In front of a great homecrowd I was very eager to do an ok race and hopefully lower the national record a little bit if all went well.
I was feeling fine up to the 1000 meters in about 2.36/2.37 as expected. Normally, the pacemakers Keino and Kiplak go through the 2000 in about 5.07/08 (they were set for 12.52 pace) but the pace kept on getting slower and the 2k in 5.15. Another 1 km in 2.41 and 3000 in 7.56 made it impossible for a really fast time and it was just to stick in the race instead. I tried to push the pace a bit midways and was feeling ok then but at the end had to let go of a bunch of stronger Kenyans plus American Broe who I stayed behind some in the very early stages of the race. Finishing time 13.14 is still my seventh fastest 5000 meters and I consider it about the same as my first two races in Rome plus Heusden when I look at the different race developments.
Magic evening on the new stadium. It is finally up and going 🙂 Something special with that, it actually looks like a WC stadium, not just an arena..
Easy run this morning with Americans Webb and Broe up at the Sogsvann lake.
Some pics from the race click here :
Marius