Winning didn’t feel like I thought it would. Countless times since getting into the race, I’d imagined what this moment would be like, and yes, the feeling would be elation. It would be like travel ball years ago, when I’d come in as a late-inning reliever in some little town in Kansas or Iowa or Nebraska and get a clutch out in a close game. I remembered that feeling—that joy. But I couldn’t feel it now. What I experienced was relief. I wasn’t going to die tonight.
