Interview: Matt Withrow

By Chris Fox

We caught up with Illinois' Matt Withrow shortly after he won the 2003 Foot Locker Midwest Regional in 14:54. Withrow broke away from the pack around the mile mark and went on to win by 20 seconds, improving on his 14th-place finish of one year ago. The Andrew High School senior won his first Illinois State Cross Country title this fall after finishing second to Stephen Pifer in 2002.

MensRacing.com: Can you talk about the surge you made?
Matt Withrow: It's been the same way I've run all season. Last year, I used to go out really, really fast...and then I'd die off, and then I'd come back on at the end. I'd lose contact too much in that middle part, and never put myself in the race. So what I've been doing lately is, I just go out [for a] mile with the group, and then somewhere, the mile, mile and a-half...make a surge. It's normally been in the mile and a-half to two-mile range, but today, we went up the hill, and I knew I was really going to struggle. I mean, being from Illinois, this is a nightmare for us (referring to the hilly course). This is horrible. I got past the mile, and there's a little hump there, and my legs just kind of took me over it, and I don't know, the natural instinct was just to go. When I saw 4:55 (at the mile), I was like, 'This is a little too slow.' I didn't even go all that fast at first, and I got like a stride ahead, and I just kept going. I kept telling myself, 'What are you doing?'

MR: I don't think you looked back, either.
MW: The first time I looked back was when we went into the woods again. The whole downhill, I let my legs just take me. Then we took a right at the woods, and I'm like, 'I'm in trouble now. We're going to hit hills. I don't see a hill in my life, besides this. I'm in trouble.' I was hearing you guys (in the carts) on the radios telling how far ahead I was, and I held on. I don't know. I wasn't really expecting anything.

MR: Was it hard to keep in shape? The [Illinois] state meet was three weeks ago.
MW: You hit a couple stumbling blocks, but you try to keep looking at the big picture. Just for weather reasons, you'll hit a couple stumbling blocks. The Monday before — when they ran NCAAs — my workout was horrible. Five 800s at like 2:23 to 2:27, just because the wind was blowing so hard, and it was all wet and muddy. Sometimes you have those bad workouts, but I just tried to keep looking at the big picture. All my strength was in. I've been running hard for a long time. I just tried to keep going off that. I have a good, strong base under me. Hopefully it'll take me another two weeks.

MR: Did you have a goal for today?
MW: I kept going back and forth. Top eight, or do I go after the win? But if I go after the win, I might not make it. I was really scared about that first mile, because (Chris) Solinsky took it out in 4:40 last year. Going up that hill, I'm like, 'I don't know if I'm going to be able to go 4:40.' But we went up the hill, and we went 4:55, a lot slower than I thought. Everyone was kind of feeling each other out. I'm like, 'Somebody's going to go here.' Subconsciously, I just went. It felt good.

MR: Have you ever been out to San Diego?
MW: No. This will be first 'anything' meet I've never run a national track meet. I've never run anything out of high school...state stuff. I'm the rookie going in here. I think, unfortunately, in a way, that's kind of working against me. These guys have gone to big meets and everything. I hope I can just keep my head.

MR: You were not intimidated today...
MW: A little bit, actually. I was getting a little worried, especially going up the hill, right at the beginning. It went out a little fast, but then it kind of slowed off.

MR: Do you know where you're going to school?
MW: I'm still looking. I was concentrating more on the season. I've got until April. Now I'm really buckling down and trying to decide.

MR: Not that you were bad last year, but what got you to this level?
MW: I just realized that there is a big difference between first and second. There's a group of kids there that are just able to run together at a high level, but there's something that always sets apart the winner. I had to find that. I could go on for hours about every advantage I have over other runners — where I live, the teammates I have, the training atmosphere I have, my family, everything. I think it kind of all came together. I brought everything together to work for me. It's more heart than anything, I'd have to say. There's always one point in the race that's going to be a deciding moment. I was able to find that a lot this year.

(Interview conducted 11/29/2003, posted 12/6/2003.)