Sprinting to the End

As I continue to focus on the recent running race I participated in, I'd like to expand on something I wrote about in yesterday's article.  At the end of the public three-mile run, I found myself in the company of a diverse group of runners.  Some of them were clearly pooped out and were just trying to finish the run.  But others, myself included, suddenly reached deep inside ourselves and found a reserve of energy, which we then used to engage in an almost insane sprint against each other to the finish line.  It mattered not who was running against me: I had to beat them!  As it turned out, as far as sex/age groupings of the runners were done in the final standings, none of my end-of-race worthy opponents were in my category.  And also, our final placings and times depended on when each of us individually crossed the starting line at the beginning of the race.  As for me, although I crossed the finish line in 26:15, I was given the final time of 25:45 because the timing chip I was wearing showed me taking 30 seconds just to reach the starting line at the beginning of that very crowded race. So someone edging me out at the race's closing moments was really irrelevant as far as the final placings were concerned; that runner could have started the race way ahead of me.  Still, there was that rush at the end and the excitement it brought.

After I finished my run, I hung around at the finishing line for a few minutes to watch the slower runners finish.  And it was funny: no matter how slow they had been going for almost the entire race, a large segment of the finishers engaged in this sprinting game at the end, against whomever happened to be around them. 

But that's cool, since after all, we should all have been out there having fun.  And the little sprint at the end was a nice, spicy topping to the whole experience.  Of course, we brave, "strong" finishers were all aided by one factor.  The last few hundred yards were decidedly downhill!