Introductions

Hello all, I'm Will Musto and a freshman at Montreat College. Montreat is a member of the NAIA Appalachian Athletic Conference, and is located about 15 minutes east of Asheville, NC. We boast what is essentially a first-year program and were able to finish third in our conference xc meet this fall--missing out on the runner-up trophy by a single agonizing point.

2008 was a rough year for me as an athlete. I entered my HS senior track season expected to be a contender for the 1600m state championship. The first several races of track season, I ran horribly, failing to even crack the 5 minute barrier. Supposedly this was because I was putting too much pressure on myself. Who knows. Anyway, finally I was in a low-key slow heat at a large invitational and won the 1600m with a convincing last lap, running away from my competition in the final 300m and proving to myself that I still had a possibility to run well that spring. Later that day I won the (slow heat of the) 800m race (I had been running so poorly that I couldn't hit the standards to be in the faster heats) in similar fashion, taking the lead in the final straight, and also setting a several second PR. Both races were very comfortable. I was convinced that I was ready to run low-2s or 2-flat for 800 in the right race, and 4:35 or faster in the 1600m. I was exstatic. Two days later, a stress fracture in my left foot's third metatarsal showed up, and my season was toast.

Excepting a couple of weak attempts at racing (to try to qualify for State track), I didn't run seriously from April 7 until sometime in July or early August, thus entering my freshman xc campaign with a base of zero mileage. Real fun. The fall was a series of frustrating races, opening with a 32:20-something at the UNC-Charlotte Invitational, and mercilessly continuing until the conference championship, where I ran 29:47 (I think?) and finished as the sixth man on our team...over a minute behind our fifth man.

We are currently on a six week Christmas break and I am training for a half marathon on March 7 in Albany, GA. I have been furtunate to be able plug into some training groups here at home during this break--I know some of my teammates have not been so fortunate, and I hope that their training is not suffering because of it. For the most part I have been running with the Dalton High School (Dalton, GA) team and several alumni who are also running collegiately (Daniel Grass from Kennesaw State University and Ken Eichberg from Campbell University to name the two most prominent alum), and it has been fun to get to know some new people and run with them four or five days a week.

In Albany, the plan is to run 1:15:00 pace or faster, in order to hit the NAIA Marathon A Standard. That's 5:43 pace for 13.1 miles--significantly faster than anything I've ever done. I'm told that Albany's course is pancake flat, so I'm thankful for that. In early December I raced a hilly 10 mile course in 1:03:06. In that race, which was 24 degrees at the start, I made the tactical error of dropping my gloves around 6.5 miles, which certainly had a negative impact upon my race--although I was only running about 1:02:00 pace (6:12/mile) before that point, so still a good bit off of goal pace. Hopefully the flat course + a good period of hard training will be able to get me there.

New Years Eve I raced the local road race--a 4.2 mile affair in Chattanooga, TN, where I ran 24:53 (5:56 pace) for 10th place. My race strategy was to go out conservatively and then chase people down. I went through 1 mile in 5:53, which put me in probably 30th place and was exactly where I wanted to be. I ran the second mile in 5:43, and in the process I ran through about three different packs (none of which contained someone willing to forge ahead alongside me! A couple tried to key off of me, running just off my shoulder, but I surged a little bit to drop those leeching off me.). Just after mile 2 and the turn-around, I caught up with the man I had been chasing for a full mile, but beyond him there were no more people within legitimate reach to chase, so I figured he and I would end up dueling. Unfortunately he was a cyclist by trade and ended up just tucking in behind me (as cyclists tend to do) and not challenging me at all--also unfortunately, I didn't realize we were slowing down until it was too late. I covered the third mile in an abyssmal 6:05. In frustration, I quickly put a gap between me and the cyclist who I had run nearly the entire third mile with, and spent the rest of the race running away from him. The fourth mile had a bit of running into the wind, and I covered that portion in 6:06, which was also kind of disappointing. I went 66 seconds for the final two tenths for the total of 24:53. I guess my biggest regret of the race is that there weren't more people for me to run down, so considering that, I can't be too disappointed. I think it's the fastest overall pace--and most comfortable--I've run a race in quite a while, too, so it was certainly a step in the right direction. A little more than eight more weeks of training, so I definitely have some serious strides to make.

On that note, I'm going to peace-out for the time being. I hope to update this occasionally in an effort to chronicle my chase for the standard--hopefully it can be an enjoyable journey for not just me but everyone else, as well.