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Clayton Young
Okay, but to add more context, I’ll write a short race recap. 
The first few miles were fairly chill. I touched the lead at 2.2 so I could get my bottle without the pack closing in, but I grabbed the straw and it flipped over to the other side of the road. I almost stopped and grabbed it, but the pack was so big. Fortunately Clayton was willing to share. Coach and I decided on the plan that I would be patient and not take the lead until mile 22, and unless someone pushed faster than about 4:50, I would cover the move. Clayton had the same plan. 
5.5 miles in, Zach Panning moved to the lead and sped up the pace. I had been tripped up a little in the pack earlier in the race and so I was happy to see an increase in pace that would break up the pack. I made eye contact with Clayton so he would know I’m going to run right behind Zach, and covered the move. The pack quickly became a line of people, which decreased how worried I was about tripping, how big the pack was, etc. I told myself I wouldn’t look back until 30k, because the pack would still probably be big until then. My calves and hamstrings were pretty tired, but as time went on I became pretty confident that we would need to run 2:08 low to make the team. I tried to lock in behind Zach Panning, who helped us run a lot faster than we would’ve had he not taken the lead and pushed the pace. At our bottle station just after 18 miles, I looked back and saw there were 4 of us, almost 3, my stress levels decreased and I got pretty excited. We were on sub-2:08 pace, and there was only 3 of us. I gave Clayton a high five to try and encourage him, and I was pretty excited. I would’ve helped lead, but was too nervous I would blow up. After a few slow miles, I looked back to check if 4th was closing, and couldn’t see anyone. At 22 I took the lead and I turned to Zach and said we can stay on sub 2:08:10 pace, just hold on and we’ll get three qualifiers. I wasn’t worried about how Clayton was feeling, he does extremely well in the heat, and I felt that the pace wasn’t too terrible on its own. Clayton took the lead after 23, and said we should run side-by-side, but I was too nervous about blowing up. Zach dropped off around 23, and then Clayton and I ran together. Clayton celebrated a lot, and was enjoying the moment. I was too nervous about not qualifying, so I focused on just getting to the finish line. I didn’t want to hammer the pace the last few miles, but just stay consistent and get to the finish line without collapsing or having a hamstring, calf, or back cramp. In the 1996 10000m Olympic Trials, Coach Eyestone was in 2nd with 400m to go and had a gap on 3rd, but had run too hard and overheated that he didn’t finish, and I didn’t want that to be me. While Clayton celebrated and enjoyed the moment, I did my best to finish with as little risk as possible. Clayton could’ve out kicked me, but let me finish ahead. I’m unsure why. I’m grateful to have competed with Clayton and ran a great race today. It was a dream come true.

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Conner Mantz

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