@renaissancedad, I still think this would make a great book/movie. Maybe get Paul Hogan (is he still alive?) as the PE teacher, timing his students on a worn-out dirt oval. The gun goes off, OP rears back, startled by the noise. The other kids are 10 meters ahead of her - then she digs in, nostril flaring and saliva flying from her mouth (this part is all slow-mo), she overtakes the other kids one by one leaving them in a red cloud of dust. Hogan looks at his watch incredulously, “Crikey! 11.2! You sure your a Sheila?”
Even if it’s fiction, I think we have something here.