Cool Running!

I was super proud of my daughter, EP, this past weekend. Her XC meet was late afternoon this time and gave us lots of time to talk about the course (she'd run it before) and talk about things she could do to help her time. Her personal goal was to reach the 16 minute mark. Last year on the same course she ran 19:26. Her best time this year so far was 17:19. It cooled down a little bit in the afternoon as a storm began closing in and the sloppy, muddy course was overcome by the large spikes her coach had put in her shoes prior to the bus leaving the school. Finally I had done all the coaching/pep-talking I could do. It was up to her. She got a really good start and had a decent time at the one mile mark. I went up into the stands to watch. I watched as the one girl who is always first on the team finished. I looked at the clock thinking she's not going to make her 16 minutes. There are usually 2 or 3 other girls that finish ahead of her. Then ... it happened ... she rounded the corner and headed for the finish! She was going to be second on her team! I watched her cross the line and hit the stop button on the stopwatch. I looked down at the stopwatch and immediately fumbled for my phone to call her mother. The stopwatch stared back.
16:38
Unbelievable!
Her coach saw her after she finished and went on and on about how she never expected to see her next and what an amazing run she had. One of the girls who usually comes in 2nd or 3rd asked her what place she got. EP told her 81 (there were 120 runners). The girl hesitated and asked again. She was just as shocked. She had placed 97th. EP had beaten her by almost a full minute.
Even the girl that comes in first on the team only beat EP by 50 seconds.
I know she will NEVER be in the top 10, okay i probably shouldn't say never, but the likelihood is well ...you know. But I have high hopes that at that rate she'll come in first for the team OR at least fractions of a second behind the girl who comes in first for the team.
I am one proud papa!