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Went the wrong way during a race!
Lesson learned: Do not blindly follow the person in front of you!
It was a 5.2 mile Xterra trail race (super fun, btw, even though you have to run through knee-deep water). I was the lead female for the entire thing and from what I could tell, by at least a solid minute, probably more. I was having a fantastic race.
When we passed the Mile 5 marker, I knew I was going to win for sure. But then, the race kept going and going...well past .2. I knew something was off - and sure enough, the leading boys started shouting "we are going the wrong way!"
A mountain biker (not affiliated with the race) was standing in front of a course marker, shuffling people in the wrong direction!! We suspect he was trying to be helpful...so anyway, we ran 1/2 mile off course only to have to run another 1/2 mile to get back on the course...and I came in 6th instead of 1st 
It was a bumming experience to go from thinking you are going to win to realizing you are not even in the race anymore, HA.
I handed out the awards though and the announcer did point out that I would have won if I did not go the wrong direction so that was nice.
I guess this is just a risk you take when running trails though. You always need to pay attention to the course, surely someone should have noticed that we were not going towards the finish line, LOL.
Re: Went the wrong way during a race!
That sucks! But yes, I agree with pp that 6th place finish is impressive for running an extra mile.
Congrats on a good race!
Running and recipe blog
I did this during a half marathon last year. I was so bummed b/c I was going to get 3rd overall, which was a $50 prize! Lesson learned...sometimes you can be a little too in the zone
Sounds like you had a great race though, speedy!
2012 Goal: working towards pre-pregnancy speed!
04/15 KI Metric Marathon/16.3 m (2:05:55, 7:43 pace)
05/06 Frederick 13.1 (1:41:09)
11/04 NYCM
I did this in my first trail 5K last year. I was following the runner in front of me, who was approximately my speed, and just toodling along, but I kept thinking - dang, this is the longest 3.1 I've ever seen. Must be the hills. Turns out, it was a lady from a nearby neighborhood just doing her Saturday morning run and I followed her almost all the way home. Turned my 3.1 into nearly 5 by the time I figured out I was lost and found the route again.
Needless to say, I came in next-to-last in that race with a time of something close to an hour. Whoops!
j+k+m+e | running with needles