My race on Saturday was supposed to be a 5K outside. The race director emailed all of the runners on Friday saying that with the cold weather, wind chills and street conditions that the race would be held on the indoor track at the college. With the race being run inside, it also cut to two miles.
I lined up at the start line behind the fast guys, the college men's track team and women's track teams. Just before the gun went off, the women's track team moved behind the ladies actually running the race. When they did that, I figured that they were just running a workout.
When the gun went off, the track was jammed with people. The men's track team was running slowly and I was zig and zagging around them to find an open lane. After passing the track team, I noticed that I was the front female. We were told before the race to try to keep track of our own laps. The only people that laps would be counted for were the leading men.
Every time I crossed the finish line, I would repeat the lap I was running in my head. I thought I was doing a good job. At the mile marker, I was running 7:50. I just wanted to keep that pace going. I was never passed by another female, but I was lapped many time by the fast guys.
With four laps to run, the race director asked how many more I had. I held up four fingers. And with that I had someone counting laps for me. Too bad it couldn't have been earlier in the race. After I finished those four laps, I looked at my watch. It read 15:26. I thought I must have miscounted a lap. I have never run two miles that fast before so that I why I was questioning the time. The second place female was a few laps behind me. If I did miss a lap, she still wouldn't have finished in front of me to win. Just to make myself feel better, I ran a couple of laps after the race to make sure I ran the full two miles.
The race results were read. I was thrilled to hear my name said after Overall Women's winner. That is the first time that I have ever won a race. I was happy to have won. I just wish I know if I ran all of my laps or not. If this happens another time, I will have to keep better track of my laps.
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