At Mile 5.5, my coach ran out from the sidelines and encouraged me to suck it up for a chance at the podium. He was tracking me and by his estimation, third place was a possibility. Problem was, there wasn’t much left in the tank.
A guy from my age group passed me about a mile earlier and he was long gone. All I had left was to stay in front of all comers. But about point 4 miles from the finish line, I heard footsteps. I didn’t even have time to glance before he was right next to me. Then in front. I looked at his calf, and sure enough, he was from my age group. I couldn’t let him beat me.
I stayed on his tail and with point two miles left, channeled my Monogetti run training and darted past him. We came down under the bridge, before jumping onto the lawn for the 60 yard finish chute. I thought I had a comfortable lead, but about 15 yards from the finish, he blew by me!
As you can see by the look on my face, I was toast. The grass was slick and there wasn’t enough real estate to catch him. He finished one second ahead of me, and as I crossed the finish line on his tail, I started to slide and grabbed him to stop from falling. I nearly knocked down everyone in the path, including volunteers, but somehow stayed on my feet. I stood tall, gave him a menacing stare, then glanced at his calf again. He wasn’t in my age group after all.
Here’s a closer view so you can see the pain and rain.