Flying Into the Finish...

Ironically, Sally, John, Veronica and I almost missed seeing the kids finish because we underestimated how fast they were. Luckily, we got into the Amsterdam Olympic Stadium just as David rounded the final bend before heading to the finish line in 5th place! Our estimations were off by about 3 minutes for Andrew as he came whipping into the finish in 45th place (unfortunately, I didn’t get a good photo).

Frankly, we had no idea what to expect of Ashlynn, who hadn’t run a race in four months. Imagine my surprise when she came flying into the finish with Jimmy nowhere to be seen! Our little 12-year-old came in 302nd out of 4,197 runners (40th woman) with a time of just 37:17 (7:30 minutes/mile), which was 5 minutes faster than last year.

Jimmy actually came in one minute behind Ashlynn. While he could have easily overtaken her at the beginning of the race, he opted to stay with her. However, when she went into passing mode after the halfway point, he couldn’t catch her. Next year he’d like her to start near the front to see what she can do without having to weave around people.