Eric Hamer is fast — like, absurdly fast. He was fast last year, too, but COVID-19 beat him to the finish line after the NCAA Division I Men’s Indoor Track and Field Championships were canceled. This year, Hamer beat all but one to the finish line in the men’s 5,000-meter race. 

You have to have that real moment of vulnerability with yourself where you have a split second to think and go this is really, really hard, but then you choose to confront that feeling.” –Eric Hamer, CSU distance runner

With a final time of 13:29.60, Hamer beat his personal record, the Colorado State record and earned first-team All-American honors from the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association. 

Hamer already owned the school record after he ran a 13:37.73 at the Iowa State Classic earlier this year, where he broke the school record he had set in December 2019. Notice a pattern here? When Hamer runs, records fall.

Ask any distance runner and they will preach about the importance of mental fortitude in their sport. If you chase the early front pack, you risk burning out before the final kick, but if you pace yourself too much, you risk letting up a lead that soon becomes too large to overcome.

According to head distance coach Art Siemers, Hamer bided his time superbly.

“In the past, he may have been more aggressive in the beginning, and it would have cost him, but now he is at a part of his running career that he has a great sense of the race,” Siemers said in a recap of the race on the on CSU Athletics’ website. “He had a perfect race strategy.” 

With eight laps remaining, Hamer was hanging in the top five, although it was akin to a competitive top four, as the eventual winner of the race, Wesley Kiptoo, held a substantial lead for pretty much the entirety of the race. Kiptoo would finish with the new meet record, after crossing the line at 13:23.77.

As the race began to strike its midnight hour, Hamer finally made his move toward the podium. 

“I know that I’m not going to jump everybody all at once, (so) what I have to do is continuously put in those little surges,” Hamer said.

Even a relentless pursuit finds its wall, but Hamer’s ability to resist the temptation to rest is what gave him the opportunity to strike, which is exactly when the mental component of racing kicks in. 

“I really was feeling like I kind of was on that teeter moment of I’m either going to push for it or I’m going to go all the way back,” Hamer said. “You have to have that real moment of vulnerability with yourself where you have a split second to think and go this is really, really hard, but then you choose to confront that feeling.”

Hamer’s performance certainly was deserving of some time off, but with the outdoor track & field season already starting, Hamer was running again two days later. His ambition seems to be the only thing faster than his legs, as Hamer and his coach already have their focus set in anticipation of what’s to come. 

“I really want him to go for the school record in the 10K, which is one of our best school records when talking about distance races,” Siemers said. “One of the things he told me right after his race on Friday was, I can’t wait to race in the 10K.”

When asking Hamer about the race, you could hear the hunger in his voice. 

“I feel like the 10K was kind of the event I always saw myself doing when I came to CSU in 2015,” Hamer said. “It’s the true distance event.”

Scott Nies can be reached at sports@collegian.com or on Twitter @scott_nies98.