Two years ago in Bermuda I met Denise Holbert McMillin. Her husband Mack was seated in the row that Tom and I were seated in on our Delta flight to Bermuda, and Denise was in the row behind us. They are from Kentucky! We found out that he is her race concierge and she was running Bermuda as part of her 55th birthday celebration. The next day we bumped into them on Front Street in Hamilton. We chatted for a few minutes.
I posted a photo on Facebook from The Royal Gazette with #runbermuda #runhappy
On race morning I had what I thought was the worst case of pre-race jitters ever (nothing that compared to this year's pre-race jitters that I'll be sharing in a later post). I was about to crawl out of my skin when Denise came up to Tom and me declaring that she was intent on finding us on race morning.
Denise recounted the story when we met at The Pickled Onion for dinner Thursday night after Tom, Ruth Anne and I attended the Bermuda Marathon Weekend kick off party. We were invited by Anthony Raynor, Race Director and you never say no to a Bermudian.
We hadn't planned on going into Hamilton on Thursday but once we received the invitation shortly before we left for our trip, we knew we had to change our plans. On a whim I messaged Denise and suggested we meet for dinner at The Pickled Onion after the reception. Denise and her "running wife" Lanette were staying in Hamilton.
Overlooking Front Street Denise shared the story of how she found me via Instagram even though I wasn't active on Instagram, only Facebook.
"There I was looking for the hashtag run bermuda." She inserts her own music while tapping her fingers on the table. She realized that we were the couple she met on the plane and bumped into on Front Street. "What are the chances that our numbers would be in sequence." She 'followed me to Facebook' and when she read my story she was moved to tears. She prayed for my health that night and knew she had to find me the next morning.
I recount the story in "Going the Distance: The Power of Endurance":
We woke up at 5:45am on race day. The Rosedon Hotel, our home away from home, had a continental breakfast starting at 6:30. They usually don't serve breakfast until 7:00 but as happened throughout the weekend, everything we needed was set before us. There was wonderful energy in the main house as runners were getting ready to walk down to the starting line. This was our first international race and our first destination race yet one that we had imagined over and over and over again while we trained. We saw the sunrise over Hamilton Harbor and felt the excitement of race day! I was feeling serious pre-race jitters feeling like I might throw up before the race. We rushed our breakfast because we were in a hurry to get to the starting line. I took a lot of deep breaths and engaged in positive self talk as Tom and I walked around taking pictures of this miraculous moment.
"Hey there. I was determined to find you this morning. What are the chances that we would have our bib numbers in sequence?"
I was a little stunned to say the least. On the flight from Boston Tom and I met Denise and her husband from Kentucky. He was her support crew. We also bumped into them on Front Street on Saturday.
"I was on Instagram and looked for the hashtag #runbermuda. I saw the pictures you posted."
"What? I deactivated my Instagram account yesterday because I was frustrated and couldn't figure out how to use it."
"Your Instagram account is linked to Facebook so what you posted there automatically went to Instagram," Tom explained to me.
"So I saw your photos and I found out about you and I said prayers for your health last night and wished you a wonderful run but I was determined to find you this morning."
A sign from God that I could relax and let go knowing that my body knew exactly what to do to run 13.1 miles.
After we ordered our drinks and dinner amidst laughter and joy in awe of what brought us together, Denise went into her bag.
She presented me with this wristband:
As she told me the story of how she submitted my story to get a Wristband to bring with her to Bermuda, the tears streamed down my face.
BECAUSE
"I met Mary on a plane from Boston to Bermuda in 2016. She overcame unspeakable trauma as a young girl, post polio syndrome as an adult and yet trained to run the Boston Marathon as a mobility impaired runner. She is now training for her 3rd Bermuda Half Marathon. She blogs about running, volunteers for local Boston races and I plan on seeing her again in Jan. 2018 in Bermuda as we both tackle that race. I recently bought her a RTB shirt to take to her. She's truly an inspiration to anyone that is lucky enough to cross her path."
Denise went on to say that she hoped one day we would come to Kentucky to RunTheBluegrass and she would host us. She brought us RunTheBluegrass T shirts and a coffee mug for Tom.
Hours passed by as we dined on delicious food, shared stories, laughed and talked about all things running and life. Despite being up since 4:30am to travel, we were all energized by the love, the gratitude and the inspiration that was the weave of the tapestry that created strong bonds for us as running family.
We said good night and that we'd see each other on Sunday morning before the Half.
To be continued....
To going the distance with strength and courage!
From my heart to yours,
Mary
Proud to be a part of Friends of Blue Diamond Athletic Displays, Inc.
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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