Rob Mullet stood on the start line a little way along from Mo Farah in Londons Olympic Stadium feeling well below his best.The after-effects of a yellow fever vaccination and a key race at the European Championships had robbed him of the chance to properly share the spotlight with one of the worlds most recognisable track athletes.In ideal circumstances, Mullett would have pulled out and avoided the risk of exacerbating his malaise but, like so many other track athletes, he had bills to pay.With a $1,000 (￡765) entry fee to protect, Mullett ran the 5,000 metre race anyway. After Farah won in the fastest time of the year and took the headlines at Londons Anniversary Games, he finished in a predictably disappointing time.Thankfully, the damage done in that race last month was no worse than a bruised ego and some unwanted negativity in his preparations for the Rio Olympics. He has arrived in Brazil fit and ready to race, but the build-up was a far cry from the glitz and glamour fans might think comes with the life of an elite track and field athlete.Scratch below the surface of so many who are representing the most successful sporting countries in the Brazilian capital and you will find a fascinating range of real-life stories.Mulletts is just one -- and its important to make it clear hes not complaining about it. He knows how privileged he is to be taking part in what is billed as the greatest show on earth.The British 3,000m steeplchasers narrative may not be typical of other athletes, either -- there is probably no such thing -- but his tale of counting costs to pursue his sport has characteristics that will be as familiar to many of his peers as it is surprising to occasional followers of track and field.Mullett is a 29-year-old from the UK who lives in the U.S. and is a part-time athlete. He trains hard and is dedicated to performing at the highest level on the track, but he also has a job in a running shop which is part-owned by Bob Kennedy, the American former 5,000m runner and two-time Olympian.The Briton has to supplement the modest income he gets from the shop by running road races for cash prizes.I guess Im half runner, half accountant, he said. I am always planning and saving for time off. This year I wanted to stockpile as much as I could so that I wouldnt have to worry about paying for stuff while Im away, like the health insurance that means I can get treatment if I really need it.That is why I ran that 5,000m in London, just to know there was money there. Its not that I didnt have any but it is disconcerting seeing money go out and nothing come in.I felt miserable and achy. I dont know if it was the jab or if I got ill -- maybe it was a combination of things -- but I tried to blag it, really.If any other athlete in that race had felt as s----y as I did that week, there is no way they would have turned up.Brought up in Sussex, in the south of England, Mullett got a scholarship to Butler University in Indianapolis after graduating from Londons St. Marys University and that is where he now lives, with his girlfriend Lisa.He came to the notice of the Team GB selectors in 2012, when he was picked for the European Championships. The experience gave him the confidence to set his sights on a place at the Rio Olympics.Mullett took to steeplechasing quite late in his running career, which itself hadnt started in earnest until he was at university; he used to specialise in the middle distances of 800m and 1,500m.He has a personal best of 8 minutes and 22.42 seconds and has been the British champion in his event for the last two years.But his isnt a life simply of training, recovering and getting treatment. There is no masseur on hand to disperse the tightness in his muscles, no physiotherapist to diagnose and treat niggling injuries.He has to make do with a foam roller and health insurance, instead, as he splits his time between working, running for cash in the U.S., and travelling to compete on the more conventional athletics circuit.Mullett prevailed upon his friends at times in the last couple of years, sleeping on a sofa or in a spare room, and has no sponsor despite trying to pitch himself to potential benefactors.He hasnt been invited on to the British performance scheme that is offered to some track athletes and may have tempted him to move back to England.But he has got customers to serve, road race directors to badger for entry places and the all-important subsidised health insurance ObamaCare to pay for.I run for money so that I can run for glory, Mullett said. You can probably try to make the weekend road races into training sessions but there cant be that many professional athletes doing that.It is an inconvenience trying to fit things in and although I dont think it costs me in training terms really, sometimes the recovery time is an issue.Its not especially lucrative working in a sports shop but Indianapolis is a relatively cheap place to live.The shop owners have been really good about letting me have time off, too, and its nice to have that, but I dont get paid when Im away. So I enter road races to supplement my income and try to bank as much as I can.Luckily, I probably dont need to earn that much in a year to enable me to compete because I live quite cheaply, but the issue is having the money coming in consistently.The sums of money on offer in the road races vary but Mullett has run in more than a few that would earn him only $200 (￡150) if he won. He has to weigh his chances of winning or placing at the top of a race and the travel costs against the prize money on offer.Some events pay as much as $5,000 (￡3,835) to the winner but it is down to Mullett to get himself a place in the most lucrative ones that are not too far from his home, and sometimes race directors simply ignore his requests.For the bigger prizes, he would think nothing of driving for 7 hours the day before a race, because that would allow him to be more picky about what he did in the following weeks.If you are fit enough and well trained, you are probably going to run the best you can anyway, he explained. And a drive like that is not a big deal in the U.S..Mullett is an independent sort who has been allowed to use the training facilities at Butler University; he plans his races and training with his long-term coach and mentor, Dave Leach, by email and phone.Leach lives back in Sussex, and coaches at the club Mullett has remained with since joining as a boy: Lewes. He will be joining his charge in Brazil this week, flying out of the UK for the first time in his life, thanks to a campaign that has brought donations of nearly ￡7,800 (￡6,000) to pay for the trip.They have been planning Mulletts first race, which is scheduled for next Monday (Aug. 15), and the former geography student has been scheduled to arrive in Rio from the British training camp in Belo Horizonte on Friday.He has found the set-up there good and been pleased that a lack of mosquitoes meant any Zika fears could be put aside.Money worries have had to be shelved, too, although they are never too far away, particularly after the stockpile he had hoped to amass before Brazil failed ended up smaller than hed hoped.I think I can make the final and I really want to run well and walk away happy with my performance, he said before going on to explain that he will seek a different career after competing at the pinnacle for track sport, the Olympics.The way I do things may be a little unconventional but it works for me and Im happy. I couldnt run at my best if I wasnt.Im not complaining about my lot, not at all. I like living in Indianapolis and its not like I cant buy protein drinks or whatever; its not that bad, but I have to be careful.As long as I can keep the health insurance, Im happy. Jerseys NFL Wholesale . -- Adam Snyder returned to the San Francisco 49ers this season because the offensive lineman thought it was his best opportunity to win a championship. Wholesale Jerseys Free Shipping . -- Teemu Selanne scored the first goal of his 22nd NHL season, and the Anaheim Ducks extended the best start in franchise history with their fifth straight victory, 3-2 over the Calgary Flames on Wednesday night. http://www.authenticcheapjerseysnflwholesale.com/ . 24 Baylor in a Big 12 clash between teams trending in opposite directions. Andrew Wiggins made 10-of-12 from the foul line and scored 17 for Kansas (14-4, 5-0 Big 12), which capped a stretch of four straight games against ranked opponents unscathed. 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Most followed sportspeople (world) Cristiano Ronaldo 40.9m LeBron James 28.6m Kaka 21.3m Neymar 21.4m Kevin Durant 13.4m If you wound back in time pre-Twitter, that relationship was pretty formulaic and structured around certain moments.You could get near a player or two at a press conference or at a structured point in time. Twitter kind of changed that.Suddenly, as a fan, wherever I am in the world, whoever I ssupport, I can follow them all the time and get direct contact with them.dddddddddddd Most followed sportspeople (UK) Wayne Rooney 12.7m Gareth Bale 7.91m Gary Lineker 4.64m Andy Murray 3.51m Michael Owen 3.43m Real Madrid forward Cristiano Ronaldo is the most popular sportsperson on Twitter with 40.9m followers, followed by NBA basketball player LeBron James with 28.6m.Manchester United striker Wayne Rooney is the UKs most followed sports personality with 12.7m. Tennis player Andy Murray is the only non-football-related figure to make the top five of that list. 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