In The Awakening, racing is obviously a metaphor (a picture, a comparison) for what's going on with Edna. In many ways racing is exhilarating and dangerous and forbidden--all the things Edna's feeling about her short-lived relationship with Alcée Arobin and her more serious and lasting relationship with Robert, as well as her attempt at becoming an artist.
This novel is set in a time and place which sees women in certain roles. We see Adele as one kind of woman, the loving and doting mother figure. We see Madamoiselle Reisz as another, kind of an eccentric artist. We meet a whole slew of fashionable ladies, such as Mrs. Highcamp, who were a bit "naughty" but only within acceptable boundaries. Edna fits none of these very well, though she dabbles in each of these roles.
She has chosen to live dangerously, to flaunt the role she once had, and it's a risk. It's a gamble she loses, in the end, but she ran her race and took her chances.
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