I had decided together with Frank and Staale Jan that I would stay right at the tail of the field if the pace was fast. In that way, I could start catching people at the end. That exact thing happened. I was last for the first 3800 meters but took five guys on the last 3 laps. The whole first part of the race, I was just saying to myself : “Relax, relax, not all of those guys in front will keep that pace” In that way I motivated myself to push on. And at the end, I pushed in fron of Visciosa of Spain first, then El Wardi and Amyn of Marrocco, then El Himer of France. On the 300 meter mark to go I could see the back of Adam Goucher getting closer. At the 200 meter mark I kicked hard, and I think he was surprised and could not respond. Final 400 was around 56.8/9.
This whole championships has been great. I was calm before the race and just excited. All the final was, was a bonus for me, and I did not expect to do as well as ninth. Great for motivation :))!!
Tomorrow I will just relax and take it easy. The race today will guide me through the rest of the season. I really had to focus in the middle of the race, and it was hard both mentally and physically. But I got through it, and am really glad I took those decisions to push on.
More tomorrow, here from Edmonton :))
Marius