We swapped Monday's strength training for Wednesday's 5K. Tomorrow Tom and Ruth Anne can catch a treadmill run if it's too windy and rainy to go outside although the conditions will have to be pretty awful for them to not get in their outdoor early morning tempo run together.
Ordinarily I am quite conservative on our tempo runs while we are going the distance on our threepeat on the road to Bermuda Marathon Weekend. My focus is on getting in those miles and we had a sweet 9 miler on Saturday!
I have had this nagging feeling inside of me...I wish I could run faster. I wish I could run faster. I am so blessed that the Bermuda Marathon Weekend Race Director, Anthony Raynor, told me that as long as I finish before his last marathoner (which means finishing just under 6 hours) I'm fine and if I wanted an early start to just let the timer know on race day.
Tom and Ruth Anne tell me how much it means to them that I am out there going the distance on the road to Bermuda. They repeatedly tell me to not worry about my pace. They enjoy being out there with me for however long it takes to finish the long run.
Running another half marathon is, indeed, a whole big thing for me. The time does not matter but challenging myself and going the distance IS what matters....and yet ....
I know the best way to work on speed is with tempo runs and fartleks. And while we have been doing tempo runs that are a minute under my half marathon pace (right now), and incorporate fartleks, I've been holding back afraid of injury and afraid of going too far.
We didn't talk about the pace this morning as we donned a water belt after doing our core work and headed out the door for our 5K run.
We literally just took off!
As Tom and Ruth Anne looked at our pace they commented how we were about 30 seconds under the pace for our previous tempo runs.
Ruth Anne pushed me this morning and would not let me back down.
It reminded me of our Michael Aselton 5K race Memorial Day Weekend.
Tom and Ruth Anne commented on our pace from time to time. Feeling and knowing I was running faster than I had in a long time, finding out just what this body could do and believing I can run faster than I've been running fueled this morning's magical run.
It was humid but fortunately there was cloud cover.
As we came up one of the final hills, Ruth Anne charged out in front of me. I dug deep and pushed myself.
Coming up the final hill before we finished our 5K was an incredible effort for me. I hadn't felt those almost dead legs feeling in a very very long time. Ruth Anne and Tom kept pushing me and I kept pace. I hadn't felt the feeling of leaving nothing on the roads since that race in May.
It was my fastest time since that race in May.
This voice of I wish I could run faster has been nagging at me for several weeks now.
After our run this morning I googled Billy Mills Youtube video that has been an inspiration for me throughout my running career:
What was I believing about my going the distance? What are my thoughts about myself as a runner? Can I get out of my own way and allow the transformation and healing from paralytic polio and trauma to fully come into being? What do I want to experience as a runner?
This morning was a magical Monday morning run for Team McManus. We ran in stride together with Tom and Ruth Anne instinctively knowing what to do to help pace me and help me to push my pace.
As Walt Disney once said:
It's time for me to keep on believing, visualizing and imagining myself as I want to be; pushing my training (being mindful of course of how my body is feeling on any given day and taking exquisite care of myself to avoid injury) knowing that the time is here for me to be the runner I was always meant to be!
Go the distance with strength and courage,
Mary
Be sure to visit my website by following this link.
My books are available on Amazon.
Feel the Heal: An Anthology of Poems to Heal Your Life
Coming Home: A Memoir of Healing Hope and Possibility that chronicles the first 7 years of my healing journey:
And my latest and greatest book - Going the Distance: The Power of Endurance (With a Foreword by Jacqueline Hansen):
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