<< Lap 33 - Mohammed Ahmed | All

Kim Smith

Quick Info

PBs

Bio

Kim was born in Auckland, NZ, but after a short stint at King’s College in Auckland, she moved to the United States to attend Providence. In college, she won the most individual championships by any runner in Providence history, winning the 2004 NCAA XC Championships, and titles in the indoor 3000m, indoor 5000m, and outdoor 5000m in her 2003-04 season.

While still at Providence, she represented New Zealand at the 2004 Athens Olympics in the 5000m, where she didn’t make it out of the heats, racing a 15:31 and coming in 11th in her heat. At the 2005 World Championships in Helsinski in the 10000m, while still at Providence, she finished in 15th (31:24). She also raced the 5000m at the 2005 IAAF World Athletics Final (formerly the Grand Prix Finals, currently… not a thing), she placed 7th in the 5000m. At the 2005 Summer Universiade in Izmir, where she took 1st in the 5000m (15:29).

At the 2006 IAAF World Cup (seriously what are these events… oh, this one’s still a real thing... sorta) in Athens, Kim raced the 5000m to place 4th, running a 15:12. In 2007, Kim was back at World’s in Osaka, this time racing the 10000m. She finished 4th, a few seconds off of a medal, in 32:06.

2008 was Kim’s breakout year, a year which she continued focusing on the longer distance. At the Payton Jordan Invitational, she set a New Zealand national record, running a 30:35. At the Roma Golden Gala a couple of months later, she set the national record for the 5000m, running a 14:45. But at the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games, she was back to racing the 10000m. She ended up finishing 8th, in 30:51, but this will be bumped to 7th since the Silver medalist had a retest result positive for doping this March.

In 2009, Kim raced the World Championships in Berlin in the 10000m as well, placing 8th (31:21, season’s best). But this year also saw her training up for the Half Marathon, where she raced the World Half Marathon Championships in England. She placed 7th, running a 1:09:35, setting another national record.

But if 2008 was Kim’s track breakout year, 2010 was her road and marathon breakout year. She officially debuted in the marathon at the London Marathon, finishing 8th overall with a time of 2:25:21, banking yet another national record, and achieving the 25K and 30K national records en route. She has since been upgraded to 6th after doping violations.

She also ran the New York City Marathon that year, finishing 4th, running a 2:29:28, barely edging out Christelle Daunay of France by one second.

At the 2011 Rock’n’Roll Mardi Gras Half Marathon, Kim raced a 1:07:36, setting the national record. At the 2011 Boston Marathon, Kim led the field by 50 seconds by the halfway point. She injured her leg at mile 15, and officially dropped out of the race at mile 19. But she was back racing at the 2011 New York City Marathon, where she finished 5th (2:25:46).

In 2012, at the NYC Half Marathon, she was head to head with Firehiwot Dado until the very end, eventually placing 2nd (1:08:43). Kim raced the marathon at the London Olympic Games. She placed 15th overall (2:26:59).

That fall, she won the inaugural BAA Distance Medley (BAA 5K in April, BAA 10K in June, and BAA Half Marathon in October). Even though she was running alongside Aheza Kiros (whom she had a 16 second lead in the Medley going into the half) through nine miles, she pulled away with four to go and managed to win by over two minutes. The prize for the Medley, if you’re curious, is $100,000.

When the 2012 NYC Marathon was canceled (Sandy), she instead raced the Yokohama Marathon a couple weeks later in Japan, and did pretty well, finishing 6th with a 2:27:35.

(Editor’s note: her history in wikipedia ends in 2012, so now I have to resort to my own research skills instead of clicking links. I mean, really.)

In 2013, Kim faced some setbacks in racing. In training for the London Marathon, she got a foot injury, which a cortisone shot didn’t help. The posterior tibial tendon eventually ruptured, which forced her to get surgery. 9 months later, she then gave birth to a daughter (what else are you going to do while bedridden?). And then a month after giving birth, was rushed to the ER with a life-threatening pulmonary embolism. Two weeks after a 5 day stint in the hospital, she was back to running.

She was able to make an amazing comeback in 2015, training with Molly Huddle, Emily Sisson, and Mary Cullen, and at the 2015 Stanford Invitational 5000m ran a 15:32 to place 3rd. She felt it was slow.

Kim had a mediocre 2016, racing mostly short distances. She only raced a few races, including the NYC Mini 10K in June (32:41, 4th place), the CVS Health Downtown 5K (16:16, 10th place), and at the end of the year decided to retire.

Doping History

None

Training and Nutrition

• She’s said that she probably should have run the 10000m in the London Olympics, as a rhythm runner, the twists, turns, and cobblestones in the course were tough for her.

• Running 80 mpw up to before she got injured, pushing through tempos that were extremely painful that she thought she was a wimp because early MRIs showed tendonitis.

Anecdotes to tell your friends

• Kim currently holds National Records in the outdoor 3000m, 5000m, 5K, 10000m, 20K, Half Marathon, 25K, 30K, and Marathon, as well as the indoor Mile, 3000m, and 5000m. Oceanic records in 7 of those events as well.

• Molly Huddle once pulled cactus needles “out of her arse” when she accidentally peed on one during a run. (Not a picture of said event).

• Google image searching Kim Smith was… surprising.

Upcoming Races

Retired (and pregnant)

1. Anecdotes/stories you’d like to share? Thoughts on Kim in general?
   
2. What’s the toughest course you’ve ever run?
   
3. Anything else you’d like to add?