Back To The Scene Of The Crime

It,s 10 weeks since my stress fracture and being the poster child of irony it should come as no great surprize I chose to return to the same venue and race the same distance as I did on Sun Dec 16th, Prince George Indoor {PGI} and the mile.
It,s been a while since I,ve felt such a sence of nervous trepidation going into a race as I did today,I know every runner says "I don,t know what to expect going into my first race of the season"and while technically this wasn,t my first race of the season it was my first race* since my stress fracture{*technically Millrose Games was my first race post stress fracture so maybe I need to refer to today as my first race at my natural distance since the stress fracture}whatever I was still anxious about the outcome.
I hadn,t given much thought to time,splits or even how I was going to approach the race I just knew I had to get out there and run and hope things would take care of themselves.
I didn,t pay much attention to how many of us lined up at the starting line,I do believe they combined the 40-44 and 45-49 age group into one heat,there were only 2 of us in the 40-44 age group,somehow I got the pole which I didn,t particularly want since I,m not confident enough to go gun to tape just yet,the one stratagy I did have was to go out easy for the opening few laps to feel my way back into racing,going down the back straight on the opening lap I was 3rd b4 being passed by a runner whom I have a history w/,at the risk of dredging up old issues lets just say the adage "I have Irish alzheimers,I forget everything except the grudge" is seldom far from my grasp.....no matter what this guy was NOT going to beat me.....w/in a lap I overtook him for 3rd place.
By now the lead two had gotten away from me and I was in no mans land,I knew I needed to give chase but my killer instinct isn,t there just yet,off of splits of 39.35,36.18,36.75 and 37.74 I went through 800m in 2.30.02,while I felt comfortable it,s not like I,m pushing the envelope either and I know that god willing that will come in time as long as I keep putting in the work in training.
Unlike 10 weeks ago when the final 2 laps were agony today I was at least able to finish comfortably,splits of 36.92,38.37,38.62,35.85 brought me home in 3rd place,second in my age group in 4.59.78,at least todays 3rd place finish saw me break 5 minutes....not to mention walk off the track not hobbling.
It wasn,t earth shattering but it was never going to be or meant to be I had to start somewhere and where better than where it all began to unravel,w/ this one under my belt and out of the way I can turn my attention towards tomorrows 800m at the New Jersey and see where that goes.