Q&A: Olympic speed skater Apolo Ohno

Subway Famous Fan and Olympic speed skater Apolo Ohno is taking a break from the ice to hit the asphalt in Sunday's NYC Marathon.

This will be the first marathon for Ohno, but he hopes to cross the finish line in three-and-a-half hours.

Subway’s donating $26,200 to the Special Olympics if I finish in four hours he said. This marathon’s become a real race. The Special Olympics speaks to me.

While many train for a year or more, the 29-year-old announced his involvement about six months ago and didn’t start training until May.

Ohno spoke with amNewYork Thursday about his last-minute preparation.

How did you go from speed skater to marathon runner? I never knew it would be this tough. I usually train for a race that’s 40 seconds long. It changed my body. It changed my training. It changed the way
I ate.

Has your experience in speed skating been an advantage or disadvantage? Physically speaking, a complete disadvantage, because I train for a race that only lasts 40 seconds. It?s all power in the legs. Running is more total body.

You commented in a recent interview that your thighs changed a lot from the running. Oh yeah. I can buy regular jeans now, before I had to have all custom fit. I had a 27-inch waist, but my legs were huge. Now this has enabled me to balance my body out.

Are you excited for Sunday? I am. This is one of the greatest cities in the world, one of my favorites, just the energy and the love of the people here. The city shuts down on a Sunday and a million people line the streets, cheering you on and 40,000 people running. That’s insane.

You really seem to love New York. How often do you visit? I was here three or four times a month for a while. I live in LA, so I would come once a week ‹ take the red eye.

Are you planning on hitting up any New York hotspots while you’re here? Absolutely! It’s just hard to stay up late because I have to get up so early. I can’t pull all-nighters then run a marathon. That probably wouldn’t be the smartest thing, as much as I’d like to.

Do you think you’ll do another marathon after this? I’d like to, but we?ll see. This is a great opportunity and hopefully it inspires many other people.