AM-10 minute shakeout with Clayson and Jake.
PM-5k race in Iowa. I ran a PR by 13 seconds. 9 mile cool down, two mile warm up. Shoutout to Trevor Dunbar for pacing perfectly for 4K, and to Clayton Young for having a kid a few weeks ago, buying a car this weekend, and then running 13:34.
Race report long writeup: Got there a couple hours before the race started. I was pretty nervous, but felt really good doing strides yesterday, so I was confident. After the warm up when I was putting on my spikes, Coach showed me the results from the race at UW. It put a little more pressure on my to run my goal time of 13:39, but I was confident in it. I started next to Clayson and there was a lot of room where we started. I quickly was in the back and while I felt the pace was slow, it wasn't. I came around 800m at 2:10 and realized I was in good position, and right where I wanted to be. At 1200m I was at 3:17 and debated on moving up, but we got back on pace pretty quick, and I was fine. I think I was at 4:22 at the 1600m mark, and just kept calm. The race didn't feel too bad, but it was definately a good effort. I hit 8:49-50 at 3200m and realized I may need to start picking it up. With 1000m to go, I looked at the time and saw 11:00 or something and told myself I had to urn 2:39 to get sub-13:40. I went around the pack of 8 or 9 guys quickly and was in third. I was apprehensive to do this becasuse I knew it was going to hurt and increase the risk of me burning out, but I was pleasently surprised when it didn't. I saw Clayton and Edwin Kurgat were gapping us and I tried to catch them. I didn't look around me to see the pack on my heels, but focused on Clayton. He was leading and his gap was increasing. I just kept telling myself "Bama or bust," which is a reference to either go to indoor nationals, or blow up in this race trying. As we continually got closer to the finish, I saw my goal of sub 13:40 getting closer and closer within reach. With 300m to go, I was pretty sure I had it, and this sense of confidence may ahve slowed me down, as I had one of the slowest last laps in the race, but I got the goal at hte finish. I was passed by 2 people in the last 100m, but it was fine. We had 4 guys from BYU run 13:42 or faster, with Clayton getting the win at 13:34.
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