Zia Fadil showed off her phenomenal speed on Thanksgiving, running the 5-mile Durango Turkey Trot in 30 minutes and 41 seconds and being the first women’s race competitor to cross the finish line with an average mile pace of 6:08.
Fadil stood out among her fellow competitors for a few reasons: She’s 12 years old, in seventh grade and ran faster than women twice or thrice her age.
Fadil beat out these women easily, finishing almost two minutes ahead of the nearest women’s finisher.
“It was really nice,” Fadil said. “It was fun but it was kind of awkward because I didn't really want to pass a lot of people.”
Thursday’s race was a balance between doing a hard workout and Fadil’s competitive nature, so Fadil wasn’t worried about passing people and getting caught up in the competition, according to her father Michael Fadil.
What makes Fadil’s result even more impressive is she doesn’t run 5-mile races very often. She mainly does 3-kilometer runs because that’s how long the middle school races she usually competes in go. Fadil will also occasionally run a 5K race.
This Turkey Trot served as a training run before Fadil heads to Louisville, Kentucky for the USA Track and Field Cross Country Junior Olympics in two weeks. Fadil qualified by finishing third in a qualifying race in El Paso, Texas, where the top 30 made it to the national event in Louisville.
Fadil really enjoys the relationships she’s built through running. Outside of running, Fadil enjoys swimming and cycling. She competes in triathlons in the spring and summer.
Michael, Zia’s father, was a great runner in high school and college and helps coach some area students, as well as the Durango High School cross country team.
“All that's a lot of fun,” Michael Fadil said. “In some ways, it's more stressful being a parent or a coach than doing it yourself because once they're out there, you have no control and they're just there on their own and whatever's going to happen happens.”
Growing up running in Central New York, Fadil saw many elite high school runners who were burned out by the time they reached college. Fadil tries to make sure Zia’s workouts aren’t too challenging and they’re enjoyable. That way, Zia is emotionally healthy and not running injured.
Zia trained with only one good workout a week up until about seven weeks ago.
“Hopefully it’ll turn out pretty well,” Michael said about Zia’s race in Louisville. “She has a knack, and maybe it's partly the training, but she has a knack of really stepping up at all of the big meets at the end of the seasons so we'll see what happens.”
bkelly@durangoherald.com
