Reigning Olympic Triathlon gold medalist Alistair Brownlee ran 28:32.48 in the second section 10,000 meter heat at the Payton Jordan Invitational Track Meet at Stanford University Sunday night.

Brownlee was second in the 25-person heat behind Jose Antonio Uribe Marin’s 28:30:80 time. The Englishman's time would have placed him 17th against the premier competition in the first 10,000 meter heat won by Ben St. Lawrence of Australia in 27:37.55.

Unlike his dominant victories at ITU World Championship Series and World Triathlon Series events and the Olympics – where he ran 29:07 to nab gold and had time to high five some spectators -- Brownlee gave it his all and lay out flat on the track to recover after the finish.

While track commentators made jokes about the triathlete invading the runner's lair, wondering if Brownlee would be "wearing a visor," Brownlee ran a smart, negative split race which began with a conservative 4:34 first 1600 meters in the middle of 25 runners then made a gradual, inexorable surge to lead the heat at about the 19th of 25 laps.

At the 3200 meter mark, Brownlee posted a 9:07 split, cruising along at 68 seconds per lap in 6th place. He hit the 5k mark in 14:14 in 4th place before the lead pack of six slowed to a 71 seconds lap to regroup.

Brownlee finished the 16th lap in 18:20 in 2nd place. He hit the 20th lap in 19:26 in the lead, on pace for a 28:34 finish.

Trackside observers noted that Brownlee's face was grimacing in pain the final laps – although he remained in control. Other observers noted that Brownlee appeared much bigger than his rivals in the heat -- and his stride was far longer than most of the men in his heat.

Several years ago, Brownlee's best previous 10,000 meters time on the track was 29:15. Just three months after resuming training after an operation to remove his appendix last October, Brownlee ran 29:30 at the San Diego World Triathlon Series event last weekend – while cruising to a jog in the finish chute.

Brownlee's adventure on a track 10k was seen as a scouting expedition to see if an attempt to see if qualifying for Great Britain’s 10,000 meter team in the 2014 Commonwealth Games was plausible. That plan was made more difficult when his country's track officials announced that Brownlee would have to meet at least the B standard of 28:10 to qualify for the trials. The A standard is 27:50. In addition, Brownlee would have to outrun several internationally recognized countrymen to have a real shot.

Brownlee's effort attracted a great deal of attention among triathletes. Dozens of predictions made in the Slowtwitch forum ranged from 30 minutes plus by 'uli,' to 27:54 by 'BManx.'

The best Slowtwitch forum guesses were 28:30 by both 'colinphillips' and 'stinkerpeter.' Next best triathlete guess was 28:35 by Jason Pedersen on Twitter.

In another triathlon-related performance at the Payton Jordan meet, Sarah Groff's boyfriend Ben True won the premier 5,000 meter race in 13:14.44, which met the A Olympic qualifying standard.