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The
race day weather was nearly perfect, with a starting temperature
of 39 degrees.
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The
athletes ran a mile on the Washington University track before heading
out on the road.
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Blake
Russell remained in the pack for about 800 meters before surging
to the front and setting out on...
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...a
solo journey. Her slow start gave her a one mile split of approximately
5:38, but her second mile...
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...a
slightly downhill one, was approximately 5:05. Russell's lead was
already 51 seconds by the three-mile mark.
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By
the fifth mile, it took a long, straight strech of road for the...
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...other
runners to even be visible. The chasing runners ran in pairs...
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...Sylvia
Mosqueda and Deena Kastor, Jenny Spangler and Jen Rhines, and Deeja
Youngquist and Colleen De Reuck.
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Kastor
(left) and Mosqueda turn a corner together in the fifth mile.
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Mosqueda
and Kastor set out to begin chipping away at Russell's lead.
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But
up front, Russell was all alone. Kastor seemed to be closing in
at one point, but had to stop twice...
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...to
remove a rock that was wedged in the bottom of her shoe - she broke
two nails in the process.
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Kastor
finally caught Russell in the 18th mile, and passed her rather quickly.
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Russell
was slowing visibly, but still had a huge lead over the fourth-place
runner.
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Kastor
quickly put 20 seconds on Russell, and appeared as if she would
cruise to an easy victory.
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Kastor
came in to the race with a seed time nearly seven minutes faster...
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...that
the second seed, De Reuck.
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De
Reuck passed Russell and seemed content at first just to guard second
place.
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Russell
still seemed to be moving well enough - and had a big enough lead
- that it looked like she might be able to grab the third and final
spot on the Olympic team.
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Though
Kastor and De Reuck seemed to be running the same pace for several
miles, Kastor's miles began to slow and De Reuck began to pick up
the pace.
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