(Peru, Neb.) - Sarah Williams' (Hiawatha, Kan.) personal-best time in a five-kilometer race two weeks ago in Crete, Nebraska, earned her fifth place in a NAIA cross country meet. Another personal best on Sunday, Oct. 9, had her in a combination of joy and having nothing left to give.
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Sarah Williams of Peru State won the Prairie Life Marathon (photo fromThe Wichita Eagle)
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Williams cut more than 20 minutes off her time in the Boston Marathon in April and won the Prairie Fire Marathon (formerly the Wichita Marathon) crossing the finish line in 3 hours, 3 minutes, 56 seconds. The 21-year-old distance runner at Peru State College who is running unattached this year as red-shirt for PSC, Williams was surprised that she won. She was the first woman out of 232 finishers and placed ninth overall out of 539 finishers.
“I had no idea,” Williams said. “I actually thought I'd run worse than I did at the Boston Marathon last April.” Williams trains with the cross country team in order to run unattached at some of the 5K races on weekends. She had to run extra in order to supplement her mileage in preparation for the marathon.
“I've been training for cross country, so it's kind of up and down,” Williams added. “I didn't know if I was ready or not, because going from 5K to 26.2 miles is tough.”
Williams was more than 16 minutes better than the second-place woman finisher and beat the course record by more than ten minutes.
Conditions were favorable for Williams, who found relief from the flat course. Sarah said, “I was uncertain about how I would run because it was pouring rain.” At one point, spectators let her know she was the leading female runner, which inspired her to keep her pace. Sarah added, “I usually get pretty tired at 20 miles, so after that it was all mental.”
Williams will be graduating after one more year of college at Peru State where she is majoring in Health and Physical Education.
