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Date/Location: |
1/1/22, Overlook Park, Auburn |
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Distance: |
5K (Actual about 3.23 mi) |
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Time: |
29:45 (9:12 pace) |
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Place: |
2nd Overall Female, 1st in Age Group! |
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Teammates: |
10 Mile: Anna Tortosa, Arash Ghorbani, Craig Rienbolt, Diana Arteaga Falconi, John Justus, Manouch Shirvanioun, Michelle Nall, Robin Soares, Rosie Del Sarto, Troy Soares |
10, 9, I get into my race starting position, 7, 6, 5, I move my hand to the start button on my Garmin, 3, 2, 1, Go! I take off running a half sprint to get ahead of the part of the crowd. The crowd of people and I run out of the park, Overlook, and onto the road. Then, we turn onto a rock pavement path that merges onto Goliath, a hill that my family have personally named and have been quite familiar with. This hill has always been tough, but this race goes down it which is nice. The road flattens before going down again.
My feet pound on the asphalt. I know that after a while they will start hurting because of the pounding. I let myself go because it is harder to try to go straight down a hill slowly. I pass a lot of people going down. I go around a turn and the downhill gets steeper and steeper. It is getting harder to run down the hill. In the distance, I see my friend from the track, Nicolette. I can know her form from a mile away and I recognize her hair. I also see Daddy in the distance going up the first hill. Oh no! That means I have to go up the hill soon. I go down the last part of the downhill before the hills start. My Garmin beeps one mile. One down two to go.
My pace immediately slows down when I reach the start of the hill. No more wind brushing through my hair. The hills were harder than I expected, but I still give my best. I push on even though my body wants to walk. After the first big hill the trail evens out a bit and I go over some big rollers. The rollers were nice, but soon I had to get back to trekking up hills again.
I see Nicolette ahead, but every time I try to get closer, the gap does not change. I soon lose her because I can’t keep up with her on the hills. I go through an intersection where they point 5k straight and the other races right. The trail is very rocky. I go up a hill and down on the other side. This downhill ought to be named ¨Ankle Breaking Hill¨ because it is super steep and a ton of rocks are stationed throughout the downhill. I start catching up to a girl that passed me earlier. I try to catch up. Soon I pass her as we go up another hill. She turns and says good job. I realize she´s about my age. I say good job back.
I keep going through tough uphills followed by flats or small downhills. She stays right behind me. Someone yells watch out so I quickly step off the path as a super-fast 10k runner runs by. It isn´t long before he disappears around a corner. I go up another hill that she stops to walk dand I run it and pull away. I dodge a puddle of mud and then another one. This part of the trail is muddy. After a while, I hear footsteps quickly gaining on me. At first, I think it was the girl that I had pulled away from, but when I went to look I see another 10k runner. Since I turned around so quickly I didn´t see who it was. ¨Good job Ariel” said the 10k runner. Then I realized by the voice that it was Wyatt. I told him good job back and it wasn´t long before he too disappeared around the corner.
As I turn the corner, I remembered the trail from the last time I raced it. I am almost there! I run down to a creek, but the mud starts to make the path slippery. I literally have to grab onto the weeds and plants next to me to stop me from slipping. I jump over the ditch and run up the hill. I keep running. I´m almost there! I run around and corner and then begin my run up the hill to the finish. I hear people cheering behind me. I turn around and recognize a kid that was doing the 10k, who was probably in elementary school still and he was finishing 3rd! I try to stay ahead of him, but at the top of the hill, he passes me. I sprint giving my all for Christ and finish 2nd woman. I got a PR and under 30 minutes thanks to God. I was asking for His help throughout the whole thing and the credit is to Him for this race.
