It was hot, a little windy. I feel good about it, although third is the most bitter-sweet place(top two make USA team for World Junior.) Will write more later.
We got to the meet about 2 hours before the 10,000m started. It was hot, but I thought it was going to cool down, and be partly in the shade of the bleachers. After an hour of watching events, I went and got my bib, and after the steeple I started to warm up. I felt good heading into this race, more motivated than I'd been in a while. It's been a long season and I had been feeling burnt out, but I was ready for this race. I warmed up on a practice track they had near the bull pen. I did what I thought was a mile and a quarter before getting my stuff and going to the bull pen. I was afraid of over-hydrating, but I think I was pretty good at it. They ended up having water in the outer lanes on the back stretch, so I shouldn't have worried so much about staying hydrated prior to the race. I never take water until mile 6 of races, so I didn't think I would need any. My goal heading into the race was just to relax for the first few miles, and whether it was from the front, or in a pack didn't matter. I did 4 strides, and after some stretching, we were off.
I hesitated about taking the lead, but just committed 100m in, and just ran my pace. It felt pretty easy. First 400m I was 1:10, about where I wanted to be. I just tried to stay relaxed, but I was too used to running the mile and two mile, that I would speed up to paces that were too fast and then slow it down once I realized I was not going to hold that pace for 10 more laps, much less 20. Some guy from Texas A&M(Austin Wells) would pass me and slow it down, but then speed it up. He was worse at keeping a steady pace than me. I found out there was also a headwind on the back stretch too. The conditions kinda sucked. After 2 miles or so, he passed me, and I passed him back after he slowed the pace down. At about 5K, I was feeling the heat, and finally gave into water at 5,400m about. I should've got some earlier, because it felt so good. After that, I got water on most laps that I could(since I was in the back now, The front guys got the water before I could. I was pretty mad for a bit because it seemed like Brendon Shearn was knocking water out of the hands of the USATF people on purpose to make sure no one else could get any, but I bet he was just trying to get it and it slipped.) The pack passed me, and I just tried to stay with them for as long as I could. Over some parts of the race the pack would slow into a lot slower of a pace, and it would bunch up. When lapping other runners, I had to get out to the outer lanes because some decided to run side-by-side. After that I just told myself to wait for the kick, and with 400m I felt like I could outsprint a few people. My feet were also hurting a ton, they were tingly, like when your foot falls asleep, but it also hurt every time it hit the ground.(After the race, my sock had a little blood around my pinky toe. It hurt so bad, I thought it was broken immediately after the race, but it wasn't near that bad. Just lots of skin gone though) I was in 6th, but pretty soon the UCLA kid and Texas A&M kid started to fall off. The pace increased with a mile to go, and I just tried stay on. With 3 laps to go, it slowed again, and I was sick of the change of pace, so I took the lead. After 100m, I decided it was a bad idea, which was my first mistake in this race, and I cut out to lane 2 at 1K to go, and just tucked in the pack of 3 of us. I held on. With 600m to go I know I needed to start my kick, but I just broke mentally. I then said at 400m I'll do it. Then, Jon Green and Shearn left me. I finished okay, but after 50 meters, I just let them get too far ahead of me, that I just made sure I finished at a decent pace. Another mistake, but it's learning.
About a minute after the race, I started to black out. I just told myself to keep standing. My eyes just started to close themselves, like they do when you're really tired. I sat down after a few minutes, but my dad told me to get up(thank-you dad!) so I did. It took me a few more minutes and a few bottles of water before I started feeling decent again. They did awards, and then interviews. When I finally got my spikes off, I walked to the building to fill out stuff as the alternate for the USA Junior Team. I was in there for an hour or two(it felt like forever!) so I wasn't able to cool down. It was a little depressing being there, because we got to see a lot of really cool stuff that they get. We also had to fill out everything "just in case." I'm happy with my race, I know I didn't have it all on the day, but I still had a great race for me, and I pushed it more than I have in any race this year, other than state and New Balace. Cool down for a few miles.
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