Changing Expressions

Another day at speed session! Sadly, after many a 4.50a.m. wake up on Tuesday mornings, I think this has marked my last Tuesday speed session in Australia.
I honestly didn't think much about it at the time, as I figured I would keep going so long as I had a car to get me there. So I listed my car on a trusty website this morning and sat back to do other things...and it sold within a few hours!
If I had known this would happen, I would have made a bigger deal about today being my last session. But you never know...maybe I'll convince someone to give me a lift to next week!
The morning started out great. 6x 200m reps.
The goal time given to me was 52sec/200m. B.I. (Before Injury) I was laughing my way through these and would often get between 50-52sec, easy.
A.I. (After Injury) I am still struggling with fitness and clocked in at a 53-54sec average. I know it's not that much slower, but think of how 2-4sec slower per 200m can add up over time! That's between 10-20sec slower on just 1km...and about 1min slower across 5k!
Funny we should talk about that, since at the end of the 6x200m repeats there was a 3k time trial to slog through.
One of the girls cleverly spoke up to say what we were all thinking: can we go in the opposite direction to hit the uphill part only once instead of twice?
This may be confusing for some of you, so let me lay out the floor-plan of the loop we do:

X ...........[flat]............START/FINISH..............[mini-hill]............X

Now, imagine that "X" marks the turn-around point 500m from the start/finish line, so going out to the X and back is 1k. To get 3k, you would start in one direction, turn around at the "X", then go all the way past the start/finish (1km) to the other "X", then again past the start/finish (2km) back to the first "X" and then finish (3km). Confused yet?
Traditionally, we always started in the direction of the mini-hill, and end up hitting it twice. It is tough every time, but one really feels it on the second loop! Which is why I know I wasn't the only one excited about the prospect of running the hill only once! This may be a new trend. Even among us keen runners, laziness prevails!
Deep down inside I was hoping to make it in under 16min. My start was strong with a 5-min pace at the 500m marker. And then I realized I was being ridiculous since I was too exhausted to hold that pace.
So I dug deep, stared at the back of the gal in front, and focused on not falling too far behind her.

Total distance: 3k
Total time: 16.10min
Average pace: 5.23min/km
Split times: 5.10/5.30/5.30

Siiiigh! Even in the 3k I'm averaging similar speed to what I did in my 5k (and slightly slower, if that).
I know lots of people have been telling me how wonderful I'm doing considering I'm bouncing back (?staggering back) from an injury, but there is a quote I remember from junior high that really resonates with me right now:
"It's not good enough to be great if you have the ability to be better"
I feel like I have the ability to be better...but most of the improvement seems to be in my mind!
But then the little Jiminey Cricket sitting on my other shoulder reminds me of one of my other favourite sayings:
"If plan A fails, there are still 25 more letters to the alphabet. Stay cool!"
Maybe I should focus on this second motto for a change, and let the first one go.