When Alexis Wilbert felt her legs begin to surrender to the breakneck pace at Saturday's 5K on St. Patricks's Day, she drew strength from an unlikely source.

"Since the St. Patrick's Day run draws a lot of families out who plan to stick around for the parade after, I was thinking of the little girls in the crowd who may see me running and get inspired by that," Wilbert said. "When I was starting to fatigue at 2.5 miles, I told myself, 'think of those girls. You are a role model for them.'"

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Race photos

WIlbert, 30, of Colorado Springs, must have made a big impression as she held her stride and charged to a new women's race record and personal-best time of 17 minutes, 7.81 seconds (gun time) on the mostly flat course in downtown Colorado Springs. She finished 14th overall, averaging 5:31 per mile. She hasn't lost a 5K in Colorado Springs since 2014, the year her son, Chauncey, was born.

"When I am hurting in a race, I often think of something outside of myself," she said. "Usually it is my son and my husband. Today something just struck me about the crowd and I wanted to do something extra special. I guess I did it."

With a mile to run, she took one last glance at her watch and figured a fast time was possible. But how fast? The final stretch to the finish is straight and slightly downhill.

"I didn't know how good it would be, but since I knew I was almost at the top of the slight hill, if I could keep my pace or go faster, I would be set," Wilbert said. "I don't look at my watch after the 2-mile mark, so it did surprise me just how fast my time was when I approached the finish line!"

The day - it was perfect for running - produced lots of fast times. Robert Cheseret, 32, of Colorado Springs, averaged 4:47 per mile on his way to winning the men's race in 14:50:49, about 10 seconds better than his winning time on the same course in 2010. Mario Macias placed second a few stride back, followed by Augustus Maiyo in 15:06.67.

Crystal Goecker, 36, of Colorado Springs is off to fast start in 2016. She placed second on the day with a time of 19 minutes flat, building on her Winter Series (short course) overall title, and win in the Super Half Marathon on Feb. 7. Amy Shertzer, 38, of Monument, was third in 19:19.

The 5K on St. Patrick's Day is the first race in the Grand Prix of Running Series. Next up is the Take 5 in the Garden on May 7.