Ben Flowers ate chicken parmesan, pasta and lasagna on Friday, the night before the JK Gold Classic.
"I ate a lot," he said.
That sounds like a typical load of carbs before a cross country race. For Flowers, the meal represents more than that. A year ago, he said performance anxiety hampered his running. The anxiety often made it difficult for him to sleep and eat properly in the days before a race.
"I would have tried, but I just couldn't get (food) down," he said. "My stomach would be churning.