Ok, so it’s just a 10k, and our very local, 17th Annual race, starting at the high school my kids attended and that I pass every day to commute to NYC, but I still want to talk about this race. Because it’s the first one I’ve completed since early May!
Broke my collarbone the end of May; threw out my back in September (note to self: don’t rush the kettlebell workout; respect the cannonball); tried to do an Olympic distance tri two weeks later but simply could not run.
Back got better, trained up a bit, and I really had no idea how fast I could run – because of the disrupted season and a less than stellar half marathon in the spring and of course the passage of another year. “Getting older,” I think it’s called.
So I do my warmup and strides, and I’m at the starting line with LOTS of little kids in the front (visiting from another school where Ed Beglane is the principal, eager to do the 5k), with two of the Killer Bunny Runaways Team, guys who run together three days a week. 
And we start, and I can’t help but laugh at all these kids!, a lot to dodge, and my buddy Dietmar plows ahead, short sleeves dark blue shirt and steady bounding until he’s gone from sight (he takes 1st place for 40-49), and another guy Daniel in a lighter blue running jacket and baseball cap (he takes 2nd OA), and somewhere way ahead is a bright blue sweatshirt (turns out it’s my local, annual nemesis, James- with whom I’ve swapped places on the age group podium every year)
The day before, I ran one loop of the course, and now that I’m racing I’m running a lot harder but it feels solid, panting but solid, and I’m still smiling (which both Coach Debi and Juan had told me was good for running). I can’t help but marvel at this little woman in bright orange zooming past me and I’m in the middle of and ready for the long hill up Broadway until we turn left at the nursing home (get a shout out from Lisa and Greg) and glorious downhill to Tompkins, left and up up up, there’s Rory directing traffic, and those back roads by Dietmar’s house aren’t so bad the first time, and the .3 mile straightaway back to the school (I had measured it during yesterday’s run).
And the next loop of course is harder but for once I’m not wishing I could stop, this second loop ain’t so bad, up Broadway again and past Lisa and Greg again and it’s hard work and even though I’m not looking at my watch I know this not as fast as I’ve been in the past. But this is The Best I Can Do Today, and truly accepting that is terrific. The season of no-racing is over.
Suddenly at Mile 4 1/2 my left calf cramps up, and I had felt this at the end of the prior day’s workout, and if this were the beginning or middle of the race season I would stop to avoid compounding the injury, but NO, I’ve been sidelined by injuries all season!, this is my last race and I am going to do the best I can, and I’m hobbling through it, feels a lot slower but ends up being the same pace as the prior uphill mile, and some guy with a gray beard (my AG?) and wearing yet another shade of blue is running behind then beside me and I will NOT let him beat me, I want that podium more than he does (if I can’t catch the bunny ahead of me I will run away from the monster behind me) and I find the juice to sprint harder, and I hear Rachel shout my name and I FINISH.
Results: 43:53 (but to be honest, it’s really 5.9 Miles/9.5 km; 17 years of the same, short course; so it’s 7:26 min/mile avg.). 10/64 overall. 3/12 age group (meaning, 50-59); a tiny bronze medal, hurray! I never even see James Cochrane’s face until the race is over – so, this year, he takes 1st in AG.
Glad to confirm that I can train at 9:00+ minute per mile, and still race at sub-7:30s. Not my fastest – actually, my slowest – but the fastest I could do today. Great to run through my l’il town and see folks I’ve known for years. A satisfying finish to an interrupted season.