MensRacing.com: How do you feel about your season and your fitness in comparison to last year?
Victor Gras: My season, I think, was much better (laughs). Last year, I was dying by the end of the season. Regionals and Nationals were two terrible races and this year, I feel pretty strong.

MR: Were you able to plan your peak with the expectation that you'd make it here?
VG: Yeah, I was training for Regionals and Nationals.

MR: Did you peak at all for the Regional?
VG: A little bit. We backed off a little... It's kind of a question mark, it's just exciting, because I don't know what's going to happen tomorrow. I'm excited.

MR: Have you thought about your strategy?
VG: I'm just going to go up front and stay [there] as long as I can... I just want to try this year because last year, I was really afraid, so I just told myself I'd go in the back and catch people one by one, but [that didn't work].

MR: Can you tell us what happened at the Massachusetts State Meet, if you have any insight into that? [Note: Gras collapsed just before the finish line but got up to win and set a record on the Northfield Mountain course.]
VG: I don't know what's wrong with me. I have an iron deficiency, it just happens sometimes. The hills just took a lot out of me, I had nothing left, I was dying at the end. It happened to me last year at Regionals and Nationals... I eat a lot of meat, I guess it's just not enough for me, or maybe I have bad absorbtion. I guess if I train and I don't notice it, it slips down all of the sudden...

MR: Have you had your iron levels checked recently?
VG: I haven't had time to do it since last year after Foot Locker, because I was running so badly... After the state meet, I [knew] I had to get on the iron thing again if I wanted to make Foot Locker, so I've been taking better care of it.

MR: And if you're iron levels are low at this point, you don't necessarily want to know about it...
VG: It goes slowly up, so from the time of the state meet (one month prior to Nationals) until Regionals, it went up, and from Regionals to Nationals it's going to go up more.

MR: Your family is from France?
VG: Yes.

MR: How long have you lived in the United States?
VG: Four years today.

MR: Oh really?
VG: I came on December 12th (in 1999).

MR: Why did you move here?
VG: My dad's job.

MR: Does your family plan to stay here permanently?
VG: Not permanently, them might go back in like two or three more years. But I'm going to stay here for college.

MR: Have you decided on a college yet?
VG: No, I haven't decided. I really like Michigan and Stanford. I visited Notre Dame too, and I like Georgetown and Villanova. I'm not sure yet...

MR: Does it help you, having been here last year and knowing the whole routine?
VG: Yeah. I think...I'm not as nervous. Last year, I wasn't that great, I wasn't that good of a runner and I was eighth (at the Northeast Regional). I was like, 'Oh my God, all of these good runners,' and I was really nervous. This year, I had a good track season and I feel more confident. I belong here, I didn't get here by chance, and that's a big difference.