Entry #4: Monday, November 24, 2008: 11:12 p.m. ET

Wow. I can't believe it's all over.

This morning, I got up feeling ready to go. I slept really well --- so well in fact that Tim and I slept through a fire alarm that woke up everyone else in the hotel at two o'clock. Thankfully it wasn't a real emergency or we might have been in trouble!

After a little shakeout run, the Steve, Lori, Tim and I went back on over to the IHOP to get a little breakfast in our stomachs before heading to the course. Though I thought I might be a nervous wreck, I was actually quite relaxed and felt that I was well prepared to run.

We got to the course at 11 a.m. and went straight to the tent we rented so I could stay out of the nasty weather outside. Though it felt pretty warm on my shakeout run earlier in the morning, the wind at the race course made it feel considerably colder than it was. I ended up sharing the tent with a bunch of the other A-10 runners who needed to stretch away from the weather, which was cool.

At 12:08, the women's race went off as I was stretching. I could hear all the excitement going on outside my tent, but I tried to block it out, focusing on the task at hand. I then did my 15-minute warm-up run and I got to see Sally Kipyego pulling away from the pack with her effortless stride.

Before long, the women's race was over and I was on the starting line doing strides amongst the best runners in the country. My legs felt pretty good still, and I mentally felt confident. I felt like I had earned my spot on the line just as much as anybody else on the line, so I had no real reason to worry about the how the race was going to go.

As soon as I had stripped down to my singlet and shorts, the whole field lined up, preparing for the start. As the starter held the starting flag above his head for what seemed like forever, I saw a runner to my right out of the corner of my eye jump off the line before the gun went off. It was a false start, and after about four or five seconds, multiple more gunshots alerted us to quit running and go back to do it all over. What a way to start! So many people, stress levels at maximum, and it was all for naught!

The next start was clean, and we were off. I got out well, I thought, probably around 60th for the first mile or so. That's when it all started going downhill, and I'm not talking about the terrain of the course. My body felt like it started to shut down. I was trying to maintain my form and positive mind-set, but I knew I was struggling from all of the pounding my body has taken from a long, tough season that started in the mountains of North Carolina. Everything I'd done since June was for this moment, and I was trying everything in my power not to crumble. As I went through each mile, I watched person after person pass me. Coming into the final stretch, I fought with everything I had left and finished in 176th place with a time of 31:29 for 10,000 meters.

Though it clearly was not a good race for me by any means, the experience I gained here is invaluable, and I will carry that with me into each race in the future. I'm sure that this will not be my only appearance at the NCAAs, and now I'll know what to expect when I come back. Hopefully next time, I'll have six of my closest friends to toe the line alongside me.

To everyone who has been reading this, thank you for coming along on this journey with me. I'm hopeful that my breakthrough onto the national racing scene will set the stage for the rest of our team to do the same in the years ahead.

Go Spiders!
Matt

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Entry #3: Sunday, November 23, 2008: 10:34 p.m. ET

Today, the day before the race, I got up around 8:30 to work on a Spanish paper that I had to email to a friend by tonight so she could hand it in for me tomorrow. It's a paper about naturalism versus romanticism in Spanish literature, and while it's not my favorite subject to write on, I finished it just a few moments ago and I feel relieved to have finally sent it.

When Tim got up at 9:45 or so (he's so lazy...), we walked down to the breakfast area to see what they had in their buffet. Honestly, it wasn't much. We decided to call Coach Taylor and ask him if we could go to IHOP instead, where you could get much better food for considerably cheaper.

At IHOP, I had an omelet and some fruit; not much considering we had to go running only an hour or so later. Tim, stupidly, got orange juice, two pancakes, two eggs, hash browns and several strips of bacon with his meal. Clearly, he didn't think that one through, because once we got to the course, he definitely did not feel like running. All the while, we listened to more of Coach Taylor's stories, laughing non-stop until we left for the course around 11:00.

Today the weather was beautiful at the course. It was still brisk, probably 40 degrees or so, but the skies were blue and the wind had settled down considerably from yesterday. The atmosphere at the course was just phenomenal. So many amazing runners were around, running the course, doing drills and stretching right beside me. It truly is an honor to represent Richmond at this event.

This afternoon, everyone else started to arrive, which was exciting. Coach Lori came in around 4:15, followed by my parents and four other teammates who drove all the way from Richmond over two days to come and watch this race. They met us at the Olive Garden, where we headed for dinner (along with what seemed like the rest of the competitors in tomorrow's race). Dinner was excellent, and it was great spending time with my teammates and parents, especially my mom, as it's her birthday today!

Last week before Regionals, my Dad asked my Mom what she wanted for her birthday. "All I want is to be in Indiana," she replied, hoping that I would qualify for this meet here in Terre Haute. That's a perfect example of my Mom and her never-ending support for my running career. She and my Dad have supported my every step along this journey, and without that support, I would probably not have gotten this far in running. So as little side shout-out, I'd just like to say, thanks Mom and Dad, and I love you!!!

Now I'm winding down, and taking care of last-minute race preparations, like tying my digital finish chips into my shoes and pinning my race numbers to my singlet. I'm trying to keep my mind off of the race while distracting it with music. Like I've said before, my race goes off tomorrow at 12:48 tomorrow, so there's no sense in stressing about it tonight. So I guess it's `til tomorrow, when I hope I'll have some great news to share with you all. Until then, good night from Terre Haute!

Matt

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Entry #2: Saturday, November 22, 2008: 10:07 p.m. ET

Hello again!

Today has been a very exciting day! Not only did I get to see the course on which I'll be running the National Championship race, but I also saw and met a lot of the other runners.

This morning, we got up for breakfast in the hotel in Indianapolis around 8:30, and then hit the road heading straight for a preview of the course. We arrived at 11:15 to run for about 40 minutes covering the 10K distance. The start is a long stretch that put the hard, freezing wind right in our faces. After that, it's pretty much two winding loops, finishing along the same ground as the start. When we finished running, we snapped a few pictures and jumped back in the good ole' HHR to go to the hotel.

Next, we went to grab some lunch at the local mall. We found that they had a Subway, where I got my favorite sub - loaded Sweet Onion Chicken Teriyaki on wheat bread. While we ate, we listened to a few of Coach Taylor's stories, and then returned to the hotel to do some work and let our food settle before our second run.

After running from the hotel for 20 minutes, we showered and got dressed to go to the Athlete's Banquet at Indiana State University's Hulman Center. The drive there was one-in-a-million; it was the first and only time I ever recall getting lost with Coach Taylor. Apparently the directions he pulled off of ISU's website were incorrect, and sent us over four miles in the wrong direction. We soon realized the mistake after calling the hotel for directions, and quickly got back on track. It was ironic because, earlier today at the course, the GW coach asked us if he could follow us to dinner, and then we got lost. That'll probably be the last time they follow us anywhere.

When we finally arrived at the banquet and walked in, it was awesome. The room was packed with rows and rows of all of the best runners in the country. As we were being seated, I ran into my high school teammate Matt Centrowitz, who now competes for powerhouse Oregon, and talked to him for a few minutes. The food was pretty plain (salad, bread, pasta, green beans, and chicken), but the atmosphere was fantastic! They made a few announcements and recognized the male and female athletes and coaches of the year - those who won their Regional meets - and then made a few closing remarks, and that was it.

As we all filed out of the building, Tim, Coach Taylor and I stopped to get t-shirts because the lines were pretty short and we didn't want to have to wait in them on race-day. Someone from our conference came up to Tim and said, "Congratulations Matt!" to which he replied, "Uh, I'm not Matt. That's him over there." Tim felt really awkward and didn't know how to react, but I actually found it quite entertaining. So we got our shirts, and then decided to go to Kroger to get a few snacks and now we're closing out the night doing some work.

I'm feeling really good about the race on Monday. I haven't gotten terribly nervous yet, though I thought I was going to when I ran the course today. I've just been staying very relaxed and confident in my training, and I'm here to run as fast and hard as I can. That's all I can ask for, so there's not much use in stressing over it now.

Until tomorrow, Matt

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Entry #1: Friday, November 21, 2008: 10:11 p.m. ET

Hey everyone! The trip got underway today, as Coach Taylor, Tim Quinn (my teammate) and I left Richmond for chilly Indianapolis after a quick lunch at the dining hall.

Our first flight was to Chicago, during which I was sweating the entire time from being in the last row. Not only was I dehydrating simply from flying, but now I was sweating as well, so I had to really make sure I was drinking a lot of water. The second flight, from Chicago to Indianapolis, was a little more enjoyable; I was in the middle of the plane where it was nice and cool, and it was only 29 minutes.

Once we landed and picked up our bags, we went to the car rental place and got our fire engine red Chevy HHR - it's probably the closest car you can get to the PT Cruiser without actually having to admit that you're driving a PT Cruiser.

When we got to the hotel, Tim and I went for a quick 20 minute shake-out run in the vicinity and some guy walking out of work asked us, "Wanna cigarette?" to which I replied, "No, wanna run?" He didn't respond.

After we showered, the three of us went into downtown Indy for dinner near where I stayed for Junior Nationals for outdoor track at the end of my freshman year. As Tim pointed out to me, I seem to have a knack for national championships in Indiana. Weird.

We went to Champps, a sports bar type restaurant where I got walnut crusted chicken that was SOO good! After that we came back to the hotel to relax for the rest of the night.

Relaxing is pretty much the goal of this weekend, considering I can't run the race until 12:48 on Monday - not a minute before and not a minute after. So far everything has been going really smoothly, so hopefully it will continue that way, and I'll send another update tomorrow!

Go Spiders, Matt