Been eating cough drops like candy to keep from coughing up a lung. Got to the meet and did a 2 mile shakeout with Thom. Then watched the guys kill it in the mile. Warmed up 1.75 a little later. Not really nervous, just excited to see what I can do under my sickly condition. Checked in after second calls and almost missed the gun. Had to rip my sweats off and change into spikes as fast as I could, that got the adrenaline going. Gun went off and I settled in around 5th place, right where I wanted. Just chilled for the first mile, hit 72s and 73s. Moved up second mile and got pushed into Colton by a dumb Davis guy in the process. That got me going, but wait it gets better. With 3 laps to go, the back of my shoe gets stepped on (come to find out it was Thom haha) and my heel comes out. I manage to keep it on for that lap but get sick of it so I fling it off and run the last 2 laps with one shoe. Second place going into the last 200 and realize I can catch him with about 50 meters to go. Barely outkick him and get first. Ended up with a 9:35.99, qualifying for state by .07 of a second. Happy with the performance but know I can go faster. Cooled down to 9 on the turf while watching the 4X800, good first invitational
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