Amanda Ewing had to pause and think about it. Had she ever captured the overall title - beat everybody, including the men - in a citizens' race?
"I think this is the first one,"she said.
Ewing caught the crowd by surprise as she charged to finish at the Run Against Suicide 5K Sunday at El Pomar Youth Sports Park. She finished in 19 minutes, 21 seconds on an out-and-back course on the mostly flat Pikes Peak Greenway Trail.
Ewing, who runs for the Colorado Running Company, used the race to put the finishing touches on her conditioning for next week's Twin Cities Marathon in Minneapolis. She has big plans to run fast in the land of 10,000 Lakes.
"Everybody I know who has raced there has set their personal best, so I'm going for it. I'm hoping for anything under a 3:14."
Ewing had hoped to place well in the Pikes Peak Ascent in August, but the mountain had other ideas and she finished 33rd among the women runners, 27 minutes off of her time of last year (3:11).
"I just had a bad day," she said.
But she has regrouped and said she is ready.
"This is possibly the best I've felt going into a marathon ever," she said.
About 151 runners put in some miles for the Suicide Prevention Partnership of the Pikes Peak Region, a nonprofit organization that provides education, intervention and postvention support to area families.
Erik Nelson, a cross country coach at Widefield High School, finished second in the 5K with a time of 20:09.
It was a good day for women runners. Lori Stich posted her third win in nine days, capturing the women's 15K race in 1:00:45. She was second overall.
Stitch, 41, has raced in the Olympic Marathon Trials three times. Her best finish was 14th (2:38) in 2008. She'd like to run there on more time and will try for her trials qualifying time at the California International Marathon in December. Sunday's run was all about training.
She ran for 25 minutes before and after the Race Against Suicide.
"This was a good run," she said. "I needed to get that long run in and this is a lot more fun than going out there with just my watch."
In the men's 15K, Peter Maksimow, who races for Inov-8 and the Colorado Running Company, took the win in 53:22. Maksimow was in top form through the middle of the season with wins at the tough and steep Race to the Shrine, the Greenland Trails 50K, and the Summer Roundup Trail Run. But a stress fracture crashed his hot streak.
"I'm just now getting back into it," Maksimow said. "So this feels pretty good."