Keeping My Chin Up After The Big Race

I finished tenth in my heat and did not advance to the finals. I was very disappointed in my time, my place, and my overall performance. I feel that my preparation and hard work really didn't pay off with the outcome of the race. I still feel that I am in sub-8:20 shape and should be able to contend for a Top 8 finish at the Olympic Games, but that will have to come in 2012.

The race started off like normal; Anthony Famiglietti took it out hard and finished very strong in third place and qualified for the final. I got out great and two laps later, my legs felt tired and flat, I really couldn't switch gears and lost contact with the chase pack and ran the last three laps just holding on. After the race, I had an hour of somewhat alone time because I was picked for random drug testing, so I got to talk to myself and go over the race in my mind.

I still had mixed emotions on the race and my time here, feeling that I let myself, my family, and my supporters down, but then also feeling great because I am at the Olympics and at my first world championship in track and field. I am 23 and at the Olympics. I achieved my dream at an earlier age than I expected.

It was a day of ups and downs, but I'm still feeling some sort of a loss on the day. After the drug testing I went to cool down an easy 10 minutes, wishing things could have been different in preparing for the race today.

We got to the track way too early for a 9:35 a.m.