Ethan Strand

7:45am: Wake up and have a Maurten Solid 160 bar, along with some electrolytes with a small amount of sodium.

8:00am: Get out the door for an easy 15 minute run — we’ve started to do 2 miles instead of 1 mile for the past few races and I’ve really liked it.


8:15am: Eat. The race is late enough that I could have a good amount of protein for breakfast. I had some eggs and toast. During this time I’m really putting down some water so I’m hydrated when I’m having my bicarb. I don’t like to eat a ton of food for breakfast, as I know I’m going to have a lot of fuel closer to race time.


In between breakfast and early lunch I rest and get stuff ready. I get everything I’m going to need laid out. Uniform, spikes, clothes. Get water and mix my Drink Mix 320. Get water in the bowl for my bicarb. Pack an extra Gel 100 and Solid 160 in my bag just in case or for after the race.
 10:30am: Have a sandwich for an early lunch. This is about an hour 45 before bicarb. I find that getting in some good food and a decent amount of protein is a great idea for a mid-day race. If I raced around noon I would have probably just had a much bigger breakfast.


12:15pm: Prepare the Maurten Bicarb System at 12:10 so it’s ready to eat at 12:15. I like to have this two hours before race time so it starts to have an effect during my warmup. I believe having it working during the warmup allows to do some longer strides without causing as much fatigue.


12:30pm: Short drive over to Hayward and the nerves were actually starting to dissipate. The build-up is always the nervous part for me. Once I get to the track it’s race time and I’m usually pretty confident in myself and my race plan.

When we get to the track I have about 45 minutes before it’s time to warm up. I keep things light with my coaches, had some fun, and talked with some of the other athletes. This is the part of my routine that has changed immensely in college. No music once I get to the track, just enjoying the moment and talking with my teammates and coaches. Start sipping the Drink Mix 320 and have some caffeine about 20 minutes before warm-up.


1:15pm: Easy 15 minutes with 4x20 seconds at the end. Took a stop between the 15 minutes and 4x20 seconds for a few swigs of the Drink Mix 320. I want to have about 3/4 of this gone by race time.

2:15pm: 2nd in the US. Ran a very smart race and set myself up to make my first world team. Stepped on the line with 100% confidence in myself and zero doubts. Sometimes it’s hard to get yourself to that point so for it to happen on a day like today is a really good feeling. A lot of work, consistency, and great fueling went into this performance.


2:30pm: After the race is just a blur to me. Lap around the track taking pictures, talking to the media, cooldown, drug testing, debrief with my coaches, finish my Drink Mix 320, and have the Solid 160. Pure joy, some could say. Dinner and celebration with my coaches and friends, followed by a late night.

Maggi Congdon

8:00am: I woke up, got dressed and I headed straight to the track at 8:30am for our shakeout. We normally will do just a 10-minute shakeout on race day, but since we had multiple races and a day off the day before, we did the shakeout and some more activations. That included some drills and a fast 150. We did that just to get a little bit more activated today since we hadn't done anything the day before.

09:30am: Back at the hotel, the first thing I did was order my food for lunch. It was a weird time of day for that, but I decided just to eat what I would normally eat for lunch — basically just any type of sandwich that sounds good at the time. I door-dashed a Turkey sandwich from Panera and then I also had a coffee. While waiting for that I just showered, put on my race kit, and made sure my bag was packed. I always pack a lot of more in gels because I use a lot of those and then my spikes, my rope, my bib, extra layers, and lots of water as well. Once my food got to the hotel, I ate that and finished drinking my coffee. 


10:30: At this point I braided my hair, which is also something I always try to do before races — I always do my own hair. It just helps me kind of get in the zone and it's just something for me to do while I'm waiting so I'm not thinking about my race as much. I did my hair, my makeup, and then I was pretty much ready to go.

11:15am: I left for the track and got there around 11:30 and first just went straight to the check-in tent to see when our call time was for the race. Then I went back to where my coach and our other athletes were hanging out before you have to warm up, just behind the track. And I basically just sat there and listened to music — things like Bulletproof by La Roux.

We always warm up 70-minutes out from the race. First up is our activated isolated stretching (AIS) with a rope. Then we do 10-minute run, strides, then some longer strides — to get more activated — and then we run for five more minutes. I did that whole warm up, then all our mobility and our drills. Just more stuff to get you warmed up and activated. Once I was done with that, it was pretty much time to head over to the track.


I made sure I had everything, but was definitely feeling a little bit nervous by this point and also very excited.  I grabbed my bag with my spikes and my bib and headed over to the check-in tent. I always try to have a a caffeinated gel 40 to 50 minutes before my race — I like to have some caffeine before my race.

I spent some time just talking to my coach. We talked about doing the same things as in the prelim — getting out really hard and into a good position off the line, and then trying to stay patient and stay calm and then getting ready for a really, really strong last 200. As a 1500 runner I have good strength for that last 200 so I know I can get a lot done there. We always try to talk about competing and not necessarily focusing on outcome — thinking about what you're going to do within the race and then seeing what the outcome is when we get there. Just reminding me all those things to think about. I was trying to stay calm, but I was pretty nervous.


It was such a cool opportunity to be in the final. I sat down and waited for them to call us back under the track. When they did that, going under the track is definitely where I got the most nervous — it all felt pretty real at that point. That's where we put our spikes on and they give you hip numbers. You have some time to do some more strides and get ready. Then we’re just sitting waiting and eventually they called us and it's time to line up and go out. 

We lined up and once we went out it was pretty crazy how many people were there. I knew it was going to be busy, but it's always a crazy thing to see such a packed stadium when you're about to race. It made me really excited just to see how many people were there cheering us on. 

We did one final stride on the track and then they do introductions. At this point I was very nervous, but I was kind of reminding myself all the things that me and coach Smith had talked about — for my first few steps to be really hard so I could get into a good position and then just relax.


The race: The gun went off and we were out. I really tried my best to have a good start, but you know everybody in the 800 is fast, so I somehow did end up actually in the back, which wasn't where I wanted to be. I just told myself to stay calm and don't try to move around too much — you're gonna waste energy. There will be a chance to get to get around people — there pretty much always is. When people start moving spaces open up, so I just tried really hard to not panic too much about being at the back and to just run my race. I was in the back that whole first lap but I could tell we weren't going out too quick. I knew it was going to wind down pretty hard going into the final lap. There was a point, I remember, where somebody moved and for some reason I kind of felt like I was gapped from the field, so I just tried to really quickly move up. That whole next 100 I was just finding little spaces in between people to move up — just trying to get into a better position because I knew with 200 to go we were really going to move. I wanted to be in contact when that happened. Going to 200 I was in around 6th place, so I just again tried to stay calm — just wait, wait, wait for the right opportunity. I didn't want to move out too wide and waste my energy there, so I just waited till we got to the 100 to go. People started moving around, somebody got tripped up and that opened up a space, and I just took it. I gave everything I had that last 100 and somehow that got me second, which was pretty insane. I crossed the line and was definitely just in shock.

After the race: I remember I looked up at the results to double-check and it did not feel like it was real — it really felt like it was a dream. I had given myself some time to imagine that finish and imagine what that would feel like, but I didn't want to focus too much on the outcome. So it felt crazy that I had been able to do that. Then, right when you finish, they handed me my medal and all that stuff and I was just pretty overwhelmed. I was so surprised, but also I knew I had been capable of that. It was just crazy to actually see it all come together in that way. It was a pretty crazy race, you know, and it felt like I didn't even move into second place until one second left in the race.

They did our interview down on the track. Then I found my family and my boyfriend and my sister and my teammates. It was just such an amazing feeling, getting to see everyone. I think everyone knew I was capable of that, but I think we were all pretty surprised with what actually happened. It was just so fun to get to see everyone after. I felt so proud and so happy. We got to do our victory lap after that and seeing all the little kids asking for photos and stuff like that, it was just something I've never really experienced. It was super-cool to do a victory lap and say hi to everyone and have so many supportive people around.

After we all finished our victory lap, which was a while because I was trying to take it all in and enjoy it, you go back through underneath the track. You go through media and they do a little interview and and then you have to do drug testing. That all did take a while, so by the time I actually left the track and got to go see everyone, I think it was almost like. two or three o'clock. I found everyone and we were just celebrating again and it was so exciting to talk about the race. It was pretty amazing. We got some food and then I went back to the hotel and showered and then we had to go do team processing. I remember seeing everyone doing it last year and it was just something I was really hoping I would get the chance to do. There were lot of forms, but I also got to try on the uniform and things like that. By the time that was done it was like 7:00pm so my boyfriend and I went to the house where my parents were staying and did a little birthday celebration for my sister and me. Then we went and hung out with our other teammates at their Airbnb and got to go downtown and celebrate and have fun.


It was such a surreal feeling to have done that and I think I was just trying to really enjoy every moment cause those don't come often. I wanted to really soak it all in that day. When I woke up the next day I still couldn't quite believe it.