Dubai: Former world number one Caroline Wozniacki has recounted the titanic struggle she went through when running her first marathon last year — but admitted she may do another one day.
Wozniacki completed the New York City Marathon in November in a time of 3hrs 26min 33sec and raised more than $80,000 (Dh293,000) for the New York Road Runners’ non-profit youth running programme ‘Team for Kids’.
And on Thursday night she had to rely on some of her marathon skills to get past Flavia Pennetta of Italy to enter the semi-finals of the Dubai Duty Free Women’s Open.
Afterwards she recalled: “It [running the marathon] was an unbelievable experience and I would do it again. It’s too much hard work right now, but it was amazing last year and I wouldn’t have done anything different.
“But for now I’m just focusing on the tennis. I will do the charity work, but I will skip the running.”
The Dane, who is based in Monaco, runs a hilly 12km course at least two or three times a week. “That’s not a big deal to me,” she said. “The problem for me at the New York Marathon was when I hit 35km. That’s when I hit the wall. But I’m not going to do those long runs again any time soon.”
Describing in depth her marathon experience, she said: “I had two pacers with me. The first 10km just flew by and I was like ‘oh, my God, this is amazing’.
“I didn’t really feel it, I was just talking away. 20km go by and I’m like ‘this is amazing, I want to do this again next year. This is easy’. They [the pacers] were just like ‘shhh. Just don’t talk. Save your energy’.
“After 25km, 30km, they’re like, ‘how are you feeling?’. I was good, waving to the crowd and feeling great. Then at 35km, they are like ‘how are you feeling?’. I’m like ‘don’t don’t talk to me. I don’t want to do this again. I’m done. Stop’. But they kept talking to me and kept me going.
“Then once we got into Central Park and I had two miles left, I was like ‘okay, I’m two miles away, let’s just get this done fast. The faster I run, the faster I’m going to be home and I can relax’.
“That’s when I saw the huge crowds and that gave me the buzz in the end. They are like, ‘so, you want to do this again?’. I was like: ‘No. But, probably in a few years I might do it again’.”
Wozniacki was an accomplished swimmer in her youth, with a Danish under-12 backstroke record to her name. She also weighed up the option of doing triathlons rather than tennis.
“Yeah, I was a good swimmer. But I had to choose between tennis and swimming growing up,” she said.
“My problem [with triathlon] would have been the biking. I hate to bike. That would be my toughest part. It would definitely be a fun challenge for me, but right now I’m just focusing on the tennis.”
