I did it! The Go Girl Run! all girl 5K took place (lucky for me) on the same trail as the 10K I ran a couple of weeks ago. It was an out and back running and biking trail--Keystone Trail. When I started out, there were about 8 girls around me--some part of Team Nebraska, an organization of runners who all ran XC or something in high school or college, and I think they had all run this race last year. The winner from last year was in the front of the pack, showing off her race bib (1), clearly confident she was going to win again.
When they sounded the gun, all 8 of us began running together, with others close behind--you know the drill. After probably half a mile, I
passed 5 of the women around me, and I was in 3rd place...not good
enough! But I decided to stick it out in that position for a while,
because if I had moved ahead at this point, it's never happened
before, but I have a feeling I would have fallen back at the end from exhaustion...
I stayed probably 15 feet behind these two girls most of the rest of the
way to the turnaround, and by the time we reached that point, we were
all turning around in single file. I knew that I had to do something right
there; I had to begin to think about passing at least the next girl in front
of me. At probably a mile and three quarters I sailed past the second girl,
trying to put some distance between us. It wasn't hard; she fell back a bit.
I knew I had to pass the girl in front of me--guess who it was?
That's right, the winner from last year. I was going to go ahead and
pick up the pace, but I decided not to because all the other runners
were going by on our left, congratulating us, and the path was too
crowded at this point to pass. Plus I wanted to save that energy
until I needed it. I wasn't going to let her catch back up to me at the
end because I was worn out.
When there was a free space, probably around mile 2, I went ahead
and passed her. She stayed behind me 10 feet or so, and I wondered
if I had made a mistake. She kept falling back a bit and never caught
up to me, though, and when I reached the last .10 of a mile, I knew
there was no one behind me near. I couldn't hear footsteps.
But there was someone close by, as I could hear the people congratulating someone behind me a little ways. I ran in hard the
rest of the way—I wasn't going to let ANYONE catch me. I ran in
and everyone was so excited. There was a guy in a tux at the end
who gave me a bouquet. The hardware is a plaque that is awesome.
I didn't PR, but I don't care. That wasn't the point. I won and that is all that I was going for.
Official Results:
1/145
19:15
And I beat that cocky girl, and
that's what feels best!
Splits:
6:15:43
6:15:28
6:08:47
:36
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