You had to cut back but you were able to keep up enough training to stay fit and now you've blazed a 7 miler. We both need to keep that in mind...rest and back off when we're red-lining training.
I've thought about how I've had to walk and recover from injury and how quickly even at my age I can get back to running as quickly as I did a month or two before.
Right now I'm stumped on how to go faster...I'm on a plateau where I've actually slowed down.
Speed, endurance and rest...keep at it.