Well, that was a bit of a crazy race. The way it works is there are 2 heats of 12 men in the semi-finals. From each heat the top 4 finishers automatically qualify, and then the next 4 fastest times after that. I had the advantage of being in heat 2. This is an advantage because you get to see what heat 1 runs and you just have to make sure you are faster than the 5th finisher in their heat.
Heat 1 happened pretty much according to plan. They went out fair slow and ended up coming home strong over the last lap and a half or so. The 5th place finisher was about 3:51. So now everyone in our heat who wasn't confident on being top 4 knows that they have to run at least 3:51 or better to make it to the final. Right off the gun Robert Jackson from Speed River took the lead. I knew it was definitely faster than 3:51 pace, but I felt really comfortable and was expecting somewhere around 63 through 400. You can imagine my surprise when I saw the clock and it said 60 seconds. It didn't really phase me, as I said I felt really strong and comfortable and had no problems with a bit of a faster time. Coming around the corner with just under 1000m left in the race, I got clipped pretty bad and almost hit the track. I was able to recover pretty well and maintained by composure and most importantly my position. Jackson maintained the lead through 800m where we slowed down a bit to 63, coming through in 2:03. With 600m to go the pace started to get a little quicker again and from here on out about 5 of us broke away. That group included myself, Taylor Milne, Justin Marpole-Bird, Geoff Martinson, and Charles Philibert-Thiboutot. Coming down the home straight we were all in a group, and I was sitting in 5th. I debated just staying there because I knew the time was much faster than 3:51, but I like to have a big "Q" beside my name rather than a small "q" so I worked my way up in to 4th to guarantee me a spot in the final.
I want to say thanks to everyone who came out tonight to cheer me on. I heard you all and it really helped me out. It was great meeting some of me new twitter followers in person as well!
Lets keep the cheering going. The 1500m final goes tomorrow, Friday, June 29th, at 2:25pm at Foothills Athletic Park. Be there or be SQUARE!
I am all eyes on the 1500m final right now. But just FYI I am entered in the 800m semi-finals at 6:55pm tomorrow as well.
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