Elliott Heath was kind enough to tell us about his experience -- which included a silver medal at 5000 meters -- at the Pan American Junior Championship in São Paulo, Brazil. He wrote us from the meet, but due to most of us being out of the DtB "office" this week, we're only getting to it (and a lot of other things) now ...On the trip ... Starting at the beginning of the trip, it took a very long time to get here. A grand total of of 35 hours of travel (13 hour layover in Miami didn't help). But ever since I got here it has been great.
On being in São Paulo ... Most days until today consisted mainly of going over for workouts and then exploring the area around our hotel. Sao Paulo is such an enormous city that what I have seen probably makes up about one thousandth of its total area. On Wednesday most of the team took a bus to the ocean which is about 60k away but due to traffic it took about two and a half hours each way. Regardless the trip was really fun and it was great to get out of the city setting.
Race day ... Today was race day for me at about 4:30 local time so it was pretty much lay low until going over to the track. I am thankful that it is winter down here right now so that it isn't really hot. It has been sunny and about 70 every day so race conditions were pretty good.
Silver medal ... In the race I ended up finishing second behind a Mexico athlete [Diego Borrego] and right in front of a runner from Brazil [Robson Pereira de Lima]. The Mexican was 14:33 and the Brazilian and myself were both 14:34. The race was very similar to the race in Indianapolis. We got out pretty well and then settled in to come through the mile in 440. The second mile was a bit slower and we came through 3200 in the low 9:30's.
There were a couple surges in the next two laps but it eventually came down to the last lap with the Mexican taking off and setting the pace. I was in 4th with 400 to go and then and 3rd with 200 to go, a few strides back from the Mexican and the Brazilian. I was able to pass the Brazilian with about 20 to 30 meters left but the Mexican runner was too strong. The last 400 ended up being 56 so it was very similar to Indy.
Overall I was very happy with the race. It was great to make the podium. Now I am looking forward to watching the meet the next two days. It has been a really fun experience getting to know all of the other US athletes and some of the athletes from other nations. I am not looking forward to the long trip home on Monday.
Photo by Gene Niemi -- Heath winning his second straight MSHSL Class AA title at 3200 earlier this season.
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