Interview with ASICS GTC-ELITE's Nicole DiMercurio

Nicole recently placed second among open women in the 2015 Peachtree Road Race in Atlanta, GA—the world’s largest timed 10K, with 60,000 entrants Previously she had won the Women’s Invitational 5,000 meters with a time of 16:17 at the Music City Distance Carnival in Nashville, TN.

Q: Why did you decide to join ASICS GTC-ELITE?

ND: I decided to join GTC-Elite for many reasons. The main reason, however, was Coach Mike's knowledge of exercise physiology and Coach Laura's successful background in running. We also receive some of the best support I have seen from any Olympic Development team.  As a member of GTC-Elite we have ASICS footwear and apparel, access to A.R.T. at Performance Therapy, a fitness garage to do our drills and ancillary work, an ElliptiGO, running form evaluation at Pro Axis, and we are less than five minutes away from great places to run. The weather in Greenville is also great, and Greenville is flourishing city.

Q: What is your favorite aspect of being in Greenville? 

ND: Whether it is live music, the farmer's market, or a festival, there is always something happening downtown. As someone who likes to be out and about, an active community was another important factor in choosing what team to join. 

Q: Favorite coffee place?

ND: Hands down The Village Grind. They have a lavender chocolate mocha that is absolutely amazing. 

Q: Favorite meal that you prepare?

ND: Grilled chicken with fresh vegetables and a piece of Stecca bread from the Swamp Rabbit Café.

Q: Favorite restaurant in G’ville?

ND:  Soby's! Any place that designates an entire section of their brunch buffet to dessert is the clear winner in my book.

Q: What is your favorite event?

ND: Probably the 10K, but the 5K is a close second. 

Q: ACC or SEC?

ND:  SEC all the way!! Go Dawgs!

Q: Best finish at an SEC championship?

 ND: 5th in 10K and 8th in the 5K. 

Q: Favorite workout session?

ND: The Lactic Shuttle. The Lactic Shuttle is a 300m workout consisting of varying race paces with a 200m "float" in between intervals. The "float" is the rest portion of the workout, but is supposed to be slightly faster than the recovery jog in regular workouts. The thing I like about this workout is that the float in between the 300’s doesn’t give you a lot of time to think about how tired you are. 

Q: Which is your least favorite workout?

ND: Hills. Any type. 

Q: All time favorite movie?

ND: The Devil Wears Prada. It's the only movie I have ever liked better than the book. Miranda Priestly is one of my favorite characters of all time, and Meryl Streep does a flawless job of bringing her to life.

Q: Favorite country musician?

ND: Taylor Swift. Does that still count?

Q: Best section of the Swamp Rabbit Trail for running?

ND: The soft surface between Downtown and Swamp Rabbit CrossFit.

Q: Least favorite part of the SRT for running?

ND: Where you have to cross the railroad tracks. Especially when you're on a roll and there's a train coming through so you can't cross!

Q: All time best song?

ND: Party in the USA! You can't listen to that song and be in a bad mood.

Q: Favorite color for apparel?

ND: Black. 

Q: Favorite desert?

ND: Trader Joe's Cookie Butter. In any form. Ice cream, chocolate, or straight out of the jar with a spoon. 

Q: Favorite breakfast?

ND: I'm a huge fan of Greek yogurt with fresh fruit and granola. No breakfast is complete without coffee though. 

Q: Tell us the funniest thing that ever happened to you on a run.

ND:  Long runs through the UGA campus on game day always made for funny stories. One time, we had a group of tailgaters that saw us running and challenged themselves to see how far they could run with us. One guy made it over three miles. None of us heard if he ever made it to the game.

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