BEIJING - It wasn't exactly the first Olympic experience Bill Nelson had planned, but at least it's something to build on.

After going out hard and running second for a short time, Nelson ran out of steam toward the middle of his heat in the steeplechase and finished 10th, not accomplishing his goal of making it to the finals. His finishing time of 8 minutes, 36.66 seconds was also well off of what he had hoped.

"Stepping on the track I was really excited. It was definitely the most people I have ever run in front of," Nelson said. "I gave them a pretty bad showing. My first impression is that I kind of bombed it.

"But, I will let it sink in a couple of days then I will realize that I was here and making it here is the main point. This is the prize you get for the hard work. That's what I'm going to take from here."

It has been a fast rise to the international scene for Nelson, whose biggest win was the Big 12 championship at Colorado. He finished second at the Olympic trials with a personal best of 8:21.47 to make it here.

Saturday, he said he wanted to get out fast in the race.

"I didn't want to be bunched up," he said. "It started out like the (Olympic trials), then I just kind of fell apart. It's really dry out there. My mouth was really dry. And, I just kind of fell flat. My legs just weren't there today."

Nelson was running with a full head of steam and tracking teammate Anthony Familglietti for the first three laps. But, he visibly began faltering and soon found himself fighting to stay with the pack.

"I wanted to make the finals," he said. "Ultimately, I wanted to go under 8:20. That was my goal. Making the finals would have been huge."

It also would have been a bonus in a way. He knew going in that these likely wouldn't be his Olympics.

"I keep telling myself that four years from now is Olympics I am going for," he said. "And to be here and to make it the way I did. It's my first time here. So I'll have to be happy with however it went. In four years I'll be older, I'll be stronger. I'll be tougher. That's what I have to look forward to."

Familglietti finished third in the heat -- by far the fastest of the three run -- and advanced to the finals to be run Sunday night.