So you wrote a brute-force algorithm in a slow, interpreted implementation of a dynamic language, and you were surprised that your solution took a long time to run?

Using a faster language implementation could have allowed you to use the same brute-force algorithm and come in under the time limit, but your real problem is your algorithm, not your language implementation.

You can write fast code in a fast language and get very fast running time.

You can also write slow code in a fast language, or fast code in a slow language, and still have acceptably fast running time.

But you wrote slow code in a slow language, the worst of both worlds.