When 2014 started out, I had no running goals. I was happy I was back on the roads but was not feeling well enough to think about goals. Coincidentally, the Nike+ on my Android was wonky and would add miles and reduce speed. It was an ironic reflection of where I was at the time in my healing journey. I was still working with a KMI structural integration practitioner believing that change came from the outside in. I did not have an accurate way to gauge where I was or to honestly monitor my progress.
As I edit my next book, "Journey Well," I see the transformation that took shape this year of reclaiming myself as a runner. When I ditched my Android for an iPhone and changed practitioners for mind/body therapy, I was finally able to move forward in my healing journey and in setting running goals.
Sometimes we are able to nail our goals. What an exhilarating week this has been for my friends who conquered the trails, caught the Unicorn and ran PR's. One of my friend's was going for a 5K under 50. There were gusting winds and rain. While she didn't reach her goal of an under 50 minute 5K, she did attain a PR under very challenging conditions. The running community cheered her on and congratulated her for an amazing performance. Her goal will be attained on another day. I tracked my friend John Young in the NYC Marathon. There were several times when the anticipated finish time went beyond his hoped for BQ time of a sub-6-hour marathon. He did get his BQ as we gathered as a community on Facebook to cheer him along. He had to drop out of the 2014 Boston Marathon because the flu gripped him at mile 10. He had trained all winter to finish the race from April 15, 2013. While he could not finish the race on Marathon Monday as he had hoped, he did go out and finished the race 19 days later .
"Oh there you are," Alain Ferry said as he rode out on his bike during the Bill Rodgers 5K to Benefit Prostate Cancer to provide support to me on my run. He was anticipating that, given the heat, I was not going to attain my goal of a PR that day. When I was close to reaching my goal, his love and support combined with having Tom by my side and the cheering of the crowds was a vortex of energy that pulled me toward the finish line. I was able to PR the race.
As I ran toward the finish line of the Tufts 10K, I heard Jess Lanzoni call out my name and then had two members of L Street screaming and cheering me on to the finish. I had nothing left in the tank and wanted to just finish. Their energy stirred the fumes or should I say the flames within me to go after my PR at full throttle.
One of the beautiful things about the running community is that we are always there for each other whether or not the goal is attained on any particular day. There are so many variables that go into whether or not we can attain our goal on any given day. We are loved, beloved and supported no matter the time on the clock. What is most important though is that as runners and in our lives, we never give up and we never lose sight of our goals.
I have my sights set on another 5K PR when I run the Boston Volvo Village 5K Road Race on Thanksgiving to benefit the Greater New England Chapter of the Multiple Sclerosis Society. Please help me reach my fund raising goal by making a donation to my personal page.
In February of 2008, I set the goal to run the 2009 Boston Marathon. My journey is chronicled in Coming Home: A Memoir of Healing, Hope and Possibility available on Amazon. I donate 50% of proceeds to The One Fund to help survivors and their families affected by the events of April 15, 2013.
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