Fast-Women.com: You're back for another year. How do you feel heading in?
Nicole Blood: Very good. It's going to be awesome this year because I have a teammate (Lindsey Ferguson) [here with me], I'm a lot healthier and everything, so it's looking good.

FW: Has it helped a lot having Lindsey here?
NB: Yeah, definitely. [To have] a training partner and just to keep pressure off, it's a lot more fun.

FW: Does it help you, having seen this course before and having had the whole Foot Locker experience already?
NB: Yeah, definitely. I know where every twist and turn is and where to push it, where I felt tired last year, where I have to start picking it up, so it's definitely a big advantage.

FW: Are you going into this thinking, I'm really going for the win this year?
NB: I don't know, because I don't really know [much about] the competition. I've heard of them, but you never know. I'm just going to go out and try to stay with the front pack, see how I feel and go from there.

FW: Do you think there's a good place on this course to make a move, like the second loop or on the hill?
NB: The first loop is always fast, because it's just a big pack, so really the second loop is where you gotta push it... Especially the top of the hill on the second loop, that's where people get really tired.

FW: You were injured during track season, is that right?
NB: Yeah, outdoor track.

FW: What happened there?
NB: I had a hamstring... I don't know what it was, really. It was like tendonitis, they said. I didn't run like all summer, but it gave me a break, I needed that little break, I guess, so... I mean it could go both ways [as to whether] it was an advantage or disadvantage. It kind of stunk for the first half of my cross country season, but it ended up [working out] well. I'm back where I was, and hopefully even better.

FW: So did you crosstrain all summer?
NB: Not really, I couldn't do much, I couldn't swim, I couldn't bike. Hamstring [injuries are] tough, I couldn't even sit (laughs). I had to like lay down all summer, I couldn't do much of anything, really.

FW: Did that drive you crazy?
NB: The first week, I was like, 'Ahhh, this is nice, having a week off,' but then I couldn't play kickball or anything with my friends (laughs) so yeah, it started to drive me crazy.

FW: When did you start running again?
NB: I think it was the middle of August, maybe. It was mid- to late-August when I started.

FW: Did your fitness come back pretty quickly?
NB: I had the speed, but I think it was more the endurance that I had to [build] back up again. Like my first few races, I was fine the first mile, and then after that I'd get really tired. But it didn't take too long to get it back, so it wasn't too bad, it was just basically getting my training back to where it was.

FW: You said you didn't feel that great early on in the cross country season, but you still went undefeated...
NB: Yeah, we started out with dual meets, so it wasn't too bad. We didn't go to any big invitationals where I'd be too pressured to run, so it wasn't too bad. By the time we got into the big stuff, I was ready to go.

FW: The Brown Invitational (where she won by just under two seconds in 16:52.3) was your closest race of the season, right?
NB: Yeah, definitely, against Lindsay Donaldson. That was a very competitive race, that was a good race.

FW: Did you ever give up during that race, thinking she's going to win. Or were you pretty confident the whole way?
NB: The whole way, I was like, 'Just hang on.' The last half mile, she pulled away a little bit, she passed me and I was feeling really tired, but I just [hung on] and I ended with a pretty strong kick.

FW: I saw you two at the three-mile mark and thought, I don't know if she's going to do it... But you did!
NB: I wasn't sure either but my kick, that helped me out there.

FW: So even with the injury, have you been able to train a little bit harder, a little bit more intensely...
NB: Yeah. My training times have gone down, so everything's a lot better than last year, even though I had a slow start.

FW: Has your mileage been higher than last year?
NB: A little bit. I think it's more the quality of the training than the mileage. I'm totaling about the same as last year, not too much more.

FW: Has it helped you at all, the fact that your coaches coached someone (Erin Davis) who won Nationals on this course?
NB: Yeah, definitely. They're great coaches, training-wise and everything. To have people who have won here before gives them experience [so they can] tell me what to do.