Rave Run - 1st January 2011: First Run in Lowell or Happy New Year!

This past week I only did the stairs once.  It has been a bit challenging because I had a sprained back.  I was almost completely immobile, and could not even bend my knees.  Various topical applications and heated pads did not seem to be working.  In fact, I was starting to feel a bit concerned, because I was in quite a lot of pain and I had signed up for a race on 1st January.  My back issues meant I could not run at all, and had to hang around.  

Anyway, this morning, it was feeling quite a bit better, so Stuart and I set off for Lowell.  Oh, did I mention that Stuart is finally starting to sort out his plantar fasciitis issues and has slowly started running again!  This was a perfect start to the year and I was really pleased.

We got there, picked up our numbers (which also had our names on them), and then lined up.  I do not know how many people there were as the results have not yet been posted, but there was quite a crowd.  I started off gently, and passed the first mile at 10:32.  Hmm a bit slow, so I sped up a bit and passed mile 2 at 20:30.  Ooh I thought, that looks good - perhaps I can get under 31 minutes.  However, after not running for 2 weeks (last run was on 19th December), I started to feel it.  I did however push hard, but had to walk for a minute as I had a stitch in my side!  When I recovered, I set off hard again, and passed a few people (naturally loads had passed me too, but I managed to catch up to some of them).  As I got closer to the finish line there was an old man running with someone who looked like his son. So I slowed down.  I just did not want to pass them, and I was glad I did it.  I was in pain when I finished, but content with my run.  I was not that thrilled to see the clock time of 32 minutes, but as I was mulling this over in my mind, I heard someone calling me.
I turned around and there was a guy running up to me.  He asked me what my time had been, and Stuart said 32 minutes.  When I asked him what his time was, he said maybe half a minute more than you.  He then went on to say that he had been trying to keep up with me since the start of the race, but had wanted to overtake me, but just could not manage to pass me.  He ended off saying "you are really good!"  Me?!  Someone had said that to me!  I thanked him and felt like a million dollars.  What was already a wonderful morning, just became fabulous.  
And what a rave run to start off 2011!  Stuart finished in 29 minutes, passing mile 2 at 18:20 and then getting hemmed in in the final mile, and is looking forward to the next race already! We got very nice technical t-shirts, hats and medals.......not too shabby for a run on 1/1/11.  When our final times were posted, Stuart's is 28:28, and mine is 31:46.