Racing for the first time in seven months, Jordan McNamara simply wanted to feel again. He missed the nerves, he longed for the crowds in the grandstands and he wanted to rub elbows with some of the best distance runners in the country.
But it was the pain, the pain of distance and the pain of losing, which felt the best.
McNamara, a former Oregon All-American and currently a runner for Oregon Track Club, finished third in the 5,000-meter Friday night at the Oregon Relays with a time of 13:57.87. His return to racing also marked his first time competing in the 5,000 since he finished his Oregon career nearly four years ago.
“It’s a different beast,” McNamara said. “But it’s fun to get out there…to just hurt again, it felt good.”
Nike Oregon Project’s Suguru Osako won in 13:45.39, and Canadian runner Luc Bruchet, running for Asics Canada, came in second in 13:49.30. Oregon freshman Tanner Anderson, running unattached, finished fifth in 14:00.37.
McNamara said he had no expectations coming into the race. Before his team heads to train in Flagstaff, Arizona, next week in preparation for the Olympic Trials, he wanted to see where he was at in a competitive setting. A positive effort was the only bar he set for himself.
“Box and check there,” he said.
But as the lap counter started marking down, and the minutes starting added up, McNamara felt the difference between running a mile and running a 5,000.
“It felt about eight laps too long, honestly,” he said. “That was a long one for me.”
Still, McNamara felt that if he could keep the leader within three seconds heading into the final lap, he could catch him. When that time came, McNamara, in no man’s land between the leader and the rest of the pack, saw six seconds separating himself from Osako.
“I looked up and saw that I was a long way from there,” McNamara said.
McNamara shifted his focus to fending off the rest of the runners behind him. He successfully did, finishing a race for which he had no expectations in third.
After the race, McNamara, steam waving off his sweaty head, turned his attention toward training for the Olympic Trials, scheduled for July 1-10 at Hayward Field. He remembered missing out on making the U.S. 1,500 team in 2012 by just over a second and the pain that he felt.
In Flagstaff, where the altitude is almost 7,000 feet, McNamara said he expects his training to increase. Seventy-mile weeks will turn into 90. He plans on doing everything he can to make the Olympics this time around.
“Now it’s time to really turn the screw and take some risks,” he said, “because I either want to be on the team, or it doesn’t really matter.”
“I’m throwing everything into it. All the eggs are going into the basket.”
