Julia Lucas may be the heartbreak kid of these 2012 Olympic Track Trials with her 5000m race last night. She took off in the later stages of the race, upping the tempo and giving herself a good sized-lead by the final lap. Unfortunately, her legs starting giving out and she was passed by two runners, but it still looked like she had 3rd place locked up as she hit the final straightaway. Unfortunately with a step left to go the faltering Lucas was passed at the finish line and lost the Olympic position by .04 seconds. Due to the fact that Julia had increased the pace of the field in the final laps, Kim Conley was able to beat the Olympic A standard by .21 of a second. I am sure Julia will be kicking herself for years for how she ran the race. If she kept the pace down she would have earned the Olympic spot due to already having the A standard and if she had not forced the pace then maybe should could have finished more strongly. Even if she had faltered and slowed down sooner, the other two runners would not have sprinted to catch her and even if they passed her, they might not have earned the A standard and she would be gointg to London. As my friend Michael Wade said, "She ran like Pre on Pre's track and finished 4th - also like Pre. Nothing to be ashamed of there." Here are the highlights of that race. Sorry they can't be embedded. Some people have said it was a stupid race on Julia'a part, but she seems to be a courageous runner to me and it turns out this was not her most courageous run. Check out this 2007 video describing how she ran into a burning building to save two children. Now that is a courageous run!
Here is Julia, after the race, describing what it felt like to be "running underwater" the last 100 yards.
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