I have not chronicled my recovery as much as I first intended. Perhaps that was laziness, and perhaps it was because I thought I would bore people with the play-by-play. But lately I have come across people who have suggested that I write again.
As I warmed up for this past weekend's Sun Run, it felt strange to think that three years ago to the weekend I came second at Boston. Since then, I have had one road race...an abismal effort where I struggled to run a 16:04 5k.
I must admit that I came pretty close to packing things in after that run. I felt I was in much better shape and yet struggled so badly over the last kilometer. I was left wondering why I was bothering to try to race again. I mean I will never run another personal best. I likely won't even get another master pb unless I run distances that I haven't raced since my thirties. After much thought, I decided to get in a solid month of training and see where it left me. I dropped in with Paul O'Callaghan's group and did a few track sessions, upped the mileage, and ensured that I was reasonably consistent.
About two weeks ago, I had a session where I suddenly felt that I was at a different level of fitness. It was as if I had suddenly made some progress. With that confidence I headed over to Vancouver to do the Sun Run.
It felt good to be back in the action and to be lining up feeling ready to race. I felt no real pressure and had nothing to prove other than that I had overcome a pretty significant injury. So with that I readied myself for the countdown.
Decked out in my spring fashions from New Balance (thanks Mark Rosenthal!!), I lined up with the other New Balance athletes like Lucy Smith and Eric Gillis (eventual winner). I navigated around this crazy looking guy with a hockey stick and Canucks flag and settled into the pace.Overall, it was a solid run until about 9k. Heading up on Cambie Street Bridge, the wheels started to fall off the wagon. I was dropped by the pack and was quickly caught by Kevin O'Conner. It was a struggle from there. I crossed the line as 3rd master in 32:00. Slower than my goal, but satisfied that I was back on the start line and starting to improve.
May 1st will be the TC 10k. It will be my next shot at running sub 32 and it will offer an opportunity for my youngest lad to see me race. It was his request for me to race again that first nudged me to go from jogging around the park to wanting to get back to racing. Although he has seen me race, he was very young and only knows of his dad's racing from pictures or videos or tall tales:)
"For everything there is a season, and a time for every purpose under heaven" Ecclesiastes 3
Funny...for so many years I was so driven to race fast. It meant the world to me, probably because it helped define me to the world. Now it is a fun past time...a hobby. Somehow that feels right at this point in my life. I feel like I want to do this, and not that I need to do this.
