"I felt strong," said Haidat. "After I finished, I wasn't even tired." Haidat struck an quick pace early, running with the lead runners of the marathon before going solo for the remainder of the race after six miles.
"Mudasar's training has gone exceedingly well," said coach Scott Simmons. "It is unusual for me to have a freshman training for the marathon, but Mudasar has exhibited great mental and physical maturity and the ability and commitment to train for the longer distances. Our deal is, if he is able to completely and properly prepare for the marathon, which he is doing, then he'll race it. If so, I have confidence that he will race well and, more importantly, stay healthy and recover in a reasonable amount of time."
Haidat, a state qualifier at Wakefield High School with times of 4:36 and 9:39 for the mile and two-mile, respectively, was the Cobras seventh man on their 2004 national cross country championship team.