Gotta Start Somewhere.

"I wanna heal,I wanna feel what I thought was never real,I wanna let go of the pain I've felt so long,erase all the pain till it's gone,I wanna heal I wanna feel like I'm close to something real I wanna find something I've wanted all along,somewhere I belong"
Somewhere I Belong Linkin Park.

Rewind,May 11th Swarthmore I limped through a 1,500m in 4.13.38.little did I know the horrors that were about to unfold,June 16th the gut wrenching decision to shut my season down to recover from my achilles tendon injury that cost me my shot at Worlds in Lahti,July 27th the begining of the long road back,September6th the final outdoor track meet of the season and my first races in 4 months.
I'd forgotten how a long a day a track meet can be,I was up by 5.30am,on the road by 6.50am and home again by 7.20pm.....all this for just under 7 minutes work.....but I wouldn't have traded it for anything,looking beyond the xs and os,my performance,my times,etc etc I remembered what it was like to travel and hang w/ my team mates and friends,granted there'll be road races and cross county meets between now and December but,there's something about a track meet that sets it aside from those,you get the chance to watch other compete,you learn how to kill time between events and juggle staying relaxed and getting ready for your next event.

In the mile I figured Kyle and Nick to be my main rivals so when they hit the front from the gun I moved in behind them going down the back straight,66 seconds at 400m and 2.16 at 800m b4 Kyle pealed off.
Obviously it's too early for me to be mixing it up w/ the leaders and down the back straight I was now relegated to third,w/ 700m to go it was all about seeing it through,in the coming weeks and months I'll work on the three s's,speed,strength and stamina so that come December when indoor track begins I'm not so much of a passenger in my races.
Third in 4.49.01.,humbeling when you're used to running a 4.30 mile but that'll come.

In the 800m I felt another of my team mates Dave would be my main rival and from the gun it was a GPTC 1-2 going into the first turn w/ David holding the inside lane and me on his outside.
65 seconds at the bell,again well below what I'm used to but for today it felt comfortable.
Opting to tuck in behind Dave down the back straight almost proved to be my undoing,unbeknown to me Kenny Edwards was breathing down my neck,had I've known that I'd have held my position on Dave's shoulder forcing Kenny wide into lane two if he wanted to overtake.
Half way down the back straight Kenny went by me,ring rust or not the competitor kicked in,rather than settle for third as I had in the mile I regrouped and coming off the final turn dug deep to make up the deficit on Kenny,it was neck and neck coming up the home straight and I did just enough to get him b4 the line.
Second in 2.10.76.again time wise it's well below what I expect of myself but I do believe this will come over the next few months,to put things in some perspective when I suffered my stress fracture in 07/08 my come back mile was 4.59.63 followed a day later by a woeful 2.13 800m so in that respect I'm ahead of where I was 18 months ago.

My achilles didn't feel any the worse for wear today which is huge,hopefully by the time the indoor season comes along my achilles will be strong enough to get back into my flats/spikes but all in all today was a day I can look back on w/ some satisfaction,all journeys have to begin somewhere,here's hoping my 2010 season got a kick start today.