Women’s 5000m recap

            Lauren Fleshman got off the line and found herself in first place as the pace was nothing spectacular from the gun.  Meanwhile teammate Amy Hastings made her way toward the back of the pack, content to wait and see how the race would unfold.

Mirroring heat 1 of the preliminary round, Hitomi Niiya assumed the lead opening up a gap that she would hold for little more than a mile.  Fleshman tucked quietly into 3rd, eyes on the front but just keeping a steady rhythm as she tried to conserve energy.  Hastings meanwhile seemed to be having trouble from the start as she spent most of the first mile towards the back of the pack, surging briefly only to drift back a few meters later. 

By 2k, Hastings was just a step or two off of the lead pack as she hoped that a second wind would bring her back into the race.  Fleshman continued in 3^rd place, still out of harm’s way.  She would maintain this position until just before the halfway mark when the intimidating group of 4 Kenyans and 2 Ethiopians took control of the race. 

One major disadvantage Americans seem to have in the longer distances is their inability to work together in groups to control the race.  Team tactics appear to work so well for reasons no more obvious than strength in numbers.  If you’d like to surge back when 4 Kenyans go past you, go right ahead.  Even on your best day you’re not going to drop all of them.  Together though, they can cruise past a lone runner, who unlike them, has no idea when the hammer is going to be dropped.  The cohesive teams know exactly when to expect the move because they know that they’re the ones who are going to be making it, tightening the screws on a pack that never saw it coming.

With 6 laps to go, eventual champion Vivian Cheruiyot and teammate Linet Masai controlled the race, leaving Amy Hastings behind in the wake of their leg stiffening pace changes.  Fleshman meanwhile was holding strong, still in the hunt with a mile to go.

By the next lap, Lauren seemed primed to kick with the best of them sitting on the outside towards seventh position.  By 800 to go however, Fleshman’s body language was giving her away.  Her head was cocked back, mouth gasping for air while the pack of women ahead of her showed neither signs of mercy nor fatigue.  With just 600 to go, Fleshman could no longer to hope to contend for a medal, but took some comfort reeling in those who would fade from the chase pack. 

Overall, 7^th place wasn’t necessarily spectacular, but the effort was both honest and immense.  Hastings on the other hand had herself a bad day, nothing more nothing less.  It’s a particularly bad race to have a bad day in, but that’s just how it goes sometimes.  No doubt that she will recall the saga on her countless training runs this coming year.  Fleshman meanwhile will have to figure out how to hang with the big girls for a bit longer, and to have a wicked kick waiting in the tank for when she does.