We, the Bandit road dogs, entered our Olympic Trials story arc hoping to tell our athletes journey as they wanted it to be told; a series that gave the world both the athlete and the human.

In the midst of our 7 day, 4 city tour we landed in scenic Provo, Utah to film with the young, vibrant, and eventual 22nd place finisher, Habtamu Cheney. Upon arrival, we met with Hab's training group, which just so happened to have a couple of our country's best marathoners... ever. Fast forward a few weeks later and both Clayton Young and Conner Mantz, finished 1-2 at the trials, punching their respective tickets to the Paris 2024 Olympics. (Watch Dialed Ep. 2 here.)

Young's finish made headlines around the running world when in an unprecedented show of sportsmanship, after leading for majority of the 26.2, he let his teammate step (Mantz) in front of him to break the tape. We caught up with Clayton to get a look inside his mindset... 

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What was your mindset/what thoughts were going through your head right before the gun went off in Orlando? 

 My initial thoughts were, “Finally, Groundhog's Day is over.” The build to a marathon can be mundane and repetitive. Literally just wake up, eat, run, eat, sleep, repeat. So it felt good to finally have the gun go off and celebrate the fitness gains from hard work and the mundanity of excellence.

And, what was your very first thought upon crossing the finish line?

My very first thought was, “Oh my goodness, I'm an Olympian. Did that just happen?!?” Not only that, but to do it with Conner was incredible. My next thoughts were, “Where is my wife, Ashley, and my girls?”

At the end of the Dialed episode, you say: “This is our “Celebration K”. Cause honestly, if you think about that last thousand in the marathon… I would just love to grab the American flag and celebrate…” Have race visualizations alway been a part of your preparation? How do you go about, as the kids say… manifesting? It’s also interesting how you follow it with, “I’m not going to guarantee that.” Do you intentionally balance your visualizations in this way?

This is a great question. I had forgotten that I had said that this is our celebration K. But wow, that was maybe a bit prophetic. Visualization has always been part of my race preparation, but even more so for the Olympic trials. It's been on the calendar for months, and I've been visualizing it for a long time. Even more so because there were no races between the Chicago marathon and now to visualize for. Typically I'll just lie in bed and try to visualize the perfect race in as much detail as I can. Sight, smells, sound, etc. I also like to do the same in workouts.

I definitely had to balance out the perfect race visualization with the reality that it's going to be tough. The Chicago Marathon felt incredible at the end, and I felt like I had more in the tank. I didn't want to assume I would feel the same at the Olympic trials. I knew that I needed to be prepared to hurt. To “fight like a dog.” That was one of the biggest lessons that I learned from Jared Ward and his experience during the 2016 and 2020 trials.

(Maybe we should clip that part of the video and make a reel. Show people that I had been hoping to celebrate.)

Does your mental preparation change in the coming months given the magnitude of the Olympics? Or do you plan for “just another race”? =

I think the magnitude of the Olympics will tempt me to change my mental preparation a little bit, but I think the more that I can embrace it as “just another race,” the better. That comes from the mentality that Meb tells in his book “26 Marathons” as he prepared for the 2004 Athens games.

On top of being a professional athlete, you also have your Master’s in Mechanical Engineering and work as an engineer. Does that mechanical way of thinking work it’s way into how you think about the sport and training in general?

I'm undeniably a nerd, and I have definitely carried over that nerdiness to my marathon preparation. Channel my meticulous preparation and critical thinking. Heck, I was doing science experiments trying to figure out if I could keep my fluids bottle cold for 19 hours — the difference between when I would turn in my bottles and when I would get them during the race.

I also really love to geek out about the material science and biomechanics of super shoes. In fact, one of my cues to myself during the race is “plate” to remind me to leverage the carbon fiber plate in my shoe.

You’ve talked a lot about how beneficial it is to have your training partner (Conner) make the team with you. Why is that so beneficial? How does it affect both your preparation and the actual race?

I feel like Conner and I have different strengths when it comes to training, and as we have learned from each other's strengths and kept each other accountable, we have become the athletes we are. I think the same will play out as we prepare for Paris. For example, the course in Paris is going to be very hilly and the conditions are going to be hot and humid. Conner's strengths are the hills, and my strengths are the heat and humidity. We will be able to learn from each other's strengths as we prepare for Paris. We will be able to keep each other accountable in practice, and ultimately that will lead to confidence during the race.

What are you most excited about when it comes to simply being at the Olympics in Paris as an Olympian?

It is hard not to get excited about the opening ceremonies and being with all the other incredible US athletes. I am also really excited about the course and conditions in Paris. I think it will level the playing field and I hope that we will be able to contend on the world stage.

We’ve got to plug our boy, Habs Cheney… Not to put the cart in front of the horse, but are you guys going to run it back together in Los Angeles 2028?

Habs Cheney has been the perfect addition to our team. He is young and has a lot of passion for the sport which is infectious. One of the biggest confidence boosters is seeing how much Habs has improved over the last 3 months in training. It just shows that we are doing the right training. Success leads to success, and seeing Habs improve from workout to workout has been super validating. I don't think that his time and place at the Olympic trials tell the true story of just how fast he has become. I'm excited to see what he does in his next marathon, and I know that his 2024 Olympic trials experience will pay off in 2028, just like my 2020 Olympic trials experience paid off in 2024.

It’s evident in the Dialed episode that you’re a natural born, selfless leader. We couldn’t be more proud to have you representing our country. Good luck and God bless!

Thank you!!! Like I said previously, that Dialed episode was incredibly well done. You're welcome any time.