Using のに in a sentence, and expressing "third to last"


私は最後じゃなかったのに、最後の二人の女子たちがレースの途中で走るのをやめて、歩いてゴールインしたので、私があたかもレースの最後のように感じました。

I'm writing a sakubun on when I arrived third to last in a race back when I
went to middle school.

In my sentence I wanted to say: "Even if I didn't arrive last, since the last
two girls stopped running in the middle and reached the finish line while
walking, I felt just like I arrived last" (meaning: I felt extremely
disappointed because my performance was a failure even if I never stopped
running unlike the two other girls).

Does the sentence I wrote make any sense to you? Did I use のに right? Do you
have any suggestions to improve my sentence? Moreover, what is the best way to
say "third to last"?




The way you use のに perfectly fits into this sentence, representing
disappointment between the actual situation and your expectation. Your entire
sentence is very naturally written too.

However,

> レースの最後

only means "the last phase of the race", not"the last one in the race". You
could use ビリ "the bottom (in a competition)" or 最下位 "the lowest in rank" to
refer to the status.

> 私があたかも最下位のように感じました。  
>  私があたかもビリのように感じました。

Also, there are many ways of saying "third to last", that are applicable in
this scene, but each one has its own scope:

> 最後から三番目／三人*目 (for something has the first and the last in order)  
>  下から三番目／三人*目 (for something has the top and the bottom)  
>  ビリから三番目／三人*目 (just see above for this)  
>  最下位から三番目／三人*目 (...and this)

(* change the counter according to competitors' identity)




The way you use のに perfectly fits into this sentence, representing
disappointment between the actual situation and your expectation. Your entire
sentence is very naturally written too.

However,

> レースの最後

only means "the last phase of the race", not"the last one in the race". You
could use ビリ "the bottom (in a competition)" or 最下位 "the lowest in rank" to
refer to the status.

> 私があたかも最下位のように感じました。  
>  私があたかもビリのように感じました。

Also, there are many ways of saying "third to last", that are applicable in
this scene, but each one has its own scope:

> 最後から三番目／三人*目 (for something has the first and the last in order)  
>  下から三番目／三人*目 (for something has the top and the bottom)  
>  ビリから三番目／三人*目 (just see above for this)  
>  最下位から三番目／三人*目 (...and this)

(* change the counter according to competitors' identity)

