Owning last, only to learn that I am not actually last

I did the River'n'Rapids 10k last weekend.  That's the race where it was at 9am, in April, in Florida.  So in other words, the race that I really wasn't all that excited about.  Considering the numerous reasons that this race could have caused me to hate life, surprisingly I did not hate life at the end of it.  In fact, it was relatively pleasant...bearing in mind that it was April and 9am.

The race took place in Hillsborough State Park, which was insanely scenic and lovely.  I felt silly that I had never been, despite the fact that it is just up the road from me.  It is definitely worth a visit if you get the chance.  Trail running was interesting because I had to spend a lot of time thinking about tree roots.  This was my first official trail race and it was very easy to see how things could go wrong if you weren't careful with footing.  Fortunately, for me, nothing went wrong.

Going into the race, I knew that it was possible I would be last.  How?  Because:

1) It was the inaugural race for this event.  This means that mostly hardcore runners would be signed up for it.  Us slower people would maybe not be signed up as much.

2) There were around 100 people.  The likelihood of my being last in this situation seemed pretty good.

And for much of the race, as I was on my own in the woods, I assumed I was last.  And I said, 'Yes.  That's right.  I'm last.  Because dammit, someone has to be last.  And today, that person is me.  I've survived it before and I will survive it again...provided, of course, that I survive the heat.'  Honestly, I was pretty okay with the whole thing.  You can imagine my dismay to learn that I wasn't actually last, after all of these great pep talks I gave myself en route.  There may even have been a few chants of, 'If you're not first, you're last.'  Thanks, Ricky Bobby.

I did have to walk/run after a while, but that doesn't surprise me (incidentally, the group I started with had camelbaks.  Camelbaks.  These are serious people).  The weather is starting to get tricky and I also suspect that in the forest itself, the humidity is higher (the weather report said in the 70% range, but I don't believe that).

I just looked at the race results, confirming that, indeed, I was not last.  And you know what else?  There were 13 people who didn't show up.  So hey, at least I got out of bed and to the race.  Victory!