Track and Field Blogs - Nate Brannen

Those are two things you’re assumed to have gained during your first Olympic experience. When I walked off the track, the common question among reporters and tv crew was, “What did I gain from this?”

I came into this year only wanting one thing, to make it back from my surgery and to qualify for my first Olympic Games. Once I achieved that feat, it was then about making the semi-finals at the Olympics. After the semi-finals, I wanted nothing less than to be in the Olympic 1500 meter finals. In my first round, I beat World Champions and Olympic medalists and I came out of it with the confidence needed to make it through the next round of racing and into the final. I closed my last 400 in 51.9 to finish 2^nd in my heat, beating many of the top 1500 runners in the World over the final 400 meters.

So yes, I walked out of the stadium after competing in my first Olympic Games gaining new things, experience and confidence in knowing that I can run with the best in the World. I knew I had the experience necessary to make it into the final but I am leaving with new experiences and a ton more confidence. The main obstacle in making the final is recovery. I just didn’t recover as fast from the first round of racing as I would have liked. I don’t know if that’s a result of missed time from my injury and not enough background this year, lack of sleep after the heats, or something else that I can’t explain. The only thing I do know is that I went to the starting line of the semi-finals knowing I have the talent, finishing speed, and desire to make it to the final.

I started the year running for 30 seconds and walking for 4 and a half minutes and now I just competed in the Olympic Games, finishing 16^th. All in all, it’s been a great year but it would have been even sweeter to top it off with an Olympic final. There are many more races to come and more Olympic semi-finals and hopefully finals to race. I will walk away from this wanting only one thing, MORE. I have come to realize, what makes an elite runner elite is that they are never satisfied.

I have been keeping a blog on my personal website, www.natebrannen.com about my experience here and will continue to through the remainder of the Games. From here I head to Europe for a couple more races and hopefully some new PR’s before taking a break.