Women’s Marathon

Serena Burla, 10th place

“I really wanted to put on the U.S. uniform and execute and run my race that my coach and I had talked about and just enjoy the ride. You only get these opportunities, so often so I just really wanted to put my best foot forward and seize the opportunity today.”

“You always want to be a little higher up (than 10th) but I’ll take it. I did the best I could today and gave it all I had, so I have to be happy with my performance.”

“I saw my coach I think at about 10K and he said, ‘You’re too far back,’  so I just had to bridge the gap. Sometimes you just have to make moves and go with it and just believe in yourself, and that’s exactly what I did and just took the opportunity to run a competitive racing style. The time is irrelevant, place is everything, so I had to just stick my nose out it and fight.”

Esther Erb, 24th place

“I wanted to go out very conservatively. I think I negative split actually because we went through at 1:19:23 if I recall and so that means that I guess I ran basically six-minute pace. It’s pretty much what I went out at and I finished hard, so that was the plan. The last 7K was the race for me; the first 35 was a warm-up and I executed pretty well.”

“I wanted top-20. That’s kind of what the goal has been from the outset, so I’m not disappointed. I wouldn’t say disappointed, but you know. I think I did the best that I could, and I’m proud of how I ran.”