Interview with Michael Fout

By Adam Jacobs

After winning the 2007 Foot Locker Midwest Cross Country Regional Championships meet in Kenosha, WI, on November 24, LaPorte (IN) High School senior Michael Fout is headed to San Diego, CA, to take on the best high school runners in the nation at the 2007 Foot Locker Cross Country National Championships on December 8.

This spring Fout is also hoping to break Rudy Chapa’s Indiana high school state meet record of 8:55.10 in the 3200-meter run, set way back in 1975. Then it's on to college at Florida State, where the talented young man has committed because of his admiration for FSU head track coach Bob Braman's program.

For now, though, Fout will be “going for it” Prefontaine style in San Diego, putting it all on the line and hoping to become the national cross country champion in his first trip to the meet.

Editor's Update: Michael Fout surprised many, but not Mensracing! He won the Foot Locker Cross Country National Championships in the quick time of 14:50, seven seconds ahead of second-place finisher Christopher Derrick.

MensRacing.com: How would you evaluate your performance at [the Foot Locker Cross-Country Midwest Regional]? Obviously, you came out on top and it went really well, but how would you critique it and what are your overall feelings about your performance?

Michael Fout: Obviously, getting the win at regionals was huge for me, definitely a big confidence booster. As far as overall effort, I did not run with 100-percent effort that day and that’s why I'm looking forward to this weekend in San Diego (at the Foot Locker Cross-Country National Championships) where I’ll really run with 100-percent effort and kind of push my body to the limit.

MR: How have you performed in the past at regionals?

MF: Actually, I’ve never run Foot Locker Midwest Regional before. I was injured last year. This is a first for me.

MR: What was your injury last year?

MF: Partway through my cross country season I got some really bad runner’s knee. It was persistent and it kept getting worse and worse, so I kind of had to shut it down halfway through my cross country season. I just wasn’t running too well at the end. I didn’t even run the state meet even though I qualified. So obviously, I wasn’t going to run Foot Locker Cross Country Midwest. I shut it down to get healthy.

MR: No residual effects from that injury?

MF: No, none at all.

MR: That’s great. What have you been doing between regionals and now to both recover and also to prepare for the national championships?

MF: Last week I hit 50 miles. This week, obviously, I’m starting to taper down, you know, start getting ready to feel fresh for nationals. Last week I hit it hard. I ran some good, quality miles and got in some good tough speed workouts. I had some light speed yesterday and I’m sure I’ll have a tempo run before nationals. Last week I was a little groggy. Now I’m feeling good again. I’m pumped and ready to roll.

MR: Can you elaborate on what type of workouts you did last week?

MF: My mileage, actually, last week was exactly 50 miles – like I said good, quality stuff in there. I am not a high-mileage guy. The most I ran this whole season was 55 miles. Like I said, I got some speed work in. I did some repeats. I got a nice, long tempo run in and then some repeat 500-meter dashes. It was a good week, that’s for sure.

MR: Looking ahead to nationals a little bit, how do you think the competition will change and how do you think it changed from sectionals to regionals?

MF: Obviously, these are the top 40 runners in the nation. I’m running against the very best of the best. The competition will certainly be a lot tougher. None of those guys out there are going to be dogging it, that’s for sure. You’ve got to take each guy seriously. They’re all there for the main reason – they all want to win, I’m sure; otherwise, they wouldn't be there. I’m sure a lot of them are realistic in saying “I might not win,” but they’re all going to go for it. So, the competition is certainly the best of the best. From regionals to this, I’ve run against several of the top guys. I’m confident going in and really looking forward to what I can do. Hopefully I can make some noise out there.

MR: Who do you think the toughest competitors will be, maybe not the ones you're most intimidated by, but the ones you have the most respect for?

MF: Obviously Chris Derrick from Illinois. I’ve raced him a couple of times. He’s a cool kid. I really get along with him well just in the couple of times I’ve talked to him. He’s obviously one of the favorites for taking the whole thing. Being able to race him a couple of times, that’s given me some confidence. Also, a guy out west, German Fernandez, he’s somebody to watch out for. Colby Lowe from the South, I met him also. He’s a pretty cool kid. I’ll get a chance to race all these guys at the same time. Hopefully, I’ll be able to put my best stuff together and throw everything I've got at ’em.

MR: Do you have any type of race strategy in mind? If any of those guys take off, are you going to make sure you stay with them, or maybe you plan to go out really fast? I don’t want to give away too much of your race plan, but maybe just give us a little idea about what you're thinking.

MF: Honestly, you know what? I don’t know how it’s going to go. I haven’t even sat down and talked about it yet. I don’t take it out extremely hard, typically. I ran … I think around a 4:40 first mile for me is really kind of something that works well. I’m going to give it everything I’ve got out there, so who knows? If I take it out with the leaders and we come through at 4:30 … it might not be my typical race plan, but I’m looking to push it harder than I ever have before, so maybe that’s what I’ll have to do. I’ll probably sit down with my coach today after practice and talk about that a little bit more. I don’t like to sit down and really think things through. There’s always a race plan that you have to follow and it’s nice to try to stick to it, but I kind of like to just go in there and race. You’re racing for first place and I’m guessing you kind of have to do whatever you’ve got to do to get first place.

MR: How difficult is it for you to keep up with your schoolwork when you’ve got all of these meets and you’re on a little bit of a different stage than the normal season,?

MF: It’s fine. Schoolwork is the most important, obviously. You’ve got to get that done, so after practice every day, what do I do? I rush home and do my homework and I don’t procrastinate and put it off, ’cause – honestly – it bothers me. If I know I have homework it just kind of bugs me for the rest of the day. It doesn’t really affect my schoolwork, that’s for sure. I’m a pretty solid student and I take pride in the work that I do.

MR: Not that I don’t believe you, but your mom would be very proud of that answer. I’m sure she'll like that.

MF: [laughs]

MR: Is it also challenging for you to be running in these types of races without any of your teammates?

MF: No, it’s not really too hard. Actually, I had a few teammates run Foot Locker Midwest, so they were still training with me. That certainly helped out a bunch, having somebody to train with. They weren’t running out there with me, but just knowing that they were there was helpful. Hopefully, I’ll be able to put my best stuff together [for nationals]. Also now, the guys for track are training, so I can have the opportunity to run with them on my easier days, or longer days, or whatever. It doesn’t really bother me too much that I don’t have teammates right there [every day]. They all know what’s going on; they’re excited for me; I appreciate all their support ’cause they certainly give it to me.

MR: Looking ahead and past nationals – do you have some specific goals that you’d like to hit, winter track, spring track, before you graduate?

MF: Last year I went out to Nike Outdoor Nationals and placed 11th in the 2-mile, ran 8:58. I have some huge goals this spring. Rudy Chapa here in Indiana is kind of the standard everyone chases after. He has the state meet record. I’d love to take that thing. I’d like to get back out to Nike Outdoor Nationals and, hopefully, contend for a title out there also. Training’s going to go well for me, I think. Barring any injury, you’ll definitely hear more from me in track, I’m hoping.

MR: Have you made any decisions or do you have any plans in terms of where you're going to go to college yet?

MF: I will be heading to Florida State next year.

It's going to be fun, man. When I went down there my visit just lived up to all expectations. Coach [Bob] Braman’s a really awesome guy, the guys are really cool, and I’m looking forward to getting back down there. I’m not really wishing time away or anything like that – I’ve got a lot more work to do in high school – but it’ll be fun and exciting to get down there and I’m really looking forward to it.

MR: Just a last couple of things. You say your running hero is Pre. What is it that makes him someone who you really want to emulate so much?

MF: He just ran with … you know, obviously the ’72 Olympics, he had just pure guts right there. He wanted something, he went for it and we all know the ending to that. That’s the way I think every runner should run. Like this weekend, I obviously want to win, so I’m going to go for it, and that’s kind of the reason why I don’t have a race plan right now and I don’t know if I’ll really have one. I’m just going to go out there and run my heart out, I guess, and see what happens… kind of the way he did things. He just wanted to win more than anything and that’s the attitude you have to have when you’re on this level.

MR: Definitely. Last question - you identified that two of the runners you really want to meet the most are Dathan Ritzenhein and Adam Goucher. Why those two guys in particular?

MF: Dathan, obviously, being from up in Michigan, I’ve ran the courses he ran several times. Adam Goucher, what sparked my interest with him is Running with the Buffaloes [ subtitled A Season Inside with Mark Wetmore, Adam Goucher, and the University of Colorado Men’s Cross Country Team] . That’s just an amazing book. I love that book. It’d be cool to meet Dathan and see what he remembers about the courses around here, and I’d like to ask both Dathan and Adam a little advice and whatnot.

MR: They’re both great guys who I know will be seeing a lot of you in years to come. Best of luck at nationals.

MF: Awesome. Thanks so much!

Interview conducted on December 5, 2007, posted Decmber 10, 2007.