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Central Lake High School distance runner Kari Johnson just wanted to get in some training for the upcoming cross country season.

Her goal was to finish the 12-kilometer race in seven minutes, and be up among the leaders when she reached the finish line, like she had done last July.

But the 17-year old Johnson, who'll be a senior for the Trojans this year and a returning state qualifier, surprised herself by coming in under seven minutes and taking first place overall in the women's division of the 2007 Alpenfest Run on Saturday, July 21, in Gaylord.

A total of 93 runners competed, divided into male and female age groups.

Johnson, who competed in the Nike Nationals earlier this year along with Glen Lake standout Marissa Treece, completed the rather hilly course in a time of 6:58.

The Nike race was a 5K, though, and was on more of a flat course.

Although she stayed near the middle of the pack early in the race, Johnson tired and fell back at the finish.

Didn't expect to win

Not this time. Still, placing first was a shock.

"She didn't go in there with too many expectations,"

Central Lake cross country coach Joe Shay said on Sunday afternoon. "She was going to treat it like a training run, and try to run around a sevenminute pace ... which is what she normally tries to train at.

"And, she was fortunate enough to win the race. Based on last year's results, we knew she'd finish up near the top just setting a training pace.

"We didn't want her to push it. I know she could have run harder, and faster. But, it's way too early to try to do that. It's about a 7 1/2- mile race, so it's substantially longer than what she'll do in high school.

"Runing at her high school pace, it would take too much recovery (time), and would interfere with the balance of her training. She set a pace, and did a great job."

It was only the second time since the high school track season ended that Johnson ran competitively this summer.

But, she's been training every day, putting in 55 to 60 miles per week according to Shay.

Course extremely hilly

While much of her training has been pretty much a lot of base work, Johnson has been running some hills, and that came in handy Saturday.

The course was extremely hilly. But it didn't faze Johnson in the least.

"She didn't seem to suffer from it at all," Shay said. "It was basically about what she's been doing around here. Most road races have a tendency to be pretty flat.

"It was a good training race for her, with all the hills. Just turned out that she won the thing. She was very surprised that she had finished first."

Johnson plans on running one more competitive race, the Harbor Run in Elk Rapids that's scheduled for Aug. 4, before focusing on preparing for the cross country season.

Curtis Barcky, 20, of Hale was the men's overall winner. He finished in a time of 5:26.

Another Central Lake runner, 60-year old Terry Wilson, was fourth in the 60-64 age group and 64th overall in a time of 9 minutes.

Determined to build up her strength and stamina, Johnson has been training hard this summer.

That's why she's been running so many hills. "Our first cross country race is Aug. 25, the Benzie Central Invitational," said Shay. "She's really in great shape."