William and Mary senior Ben Massam and his Tribe are heading back to NCAA Cross Country Championships. Last year, they placed 16^th overall as Massam took 124^th over the 10,000-meter course. As the Tribe is currently ranked ninth in the country, Massam continues to add huge weeks of mileage under his belt and really feels things “clicking” with his harrier squad. Let's see how they do!

You're just coming home from a team barbecue, do you guys do that often?

This past weekend we had Fall Break, with Monday and Tuesday off...so, it's a way to make people not have to go out and buy food. It was a special occasion.

If it's not the team barbecue this year, then what's making your team do so well?

It's the group of guys, man. A lot of people haven't really heard of us and we have a pretty even group of guys. There's no one person ahead of us and that's what makes us work together. We're around each other a lot and that helps.

You beat some pretty impressive teams early on in the season.

I guess we're kind of known for...I don't want to say “stinking it up” in the beginning of the year, but we don't usually come out with our “guns-a-blazing”. In the past, we've had our home meet, so it was a little more laid back. But this year, we got invited out to Oklahoma State and I think we just wanted to set a benchmark to see where we were at this time of the year. Luckily, it turned out pretty well and we were happy with the result. We know we still have a way to go.

Your team hasn't been doing anything different this year? Why are things clicking right now?

The training has been more or less the same. We haven't really gotten into the intense stuff yet, maybe a couple of intervals, but really long stuff and fartleks. I think it's just that we have a good group of guys who are all around the same ability level and are able to work. Everyone wants to beat each other, but everyone also wants to see each other do well. I think it's a pretty competitive group that works together well.

How tight is that front pack?

Really last spring was when we figured it out. There was one weekend where—Patterson Wilhelm and I redshirted—but Jon Grey and Colin Leak were in form and at two meets on the same night, we all ran 14:06 or under in the 5k. It was like a three-second spread. It was pretty crazy that all of us were running around the same time. I think we train together well and the results show.

So, you have on strong front pack to train with?

The great thing is we have guys from different backgrounds. You have guys who...well, intervals are really their thing. Then you have guys who like the longer stuff with the extended effort. I know I eat up the tempo runs and the base runs because I'm pretty high mileage...then we start doing intervals and stuff and in our top five...I peaked at 130 miles and we have Lewis Woodard—my roommate and our fifth man—he averages like 50 miles a week. We have a pretty wide spread. I feel like with special teams, there's someone who will pull other people along, no matter what the workout is.

Oh, sorry. I think my phone just messed up. I thought you just said that you run 130-mile weeks.

(Laughs) Yeah. Yeah, I said that. I was pretty high mileage in high school, but that's the highest on the team. Like I said, some people on the team are running 50 miles a week. Some run seven days a week and others will run five days a week. There's a wide range of training on the team. I can handle it—knock on wood—I don't get injured. I was at 130 this week.

What were you running in high school for mileage?

I got up to 100 before my senior year in August. I didn't know what I was doing in high school.

Can you break down this past week of mileage?

The way we like to do it is having an up week and a down week. I'd go up to 130 miles a week then down to 100-110. This week, I'm actually at 100 and I'll go back up some. I've been at 130 miles on my high weeks since...maybe early August.

That's with six doubles?

That's without the long run or the...we call it the second long run. The second longest day of the week. Even on workout days I'll get up and do a short run or a shake out.

Has your team talked about team goals?

I think part of it is that we didn't want to look at an exact number. Last year, we were 16^th and weren't really satisfied with it. We had higher expectations, given the people we had. I think this year, it's pretty much understood that we would like to go under the top 10, which I think we can and is a pretty good possibility. I think that would be great for a smaller school like ours to be able to do something like that. Everyone would have to be on their A-game that day, but I think it's possible.

What about an individual goal? A place where you'd like to finish?

I've been at Nationals two times and both times it's kind of sucked. I didn't figure it out very well. My sophomore year, I was out too fast and last year I was too conservative. I think I took 124^th last year. On a good day, top 60 is realistic and what's expected of me. If it was a really good day, then maybe I'll take a run at that top 40.

With the higher mileage that you run, you haven't ran into many injuries?

I don't really get injured. I've had some soft tissue stuff, but my bones handle it pretty well. Freshman year, I had a bit of an iron deficiency thing and I've always got to keep an eye on that. After freshman year, I said down with Gibby, our coach, and we talked about it and figured it out. I think that's where we came up with the up week and down week thing. I like a little bit of break from the mileage and try to schedule an easy day so my legs can recover and everything.

What's the hardest workout you've ever done?

I guess there was one last spring that we did when we found out that were all in pretty good shape. The whole group of us did 10 by 1,000 on the track. We started in the low 2:50s and got down to running a few 2:41s in a row. It was a real good distance effort. It was when everyone realized that we could work together and pull everyone along. It was a great workout.

You didn't blow chunks or anything?

No. (Laughs) I was really close. I don't know about blowing chunks, but I was walking around not really knowing where I was on the track. Luckily we didn't have a race for another few weeks.

A little delirious, but those ones pay off in the long run.

Yeah. You've got to love those. Especially when you don't have a race for a while and you can really go after it.

I bet you slept well that night.

Yeah. It can have one effect or the other. You can go right to sleep or your legs can be swelling and you can't get to sleep.

What are you studying at William and Mary?

I'm majoring in history. I guess it's all around you down here and you'll see some pretty interesting stuff. We run down Duke of Gloucester Street, which is Colonial Williamsburg and you see people churning butter and people dressed up as Thomas Jefferson. It's a pretty interesting environment to run in.

You don't take part in the reenactments or anything like that?

Even though I'm majoring in history and people always ask, “are you studying to be on of those colonial reenactors or historical interpreters?” But, no, I could never see myself doing something like that.

Studying history, does that mean you're looking to go into teaching or with your 130-mile weeks, are you looking to pursue a career in running and maybe marathons?

I would love to give running a try after college. I've talk to Gibby about it a little, but we obviously don't want to get ahead ourselves with all the eligibility I have left. I would love to try that. The few road races I've done—including a half marathon my freshman when I was redshirting—I really loved it. I'm thinking about going into law school right now. I haven't decided for sure and I'm staying for five years, so I have a little bit of time to decide.

This is your last cross country season but what else do have left?

I'm out of cross country, but I'm coming back next year for track season.

Just the longer stuff for you. The five and the 10?

Yeah, we joke about that. I'm one of the people on the team with the worst leg speed...so, it's always amusing when I get thrown into an indoor mile. People are licking their chops to see me in there with them.

What are we talking? What can you run for a quarter?

Man, I don't know. That's always been something I've been interested in. Maybe like a 55, at best...maybe 54. I'm pretty slow when it comes to that. I never broke two in the 800 in high school. Luckily in college the races get longer...because I was running out of real estate there.

Do you get nervous or not look forward to the indoor season when it comes around?

No way. When I get in a mile or something, I love it. I get my chance. If someone loses to me, it's kind of embarrassing. Indoor track was never my thing because of the turns and me being a taller guy. I look forward to it because I can train through it. We don't take it—I won't say not seriously—but we train through it pretty hard to get through it and onto the outdoor season.

What are your hobbies?

Everyone thinks this is really weird, but I'm a really big fan of horse racing. I'm not saying I have a gambling problem, but I like to follow that. I love sports. People would say that we have a pretty boring team. We sit around and watch TV. I love watching football with the cross country team. We go out to eat at this place called Pierce's Barbecue. We go there after workouts. That stuff is really great.

Back to your gambling problem, what sports teams do you follow and bet on?

(Laughs) I'm from Northern New Jersey, so I've got the Yankees and the Devils.

Yeah, Yankees!

You're a Yankee's fan too! I'm looking forward to the ALCS starting on Friday. In football, I don't mind the Giants or the Jets, but ever since I was little, I liked the Bears. I don't know why. Maybe because my dad was a Vikings fan and I wanted to make him mad.

Can you do the Superbowl Shuffle?

No, that was a little before my time. But I can go back and watch the video.

You don't play poker or anything like that?

No, just horse racing. It's been like a family thing. Everyone is interested in it and it just got going. I could probably name every horse that runs on a regular basis in New Jersey. People are pretty amazed by that...but, hey, it's something I do. It's one of those things where you can enjoy it, but you've got to control yourself. I'm a college student and it's not like I have a lot of money to throw around.

Can you give me a crazy running-related story? Anything wild ever happen to you on one of your runs?

One that stands out a little is one that happened on a run down here. I was telling you that we have that Duke of Gloucester Street that we run down through the reenactors and stuff. The track is pretty close to that, so we warm up through colonial Williamsburg in track season. I guess they have this thing called the Revolutionary City or something like that. They reenact and shoot off cannons and all that. We unknowingly ran through it and this guy, who was dressed as a British soldier in a Red Coat outfit, he was yelling at us with a stick or a plastic sword. He was really getting mad. It was like something that was scripted. They were looking at us like we were nuts. We sprinted through there and everyone there had their mouths wide open. It was interesting to have our running meet the 1700s.

You went through a time machine apparently.

I don't know if they thought the Indians were attacking or something.

Your Tribe was attacking?

Yeah, there you go! That was it.