I understand the concept of strategic races. What I don't understand is how EVERY runner in the race can be so gutless. There had to be at least 8 runners who could run 29:10 or less. If the race would have been at Stanford earlier in the season at least 6 runners would have been under 29:00. So, here we are. The national championship and all the runners are so concerned that because it's so hard to run out front that the other runners will sit on them and then pass them in the final 800 or so. "Oh no,we can't challenge the great Lawi Lalang and force him to run an honest race. No, we must run 73's and be safe. Sure we can run 69's. We've done it before. But, we will just rely on our kick. BULLCRAP!! Go out and race. If you finish 15th at 29:10, so what, at least you gave it your best. But what I'll hear is: "yo dude I finished 10th and ran under 30:00 that's better than 15th". That's cool, I understand the concept, but did you try to win?