Parker wins Dash for the Cash

This year, Midlothian resident Anne Parker wasn’t running the Ukrop’s Monument Avenue 10K just for fun. This year, she wanted to be the first to cross the finish line, and she hit that goal. After registering to run the 10K in the beginning of March, Parker was chosen at random from a pool of over 28,000 people to compete in the AT&T Dash for the Cash contest. Created five years ago, the contest carries a top prize of $2,500.

In order to win the money, Parker had to cross the finish line before any of the other runners. Parker was given a head start, the length of which was based on the predicted time she stated on her race entry form and the strength of her performances in previous Monument Avenue 10K races. Parker was given a 2.7 mile head start for a total race of 3.5 miles.
Parker began running four years ago after she accepted an invitation from friends to go on a run.

“Two of my friends had been asking me to run with them almost every day,” Parker said. “One day I said OK. Then they said, ‘Oh, by the way, we’re going to run five miles today’. I had never really run before, but it was over before I knew it. And it was really great.”

Parker, who teaches pre-school and is herself a mother of four, runs both to maintain a fitness level and to find time to clear her head. She jokes that teaching pre-school is far more exhausting than any run.

“I run for exercise, but it’s also a great stress reliever for me,” she said.

Although initially excited about the prospect of training under the legendary long-distance runner Bart Yasso, who volunteered to instruct contest participants, Parker was unfortunately unable to connect with him, but she established her own training program that focused on the reduced distance, which allowed her to increase her overall speed. She trained primarily along the paths in the neighborhood of Woodlake

“I’ve been running pretty much every day since I found out,” Parker said. “I’ve done some speed work and then some easy runs. But I’ve been concentrating on running three and a half miles to four miles. Nothing longer than that.”

Parker has raced in the Monument Avenue 10K three times before, giving her a home field advantage, and she had her family cheering her on throughout the process and on race day.

“They’re pretty excited for me,” Parker said before the race. “They think that I can do it. My kids and husband are very supportive. My youngest son, he’s eleven and he plays travel soccer, and he even runs with me.”

In previous years, two contestants and two runners have claimed the contest’s prize. Parker is the first female to win the AT&T Dash for the Cash.