AM-2 mile shakeout.
PM-About 3 mile warm up, strides.
Race went well. The start was quick and I was cut off early on by someone that tried to run across all the lanes in just half of the straightaway. I tried to be relaxed early on. 61 through 400m and I was at the back, so that was a bit fast. At 800m I heard 2:07, and knew that was quite a bit slower than what we needed (goal was 63 per 400m with a fast finish). While this may have been an inaccurate 400m split, I decided to make it to the front. I saw John Dressel behind the pacers and I quickly caught up to them and hung on behind him. At 1200m I heard 3:08, and just thought to myself that I was in a perfect spot. I knew Rory was behind me, and the goal was to make sure that we both got qualified, so I was in a great position. At hte 1600m I heard 4:10 and Matt dropped off(he was one of the pacers). I got behind Alex Ostberg, who was the other pacer, and I felt the pace going slower. I tried to tell him to speed it up a couple times, but I don't think he heard me. When he dropped off, I tried to start moving faster and finish strong. I was alone up front and we were 2k in. I felt pretty good and had prepared myself to speed up here. That lasted about 150m, and then I realized I was in a lot of pain, and having over 800m to go was a lot. I got passed by Brandt and just tried to hold on. I didn't think I had slowed down when I was in the lead, but after watching the race, I had quite a bit. At 600m to go(about the time I got passed), I felt like I was in trouble. The pain was coming in, and I was gritting my teeth to just stay up with Brandt. At 400m to go, Isaac yelled "'Bama or Bust!" and I just gained enough momentum to stay with him for the next 200m. When I hit 2800m I heard Coach yell "7:21," and I knew I needed to run a 30 second last 200 to qualify, but I was hurting. I just didn’t want to have this whole weekend of missing class go to waste if I bagged the last 200 and didn’t make it. I stayed close to Brandt, saw a couple Oregon runners try and pass me, sped up just enough to beat them to the line, and then crossed at 7:50 to get both a PR and a qualifier.
About 4 miles after, some with John Dressel and his teammate and then some with Rory and Carlos, as well as a run when we got back to the hotel.
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