Day Four: Under the race day spotlight

By Peter Schulten 

The morning of race day was very quiet. The boys were downstairs eating breakfast at 6:30 and loading onto the bus at 7:30. The whole bus was dead silent. Everybody was trying to focus on the race that was ahead. It was a long drive to Glendoveer, and the weather looked wet and gloomy. However, upon arrival we were felt welcomed in the athlete village.

Our team sat in our designated area for 25 minutes before we began our warmup, where we ran around the wood chip path on the golf course. We had to stop midway through the warmup to be introduced onto the live webcast. The first thing we saw were a number of Olympians lined up, including 2016 gold medalist Matthew Centrowitz. It was incredible how Nike presented us.

Following the introduction we made our way to the starting line, and did the usual routine: strides, dynamics, prayer, etc. When the gun went off, we were antsy to get off the line. The whole field of athletes bolted towards the first turn. We noticed multiple people falling in the first 400 meters of the race in the mud. Luckily, our team got out well and nobody fell.

In conclusion, the day was fantastic regardless of our 18th place finish. We were disappointed, but it didn't hurt the fact that we had such an amazing season. NXN was by far one of the best experiences we have had as a team and we look forward to our indoor and outdoor track seasons.