I was there. For the entire race, Ches was smiling, looking at the fans in the stands and just treating it as a training run on a nice day. You'd have to be pretty naïve to think that this was some significant race for him that he needed to win.[/quote]
. . . until the pace on the final lap increased and he couldn't keep up. I was on the backstretch, and IMO Cheserek was indeed struggling and flailing--him arm carriage changed and his stride was not smooth.
Like Ken Goe wrote in the Oregonian, one cannot imagine Pre giving up like Ches did. Ches "sacrifices the gift" in every race, just sitting & kicking. At this meet, he was either injured, sick, tired, or out of shape. And when he can't win a race, he often shuts down rather than keep trying.