Semis, American style…
Not much to report, what should have been a formality was. Was third in my heat, which turned out to be third overall, in 2:08. Advancing was done strictly on time, not the usual top 2/3 from each heat plus the next 6-8 fastest, so you never really knew what it would take to move on. I drew the second of 5 heats, so when I ran I didn’t really know what time it would take to advance – couple of guys from my heat got after it early (don’t know why), so I patiently let them go but got nervous when my attempt to run 2:06 turned into 2:08. Turned out that my anxiety was needless, as all the other heats ran tactical races which eliminated those that didn’t run under 2:13 or so. Not super impressive, but what you ran didn’t really matter as long as you advanced so you could argue that the 18th and final guy to move on was the real “winner” – easing into the semis…
Tomorrow will be a little tougher, but at least the top guys in each heat will automatically advance, meaning that you can control your own destiny to a point. That, plus we’ll have a day off before the finals, so if I have to take things up a notch or two it won’t be such a bad thing. Late night tonight after running at 7:30, dinner at 9:30pm isn’t ideal but the local Fictiv Pub has served me well the past two nights so i figured no use messing with a good thing. Did throw my waiter a curveball tonite though, going with the goulash instead of the borscht – pretty much like Chunky beef and vegetable soup, with the only difference being it was good and it didn’t involve Donovan McNabb’s mother. Hopefully it will give me some Eastern European strength though, for I feel the days of 2:08 getting it done are probably over……
Nick Berra 