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Clark and Pickering could be seen paling around the Hotel del Coronado like they'd known each other for years. There was a little trash talking merely in jest, but mostly just a sense of mutual respect and comradery. They joked about top secret South strategies, but mostly they just wanted to finish in the top ten and do it together. And that's exactly what they did.
Both positioned themselves well from the start of the race and mostly just maintained position. Clark took charge a little more aggressively from the gun, cracking the top five for a brief stint just after the mile mark around the first hill. Pickering meanwhile kept a slightly more conservative pace, but with Jimmy just a few car lengths ahead.
Around the half way point, Jimmy started to pay for the quick first mile just a bit with Pickering over-taking him for a few hundred meters before Jimmy recovered. Most of the race though, it was just like the picture to the right with the two no more than three places apart. Helping and encouraging each other along the way, they had something to prove. They wanted to debunk the myth about Florida boys getting spooked by hills. They wanted to hush the nay-sayers: Pickering those who thought someone who finished tenth in the region meet had no shot at All-American, Clark who felt disrespected by those who thought the region champ wasn't a contender.
So together they fought against the best competitors in the country and against one of the most mentally and physically challenging courses around. The hill? Nothing like the one at the state meet as Pickering thought ahead of the race... not even close. The incline and length of the big hill can kill even the fittest legs. And though comparatively flat, the remainder of the course rolls, bobs, and weaves and doesn't give your legs a bit of time to recover with a flat or long straightaway.
Finally after battling together with courage, brawn, and brains for the entire course... Jimmy emerges over the crest of the final incline looking down at the finish. A couple of seconds later appears Pickering in full kick mowing down a few final opponents and nearly picking off another at the line. With Jimmy crossing in seventh and Pickering in ninth, just a second apart in 15:24 and 15:25, the mission had been accomplished. Under Mizereck's mark from last year and perhaps the highest duo of Floridians in history (at least in my memory stemming to the late 90s). In this writer's opinion, the greatest race that either has yet run in their careers.
Video Interviews
- Jimmy Clark - Pre-Race, Post-Race
- Ryan Pickering - Pre-Race, Post-Race
- Elliot Clemente - Post-Race
- Kathryn Fluehr - Post-Race
- Erika Fluehr - Post-Race
- Shelby Davidson - Post-Race