Sunday, March 16, 2014
Mo Farah believes even breaking his own British record would not guarantee a successful full marathon debut in London.
Farah's British record of 60 minutes 59 seconds was set in New Orleans last February, although he has twice run quicker on courses that were not deemed eligible for record purposes.
The double World and Olympic champion ran 60mins 10secs when finishing second to Kenenisa Bekele in the Great North Run last September, while he clocked 60:23 in winning in New York in 2011.
This year's New York City half-marathon course through Manhattan has been altered to make it eligible for record times.
"It would be a good boost (to get a British record)," said Farah, who relishing Sunday's race in Manhattan.
"But at the same time we've seen lots of great athletes in terms of breaking the world record for a half-marathon, and then when it comes to a marathon not quite getting there.
"We've seen a lot of athletes where they're capable of running great times up to halfway, world record (pace), and then not quite managing.
"Mainly, for me it's about feeling good all the way and trying to run what you want to run to prepare to run London.
"I would like to break the British record, but at the same time use this race to feel great and saying I'm good to go and have that confidence.
"With marathon training you don't do a lot of races. You just have to get ready.
"This is going to be the longest I've been without racing (his last outing was the Great North Run) so I'm excited to be racing again."
The Somalia-born 30-year-old has been warned by Ethiopian great Haile Gebrselassie that he might be moving up to the marathon too soon, but Farah feels that is not the case.
"You're never too young to marathon," he said. "Most marathon runners I've talked to have said 'I wish I'd gone the year before to try it and see what I'm good at'.
"For me, I've won medals in the track, so why not take a year and test myself and see where I am? Then if I'm good at it, maybe give it a couple of more times. But if not, I'm not going to try again.
"I don't think I'm too young. In terms of Haile, the same guy that said I could never beat an African."
Farah has been training hard in Kenya recently and will return there on Tuesday to complete his preparations for the London Marathon on April 13, preparations which include learning how to grab water bottles at high speed.
"My coach has been taking a car and when he's driving, he puts the bottle on the wing mirror and I've got to practice picking it up," Farah explained.
"He's been driving the long run and if I miss it, I miss it. If I pick it up, then I get a drink. So a few times I missed it, but other times it's been picked up all right."