PM-2 mile shakeout
Race-2.5 warm up, strides, race where I spent a lot of time getting jostled and on the outside, saw 6 of my teammates qualify for nationals(!), then cool down. Time to prepare for the 5k.
Late race report: After the warm up, a prayer with the team, and strides, we got to the track. I felt pretty good, but I just tried my best to confident, but not cocky/too confident. Heading into the weekend, I had thought more on recovering for the 5k, and less on the 10k. Race plan was to let the race play out until 5k, then move up. Gun goes off, I get pushed around, but I'm in decent positioning on the inside middle pack. As the race went on, I got pushed to the back. Dallin and Michael were leading the first few laps and I was a bit surprised, but not too much. Dallin wanted a fast race and had been talking about it all season. During the first few laps I looked around and saw Brayden directly behind me. Later on in the race, I made a move to the middle of the pack and then after 2 laps, was pushed to the back again. When I was in the back, I looked around again, and realized I was just ahead of Brayden and in the same spot I was in before, and that my earlier move was wasted. After 5k, I moved up. I realized Rory had taken the lead and was pushing the pace. I was likely 30-40 meters behind the lead pack and I quickly made a move to the top 12. It hurt, but it wasn't terrible once I settled back into pace. Eventually I got right behind Rory and Tibebu Proctor from Washington and just sat on them. After a lap or so, I realized that Rory was pushing the straights and jogging the turns. I was annoyed with this and eventually took the lead from him with 7 laps to go. After a lap of leading, I wasn't feeling great, so I let Tibebu take the lead, and I just stayed in the top 4. Later Rory took the lead and I just sat on him until 200m to go. At this point Tyler Day passed me and I was pretty sure I was going to qualify, so I just kept the pace for a 100m, then let up just a bit. A few people passed me at the line, but because this is a qualifying round, it didn't matter. 2nd was the same as 12th to me. After finishing, I turned around to see Connor Weaver cross the line. I asked him if he made it(to the top 12). He then asked me the same question, then turned to his family, and they were screaming for excitment. Not only did Connor Weaver qualify for nationals, but Dallin Farnsworth did too, which was awesome! We ended up having 6 guys qualify for nationals in the 10k in total, and it was great! Way excited for nationals!
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