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JAMAL THALJIIllness has taken its toll on Danielle Coyle. But now the River Ridge senior is prepared for a big season.
NEW PORT RICHEY - Danielle Coyle took the lead at 800 meters out and didn't look back.
Her last threat, Lecanto's Taylor Cooke, started to trail off in the distance. Coyle wasn't even concerned about her anymore as she started to pace herself against the male runners.
Just like that, the River Ridge senior ran her best race in more than a year.
Coyle was the top female finisher at Saturday's Red Mule Runners Labor Day 5K at Ernie Wever Youth Park, finishing in 20 minutes, 27 seconds.
Saturday's race was 5 kilometers, but Coyle's journey to that finish line actually took eight months.
"At the end of my 10th grade track season, I got sick, and it went on through the summer and my cross country season my junior year," she said. "I just got back in gear during last track season.
"Since this is my senior year, I want to go out with a bang and do good. I'm determined to go to state this year."
She went to the state cross country meet as a sophomore, which also happened to be her last healthy season in that sport.
"I had all sorts of things," Coyle said. "I had bronchitis five times, sinus infections, ear infections, mono.
"It went on for eight months, from two days before the district track meet my sophomore year to the end of my cross country season my junior year."
But then during her junior track season, she started to get healthy. And after taking two weeks off, she plunged into her toughest offseason regimen ever.
Painful shins forced her to take off 11/2 weeks in August, and illness caused her to miss the first three days of school. But Coyle wasn't headed to a repeat of last season.
Instead, after logging 360 miles from the end of May to the start of August, Coyle still was well-prepared for Red Mule.
"I was just determined, and now I'm finally back," Coyle said. "I think I'm back now to where I was in cross country my sophomore year, and I'm hoping to build on that and get even stronger."
Coyle's winning time Saturday was 26 seconds faster than any race she ran as a junior. It also was 10 seconds faster than Coyle's July Citrus Summer Showdown time and 24 seconds faster than Saturday's runner-up, Cooke.
Now Coyle will put that win to great use, to propel herself through a tough regular season that starts with this weekend's seventh annual Gator Invitational.
"Red Mule was a big confidence booster for me," Coyle said.
"Because I didn't expect to do as well as I did, because it was a very hot course. And it was very hot out. There was no shade."
But Coyle shouldn't have been that surprised at her win. After all, River Ridge teammate Samantha Jacobsen told Coyle she was going to win.
"I'm not the most confident person in myself, so it was very surprising," Coyle said. "My teammate, Sam, was telling me I was going to win, but she's always trying to convince me of things like that, but I never believe her.
"But it came true."