Hurray!

What an emotional week! I got a call on Wednesday from a nurse that I DID have a stress fracture. Then I went to have a followup with the doctor on Friday and he said after looking at my bone scan results that I did NOT have a fracture and that if I feel pain free, I can run. Well, I have been feeling good since taking it easy. Apparently, all I had is some irritation which showed up on the scan but isn't as serious as a fracture.
So, instead of my husband running the ten miler for me this morning, I ran it! I went alone as it is pouring rain today and wouldn't be much fun for spectators. The last ten miler I ran was the Annapolis 10 in August. My time was 1:40:00 (10 minute pace) and I was twenty five pounds heavier and not running much. I was anxious to see how much my time would improve after running all winter. My PR is 1:25:32 and while I didn't expect to break that time, I was hoping to at least be back in the 1:20s.
The race was small. I think there were 700 runners in the 10 and a couple thousand running the 5k (it was a running festival with several distances). No one wanted to start at the front. I guess there weren't any elite runners in the pack so I basically started with the clock. I ran the first mile in 8:10. I ran the next four miles at roughly the same pace. The clock at mile 5 said 43 minutes (and change). Wow! Mile 6 took me 52 minutes. Mile 7 was 1:01. Alright! "I can do this" I thought. But mile 8 was pretty much all uphill and I lost a lot of time. I went from running for time to running to finish (insert sad face emoticon). At mile 9, it was 1:21.
Icandoiticandoiticandoit...I pushed it and I crossed the finish line at 1:30:33. Oh well. I tried!! During mile 10, there was a guy walking and I said "come on! you can do it" which is what people say when you walk in the last mile of a race. He thanked me at the end and told me it really helped. That's what's fun about races--urging other people on and knowing that you're all in it together. Even when it's sucky and you can't see the top of the hill, it is worth it in the end.