June 24th to 30th

Tuesday - Saturday
Did not run. Actually did not run at all for 7 days. I ate a lot of junk food and I mean a lot. We left Eugene on Tuesday. I didn't watch one race or event while in Eugene. Sierra, Rowan, and I camped and took it easy while slowly making our way back to Bozeman on Saturday. It was great spending some time with the family on a road trip.

Monday
Steeple prelims at US Olympic Trials. It was raining during the warmup, but it pretty much stopped before the race. I ran 8:38 and did not make the final. I was in the second heat and saw the results of the first heat. I pretty much knew after the first heat that if I ran faster than 8:35 I would make the final because of the advancement rules. My heat went out pretty fast and I was in a good position through the first mile. I came through the first four laps at about 4:28 or so a little bit back from the lead pack of approximately 8. I tried to catch the back of the pack with 1200 to go and was making up some time, but with 800 to go I started to struggle. Just didn't have it. After the race I was as disappointed as I have ever been after a race. My first thought was I am never going to run any type of race again. Although I hadn't been training well, I had thought I could at least will myself to make the final. Obviously, even if I had made the final, my fitness wasn't where it needed to be in order to be competitive in the final. Regardless, to not even make the final was tough to handle. I wasn't visually upset, but inside I was totally distraught. As much fun as this season had been, I don't know if it was worth going through an ending like this. It felt so much worse than falling on the last barrier in 2008. Falling was a fluke, but this was just not getting it done and there was more of a sense of finality afterward than in 2008.

Sunday
We left Portland in the morning and drove to Eugene. We went to the football stadium and Sierra and I pickup up our credentials. I went for about a 35-40 minute run and then we went and checked into the motel excited for the big day tomorrow.