Spring Into Fitness 5K

I ran the Spring Into Fitness 5K on Saturday in Adrian, Michigan.

It was a cool morning. Only in the low 40s and with a slight breeze. We were told to get ready. When the started said, "Go!", I found myself as the lead woman. I knew that I wasn't alone because I could hear someone breathing behind me. Just by the way that they were breathing, I knew it was a female.

The course was made up of two loops. The first loop, I was passed by a younger boy and three guys were way ahead of me. The boy that passed me, started running away from me. Turning back unto the street that we started the race on, a guy passed me. Then shortly after, the female that was behind me for the entire first loop, was running side-by-side with me. We stayed that way for a while, then she started to pulling away. I told myself not to let her get away.

I was able to keep her close. She was probably about 10 feet in front of me. Then I started getting closer to her. When getting closer to her, I knew that I would be able to pass her. I told myself to wait closer to the end. I didn't want to pass her, then have her pass me at the end. I ended up making my move with less then a half mile to go. I ran up on her and was running just off her right shoulder. At this point, we were running on the sidewalk. Then she dashed off the sidewalk and started running on the street. I stayed on the sidewalk.

Making a right handed turn onto a street that lead us to the finish line, she asked me where the finish line was. I told her it was just ahead. Behind the line of the trees on the right. When I was talking to her, I thought, "Did I just shoot myself in the foot?" I thought that because I never talk while running because it slows me down. She said that she would just follow me. She then got right behind me and was running just off my right shoulder. The sidewalk dipped and I didn't expect it. That threw a couple of my steps off and jerked my rhythm. When that happened, I could feel her pulling up to my side.

We made the final right turn towards the finish line, she was right beside me. I was worried about my ankles because the last stretch was on grass. The grass was tall and I couldn't see where I was stepping. I was running as fast as I could. I was able to pull slightly ahead and beat her leaning into the line.

I had never won a race like that. It was so close. My time was 26:23 and I finished sixth overall. I was hoping to get my time down to the 25s. I actually thought I was running faster then what I did. But since there were no mile markers again, I really didn't know how fast I was going. To me the time really doesn't matter. I'm thrilled that I didn't give up. After she passed me, I could have settled for second place. But I didn't. I actually chased someone down, passed them and won. It doesn't get much better then that.