I could see his green shirt out of the corner of my eye. I had been running for about a mile, and he was still right next to me. I learned quite a bit about him during the second mile. His name is Donovan. His mom and grandma were both running, but were a little bit behind us. He has tons of friends, and I think half the town of Santa Clara was cheering for him along the course.
It was just past mile two that Donovan started to pull ahead of me. I was no longer looking at his shirt from my peripheral vision, but my eyes were looking straight ahead at the green shirt running away from me.
It was at this moment that I made the decision. Donovan was going down. I wasn't going to run with him for two miles just to have him leave me in the final stretch. A little sabotage was in order, and luckily I had Otter Pops on my side.
Instead of handing out water, the race volunteers were handing out Otter Pops. I don't think Donovan knew that he could just take an Otter Pop, so I yelled ahead and told him. "Hey Donovan, are you really going to pass up an Otter Pop?" Well, he turned around to get one, and I just cruised right by. Ha ha Donovan, you fell for my little trick, and now I'm going to win.
I was able to stay a little ahead of him, but I could hear that he was gaining on me when I heard some Donovan fans shouting his name fairly close to me. I really had to focus, but I saw the finish line ahead, and I made it through just two people ahead of Donovan. Hooray!!!
He was a worthy opponent, and he put up a valiant fight. He did win one of the raffle prizes at the end of the race. But his three foot, ten year old frame was just no match for my pure athleticism. Sorry dude. You know what they say- another year, another foot taller, so better luck next year.
