and Catherine Ndereba, women who really elevated me by their example and keeping me striving. And so I feel like it’s just part of the sport in general, that it’s a cycle. By being in the sport, you put yourself in a cycle of motivation, and you’re just a part of it. It’s the people that came before and the people that came after, and the people that are in it – when you’re in it, you’re all part of the contributing factor. And I guess you always want to be on the good side of that cycle – you want to inspire and uplift those around you and so it was an honor and a privilege to continue to be in the sport in various ways, because I still see that as part of my responsibility.

Dom: Are you having fun? Because now you’re in a new role, you’re doing a podcast which is dope, you have a book out, traveling and everything. Are you having fun?

Deena: I always have fun. I think my biggest driver is joy, is making sure that I am showing up and doing what I love to do in the capacities that I can, and even stretching out that ability and making myself uncomfortable for the sake of growing. And so I love what I do. I adore this sport, I feel grateful to be in it and continue to be in it in other capacities. But joy follows me wherever I go, because it sits in the driver’s seat of every decision I make.

Dom:  Alright, so my last question is this. So I ask this on my podcast, so I have to ask you this. So let’s just say to celebrate the great things you’ve accomplished and then getting inducted into the New York City Marathon Hall of Fame. You get a chance to choose a lifetime supply of endless bread from any location so it can be Cheesecake Factory bread, Red Lobster’s cheddar bay biscuits, Olive Garden has breadsticks, Texas Roadhouse dinner rolls – whatever it is, you choose it, they’re going to put your face on it and give you an endless supply. So what bread would you choose for the rest of your life?

Deena: Wow. I mean, I was gonna say my pandemic sourdough, but then I need a kickstarter to fund myself to pay myself. So I would say Le Pain Quotidien. It’s daily bread and French and there’s chains. I first found the chain in New York, but I’ve eaten there and in Belgium where it originated. Alain Coumont is the head chef and owner, and I just love his food philosophy. And it certainly comes out in his breadmaking because it is organic and wholesome and fortifying everything a bread should be.