Interview with Nef Araia
Reported by Chris Fox

Chris Fox caught up with Nef Araia immediately after he finished second at the 2002 Foot Locker Midwest Regional.

On the Midwest Regional:
"It was a little cold. I knew we weren't going to have the best conditions. I just wanted to give it my all and block the weather out of my head and just give it everything I had."

"I was a little flustered (at the start) because I wasn't ready for the cannon (a loud cannon started the race) but I regrouped. [After a while] someone yelled out that [Chris Solinsky and I] were eighty meters from the pack, but you can never trust those things. I wanted to go after it and give it everything I had, and I did. [Solinsky] just started to pull away a little bit past two miles and he was just stronger after that point."

On his race plan:
"Just to run my own race; what we've been working on a lot this year is controlled aggression for the first mile and then really pushing the last two miles, so I try to stick to that... Through the first mile I wanted to be right behind the leaders. I didn't want to be leading the race because I feel like when I do that dictating the pace is a lot more difficult. I wanted to hang back and just be in the lead pack; and then once it started to break up just really start to push it."

On tapering:
"I really feel like when I taper -- the way that it helps other people -- it hurts me. I don't feel very strong when I run like that. I'll do maybe fifty miles this week (after the regional). Next week we'll start to taper, but not too much."

On his decision to attend Stanford:
"It was really hard for me to decide (he was also looking at Indiana and Notre Dame). I really liked specific things about every program, but I felt like Stanford would be the best place for me because not only the athletic program but the academics are really unparalleled. I felt like that was the best place for me to excel in the classroom and at practice."

On Nationals:
"We have a lot of great Indiana runners who have done well at nationals. I just want to go down in history as one of them."