Before we set out on our 11 mile training run which we knew was going to be in very cold weather conditions, I saw this post on Facebook:
Ruth Anne and I read it out loud together.
We were planning to go to Jamaica Pond as I wrote about in Friday's blog. I said that I was psyched to take on the cold weather. Little did I know just how psyched I would have to get to make it through the training run. It was more than a training run - it was an experience!
There were no parking spaces at Jamaica Pond despite going three times around to find a parking space. I am a master at manifesting parking spaces so I took that as a sign that we needed to figure out a plan B. As it turned out - as it always turns out it was a blessing because we wouldn't have had access to a bathroom if we would have stayed at Jamaica Pond. We also had more sunshine when we arrived at the Chestnut Hill Reservoir.
When we began our run, Ruth Anne had us put our outstretched hands together and do a "Gooo Team!"
The stinging cold wind on our faces and the cold air even when the wind would briefly die down seemed unrelenting. It was record setting cold with the wind chill for November 11th. We hadn't trained in cold weather like yesterday's cold since we trained for the Boston Marathon 2009. We did our last long run -- 21 miles in 17 degree temperatures. But that was after training through a bitter cold New England winter. After last week's 11 miler in 50 degree weather yesterday's weather was quite a shock to the system.
At 6.5 miles the going got really tough for me. At mile 7, Tom kept asking me if I was okay. My right knee was hurting and swollen. As often happens when this happens to my right knee (and as I had done during Bermuda Half Marathon I), I say, "I have created this. I can uncreate it." I focus my healing energy and remind myself of the power of healing within me; the power that comes from Divine Intelligence within me and around me. I thought about how I have healed so much in my body and reminded myself that I can channel my thoughts toward health and well being or disease and disability.
The pain resolved. Yet I wanted to quit and say that we have enough miles in the Bank of Bermuda - why put ourselves through this?
I asked God for help when I felt as though I couldn't take another step and that I didn't want to experience the pain and discomfort of it all. I could feel the presence of the Divine and knew that I/we needed to keep moving forward. I know my body well enough to know that I wasn't risking an injury by soldiering on. I solely wanted to avoid the discomfort of the moment.
From ilovetorun.org:
Keep going. That pain you feel? That’s fear melting away. Like wax off a candle. That’s weakness washing out of your pores like a monsoon. That’s the old you being shed away like dead skin. That’s the new you, rising out of the ashes of your former self.
There is magic that happens when you don't quit and go beyond perceived limitations.
I surrendered to the now - the present moment and felt the power of Team McManus both on the roads and in life.
Ruth Anne would spontaneously initiate a Gooo Team gesture from time to time!
I kept my focus on our goal - 13.1 Bermudaful miles on January 14th -- a victory lap and a celebration in so many ways; Ruth Anne's miraculous recovery from severe depression and trauma and my miraculous recovery from Post-Polio Syndrome, healing the effects of paralytic polio at age 5 and unrelenting childhood trauma for decades.
We arrive in Bermuda on January 11th exactly two months from when we were pounding out the miles in the freezing cold.
Team McManus was in sync yesterday and despite the severe weather conditions, there was an ease to our run. We even all had to go to the bathroom at the same time. Fortunately the MDC ice rink was open with easy access to the bathrooms.
We had our fueling food at the car and were able to calculate loops and miles so that we would arrive at the car at the time we needed to refuel. Our bodies are running more efficiently and we required less fueling than we had on previous runs. That was surprising given how much extra effort we had to exert to keep our bodies warm and keep moving forward.
After we calculated our route to be sure to finish our run at the car, all that was left was an out and back 2.4 miles.
After the winds died down and the air had warmed up with the sun smiling upon us, we all felt a sense of serenity and peace descend. What a metaphor for life. I felt the total grace in that moment. There had been a lot of challenges in the past few weeks with Ruth Anne's providers. It was a stormy and uncertain time in her recovery. The issues are now resolved. The sweet spot of grace that I experienced as we were in the last 2 miles of our training run, mirrored the grace I feel in our lives. I kept thinking that I would have felt so much better physically if my body hadn't been so beaten up during the early miles by the wind and cold but I transcended those thoughts and feelings by focusing on those precious moments of grace where the warm sun and the beauty of the Reservoir erased those moments of discomfort.
I felt transformed and despite the pounding I put my body through, I felt healing happening on a deeper level.
As we exited the Reservoir to enter the back road where we had our car parked with just a half mile to go, Ruth Anne jumped for joy and fist pumped her hand in the air. "YES!" she said expressing a sense of victory on so many levels.
I am reminded of a quote from one of my s-heroes, Wilma Rudolph, a most remarkable woman having overcome the challenge of polio and many childhood illnesses to go on to become a Gold Medal Olympian:
If we would have chosen to stop at 6.5 miles or at any point along the way of yesterday's training run, I know that my friends would have totally understood the decision. We are well along in our training plan and the reason I upped the mileage and loaded the front end of our training with higher mileage was so, if we did encounter a day like yesterday, we could be totally confident that we would be ready to run Bermuda Half Marathon III.
It was so much more than a training run - it was an experience.
We felt the love and the Spirit of Team McManus that has overcome so many challenges especially during these past 3 years. We felt the power of what happens when two or more are gathered in His name to achieve a goal. And we discovered that, as Team McManus, we do not know how to quit in the face of what some would say are insurmountable odds.
To going the distance with strength and courage
From my heart to yours,
Mary
Be sure to listen to my interview with Keith Cartwright, "From Polio Survivor to Boston Marathon Finisher" by following this link.
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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