This is what the guy was talking about. It is NOT courageous when you are a top runner in your state to "hang on" to other guys until the last 5-10% of the race and then use your "blazing kick" to run away from them.
I think Curtis is a great runner, and I don't know him personally, but you just made that guy's argument. He could have run faster in high school had he made the pace, he was also capable of it for 90% of his races.
Also, all this garbage about so-and-so only ran 40 mpw in high school and another so-and-so ran 100mpw, so he is going to dominate the first guy in college. GARBAGE. If you are a top high school runner you know you are good by sophomore year and if you can't figure out that 40 mpw ISN'T EVEN GETTING IN THE GAME, then nobody can help you.
I'm not talking about Curtis, but all the people who were using this line of reasoning. And anyone who believes in it. You don't hear HS swimmers say, "Guess what, over Christmas break when you chumps were all swimming 10,000 yds a day and busting ass, I was chilling with one workout a day and only 4,000 yards at that?"
You don't hear hard-training wrestlers tell each other to cut their pushups and situps down to 3 x 20 a day, and just a one mile warmup before practice.
I realize LOTS of great HS runners have had great success off of 30-35-40 mpw. But it isn't the mileage (or lack of it) that made them great, it was THEM. They would have been great off of nearly ANY training program. Lots more stories of 1000-mile summers and 70 miles-a-week in Winter exist and don't choose the former one just because it is EASIER.
Don't be proud of sloth.